Organizer
Gadget news
Infinix Note 40 series announced with curved OLED displays, 108MP cameras
3:04 pm | March 18, 2024

Author: admin | Category: Mobile phones news | Tags: | Comments: Off

Infinix’s new Note 40 series boasts large 120Hz AMOLED displays (most of them curved) and 108MP cameras (most of them with OIS). All have wired fast charging and are compatible with the company’s new magnetic wireless charging system (this is compatible with a special case). Infinix Note 40 Pro+ 5G This is the first Infinix Note to wear the Pro+ badge, though the Note 30 VIP was in a comparable position last year. The Infinix Note 40 Pro+ 5G is powered by the Dimensity 7020, a 6nm chip with two Cortex-A78 cores at 2.2GHz and six A55 cores at 2.0GHz. It is paired with up to 12GB of...

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro review: Samsung’s MacBook killer gets Intel’s latest CPU
7:21 pm | March 13, 2024

Author: admin | Category: Computers Computing Gadgets Laptops | Tags: , , | Comments: Off

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro: Two-minute review

If you like the look of Apple's MacBooks but prefer or simply require the Windows ecosystem, well, you can do a lot worse than the new Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro. Like its predecessor, the very similar Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro, it owes its overall look and feel to the MacBook.

Thanks to its sleek wedge-shaped chassis, it's most similar to Apple's now defunct MacBook M1 Air in terms of design. But for features and performance it probably falls somewhere in between the newer and boxier MacBook Air 13-inch (M3) and the base model MacBook Pro 14-inch.

Available in both 14-inch and 16-inch formats, this 14-inch model has both advantages and weaknesses compared to Apple's alternatives. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro's OLED screen is a definite highlight with incredible image quality plus 120Hz refresh. It also supports touch input. Apple simply can't compete.

On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro's speakers disappoint and its trackpad is merely OK. Apple definitely does those things better. As for performance, it's a close-run thing compared to the Apple M2 chip, though the latest M3 is arguably a step above. You get Intel's hot new Meteor Lake CPU in Intel Core Ultra 7 155H configuration with six performance cores and eight efficiency cores.

Samsung says the new Intel chip improves the Galaxy Book4 Pro's already impressive battery life by about 10% and we found you can get nearly 14 hours of video playback and over 11 hours of more intensive use. Put simply, this laptop offers genuine all-day longevity.

On the downside, the design is definitely derivative, the speakers are very disappointing and the trackpad is merely OK. But overall, this isn't just one of the best Windows alternatives for MacBook fans. It can take the fight to any competing laptop in our best laptop 2024 guide.

 

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro in use on a desk showing the screen

(Image credit: Future)

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro: Price & availability

  • How much does it cost? $1,449 / £1,599
  • Where is it available? Available in the US and UK

Priced at $1,449 in the US and £1,559 in the UK for the entry-level model with 16GB of memory and a 512GB SSD, the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro is definitely premium priced but it's not outrageously expensive. It's a little pricier than a comparably specced MacBook Air, but cheaper than the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro.

On the other hand, Dell's XPS 13 can be had with the same Meteor Lake CPU with matching memory and storage specs for a little less money, and the XPS 14 for about the same money. 

However, the XPS 13 can't be had with an OLED display and with the XPS 14 an OLED panel can be configured, but adds $300 / £200 to the price. All of which means the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro isn't cheap, but it does still offer a strong value proposition.

  • Price score:  4 / 5

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro: Specs

The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro comes in two configurations, 14-inch and 16-inch versions.

  • Specs score: 4 / 5

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro next to a MacBook Air

(Image credit: Future)

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro: Design

  • Good build quality
  • Apple-derivative design
  • Very portable

There's no denying it. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro wouldn't look like it does were it not for the Apple MacBook and more specifically, the MacBook Air and its wedge-shaped chassis. The Galaxy Book4 Pro is awfully, awfully similar, from the tapering chassis thickness to the keyboard design, the look of the trackpad, and the way the screen lid hinges and closes.

