Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon chips have rapidly transformed Windows on Arm into a viable platform. We've tested more than a half-dozen laptops with the new processors, and even the least powerful chips matched previous generations of Intel and AMD in processor performance and beat them in battery life. But I tried to get a laptop with the fastest Snapdragon Qualcomm processor to see if it could do more. I saw a high -class class model in April on a demonstration machine, and it seemed that it would be a chip that would help introduce a new era of Windows faster and more efficient Windows and take the Apple MacBook Air M3 in this way that Intel or AMD could not achieve. 

The X1E-84-100 chip should be 20% faster than the next model. Samsung has an opportunity to create a laptop that can unleash the full potential of the platform. Instead, it underpowered the hell out of that chip to have the thinnest chassis possible. There’s still a good laptop in the Book4, but you don’t need to buy the best chip to get it  and you’d actually be better off saving the cash.

 Surprisingly portable

The heavy, barely portable 16 -inch laptop is the past, making a larger screen more and more attractive. The end of the fourth book further expands the limit of 16 inch machines. It’s one of the few 16-inch laptops that’s less than half an inch thick and weighs less than 3.5 pounds, making it one of the most portable large laptops around. I'm not afraid to leave it because it is easier to hold.

The keyboard's feel is responsive but not attention-grabbing. I do like the fact that the keys are not too shallow and that they don't make a lot of noise, especially for a heavy-fingered typist like myself. But they feel sluggish. The actual press feels slower and softer than I anticipated. I don't flat-out hate them, but after typing on the Asus Zenbook S 16   another 16-inch laptop that's almost the same size and weight   I just don't want to go back to Samsung's.

Performance

BOOK4 Edge is a perfect environment for a quick and reliable machine in an environment that needs work, school, or necessary things. The laptop opens programs a bit faster than many competing AMD  or Intel-based machines, and can handle loads of browser tabs and streaming video as well, but by prioritizing design over performance, Samsung missed the opportunity to show off what Qualcomm's fastest Snapdragon chips are capable of. The base Book 4 Edge model comes equipped with a Snapdragon processor and also boosts the maximum clock speed of its two cores from 3.8GHz to 4.2GHz.

Like many processors, the Snapdragon X Elite chips can work across a pretty wide power range: give it more power, and it'll go faster. It will also produce more heat. The thinner the laptop, the less room there is for the cooling system to dissipate that heat, and the less power you can give the processor as a result. By underpowering the chip, Samsung keeps the temperature under control and the chassis thin. Fortunately, the Book4 Edge not hitting its max clock speed does not have any effect on how it feels to use every day. It's still around the same speed as the other Snapdragon X Elite laptops we've tested.