Luke Larsen / Digital Trends
Microsoft ’s unexampled Copilot+ PC initiative has some very good laptop computer in its initial rivulet . TheHP OmniBook XandLenovo Yoga Slim 7xare two whole machines with very good Windows on weapon execution and electric battery life .
But the MacBook Air 15 with Apple ’s M3 mainframe is an fantabulous laptop computer in its own right and dominates in efficiency . Can theSamsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16replace it as the best thin - and - light machine ?
Luke Larsen / Digital Trends
Specs and configurations
The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 has a very retentive name but only two configurations . The least expensive lists for $ 1,950 but is currently on cut-rate sale for $ 1,450 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X1E-80 - 100 chipset , 16 GB of RAM , a 512 GB SSD , and a 16.0 - in 3 K OLED display . For $ 2,250 — $ 1,750 on sale — you get the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84 - 100 and a 1 TB SSD .
The MacBook Air 15 has just one chipset option , the 8 - nucleus CPU/10 - inwardness GPU M3 , and with 8 GB and a 256 GB SSD be $ 1,299 . All simulation use the same 15.3 - inch 2880 by 1864 Liquid Retina ( IPS ) display . Upgrading to 24 GB of RAM and 2 TB of computer storage brings a $ 2,499 monetary value ticket .
So , the Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 is less expensive at the high close , particularly when on sale , but it also come with less read/write memory and storage . take down that Samsung also volunteer a 14 - column inch interpretation of the Galaxy Book4 , but we did n’t brush up that model . It ’s $ 1,850 ( $ 1,350 on sale ) with the same conformation as the 16 - inch al-Qa’ida model .
Design
The Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 ( Galaxy Book4 from here on out ) is a rather mundane laptop in term of its aesthetic . It has rather traditional lines and angles and nothing that shit it stomach out — except for big bottom bezel . It comes in a Sapphire Blue color with lighter keycaps , but otherwise this is a jolly boring purpose . The MacBook Air 15 maintain ’s Apple ’s blockier aspect that still manages to come in across as more elegant . It has four semblance options , including Midnight , Starlight , Space Gray , and Silver . All have bleak keycaps that make for an attractive contrast .
In terms of form quality , both of these are well - made machine . We ’re talking about all - atomic number 13 physical body and lids with very little if any bending or flexing . Both are extremely thin and light for larger laptops .
One area where the MacBook notches a major profits is in its Magic Keyboard and Force Touch haptic touchpad . While the Magic Keyboard is relatively shallow , it enjoy crisp , accurate switches . The Samsung ’s keyboard feels a slew like Apple ’s now - defunct keyboard with butterfly stroke switch that felt like typing on a block of Natalie Wood . And its mechanically skillful touchpad has poor medal recognition , erratic swiping , and loud clicks .
Connectivity is the opposite . The MacBook Air 15 has just two Thunderbolt 4 larboard and a MagSafe 3 connection for world power . The Galaxy Book4 has the same figure of Thunderbolt 4 ports but then a couple of legacy connections and a microSD bill reviewer . It also has more up - to - appointment wireless .
Both laptops have 1080p webcam , and as a Copilot+ PC the Samsung has enhanced Microsoft Studio Effects software program for AI - assisted background blur and other features . It ’s powered by a neuronal processing unit ( NPU ) that run at 45 tera operations per second ( TOPS ) compared to the 18 top of the MacBook Air 15 ’s Neural Engine .
Performance
The Galaxy Book4 uses the secondly - immobile Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips , the X1E-84 - 100 . Like all Snapdragon X elect translation , it has 12 processor cores ( eight performance and four effective ) , but it pass at the fast focal ratio of 3.8GHz with a 4.2GHz dual - core boost . It has the Qualcomm Adreno GPU that rungs at 4.6 TFLOPS . The MacBook Air 15 has an 8 - core CPU/10 - burden GPU , and less is published about its specification .
In those benchmark that run natively on Windows on Arm , the Galaxy Book4 ’s platform , the Qualcomm chipset is considerably fast . These results are from the 13 - inch MacBook Air M3 , but the 15 - inch mannikin will have like ( if maybe slightly better ) performance . The Galaxy Book4 is 27 % quicker in Geekbench 6 multi - core and Cinebench 2024 multi - core , while being 5 % and 12 % slower in unmarried - gist . The M3 ’s GPU is 13 % faster in the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme benchmark that ’s native on both Window on Arm and macOS .
In productivity workflows , therefore , the Galaxy Book4 will be faster . The M3 chipset has various CPU optimizations for sure originative tasks like television encryption and decoding , which when combine with the profligate GPU will make the MacBook Air 15 faster in certain creative apps like Adobe ’s Premiere Pro .
Display
The MacBook Air 15 has a very expert 2880 by 1864 IPS display with excellent light and wide and precise color . The Galaxy Book4 had wider colors but they were n’t quite as accurate . Of course , it had the engineering ’s perfect lightlessness for near - infinite line .
Either display is more than good enough for productivity users . God Almighty will also care both show , although the Samsung ’s truth — which is downcast for OLED — would give some users intermission . The OLED board will be the better for media economic consumption .
Portability
Both laptops are insanely lean and calorie-free , with both being thinner than most laptops , let alone those with larger displays . The MacBook Air 15 has a slight border in both metric , but nobody will discover in actual purpose . They ’re still gravid political machine , but they wo n’t weigh you down .
Battery life story , though , is a dissimilar story . Although the Qualcomm chipset is aimed at being incredibly effective , and it is when compared against Intel ’s Meteor Lake chipsets , Apple Silicon remains the efficiency drawing card . The MacBook Air 13 with the same M3 chipset lasted for 19.5 hours in both our vane browsing and television looping benchmarks . The Galaxy Book4 lasted for 12.5 hours and 14.5 hours , which are better than most Windows laptop computer but well behind the MacBook Air 15 that might last slenderly longer than its 13 - inch counterpart .
If multi - day battery living is authoritative to you , then the MacBook Air 15 is the clear achiever .
The MacBook Air 15 maintains its top spot
More than any of the Microsoft Copilot+ laptops we ’ve reviewed , the Galaxy Book4 is the least impressive . It has a dull aesthetic , its keyboard and touchpad are disappointing , and while it ’s faster than the MacBook Air 15 in some tasks , most users wo n’t be able to evidence the deviation . Its OLED display has some advantages but not as much as you might expect .
At the same clip , the MacBook Air 15 is more attractive and feels unspoiled in hand , and its battery lifespan is so much good . All of these conclusion would enforce to the MacBook Air M3 13 - column inch compared to the 14 - inch Galaxy Book4 . Apple still makes the better laptop .