Samsung has also come pretty close to matching Apple's signature build quality and engineering. The keyboard bed is super rigid and the chassis feels strong even if the way the various parts fit together doesn't quite match Apple's peerless precision.

There are other details where Samsung can't match Apple. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro's speakers don't even come close to those of the MacBook Air, let alone the MacBook Pro. That's a real pity and it's hard to understand why Samsung can't give this laptop high sound quality to match the stunning OLED screen. That display, of course, is a touchscreen, which adds an extra string to this Windows laptop's bow that no MacBook offers.

The trackpad, meanwhile, is fine by Windows laptop standards, but isn't quite as precise and satisfying to use as Apple's haptic trackpad. On the other hand, Samsung has managed to offer better port selection than the MacBook Air. Along with a pair of Thunderbolt USB-C ports, you get a legacy USB-A, a full HDMI socket, microSD, and a headphone jack.

That's impressive given the compact form factor which comes in at just 11.6mm thick and 1.23kg. This is an extremely portable laptop, a fact that's only helped by the teeny-tiny 35W USB-C power adapter.

So, this is a very nicely designed and engineered machine on pretty much every level. Among Windows laptops, few if any are better built. But it is, ultimately, a pretty derivative machine in aesthetic terms. Dell's XPS portables are much more distinctive, while Apple's MacBooks are ultimately the real deal.

  • Design score: 4 / 5

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro in use on a desk showing the screen

(Image credit: Future)

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro: Performance

  • Intel Meteor Lake CPU is punchy
  • OLED screen is stunning
  • Good storage performance
Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro: Benchmarks

Here's how the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

3DMark: Night Raid: 22,295; Fire Strike: N/A; Time Spy: 3,343
Cinebench R23 Multi-core: 7,016 points; Single-core: 1,579
CrystalDiskMark 8 SSD sequential: 5.047MB/s (read); 3,993MB/s (write)
CrystalDiskMark 8 SSD 4K: 72MB/s (read); 175MB/s (write)
CrossMark: Overall: 1,601 Productivity: 1,466 Creativity: 1,803 Responsiveness: 1463
Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm: 38fps
PCMark 10 Battery Life: 11 hours and 48 minutes
1080p video playback battery life: 13 hours and 54 minutes

Intel's new Meteor Lake CPU isn't a radical step forward for performance. But it does deliver all the performance you could reasonably ask for in a thin and light laptop like this.

The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H gives you six meaty Performance cores running at up to 4.8GHz, plus eight Efficient cores capable of 3.8GHz. For day-to-day tasks like web browsing and content consumption, the combination of the Intel chip plus 16GB of fast DDR5 memory and a really quick Samsung SSD makes for an ultra-speedy and responsive experience.

But you also have plenty of performance in hand for some pretty serious workflows like image and video editing. Really, the only limitation involves graphics performance. The new Intel Meteor Lake CPU has a good integrated graphics processor. But it can't quite match that of the integrated GPU in AMD's competing Ryzen laptops APUs and it isn't up to the job of playing modern PC games.

Of course, you can get similar performance from a whole slew of Windows laptops that offer Intel's new Meteor Lake chips. But it's still impressive to experience this level of performance in such a compact and portable laptop.

Another highlight is the AMOLED screen. It's just so vibrant and offers perfect per-pixel lighting control, so the HDR experience is truly spectacular. No LCD screen, even one with local dimming, comes close. It's also much brighter than comparable desktop OLED monitors. What's more, it runs at 120Hz for extreme smoothness and responsiveness and has touchscreen functionality.

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro in use on a desk showing the screen

(Image credit: Future)

The only slight flaw involves the screen's dynamic refresh mode. It can switch between 60Hz and 120Hz on the fly and according to application demand. The idea is that running at 120Hz increases battery load, so the screen only steps up to 120Hz when significant on-screen motion is detected. We noticed very occasional stutters that may be related to this feature. It's not a major flaw and, in any case, you have the option of running in conventional 60Hz and 120Hz modes.

