The market for the new generation of sub 1 kilo wafer thin devices has been driven by the likes of Microsoft and their Surface devices which are significantly heavier than what Samsung is delivering with the new Book S, brands such as Dell, Acer and HP all jumping into this category, but none of them come close to Samsung’s new offering.

It has taken Samsung with their mobile phone expertise coupled with their design and component manufacturing capability to deliver what I think is a new benchmark for portable computing a 0.96kg sleek device that easily fits into most bags and has a fabulous touchscreen display.

In fact, I don’t even want to call their new Galaxy Book a notebook, because this stereo types the device as I believe that the Book S is more than a notebook and is a cross between a smartphone and a tablet with a lot of added benefits.

It’s a highly useful information management and retrieval system that operates on Microsoft’s Windows 10, t fits easily into  in a bag and can be pulled out and activated instantly because of its always on capability.

This is a device that sits comfortable alongside a Samsung Galaxy smartphone or any Android device, because it’s not only light and practical it’s an excellent tool for road warriors or people flying from one meeting to another who don’t want to lug a heavy PC around and want quick access to information.

While some brands have taken to trying to sell notebooks as ‘Creative’ production machines for video editing or layout design Samsung has stuck to delivering a machine that is designed as a major extension of a smartphone or tablet.

The Samsung Galaxy Book S a highly practical information retrieval machine that can be easily plugged into a TV or projector for PowerPoint presentations, you can write a story or edit a PDF on the fly with ease and instantly get access to content in a coffee lounge or airport.

You can manage emails and spreadsheets, view a video or Netflix on a screen that is crisp, bright and capable of delivering detail as good as some of the more expensive TV’s.

I see it as an extension of the capabilities that a tablet or notebook delivers with the biggest benefit being the great keyboard which on many of the Surface devices was terrible, soft spongy and not necessarily productive.

The Galaxy Samsung S is an ultra-light ARM-based device that has a 13.3-inch FHD TFT display that is crisp bright and easy on the eyes.

The big difference is that Samsung who install more Qualcomm processors in the Galaxy smartphones, than any other smartphone maker has invested in the Snapdragon 8cx processor instead of an Intel processor found in most other notebooks.

Qualcomm has a reputation for being able to deliver performance while preserving battery life.

The device has 8GB of RAM which is where a lot of work takes place with this device and for those who want to store on board it comes with 256GB of on-board storage which is expandable to 1TB.

I travel a lot and we are constantly posting online to our web sites and the inclusion of an eSIM slot is a big advantage.

I highly recommend that you configure this device by taking advantage of its onboard eSIM capability as this allows you to easily operate in a cloud environment.

For example, I am using Office 365 online, Adobe Creative Suite, Dropbox while also having easy access to our Xero accounting package, Insightly and our Syndigo Content system that is used by Australian retailers.

The Snapdragon 8cx ARM processor delivers great performance and after two weeks of heavy use this device has not let me down when it comes to speed and downloading.

The biggest problem is the Windows OS which has nothing to do with Samsung.

All Microsoft want to do is sell you something, for example I have a multiple user Office 365 Business account but despite entering the same details as I have for my desktop Microsoft still treats one as a new user and try’s to sign one up to a new subscription, downright annoying.

The next problem is that Microsoft forces users to download Dropbox for S Mode, I prefer the Dropbox for Windows solution.

The reason is that Microsoft wants to make it difficult for Dropbox customers so they can flog you a One Drive storage solution.

Despite the Microsoft bugs this device has a 42W fast-charging battery that not only charges super quick it can deliver excellent battery performance, I got 19 hours, Samsung claims it will deliver 25 hours of video playback, which I have not tested.

The 1,699 0.96kg, Book S is remarkably light the Dell XPS 13 comes in at 1.2kg but it is expensive at the discounted price of $2399 at JB Hi Fi which means one is seriously paying for the 204g of extra weight without any other added benefits than what Book S delivers.

Conclusion

Weight brilliant, design it’s what you expect from a Samsung product, sleek, compact and highly functional. The fact that the Book S allows one to immediately log in quickly due to the use of an ARM Qualcomm processor makes a big difference when you arrive to present at a meeting.

The keyboard is as good as any premium notebook. The big letdown is not confined to this device, It’s the way that Microsoft is using security as a reason to stop downloads of competitors products such as Dropbox.

You also have to work around loading Google or Adobe fonts as it’s not as simple as with a Windows 10 for desktop OS.

If all you want is a high performance device for fast information retrieval, watching videos and easy connectivity between an Android smartphone and this device, the Samsung Book S is a cracker of a product that has been specifically designed for people on the move who hate lugging around heavy notebooks.

Rating: 9.5/10