Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro Review: When it involves Windows laptops—and particularly skinny and light-weight laptops—designed to do on a regular basis work whereas being gentle, transportable, and highly effective, there are only a few choices. Most don’t have notably good battery life, and a few are simply not highly effective sufficient to deal with the each day strenuous duties customers throw at them.
With the Galaxy Book 3 Pro, Samsung sought to just do that—and in a means, it has achieved most of it. The laptop computer screams premium, is tremendous light-weight, comes with highly effective internals, and battery life isn’t an achilles heel. This is our full evaluate of the Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro.
Our unit has a thirteenth Gen Intel Core i7-1360P, clocked at 2.20 GHz and comes with 16GB RAM. It positive is pricey, with a sticker value of Rs 1,55,990, however guarantees a premium Windows expertise that only some others can match. Read on to search out out if the most recent Galaxy Book 3 Pro is value your cash.
Display: AMOLED Goodness, All Day, Everyday!
Before going into the evaluate interval of the Galaxy Book 3 Pro, I used to be testing the ASUS ROG M16, which had a 16-inch mini LED panel, however as soon as I moved to the Galaxy Book 3 Pro, I might instantly discover how good Samsung’s 14-inch panel was—with its inky deep blacks, correct shade copy, all whereas being tremendous sharp with a 3K (2880 x 1800) decision. Like the previous couple of generations of MacBook Pro’s, the Galaxy Book 3 Pro gives a 120 Hz refresh fee, and boy, it’s easy.
Browsing the online, watching YouTube and OTT on the 14-inch AMOLED panel is a pleasure. And, with OLED panels notorious for burn-in, I examined the panel for indicators of burn-in and even stored an idle picture for nearly 12 hours at a stretch in a single day for a number of days, however I’m joyful to say that the show has proven no indicators of burn-in but. Also, you gained’t have any points engaged on the laptop computer in broad daylight—let’s say whereas sitting in a café—as a result of it’s a lot brilliant.
The show additionally helps 120% of the DCI-P3 shade gamut, so modifying images on Photoshop or reviewing recordsdata goes to be a stellar expertise.
Speaking of Photoshop, let’s discuss efficiency.
Performance: Don’t Keep High Expectations, But It Is Surprisingly Capable
As talked about earlier, our unit has the thirteenth Gen Intel Core i7-1360P processor, however you may additionally select the cheaper Core i5 mannequin, however that may not be as highly effective. On paper, being a P collection processor, you’d assume the Galaxy Book 3 Pro wouldn’t be capable of do a lot in any respect, however that’s not true. And, whereas it’s no efficiency champ—having the ability to play the most recent AAA titles or dealing with a number of layers of 4K LOG footage in Adobe Premiere Pro, the Galaxy Book 3 Pro holds its personal in apps like Photoshop, Lightroom, and primary modifying on DaVinci Resolve 18. I examined all of the above-mentioned apps, and because of 16GB DDR5 reminiscence, the laptop computer handles every part properly and barely skips a beat till after an hour or so. I did discover that it bought uncomfortably scorching after some time—when it was within the high-performance mode—however being a steel chassis, it’s anticipated, and does calm down. After an hour of intense work, you may anticipate it to throttle—bringing the efficiency down.
(*3*)
Also, only for the enjoyable of it, I did set up Xbox GamePass and put in Death’s Door on it. You can get a wonderfully playable expertise in case you drop the decision right down to 1080P. So, you may anticipate it to energy by most indie video games which don’t require a lot horsepower.
But, if I had been you, I wouldn’t purchase the Galaxy Book 3 Pro for its efficiency, I’d purchase it for the steadiness it gives between portability, energy, and good aesthetics.
Design and Keyboard: Great Build, Better Keyboard
Let me begin with the construct high quality first, and right here, it’s secure to say it rivals the perfect, together with the MacBooks. With an all-metal chassis, a big glass trackpad, a well-designed hinge, and being light-weight, the Galaxy Book 3 Pro screams premium.
In all equity, the design and the shape issue are why anybody ought to take into account shopping for this laptop computer within the first place. Not solely does it look minimal, and simply the correct quantity {of professional} for a enterprise setting, however the laptop computer additionally is sort of snug to journey with—weighing in at simply 1.17KG (14-inch variant). Yes, it’s fairly harking back to the MacBooks, however that’s okay, and I’m joyful that Samsung went that route.
