Samsung Reveals Galaxy Book Ion: Ultralight Laptops w/ QLED Monitor & Comet Lake
by Anton Shilov on October 30, 2019 5:00 PM EST
Samsung has introduced its new Galaxy Book Ion lineup of laptops that bring together an ultralight weight, an innovative display with quantum dot-enhanced backlighting, and Intel’s 10th Generation Core (Comet Lake) platform. The latest notebooks are the company’s first Project Athena-class PCs, designed to meet the standards of Intel's premium PC program.
To minimize weight, Samsung’s Galaxy Book Ion notebooks come in chassis made of magnesium and are engineered for maximum portability. The machines come in a 13.3-inch and 15.6-inch form-factor, with weights starting at 0.97 kilograms and 1.19 kilograms respectively. Besides portability, the key feature of the Galaxy Book Ion laptops is their QLED Full-HD display that features up to 600 nits brightness, a high contrast ratio, and promises to support a wide color gamut. Another unique feature of the notebooks is Samsung's Wireless PowerShare, which allows the laptop to charge Qi-compatible smartphones and headsets. The Galaxy Book Ion is equipped with a 69.7 Wh battery, so while charging any client devices will deplete the laptop's battery sooner, it has a fairly significant reservoir to start with.
Inside Samsung’s Galaxy Book Ion laptops is Intel’s 10th Generation Core (Comet Lake) processor paired with up to 16 GB of DDR4 memory, as well as an SSD with capacities up to 1TB. The 15.6-inch model sports an additional SO-DIMM slot, can house one more solid-state drive, and optionally includes NVIDIA’s GeForce MX 250 discrete GPU with 2 GB of VRAM for those who need a higher performance graphics.
As we are talking about high-end Project Athena-verified notebooks, the Galaxy Book Ion has plenty of wired and wireless connectivity, including Wi-Fi 6, a Thunderbolt 3 port, two USB 3.0 Type-A port, an HDMI output, a microSD/UFS card reader, and a 3.5-mm audio jack for headsets. Of course, Samsung also equipped its laptop with a fingerprint reader, a 720p webcam, a microphone array, and stereo speakers co-designed with AKG and enhanced with an amplifier.
| General Specifications of Samsung's Galaxy Book Ion | |||
| Galaxy Book Ion 13.3-inch |
Galaxy Book Ion 15.6-inch |
||
| Launch | Q4 2019 | Q4 2019 | |
| Display | Type | 13.3" | 15.6" |
| Resolution | 1920×1080 | ||
| Brightness | 600 nits | 600 nits | |
| CPU | 10th Gen Intel Core (Comet Lake) |
||
| Graphics | Intel UHD Graphics 630 (24 EUs) |
Intel UHD Graphics 630 (24 EUs) Optional: NVIDIA GeForce MX 250 2 GB |
|
| Memory | up to 16 GB DDR4 | up to 16 GB DDR4 + 1 SODIMM |
|
| Storage | SSD primary | up to 1 TB PCIe/NVMe SSD | |
| SSD secondary | - | Additional M.2 slot | |
| Card | UFS + microSD card reader | ||
| Wireless Connectivity | 2x2 Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) BT |
||
| Thunderbolt 3 | 1 × Thunderbolt 3 | ||
| USB | 2 × USB 3.0 Type-A | ||
| Display Outputs | DP 1.2 via TB3 HDMI |
||
| Webcam | 720p webcam | ||
| Battery | 69.7 Wh | ||
| Audio | Stereo speakers with Smart Amp 1 × microphone 1× TRRS jack |
||
| Dimensions | Width | 305.7 mm | 12.03" | 356.1 mm | 14.01" |
| Depth | 199.8 | 7.86" | 228 mm | 8.97" | |
| Thickness | 12.9 mm | 0.5" | 14.9 mm | 0.58" | |
| Weight | 0.97 kg | 2.13 lbs | 1.19 kg | 2.62 lbs 1.26 kg | 2.77 lbs (w/ dGPU) |
|
Samsung will start sales of its Galaxy Book Ion notebooks in December. Actual prices are unknown, but we are clearly talking premium products here.
Related Reading:
- Intel Unveils ‘Engineered for Mobile Performance’ Badge for Project Athena Program
- Samsung Announces Always-Connected Galaxy Book S Laptop with Snapdragon 8cx
- Samsung Unveils Galaxy Book2: 12-Inch, Snapdragon 850 with X20 LTE, 20 Hrs
- Samsung Unveils 2019 Notebook 9 Pen 13 & 15
- Samsung Notebook 7 Spin 13.3-inch Convertible Gets Quad-Core i5 & SSD, Loses Weight
- CES 2019: Samsung Announces The Notebook Odyssey
- CES 2019: Samsung Launches The Notebook 9 Pro And Notebook Flash
Source: Samsung
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s.yu - Wednesday, October 30, 2019 - link
Looks like...halfway between Sony and Apple. The most notable improvement would be the shrunken bezels.arsjum - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
I was thinking Surface Book. Look at the keyboard. :)mooninite - Wednesday, October 30, 2019 - link
Put a Vega powered Ryzen in one and I'll buy it.ET - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
Put a Navi powered Ryzen in one and I'll buy it. :)Though next gen Renoir will be Vega based, and there's a chance it will appear in such laptops, given its LPDDRX support and (hopefully) lower power consumption.
StevoLincolnite - Monday, November 4, 2019 - link
Doesn't matter if it's Vega or Navi really. We are bandwidth constrained when OEM's only throw in a single stick of DDR4 2400 DRAM anyway.Heck, bandwidth limited even in Dual Channel DDR4 2400mhz...
Either way, Ryzen notebook APU's are "okayish" for 720P gaming at low settings in most titles, but not more than that.
Teckk - Wednesday, October 30, 2019 - link
Looks good. The keyboard does not look like it has good travel though? And yes please, all laptops should be like this, without those stickers.nimi - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
These are just PR shots provided by the manufacturer, of course they're not plastered with stickers.I'll bet you a whole dollar it's gonna come with all the stickers at retail.
Retycint - Wednesday, October 30, 2019 - link
70Wh battery in a 13.3 inch, 1kg form factor. Sounds interesting. Most laptops of this size/weight usually only pack 50Wh batteries at mostnicolaim - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
1920×1080: fail.No mention of USB-C charging.
Monster battery for a 13" laptop though.
GreenReaper - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
I think it'll be acceptable forr the one with a 13.3" screen at ~227 DPI. Or maybe you want a taller form factor? Bear in mind you can only get integrated video in that model anyway.