---
title: 'I Switched to the CHEAPEST Samsung Setup'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=M36cmbm6uhE'
video_id: 'M36cmbm6uhE'
date: 2026-06-13
duration_sec: 1085
---

# I Switched to the CHEAPEST Samsung Setup

> Source: [I Switched to the CHEAPEST Samsung Setup](https://youtube.com/watch?v=M36cmbm6uhE)

## Summary

Austin switches from Apple to the cheapest Samsung setup, including phone, laptop, tablet, watch, and earbuds, all for under $700. He finds the experience mixed, with some devices being surprisingly good value while others are frustratingly slow or buggy.

### Key Points

- **Switching to Samsung** [0:00] — Austin announces he's switching to a Samsung setup that costs less than a single iPhone, with all devices bought new from Samsung.
- **Galaxy A07 Phone** [0:21] — The Galaxy A07 costs $97, is an international model not sold in the US, and comes without US warranty but with six years of software updates.
- **Galaxy Chromebook Go** [1:32] — A $191 Chromebook with a dual-core 1GHz processor and 4GB RAM, which Austin finds very slow and with a poor screen.
- **Galaxy Tab A11** [2:40] — A $169 tablet that is actually an international model (A9+), with a small screen and buggy performance.
- **Galaxy Watch FE** [4:10] — A $170 smartwatch with LTE (unexpectedly), but suffers from poor battery life and Bluetooth disconnection issues.
- **Galaxy Buds Core** [5:18] — $53 earbuds that Austin finds fantastic for the price, with decent active noise cancellation.
- **Swapping Devices** [10:18] — Austin returns the Chromebook and A07, replacing them with a $65 Galaxy Book Go (Windows laptop with 5G) and a Galaxy A17 phone with OLED screen, saving $3 overall.
- **Final Verdict** [14:48] — After a week, Austin recommends the Galaxy Buds Core and Galaxy Book Go, finds the A17 decent, but does not recommend the Watch FE or Tab A11 due to bugs and crashes.

### Conclusion

The cheapest Samsung setup is a mixed bag: some devices like the Buds Core and Book Go offer great value, while others like the Watch FE and Tab A11 are disappointing. Overall, it's possible to get a functional Samsung ecosystem for under $700, but careful selection is key.