Overall, our only significant reservation regarding the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro's performance is those aforementioned speakers. By Windows laptop standards, they're OK. But if you are familiar with Apple's MacBooks and thinking of making the switch, you'll be very disappointed. 

Where watching movies and video content on MacBooks, perhaps while on holiday, is a really enjoyable experience, thanks to some great speakers, on the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro you'd have to bring an additional Bluetooth speaker to get a similar experience. That's a pity.

  • Performance score: 4 / 5

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro in use on a desk showing the screen

(Image credit: Future)

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro: Battery life

  • Even better than before
  • Genuine all-day battery life

The Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro already had great battery life. With the upgrade to Intel's latest CPUs, it just got better. For movie and video playback, you're looking at the thick end of 14 hours, more than enough for pretty much any plane flight.

Even under heavier loads browsing the web and undertaking more demanding workflows, well over 10 hours is possible. That means with light and occasional use, you'll get multiple days out of this laptop. And when you're getting important work done, you can rely on it lasting all day away from the mains.

Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro?

Buy it if...

You want a MacBook-style Windows experience
The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro looks and feels a lot like Apple's MacBook machines and that's mostly a good thing.

You want great battery life
With around 14 hours of video playback and well over 10 hours with more demanding use, all-day battery life is genuinely achievable.

Don't buy it if...

You want to play games
The Intel Meteor Lake CPU is great for just about everything. But despite an improved integrated GPU, that doesn't include games.

You want to watch movies and video
The OLED screen is fabulous. But the built-in speakers are very disappointing and spoil the content consumption experience.

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro: Also consider

If our Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro review has you considering other options, here are two laptops to consider...

How I tested the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro

  • I tested the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro for a week
  • I used it both on a desk and while travelling

I used the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro as my main workhorse for a week, including as a desktop machine plugged into monitors, when on the move, lounging on the sofa, the works.

That gave me a good idea of how it coped with all kinds of tasks, how portable it is and how well the battery lasts in the real world (spoiler, it lasts really well). I have a MacBook Air of my own, so it made for an intriguing comparison. And I have, of course, been testing and reviewing laptops since the early Mesozoic period, so I have plenty of context to draw on.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed March 2024

Samsung’s Galaxy A55 and A35 are official with matching OLED screens, Exynos chips
12:00 pm | March 11, 2024

Author: admin | Category: Mobile phones news | Tags: | Comments: Off

Right on schedule, the Galaxy A55 5G and Galaxy A35 5G are official. The successors to the most popular mid-range duo of 2023 have more in common than ever before. For starters the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 are built around the same display - a 6.6-inch 1080x2340px Super AMOLED panel with 120 Hz refresh rate. They also share a 5,000mAh battery with 25W charging support and Samsung's new Key Island design language. And since they are the same size it's rather hard to tell them appart when placed side by side. The Galaxy A55 5G has the Exynos 1480 SoC with an AMD RDNA2-based Xclipse 530...

Samsung Galaxy M15 quietly debuts with OLED display
11:52 pm | March 10, 2024

Author: admin | Category: Mobile phones news | Tags: | Comments: Off

Samsung quietly "announced" its entry-level Galaxy M15 smartphone in some regions. The handset is spotted on the official Iraqi Samsung website and some Levant regions. Unfortunately, the listings don't give out any availability information or price. The specs and official images are all revealed, though. The Galaxy M15 brings a huge upgrade over its M14 predecessor by replacing the IPS LCD panel with a 6.5-inch OLED display, ticking at 90Hz. Resolution is FHD+. The Dimensity 6100+ is sitting behind the wheel, which taking over from the Exynos 1330. The SoC is paired with 4 GB of...

Next iPhone SE coming in 2025 with OLED screen borrowed from the iPhone 14
10:59 pm | February 16, 2024

Author: admin | Category: Mobile phones news | Tags: | Comments: Off

Apple has launched its last affordable iPhone SE in 2022, and the previous one before that in 2020, but it looks like the company will skip a year this time around and release the next one in 2025. That's what a new report from Korea reiterates today. When it does launch, the next iPhone SE will have a feature previously unseen in this affordable range: an OLED screen. All of the previous iPhone SE models were fitted with LCD panels instead, but now the cheapest iPhone will finally be making the jump. The report claims three display makers are currently fighting for Apple's orders...

