Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC initiative has introduced some impressive laptops, including the HP OmniBook X and Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x. These devices showcase strong Windows on Arm performance and impressive battery life. However, the MacBook Air 15, powered by Apple’s M3 processor, remains a formidable contender, boasting exceptional efficiency. Now, Samsung enters the fray with the Galaxy Book4 Edge 16, aiming to claim the throne as the best thin-and-light machine.
The Galaxy Book4 Edge 16, with its lengthy name, offers two configurations. The base model, priced at $1,950 (currently on sale for $1,450), features a Qualcomm Snapdragon X1E-80-100 chipset, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 16.0-inch 3K OLED display. For $2,250 ($1,750 on sale), you get the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 and a 1TB SSD. In contrast, the MacBook Air 15 offers only one chipset option, the 8-core CPU/10-core GPU M3, paired with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD for $1,299. All models share the same 15.3-inch 2880 by 1864 Liquid Retina (IPS) display. Upgrading the MacBook Air 15 to 24GB of RAM and 2TB of storage increases the price to $2,499. Therefore, the Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 emerges as a more affordable option at the higher end, especially during sales, but it sacrifices RAM and storage capacity.
Aesthetically, the Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 (hereafter referred to as Galaxy Book4) adopts a rather conventional design with traditional lines and angles. While it boasts a Sapphire Blue color with lighter keycaps, the overall design lacks any distinctive features and is somewhat uninspiring, especially with its large bottom bezels. The MacBook Air 15, on the other hand, retains Apple’s blockier aesthetic, which manages to project an elegant appearance. It offers four color options: Midnight, Starlight, Space Gray, and Silver, all featuring black keycaps that create a visually appealing contrast.
In terms of build quality, both machines impress with their all-aluminum chassis and lids, exhibiting minimal bending or flexing. Both laptops are remarkably thin and light, especially considering their larger size. However, the MacBook Air 15 pulls ahead with its Magic Keyboard and Force Touch haptic touchpad. While the Magic Keyboard has a relatively shallow profile, it provides crisp, precise keystrokes. The Galaxy Book4’s keyboard, however, feels reminiscent of Apple’s now-discontinued butterfly switch keyboard, delivering a stiff, wooden typing experience. Its mechanical touchpad suffers from poor palm recognition, erratic swiping, and loud clicks.
Connectivity patterns take an interesting turn. The MacBook Air 15 offers a limited selection of ports: two Thunderbolt 4 ports and a MagSafe 3 connection for power. The Galaxy Book4, in contrast, maintains the same number of Thunderbolt 4 ports but adds a couple of legacy connections and a microSD card reader. It also boasts more up-to-date wireless capabilities. Both laptops feature 1080p webcams, and as a Copilot+ PC, the Samsung Galaxy Book4 benefits from enhanced Microsoft Studio Effects software for AI-assisted background blur and other features. Its neural processing unit (NPU) runs at 45 tera operations per second (TOPS), surpassing the 18 TOPS of the MacBook Air 15’s Neural Engine.
Performance-wise, the Galaxy Book4 utilizes the second-fastest Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chip, the X1E-84-100. Like all Snapdragon X Elite versions, it boasts 12 CPU cores (eight performance and four efficient), clocking in at a speedy 3.8GHz with a 4.2GHz dual-core boost. The Qualcomm Adreno GPU runs at 4.6 TFLOPS. The MacBook Air 15, with its 8-core CPU/10-core GPU, provides fewer publicly available specifications. In benchmarks that run natively on Windows on Arm, the platform used by the Galaxy Book4, the Qualcomm chipset demonstrates a significant performance advantage. While these results come from the 13-inch MacBook Air M3, the 15-inch model is expected to deliver comparable, if not slightly improved, performance. The Galaxy Book4 outperforms in Geekbench 6 multi-core and Cinebench 2024 multi-core by 27%, while lagging slightly behind in single-core benchmarks (5% and 12% slower). The M3’s GPU proves to be 13% faster in the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme benchmark, which is native to both Windows on Arm and macOS. Consequently, the Galaxy Book4 emerges as the faster option in productivity workflows.
The M3 chipset incorporates various CPU optimizations for specific creative tasks like video encoding and decoding, which, when combined with the faster GPU, elevate the MacBook Air 15’s performance in certain creative apps such as Adobe’s Premiere Pro.
Display quality is another area where these laptops differentiate themselves. The MacBook Air 15 boasts an impressive 2880 by 1864 IPS display with exceptional brightness, wide color gamut, and accurate color reproduction. While the Galaxy Book4 delivers wider colors, its accuracy falls short, particularly considering its OLED technology. Nonetheless, it achieves perfect blacks for near-infinite contrast. Both displays are more than adequate for productivity users. Creators will appreciate both displays, though some may hesitate due to the Samsung’s less-than-perfect color accuracy, which is unusual for OLED. The OLED panel shines for media consumption.
Portability is a key factor in this comparison. Both laptops are remarkably thin and light, exceeding the typical thinness of most laptops, let alone those with larger displays. The MacBook Air 15 holds a slight edge in both dimensions, although the difference is barely noticeable in actual use. They remain large machines but won’t weigh you down significantly.
Battery life, however, presents a more substantial difference. Although the Qualcomm chipset is designed for remarkable efficiency, surpassing Intel’s Meteor Lake chipsets in this regard, Apple Silicon remains the undisputed champion of efficiency. The MacBook Air 13, equipped with the same M3 chipset, lasted an astounding 19.5 hours in both our web browsing and video looping benchmarks. The Galaxy Book4, while exceeding the average for Windows laptops, falls short with 12.5 hours and 14.5 hours in the same tests. This places it well behind the MacBook Air 15, which may even surpass the endurance of its 13-inch counterpart. For those prioritizing multi-day battery life, the MacBook Air 15 emerges as the clear winner.
In conclusion, the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16, while impressive, fails to dethrone the MacBook Air 15. Its design is rather unremarkable, its keyboard and touchpad disappoint, and while it outperforms the MacBook Air 15 in certain tasks, the difference is often negligible for most users. The OLED display offers some benefits, but not as significant as one might expect. Meanwhile, the MacBook Air 15 exudes a more attractive aesthetic, feels superior in hand, and boasts vastly superior battery life. These conclusions would also apply to the MacBook Air M3 13-inch compared to the 14-inch Galaxy Book4. Apple continues to hold the title of the best laptop maker.