## Transcript

- Goodbye Apple.
Today I'm switching to a Samsung setup
that costs less than the
price of a single iPhone.
Now I tried this before
with all Apple products,
but with that video, I
had to go with used stuff.
This time around I was able
to get everything brand
new directly from Samsung.
We're talking about phone, laptop, tablet,
smart watch, headphones, you name it.
Starting out with, we have the phone.
Now Samsung makes some very cheap devices.
So as far as I understand,
the Galaxy A07 actually isn't largely sold
in the United States. So I
know when I bought this one...
In fact, it actually has
a little warning here.
This one was actually, I think,
a Latin American version, right?
- [Alex] Yes, that is correct.
- Now, if I would have spent more money,
of course I would get
better stuff, but considering
that we spent less than
$100 on this thing,
- [Alex] Yeah, absolutely.
We paid $97.
- For a fully functional
phone, that's pretty good.
Now, 100 bucks you probably would want
to consider buying a used phone,
but if this thing is brand
new, comes with a warranty,
comes with-
- [Alex] Ah, well, okay,
so remember that little asterisk
where you can't buy this in the US.
So that does mean that
you won't get warranty
from Samsung on it,
but you do still get like, you know,
like six years of software updates.
- Oh, I actually kind
of like that green, man.
I mean, obviously plastic,
at less than 100 bucks,
but it actually kinda looks nice.
It's got a little bit of texture on it.
It feels kind of similar
to, like, an S26 Plus
or something, like one of,
like, the larger devices.
It is unfortunately dead.
So I'm gonna go ahead and
plug it in, but that's fine.
It's probably sitting in
the box for a little while.
Now, of course we've gotta
get ourselves a laptop.
Now I know what you're thinking.
"Austin, you can't use a
Chromebook for anything.
What are you a fifth grader?"
I was once, but here's the thing.
- [Alex] Who's saying this stuff?
- I'm watching you Wazowski.
- I will say out of the
items we got from this video,
this Galaxy Chromebook is the one
that I'm the least confident in.
Alex, before I even open
it, how much did we pay
for the Galaxy Chromebook Go?
- [Alex] We paid $191 for
a brand new Chromebook.
- So less than $200 for a laptop.
Look, that's better than, like,
an HP Stream or something.
Oh, it's actually small.
Oh, okay, so it's just a huge
box and a small Chromebook.
Okay, got it.
Doesn't look terrible.
It's an interesting
two-tone kind of finish.
Not a huge amount...
Well, okay, this is a
decent amount of deck flex.
Again, less than 200 bucks.
We'll see how it is.
I have low expectations,
but, I mean, we're in
what, less than $300,
we have a fully functioning
phone and laptop at this point?
So when I think about cheap Samsung stuff,
my first instinct is
always the tablets, right?
So this is the Galaxy Tab A11.
Now...
- [Alex] Wait, A11?
- Wait, the back of it says A9.
The front of it says A11.
- Sick.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
- [Adriana] A 911?
- [Alex] I have an update that the A11,
the non-plus, just regular A11,
is an international model.
They only sell it in Latin America.
And the kicker is if
you try to buy the A11,
just this, whatever weird model on Amazon,
it's cheaper than what we paid.
- Okay, so we didn't get an upgrade.
We got a downgrade.
- [Alex] We did, yeah.
So they're set for...
Amazon is selling it for
$136 when we paid $169.
- So as you'd expect, it is
a small tablet that is not
that much bigger than our actual phone.
But I will say I actually have
slightly higher expectations.
'cause again, Walmart sell a
pretty decent little tablet
for less than 100 bucks.
So this is a lot more.
So this needs to not be garbage.
Okay, that seems like metal I think.
Oh my God.
Well, Puerto Rico's here.
This only lets you set up in a country
or region in Latin America.
(Alex laughing)
Okay, while this restarts
in Puerto Rican mode,
we're gonna go ahead and
take a look at our next item.
So, again, we're trying to do
a full complete setup, right?
So we've got ourselves a phone,
we've got ourselves a tablet,
we've got ourselves a laptop.
We also have to have a Galaxy Watch.
Now I don't use Galaxy
Watches very often, right?
I've dabbled in them a bit.
I'm not a huge smart watch guy,
but this is the Galaxy Watch FE.
I will say though, Alex.
- Yes?
- This has LTE.
Did I buy an LTE Galaxy Watch?
- [Alex] It didn't say it was LTE.
- Why is that so confusing?
I just bought stuff off of Amazon.
- [Alex] On the listing itself,
it does give you an option
for Bluetooth or LTE.
- Yep.
I did not pick LTE though.
