It’s hard not to be
skeptical of news articles you read on April 1. After all, some tech companies
and media outlets do enjoy a good prank on April Fools’ Day.
But this announcement
from Samsung does not fall into that category. The South Korean electronics
maker today announced two new laptops that will actually hit the stores
shelves.
They are called Notebook
5 and Notebook 3 and come with a premium design, 8th generation
quad-core Intel Core “Kaby Lake R” processors, and large displays.
The Notebook 5 is the
more powerful option of the two, featuring the fastest graphics card of the
bunch, namely an NVidia MX150 with 2GB of GDDR5 RAM.
The Notebook 3, which is
offered in a 14-inch and a 15-inch version, can be had only with a built – in
or slower MX110 graphics card, respectively.
The Notebook 5 comes with
a 15 – inch display, with 1080p resolution and what Samsung calls “Wide Viewing”
(Which probably indicates the panel’s IPS technology), while the 15-inch Notebook
3 can also be had with a lower-resolution HD display.
Meanwhile, the 14-inch
Notebook 3 is equipped with an HD panel only. All laptops come with DDR RAM
(Samsung does not mention the amount that’s available or if it can be
expanded), an SSD and HDD combo, a VGA camera and 43Wh battery.
What’s interesting is
that Samsung will also offer these models with dual-core Kaby Lake (7th
generation) Core processors, most likely to lower the barrier of entry for
consumers who do not want the better performance or battery like that the
current generation offers.
Both the Notebook 5 and
Notebook 3 in 15-inch trim weigh 1.97 kg they measure 377.4 x 248.6 x 19.9 mm
and 37734 x 248.6 x 19.6 mm, respectively.
The 14-inch Notebook 3 is
the smallest and lightest of the bunch, as you would expect, coming in at 1.66
kg and 336 x 232.9 x 19.8 mm.
Samsung says that the
Notebook 5 and Notebook 3 will be available starting this month in South Korea,
with other markets to follow in the coming months. There is no word on pricing
or exact specifications at this stage.
