Samsung Galaxy Book discussion thread

This may be old news already, but the Galaxy Book 12 is not up to an arm wrestling contest with the Surface Pro 4 (although in fairness, the SP4 was last gen i7 vs KL i5): NoteBookCheck Review

BTW - here's a video with a good side by side comparison of the two sizes (PocketNow):

 

For those interested in the Galaxy Book 10.6, here is the first video I've seen dedicated to it. The tablet doesn't look too fat, which is more than I can say for the presenter's watch.



Some stellar editing there ...

 

Ok, I'm really curious...what would it take for a new Surface to draw you away from the Galaxy Book at this point?

Is EMR just the ultimate trump card?

Will the famous Surface Rant thread be obsolete now? I dunno about others here, but I was seriously looking forward for some more RANT CITY next month.

 

RANT CITY - I am kind of infamous, aren't I...

I feel like I am sitting on a razor blade, not just a fence. A Surface Pro 5, if it were similar in size to the Galaxy Book 12, would lure me away from my SB...BUT

Tasting EMR again has been disastrous for my financial health (and sanity). I know it is just a personal thing, and may just all be in my head but the feel of writing on the Galaxy Note Edge and Galaxy Tab A 10.1 with S Pen has been exciting - so much better feel, pen control, ink flow, and handwriting accuracy than I ever get with my SB or even my previous SP4.

The SB is a great laptop, as a laptop, but it is bulky for travel, and only adequate as a note taking tablet, especially in draw mode so you can go more than a couple of hours of note taking. The GTA10 is a bit large for just a companion device, while the GNE is a bit small for the task (a little like Goldilocks-ish).

Sounds like I should just go with an SP4/5 and no other note taking device - BUT IT AIN'T S PEN! Then I start to wonder about just using SB solely as a laptop and go GTA10 for all note taking; but then I end up lugging TWO devices around (plus a phone).

RANT CITY may become INSANE ASYLUM before long...

 

Famous last words for many of us here?...

 

@Marty - you know, it's amazing to me how few folks honestly say "I really PREFER N-trig or Wacom AES to Wacom EMR." It is always "nearly as good" or "good enough" or "I got used to it" or "I learned to adapt." It is my hope that the renewed emphasis by Samsung on the S Pen is a sign that they are reading the tea leaves the same way I feel. Otherwise, why not just adopt Wacom AES and say to h*!! with it?

 

OMG - he's quoting himself again...watch out world!

Reading my own post, and the follow up reply to Marty about EMR, I realize I am quickly moving towards a Galaxy Book 12 with with Galaxy Note (8?) future.

Anybody seen a good USB-C 3.1 dock; more importantly, do you think I can daisychain two WQHD (2560x1440) displayport monitors off that USB-C 3.1 port?

 

I'm going to pull out a little tinfoil here and suggest: the renewed emphasis on S-Pen is not so much a direction of Samsung—but of Wacom.

My theory is that Wacom did a strategic shift somewhere in the last half of 2016, where they decided to push EMR above AES (realizing that MS probably has eminence in that domain).

So we'll see a reversal of the situation of the past 5 years where AES will be put in "maintenance mode" (as the dual-protocol pen chugs along), and Wacom will push most of its partners towards EMR (Samsung, Steadtler, etc).

 

If I see a device with these specs going for just $800 from over three whole years ago...

...if the Galaxy Book 10.6" is priced from $600 to $800 when this is the case..

...then it will be commercial suicide for this device. Like the AnandTech comments I posted earlier demonstrate...

...most average everyday people are not actively looking for EMR and are more than fine with what AES and N-trig offers them since both work reasonably well. The other specs are a major turn-off to the rest of the world!

If Samsung expects the masses to come a-running for their 10.6-inch Galaxy Book with plastic in hand while drooling at the mouth like some of us very select tablet aficionados who account for maybe 0.00001% of the world population, they are sorely mistaken. People will make the binary decision: do I either buy one of these bigger and better 12-inch Core M tablets from HP, Huawei or Lenovo with keyboard under $500 or do I buy this 10-inch Samsung Core M tablet with keyboard over $600 or $700?

It is a lock that the vast majority of people will go with the "bigger and better" models unless Samsung uses some common sense here and prices the Galaxy Book 10.6" at or below $500. However, if the few's high pricing suggestions here do come true, don't be too quick to expect a follow-up or refresh model. Mark my words. The Galaxy Book 10.6" will fail miserably if it is not priced accordingly.

 

Hey man, I agree with you! Back here I even called out the poor value of the 10" version.

But I really don't think you can blame Samsung too much. Have you taken a look at the price of a Kaby Lake Core M? Friggin' $281! Add the cost of a custom EMR board from Wacom you're looking at ~$350 base BOM, and that's before Samsung has added a thing!

Now I'm sure Samsung can negotiate the parts down somewhat, but without Raven Ridge to exert a downward CPU price pressure, and with Atom Chips being EOL in 2016, Samsung is still trapped between a rock and hard place in Q2 for it's low-end x86 offering.

Even Cube who sources entirely overstock parts with re-used tooling/assembly for the Cube Mix Plus, can only get the retail price to $400. There's no way Samsung will be able to hit the sub-$500 price point. $600-$700 is the only reasonable estimate, in my opinion.