One of the great promises of the modern age is that – in theory – it should be possible to work from anywhere. Whether you’re working on your side hustle from a coffee shop in Manhattan, or connecting to a corporate Zoom call from the beach in Bali, as long as you have your laptop, you can get serious work done. That’s the theory, anyway.
In reality, our laptops can be under-powered, sluggish to respond, and no longer capable of doing everything we demand from our technology today. If you haven’t upgraded in a few years, now could be a great time to pick up something new, with the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Book4 series – a collection of laptops that have been engineered to meet the demands of life in 2024.
Here’s our guide to the laptop trends that are making the difference, whether you’re crunching data, editing video or relaxing after a hard day of work by getting your game on.
Thinner, faster, quieter
The really striking thing about modern laptops is just how slim they are. Even compared with models from just a few years ago, the latest devices manage to squeeze more power and storage into an ever slighter aluminium frame. And the chips inside are becoming more powerful too.
For example, the 14-inch version of the Galaxy Book4 Pro is just 11.6mm thick – barely wider than the USB ports around the edge. And its big brother, the 16-inch Book4 Ultra, is only 16.5mm thick, and yet manages to pack an entire NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card in there, meaning you can game from anywhere as if you’re on a console or a desktop PC.
Incredible screens
When we think of screens, we often only look at technological jumps in terms of physical size or perhaps the leap to HD and Ultra-HD. But the truth is that screen technology has been improving on many other levels. Take the Galaxy Book4 Pro and Ultra models. They each pack in a 16in Dynamic AMOLED 2X touchscreen. This means it is ultra-thin, as AMOLED pixels generate their own light so do not require a backlight, and it is ultra sharp and vibrant with incredible colour accuracy.
Perhaps what makes the displays truly impressive though is that they are intelligent, meaning they will react to the light conditions, subtly adapting the on-screen colours to the environment you’re in. So whether you’re in a dark room or sitting in sunlight, the screen will appear bright and visible – and won’t have you straining your eyes.
Flexible form
Not all work is best performed with a mouse pointer and a keyboard. Sometimes we need to scribble notes, sketch out a diagram or use a highlighter. And it is for these reasons that many modern laptops are embracing flexibility – literally.
On the Galaxy Book4 360 and its Pro counterpart, for instance, sure, you can use it in clamshell mode like an ordinary laptop. When you’re tapping out a report or working through your emails, that’s what you need. But what about when you need to read through that huge PDF, or brainstorm with your colleagues over lunch?
To do so comfortably, you don’t need another device – you can simply pull back the screen so that it wraps around to the back of the keyboard, and use the Galaxy Book4 360 in tablet mode. The screen is touch-enabled, so you can scroll around with your fingers. And if you want to make any notes, simply pull out your S Pen stylus, and scribble on the screen.
The AI revolution
As ChatGPT, Bard and other tools have made clear, AI is changing everything we thought we knew about how computers work. And this is why in the Galaxy Book4 series, Samsung has chosen to pack in Intel Core Ultra processors as the brains of the operation within its Ultra and Pro series.
What makes these new chips special is that they are the first from the company to include a dedicated “neural processing unit” – or NPU – that has been specifically designed to handle AI workloads. And this is important, because AI tasks put very different computing demands on a system than traditional computation. And this is what’s needed if you want to take advantage of the latest features.
In the most recent update of Windows, Microsoft added a new AI companion, “Copilot”, which is like having an assistant to help you out across your entire computer. You can ask it to bring up personalised searches, generate images, compose text and messages, or even help you plan a holiday.
There are other apps taking advantage of AI too. For example, if you’re a graphic designer, Adobe has built generative AI tools directly into Photoshop1, to make it easier to remove backgrounds, change details or even generate entirely new images from scratch.
But crucially, to make all of these features work quickly and effectively, you need the number-crunching horsepower not just in the cloud, but locally in the machine on your lap. And this is something that only the newest chips, such as the Intel Core Ultra processors, can handle. So if you want to join the AI revolution, you’re going to need a new machine.
All about the ecosystem
A great team is capable of more than the sum of its individual parts – and the same is true for our digital devices. Whether we’re snapping photos on a phone or preparing documents on our PCs, we want to access our apps, media and our files wherever we are, whatever device that we’re using.
That’s why the final trend goes beyond the laptop – and is instead how your laptop no longer is about working in isolation. What really makes it special is when it can work as part of a team, exchanging the data that you need so that you can use and access it everywhere.
If you have a Galaxy Book4 series laptop and a Samsung Galaxy phone in your pocket, to take advantage of the mobile connectivity, all you need is two apps. Microsoft Phone Link will let you mirror apps to your laptop and transfer files between the two. And you can even handle your phone notifications on your computer too – with no need to pick up your phone2,3.
And better still, Samsung has also just launched a Samsung Phone app, which binds your phone and Book4 together even tighter. Once installed you can take calls from your phone right there on your PC2,4 – or even use your phone’s high quality camera as a webcam2,3,5. It all means that when that important call comes in as you’re working on the Bali beach, there’s no need to reach for your phone because you can pick up on your laptop. Just make sure that your boss doesn’t catch on quite how much you are living your best life.
Intrigued? You can start your digital nomad journey with the Samsung Galaxy Book4 series at samsung.com/uk/galaxy-book
© Intel Corporation. Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
AI features may require additional software purchase, subscription or enablement by a software or platform provider, or may have specific configuration or compatibility requirements. Details at intel.com/performanceindex. Results may vary.
1 Adobe subscription required.
2 Galaxy smartphone with One UI 1.0 or above required.
3 Microsoft account required.
4 Samsung account required.
5 Feature available in March.
