Samsung Galaxy Book

Gorgeous Screen, but Pricy

- Joel Santo Domingo

The Samsung Galaxy Book is a 2-in-1 detachable-hybrid tablet running Windows 10. It’s Samsung’s answer to the Microsoft Surface Pro 4, our current top pick. Because of their included hardware keyboards, 2-in-1 laptops are better bets for productivity than slate tablets. (Ever tried editing a long Word document on an iPad?) The Galaxy Book packs a brilliant Super AMOLED screen, LTE connectivity, and an impressive 14 hours of battery life, which help it stand out in a crowded field. The downside: You get only 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, and at this price, you should get at least double that.

THE SCREEN IS THE STAR

The Galaxy Book’s 12-inch touch-enabled 2,160-by1,440-resolution Super AMOLED display very well may be the main reason to buy this tablet. Images are crystal clear, and colors pop. The screen is accurate and a good match when you use programs such as Adobe Lightroom CC for organizing and proofing photos. The display on the Galaxy Book looks brighter, has better black levels, and shows more details than the In-Plane Switching (IPS) displays on the Huawei MateBook and Surface Pro 4.

Bundled with the Galaxy Book is Samsung’s excellent S Pen stylus. The size and shape of a regular ink pen, it has 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, and it doesn’t need an AAAA battery like the Surface Pen or to be periodically charged like the Apple Pencil. The stylus supports Windows Ink and full-brush tilting in programs such as Adobe Photoshop, which makes it a useful tool for digital artists.