- [Alex] That is correct.
We didn't buy the LTE version,
but they cost exactly the same.
So I guess they figured
they'll just give it to you.
- What was the price
that I paid versus what
I was supposed to pay?
'Cause I know that the
LTE was an upcharge,
that's why I didn't choose it.
- [Alex] Yeah, so we paid $170.
- A lot of money compared to
some of these other items,
but for a smart watch, you know...
Well, I look forward
to putting this one also
in Puerto Rican mode.
It does have... Oh, I
like the little band,
the little, like, little
pops of color on there.
It looks nice.
Nothing about this is
immediately screaming,
oh, it looks like a budget smartwatch.
I got my whole fleet of devices here.
I got my phone, my laptop,
my tablet, my watch all charging,
but we're still missing
a crucial component.
Now to round our setup out,
we have the Galaxy Buds Core.
Now I've never used the Cores,
but I actually am a big fan
of Galaxy Buds generally.
Correct me if I'm wrong here,
the Galaxy Buds Core
are not a very popular
or widely used device, right?
- [Alex] So this one
is the one that we knew
that kind of was for other markets.
- I will say, like, just at
first glance the case looks
very similar to the,
like, more expensive ones.
These Buds are kind like a
lot of other Samsung products
where they have that kind
of distinctive little, like, earbud shape
where they have the little wing tip.
We paid how much for these?
- [Alex] We paid $53.
- For 53 bucks,
you can still get some decent
wireless earbuds for sure,
but for Samsung stuff,
that's pretty cheap.
I gotta say, while this is
probably not the best Samsung
stuff you can get, obviously.
For way less than the price of an iPhone,
we've got an entire setup here.
So lemme go ahead, get
'em all paired and synced
and see what is it like to live
with the cheapest Samsung setup.
So it has been 24 hours
since I switched over
to my new Samsung gear
and there's a lot to talk about.
Some negative stuff for sure.
But I would say largely positive,
the number one word I would use is slow.
These pieces of tech are
generally pretty slow.
Now, that shouldn't be
a surprise considering
how little I paid for them,
but one area
that's been less than stellar
is the fingerprint sensor.
So for most phones these days,
you can tap to turn the
phone on. That doesn't work.
So I can click the button
and it will turn on, and
then I put my finger on it,
and it will unlock.
I'll say there's a couple of areas
that have been impressive on the A07.
The camera is one.
It doesn't have any stabilization
so you have to make sure
you keep your hands steady,
especially for video.
But the photos, especially with that 48,
or I think 50 megapixel
sensor, it's pretty good.
The screen is bright enough.
It's a little bit low res.
It's only 720p on a 6.7 inch display.
So you can definitely see the pixels
and especially, like,
reading, like, black text
on a white sort of background,
it actually hurts my eyes a little bit.
It actually looks straining
'cause it just looks very fuzzy
and certain apps don't
feel like they're being
very well optimized for
this kind of real estate.
I knew what I was getting
into with this video.
Obviously this stuff is very cheap, right?
So, I'm a spoiled tech YouTuber who likes
to play with all kind of fancy stuff.
So going to the very cheap stuff has been
a little bit of an adjustment.
Generally speaking as
right now 24 hours in,
the watch,
I'm gonna make sure I fully charge again
and see if maybe that battery
gets a little bit better.
That's my main concern there.
The phone, I'm only
really concerned about it
from a speed perspective.
Sometimes, it takes five
seconds to open an app
or it immediately kicks
everything out of the background
or whatever...
It feels like there's something lurking
in here that I need to figure out.
I was also using the Galaxy Tab.
I was actually kind of impressed with it.
So the screen isn't amazing, right,
as you kind of expect.
But I was watching some
YouTube and whatnot at home,
and it's actually, like,
the audio is pretty good.
It does have actual real stereo speakers.
The size is nice.
I will say it's not that
much bigger than my phone,
which feels a little bit weird,
but the audio is significantly better.
The screen is fine.
And for tablet stuff like watching video
and browsing and stuff,
it's actually all right.
So far, I will say that I am finding this
to be actually a better
setup than I expected,
but I'm already just 24 hours
in thinking about some ways
I would do things differently
if I were able to restart
from scratch or if I could wildly
and blatantly cheat and