Apple Vision Pro’s micro OLED displays, battery detailed in iFixt teardown part 2
8:01 pm | February 8, 2024

Author: admin | Category: Mobile phones news | Tags: | Comments: Off

iFixit shared a part 2 video to its Apple Vision Pro teardown which details the key components inside Apple’s first Spatial Computer. Spoiler alert – Apple did some clever marketing tricks with the whole “more than a 4K TV for each eye” claim it made during the Vision Pro announcement. The pair of micro OLED screens are each estimated to offer a 3,660 x 3,200 pixel per eye resolution which technically does not fulfill the requirements for 4K resolution which is 3,840 x 2,160px. Vision Pro is still plenty sharp and each of its displays packs a whopping 3,380 pixels per inch...

iQOO Z9 series to switch to OLED displays
11:24 am | February 5, 2024

Author: admin | Category: Mobile phones news | Tags: | Comments: Off

The iQOO Z9 series will come with an OLED panel, revealed tipster Digital Chat Station on their Weibo page. The midranger Z line of the vivo-owned brand has been using LCD since its launch in mid-2020 but switched to OLED for the iQOO Z7 series, before reverting to LCD on the Z8 family. The new phones will also bring an improved 1220p resolution that China makers call "1.5K" because it is the middle point between Full HD and QHD (1440p). vivo iQOO Z7 Pro The latest iQOO Z series smartphones on the market are the Z8 and Z8x duo. Both devices have a 4 nm chipset, and while the Z8...

Samsung unveils its first flat OLED gaming monitors (32″ and 27″), plus  49″ curved one
2:01 pm | January 3, 2024

Author: admin | Category: Mobile phones news | Tags: | Comments: Off

CES 2024 kicks off on Tuesday next week and Samsung will be showing off its new OLED monitors at the trade show (among other gadgets, of course). The new models include the ultra wide curved Odyssey OLED G9 and for the first time in the line-up, flat OLED monitors dubbed the G8 and G6. Starting with the big one, the Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 (G95SD) measures a whopping 49”. It has 5,120 x 1,440px resolution with a 32:9 aspect ratio, so it’s like two 16:9 displays side by side (and with no bezel in the middle). Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 (G95SD) The Odyssey OLED G8 (G80SD) is a 32” 4K...

Samsung to implement new blue phosphorescent OLED panels in 2025
9:22 pm | November 21, 2023

Author: admin | Category: Mobile phones news | Tags: | Comments: Off

A report from The Elec claims that Samsung might introduce a new kind of blue phosphorescent OLED panel in 2025, although industry watchers were expecting a 2024 debut initially. It looks like the development of the new material used for the blue sub-pixels isn't going smoothly. Samsung's current display technology implements phosphorescent green and red sub-pixels, but the blue diodes are still using fluorescent. So you can't call them PHOLED as it isn't technically correct. The new phosphorescent diodes offer 100% internal luminous efficiency, compared to the blue fluorescent ones...

The Elec: Samsung Galaxy A15 will bring OLED screen
10:01 pm | October 26, 2023

Author: admin | Category: Mobile phones news | Tags: | Comments: Off

It seems Samsung will finally offer an OLED screen on its entry-level Galaxy A1 series phones starting next year. A new report from South Korean publication The Elec suggests that Samsung will finally replace the LCD panels used on previous Galaxy A1 series phones like the Galaxy A14 with OLED ones due to the lowered price of rigid OLED panels. Samsung Galaxy A15 render The Galaxy A15 is expected to feature a 6.4-inch diagonal with a U-shaped notch cutout for its front facing camera. The A15 will come in both 4G and 5G variants with the former featuring a Helio G99 SoC, 4GB RAM,...

Next Page »