The Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 only looks good on the spec sheet

The new Samsung Galaxy Book2 is a 15.6-inch all-rounder that is suitable for working from home and multimedia applications. The dedicated Intel Arc A350M graphics card also promises better gaming performance than a typical integrated graphics processor. The laptop actually has great specifications, featuring a current-gen Alder Lake P-series processor, 16 GB of RAM and a 1080p IPS display. However, after our extensive testing, the Galaxy Book2 primarily left us feeling disappointed, especially given its price of 1,300 Euro (US$1,300).

The chassis of the Galaxy Book2 certainly looks great, but it failed to impress us in terms of quality and doesn't feel particularly sturdy. In day-to-day use, we were especially bothered by the loud creaking noises made by both the lid and the base section. The laptop fundamentally has a good selection of ports, including USB-C, USB-A, a card reader and a HDMI output. That said, they don't support the latest standards (no USB 4 nor Thunderbolt) and the card reader is very slow. One advantage of the device is undoubtedly the second M.2 SSD slot, but it still doesn't have any PCIe 4.0 interface. The keyboard has a very short travel distance and takes some getting used. In use, however, it is mainly the lack of backlighting that we found annoying.

The first major problem with the device is the poor image quality of the IPS display. Even at first glance, it is already quite obvious that this IPS panel is very cheap because colours appear dull and the overall image looks very washed out. Moreover, it has high colour deviation and covers only 75% of the already small sRGB colour space. Such a panel may be acceptable on a budget business laptop, but the image quality is hardly justifiable considering the 1,300 Euro (US$1,300) price tag.

You also can't expect too much from this laptop in the way of performance. Due the power limits, a U-series processor should have been used instead. The new Intel Arc A350M graphics card is only able to deliver impressive performance in synthetic benchmarks. When it comes to actual gaming tests, the competing Nvidia GeForce MX550 is significantly faster and even the integrated AMD Radeon 680M performs better sometimes. Together with the loud fans, the overall package is just not good enough.

All in all, we can't recommend the Samsung Galaxy Book2 because it is simply too expensive for the performance it offers. You can read our full review for more information on the device, including detailed benchmarks and measurements:

• Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 Review (Core i7-1260P, Arc A350M, Full HD)