Now, so far as the keyboard goes, I’m equally impressed. Not solely is it satisfying to sort on, however as I sort this evaluate on the exact same keyboard, I can discover that it has barely worn out. Trust me, I sort quite a bit, and my MacBook Air M1 had already began sporting out inside a month of use—with a shiny glow changing the matte texture of the keys. But with the Galaxy Book 3 Pro, I’m but to see it. It has already been greater than a month of use, and it nonetheless appears to be like pretty much as good as new.
I’m additionally typing pretty comfortably on it, however I do have a minor gripe with it. While typing, the perimeters on the chassis might damage your wrist after lengthy hours of typing, however that’s not due to the keyboard, it’s the sharp edges of the underside chassis. I want Samsung curves it a bit of in future releases.
For I/O, the Galaxy Book 3 Pro comes with a modest number of ports—one full-size HDMI, one microSD card slot, a USB 3.2 Type-A port, and a few USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4. I’d have most popular an SD card port as an alternative of a microSD port, however I’ll take it.
Battery Life and Charging: Okay, Not Great
Compared to most ultrathin Windows laptops, the Galaxy Book 3 is a large enchancment however a far cry from Samsung’s claimed numbers. The 63Wh battery will final you round 3-4.5 hours on 50% brightness—whereas doing gentle duties like looking the online or typing a Word doc.
But in case you plan on doing heavy duties similar to modifying a RAW file in Adobe Photoshop, anticipate it to final round three hours most. Let me make clear that battery life might differ for you relying on how you employ your machine, however for me, this was the typical mark if it was used each day.
Samsung has bundled a 65W charger within the field, and that may prime up the laptop computer from zero to full in round lower than two hours. The brick itself is small and may match into most backpacks simply.
Minor Annoyances
I don’t know if it’s simply me or the MacBook’s fingerprint reader has spoiled me, however the fingerprint reader on the Galaxy Book 3 Pro isn’t as correct as another readers I’ve seen. It fails to acknowledge my finger usually—regardless of re-registering it a number of instances.
Another gripe I’ve with the Galaxy Book 3 Pro are its audio system. They aren’t as loud as, say, one thing just like the MacBook Air M2, and might sound hole at max quantity. Now that summers are right here in full swing, I might hardly hear Sheldon taking part in round together with his science discuss whereas watching Big Bang Theory on the laptop computer—however as soon as I turned off the ceiling fan and switched on the AC, I might hear him once more. This isn’t anticipated from a laptop computer that prices this a lot.
As talked about earlier, the laptop computer does get heat, and the warmth trickles right down to the half the place the trackpad is, and alongside it—making it uncomfortable and your palms sweaty if you’re not in an air-conditioned setting.
But, aside from these, I can’t discover something a lot else to complain in regards to the Galaxy Book 3 Pro, possibly besides its value. But what can I say, it’s meant to be offered as a premium product—a part of the Samsung ecosystem, and that’s the place it delivers essentially the most.
The Ecosystem: Real Value
Like Apple, manufacturers like Samsung are pushing laborious to create a well-rounded ecosystem of merchandise that work with one another—complementing all. Here, the Galaxy Book 3 Pro excels. I’ve been utilizing the laptop computer with a Galaxy S23 and the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro—basically the entire ecosystem, and to be trustworthy, the expertise has been nothing wanting phenomenal. It’s simple to switch recordsdata identical to AirDrop, you should use your Galaxy cellular system as a secondary prolonged display screen, you may drag and drop recordsdata between them, you may decide up calls—it simply works.
In all equity, the expertise is turning into fairly shut, if not higher in sure issues, to what Apple gives with its gadgets, and that’s simply good to see. I hope Samsung continues to iterate on the characteristic set and make it even higher with time as a result of, let’s be trustworthy, that’s the place essentially the most worth is.
Verdict: A Solid Premium Windows Laptop That Unfortunately Costs A Lot
As good because the laptop computer is—with its class-leading 3K AMOLED panel, nice construct high quality, keyboard, and multimedia expertise—for the value, it’s laborious to advocate the Galaxy Book 3 Pro until it’s essential to have a Windows laptop computer. The use case for the Galaxy Book 3 Pro isn’t well-defined, and for Rs 1,55,990, the laptop computer finds itself in the midst of each the high-end MacBook Pro with Apple silicon and the equally nice entry-level MacBook Air M1 and M2. Not to neglect, if you’re an influence person, there are alternatives just like the ASUS ROG gaming laptops.
So, until you completely need to get into the Samsung ecosystem, skip it.