swap some devices out
before the end of the challenge.
Okay, so I'm on day two
with my Samsung setup,
and a few thoughts.
I was going to go and take
everything to the gym yesterday.
However, my watch was basically dead
by the time I was done with work.
So I figured instead of
going home, waiting for it
to charge, trying again, I just
was gonna wait until today.
Now that being said,
today I did do things
a little differently.
I did turn off the always on display.
It did make a big difference
to the battery life.
I will say it feels
really silly to have a watch
that doesn't actually have
the time on it all the time.
That kind of defeats the purpose
'cause it takes a solid
second for you to, like,
raise your wrist for it to show up.
But regardless, in the gym,
watch actually worked really well.
All the Samsung Health stuff feels
like it's actually pretty well designed.
No real issues there.
And I'll actually say
that the Galaxy Buds Core are fantastic.
So I've got them in now.
They're really good for 50 bucks.
I mean the active noise
cancellation, not incredibly strong,
but certainly enough for you know,
a crowded environment like the gym.
I feel like something like an airplane.
Like, they're pretty good.
I do have to say that the A07 is starting
to grate on me a little bit.
I have tried to do a little
pass on it to you know,
disable more apps and speed
things up, and it's just slow.
And what else is becoming a pain point is
the Galaxy Chromebook.
Holy.
Like, it's fine if you
stay on one tab at a time,
but man, that thing is slow.
So, I do have an idea on how
to make some creative
modifications to my setup.
So I've used these things
for long enough to know that
I would like to make
some different decisions.
- [Alex] Well it's too late.
You have the setup that you have.
- [Adriana] You kind of
already decided your decision.
- Well, you say that, but
this is YouTube after all,
the platform where evolution
of storytelling craft
and Austin getting out
of using the ultra cheap things is
really part of the mission.
So the reason why I'm bouncing off
of this particular Chromebook
is that it is so slow.
It is a dual core one gigahertz processor,
four gigs of RAM.
And while at first, I
thought the screen was okay,
screen not okay.
Screen is very, very bad.
- Yeah.
- So, I may have taken
the liberty of ordering
a replacement laptop.
- [Alex] What do you mean replacement?
That is the cheapest...
That is the cheapest new laptop.
- The return policy is still good.
We don't have to worry
about this one anymore.
- [Alex] Yeah, but but that's still
the cheapest new Samsung laptop.
- Well you would think that that's true
and yet I found an even better
and even cheaper option,
which is still within
the theme of the video.
- [Alex] Oh, okay.
- If you, my friends at
home are watching this
and go, "Austin, tell
me what I should buy",
not this.
- [Alex] Hey, we still
have to return that.
This, my friends, while it
should look quite similar.
In fact, I think actually the hardware is
gonna be pretty much the same
looking for the most part,
in fact, actually very, very similar.
This is, instead of a Chromebook,
a Samsung Galaxy Book Go,
How much did I pay for
this Galaxy Chromebook?
- [Alex] You paid $191.
- $191.
- [Alex] It's pretty cheap for a laptop.
- [Austin] It's pretty cheap for a laptop.
Sorry, my phone's a little slow.
Lemme pull up the listing.
Just gimme a second.
This laptop costs me $65.
- [Alex] Well, okay, you know what?
- $65.
- $65.
That's crazy.
That's like-
- Yeah, so that was why when I saw this,
was like, wait a minute,
this is absolutely, even if,
again, it's not as powerful
as, like, an X Elite or
something, but that's fine.
It's gonna be leagues better than this.
It runs full Windows, it has 5G.
And while I hope the screen's better,
I don't think it actually is,
the fact that I can actually, you know,
do stuff with it as opposed to wait
for it to load one website
for like 30 seconds.
And if I may be so bold,
Alex, what's 191 minus 65?
How much is that again?
- [Alex] 127.
- $127.
Why?
How lovely is that?
Because, also, I got another phone.
- [Alex] Wait, wait, what?
What?
- I maybe decided to get a
slightly higher-end phone
because this functions,
it's better than I expected initially.
It is so slow.
So I figured why not treat
myself with my newfound riches
of the $120 that I definitely
got 'cause I'm returning this?
The Galaxy A17.
- [Alex] Oh, the actual cheapest phone
that you can get in the US.
- Correct.
So, what is my grand total from before
and after these swaps?
Because I think I saved money, right?
- [Alex] The old total was $680.
