Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Review: A Surface Pro Knockoff That Falls Short

　　Device Type

　　The Samsung Galaxy Book 2 is a Surface Pro knockoff that aims to be a lightweight, go-anywhere productivity machine for busy people. It comes with a kickstand, a keyboard cover, and a stylus, all included in the price.

　　Specs

　　Price: $1,000Processor: Snapdragon 850RAM: 4GBStorage: 128GBDisplay: 12-inch 2160 x 1440 AMOLEDBattery life: Up to 14 hours

　　Pros

　　Good battery lifeKeyboard and stylus are included in the price

　　

　　Very slowOnly 4GB of RAM

　　Performance

　　The Galaxy Book 2's performance is disappointing for a $1,000 device. It's frequently a hindrance for even light workloads. My daily usage involves Slack, Spotify, and a web browser, and I found myself close to maxing out the device's memory and CPU capacity. Switching to Edge didn't make much of a difference. Anything more than a few tabs open causes the Galaxy Book 2 to slow down.

　　This is a problem I'm not accustomed to, and that's probably because I'm rarely using a machine with less than 8GB of RAM. The Galaxy Book 2 has just 4GB, with no other configuration possible. In my view, that's just not enough for a device that costs $1,000. A contemporary workflow requires more than 4GB of RAM.

　　Battery Life

　　The Galaxy Book 2 has good battery life, lasting up to 14 hours on a single charge. This is just over an hour less than what we got with the last Surface Pro, and much better than what we get with comparable devices packing Intel CPUs.

　　However, I don't think it quite fulfills the potential of Snapdragon chips for Windows. Samsung touts "multi-day battery life," but only the most generous reading of our results gets us there. Anecdotally, using the Galaxy Book 2 as a regular human might, the device won't last a whole workday without topping up the battery, especially if you're relying on the built-in LTE connectivity.

　　Display

　　The Galaxy Book 2's 12-inch 2160 x 1440 AMOLED display is very nice. It's sharp, bright, and has good viewing angles. However, I don't think it's necessary for a productivity device like this. A lower-resolution display would have been just fine.

　　Keyboard and Stylus

　　The Galaxy Book 2's keyboard is a competent input device, though it's no match for the refinements of Microsoft's Surface Pro keyboard. The included Pen works reasonably well for taking notes, but it's not as precise or lag-free as you might hope.

　　LTE Connectivity

　　The Galaxy Book 2's LTE connectivity is a nice feature, especially if you're the type of person who hates asking for Wi-Fi passwords or refuses to tether with your phone. The LTE is very well implemented and works perfectly, but I don't know that I personally need it very much.

　　Conclusion

　　The Samsung Galaxy Book 2 is a disappointing device. It tries to do a lot of things, but it hobbles its way through most basic tasks. The performance is slow, the RAM is limited, and the price is too high. I would not recommend this device to anyone.