CPUs

Samsung Launches Intel Lakefield Powered Galaxy Book S: Big.Little on x86

Samsung today announced its Galaxy Book S powered by Intel’s Lakefield processor. This is Team Blue’s answer to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8cx variant of the same notebook. Although it offers a staggering 16 hours of battery life, it has the same issues every Windows device running on an ARM chip does. You can’t naively run x86 programs and need an emulator which degrades performance and in some cases doesn’t work, at all.

The Lakefield model doesn’t need the emulator at all, as it’s an x86 chip. It uses Intel’s Foveros packaging technology to stack the logic, I/O, and DRAM on a single chip, not only reducing the die size but also improving power and efficiency. Furthermore, the processing cluster consists of one “Big” Sunny Cove core (same ones powering the 10th Gen Ice Lake mobile chips) and four “Small” Tremont” cores (also a 10nm core but designed for ultra low-power devices). Like ARM’s BIG.LITTLE design, Lakefield’s Tremont cores will be used for everyday workloads with the Sunny Cove core kicking in for more intensive applications (gaming, file compression, encoding, etc).

Now, the interesting part is that like the Qualcomm variant, the Lakefield powered device will also come with LTE support, in addition to WiFi 6 for network connectivity. The specs are in line with that of a premium ultrabook. The Galaxy Book S features a 13″ 1080p touch display with a maximum brightness of 600 nits and 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM. You get to choose between 256GB or 512GB of eUFS storage.

The graphics responsibilities are handled by Intel’s Gen11 integrated GPU which is easily Team Blue’s best part on the market. The Galaxy Book S weighs just over 2 pounds with a thickness of just 11.8mm at some points. Interestingly, the Lakefield variant is slightly lighter than the Snapdragon model.

Samsung Galaxy Book S

  • Display: 13.3-inch (1920×1080) touch
  • Processor: Intel Core processor with Intel Hybrid Technology
  • Graphics: Intel UHD
  • Memory: 8GB LPDDR4x (as tested)
  • Storage: 256/512GB eUFS
  • Ports: 2 USB-C, microSD, heaphone jack
  • Camera: User-facing: 1MP
  • Battery: 42Wh
  • Wireless: Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) 802.11ax 2×2, LTE (Cat 16), Bluetooth v 5.0
  • Operating system: Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro
  • Dimensions (inches):  12.0in. x 8in. x 0.46in (11.8mm)
  • Weight: 2.09lb
  • Color: Mercury Gray, Earthy Gold
  • Price: ???
  • Shipping date: ???

Areej Syed

Processors, PC gaming, and the past. I have been writing about computer hardware for over seven years with more than 5000 published articles. Started off during engineering college and haven't stopped since. Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Divinity, Torment, Baldur's Gate and so much more... Contact: areejs12@hardwaretimes.com.
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