- 680.
- [Alex] The new total is $677.
- I saved $3, got a way better phone
and a way better laptop.
So it looks pretty similar.
And I do believe they share a lot.
So if you put them side by side,
you can see they both have,
like, the little depth sensor
which doesn't do anything.
But this one has not only an ultra wide,
but also, I think it has the same sensor
but it has OIS, which is
actually really quite nice.
This also has 128 gigs of storage,
which I believe this one has 64.
The big one for me, though,
is that this also has,
while it doesn't have a headphone jack,
it has an OLED.
But come on, you gotta admit
I did pretty good, right?
- [Alex] I will give
it to you on the phone.
I think that's a totally
reasonable upgrade.
- We'll see.
I think the laptop is
bending the rules quite a bit.
- I showed you the receipt,
I bought it for 65 bucks.
- [Alex] Yeah, but it wasn't new.
- And what we've learned today is
that don't buy a new $200 Chromebook.
If you're going all
Samsung, don't do that.
All righty my friends,
it has been over a week of
using these Samsung products,
and I have many, many, many thoughts.
You want the good or the bad first?
'Cause I got a lot.
I got a lot.
You can't shut me up.
- [Alex] Well, how about
your overall experience?
- I'm very happy I switched
over to the Galaxy A17.
It is so much better than the
A07 in almost every regard.
Performance is a bit better,
but the OLED is so much better.
It's higher resolution.
The fact that it has 5G
means I actually have service
in a lot more areas.
The camera is better.
The ultra wide actually exists.
It's not like a night and day difference,
but I'll say that it is
well worth the extra money
because the A07 was so slow
and that screen was so bad
that it was driving me crazy.
A17 solid.
The Galaxy Book Go, not a perfect laptop.
As you could probably
see, the screen is (beep).
However, that's the technical phrase.
It's still bad.
It's 1080p but it is
like a very washed out
sort of like LCD panel.
It's quite bad.
But performance wise, it's
actually usable, right?
Only eight gigs of RAM,
but, again, this is a 5G
enabled laptop I bought
for like 60 something bucks, right?
It is so much better than the Chromebook.
So much more powerful, so much quicker.
This is actually a laptop
that the screen is really the
only major downside with it.
So, overall, for the
core items, pretty good.
If I was gonna rank them, I'd
say that the Galaxy Buds Core
and the Galaxy Book Go,
especially considering what I paid
for it, legitimately recommend.
I would say that the A17 is decent.
It's not my favorite way of spending $200,
but it is a very usable phone.
It's pretty solid.
And I would say that would not recommend,
pretty much at all, the Galaxy
Watch FE or the Tab S11.
These are both, to me,
they're not amazing deals,
and they're not really that usable, right?
I mean the the buginess,
the crashing really on both
of these things has been a real
sort of deal breaker for me.
The watch, since I've gotten it,
routinely disconnects
from Bluetooth sometimes.
I will not notice this until
I look down at the watch
and realize it's not been connected
and I've been missing
notifications the last few hours,
right?
Then there's stuff like the Tab, right?
So my first impression of the Tab,
even though it's not the
one I wanted to order,
was generally okay.
Like, the speakers are pretty
good, the screen's okay.
But the problem is it's just been sort
of buggy, is probably the
best way to describe it.
I didn't use it for a day
and it drained the battery
by itself, which fair enough.
I recharged it last night.
I went to go watch a video
and it took like three
or four minutes to boot.
It landed on the home screen,
crashed, and rebooted.
I had to wait another three
or four minutes to
actually, like, light up.
And when I went to go watch
a beautiful Mr. Mobile video,
the video was stuck playing at 10 FPS.
Even though I, like,
literally, I paused the video,
I let it sit there and make
sure it was fully booted,
nothing's running in the background,
and it was just choppy, right?
Sometimes it would be smooth,
sometimes it would be choppy,
but, like, I couldn't watch the video
for more than 30 seconds
without it dropping a ton of frames,
and it was bothering me.
So I'm very curious, what do you think
about the cheapest Samsung setup?
And would you take this over
the cheapest Apple setup
that we recently did?
And you can check that video out here.
Make sure to let me
know the comments below.
Subscribe to channel and ring-a-ling
that ding-a-ling button.
Until next time, my friends.
I miss my Z Fold.
(Austin chuckling)