Samsung's Intel-based Galaxy Book S is ready for prime time

By Eric Abent/July 17, 2020 12:32 pm EST

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Back toward the end of May, Samsung revealed a new Galaxy Book S built around one of Intel's hybrid Lakefield CPUs. Specifically, the Galaxy Book S features an Intel Core i5-L16g7 at its core, ditching the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx we see in the other Galaxy Book S. Fast forward to today, and Samsung has announced that the Intel-based Galaxy Book S is now up for grabs from its website, revealing the starting price of the notebook in the process.

Pricing was one big question mark when the new notebook was revealed a couple of months ago, though Samsung did reveal most of the notebook's specs at that time. In addition to the i5-L16g7 (which is clocked at 1.4Ghz and supports turbo boost up to 3.0Ghz), the Galaxy Book S has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage that can be expanded by up to 2TB via microSD.

The 42Wh battery is the same as the one in the Qualcomm-based model, with Samsung saying it'll last for up to 17 hours. As always, though, the battery life you get out of a full charge will ultimately depend on what you're doing with the notebook, so keep that in mind. The touchscreen display on the Galaxy Book S isn't anything particularly fancy, as it's a 13.3-inch LED panel that outputs in 1080p.

So, what's the difference between this Galaxy Book S and the Qualcomm-based one? Aside from the processor, the Intel-based Galaxy Book S is limited to WiFi when it comes to internet connectivity, while the Qualcomm-based one can also connect to LTE on either Verizon or Sprint. Beyond that, though, the specifications for both notebooks are more or less the same, with only some slight differences in weight, available colors, and potential battery life.

The Intel-based Galaxy Book S does have one advantage over its Qualcomm counterpart though, as it has a cheaper starting price; while the LTE Galaxy Book S starts at $999.99, the WiFi-only model starts at $949.99. The notebook is available today at Samsung's website and at other retailers.