Samsung today (June 3) announced the Galaxy Book Go, an inexpensive ARM-based laptop.

The Galaxy Book Go is the latest in Samsung's Galaxy Book laptop line, which spans the latest range of ultraportables. While other Galaxy Books offer more powerful components, better displays, and tablet features, none can match the Galaxy Book Go in one key metric: price.

Samsung's new ARM-based Galaxy Book is clearly targeted at children, students, and those who need an inexpensive laptop for light work. Nevertheless, here is what we know so far about Samsung's Galaxy Book Go.

Samsung plans to start selling the Galaxy Book Go on June 10 in the US through its website, with prices starting at $349.

The company also plans to release a version with 5G connectivity, the Samsung Galaxy Book Go 5G, later this year, with pricing yet to be determined.

The Samsung Galaxy Book Go has a fairly simple design, thin (only 0.6 inches thick), and all models are silver.

The 14-inch 1080p display appears to have large bezels at the top and bottom, with more attractive thinner bezels on either side. The hinge below it allows for 180-degree extension, allowing the screen to be pushed all the way down until the laptop is placed flat on a table and opened. The laptop's speakers are made with Dolby Atmos technology, so decent sound quality should be expected.

Samsung claims to have designed the Go with that in mind, subjecting it to MIL-STD-810G testing to make sure it will withstand high temperatures, low temperatures, thermal shock, vibration, low pressure, and humidity, so it should withstand considerable wear and tear.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 compute platform that powers the Samsung Galaxy Book Go is not known for its beastly performance. So don't order this laptop expecting to play the latest games.

But if you just want to browse the web, watch movies, or do light office work, the Galaxy Book's Snapdragon 7c should be able to handle it.

A big selling point of these Snapdragon chips is battery life. Designed to provide long-lasting performance, Samsung claims that the Galaxy Book Go can provide up to 18 hours of battery life on a single charge.

Of course, the battery life claimed by the manufacturer is rarely maintained under real-world conditions; we won't know how much battery life we can expect from the Galaxy Book Go until we test it in our hands.

The 14-inch TFT display built into the Galaxy Book Go is capable of 1920 x 1080 resolution, which should be sufficient for everyday use. However, it is a far cry from the AMOLED displays of the Galaxy Book Pro and Galaxy Book Pro 360, the more expensive laptops in Samsung's Galaxy Book lineup.

The Galaxy Book Go offers a reasonable selection of ports, including a throwaway USB 2.0 port for connecting older accessories.

The USB 2.0 port is on the right side alongside a USB-C port and a nano SIM slot (5G version only). On the left side is another USB-C port, a headphone/microphone jack, and a microSD card reader.

The Galaxy Book Go is the cheapest entry in Samsung's 2021 lineup of Galaxy Book laptops, and with a starting price of $349, it is a competitive It's likely to be the choice.

Of course, if you don't mind the relatively low power and performance of the Snapdragon chip powering the Galaxy Book, it would be a great option for those needing a laptop for light work and web browsing. If you already have some of Samsung's other Galaxy hardware, you can use the apps built into the Galaxy Book Go to share files and screens, and in some cases, share calls and notifications from other Galaxy devices.