Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 review: Gorgeous upgrades, solid value

Price When Reviewed

$1699.99

Best Prices Today: Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360

Samsung’s Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 laptop computer packs in a self-contained movie show, a sketchpad for digital artists, and an all-day productiveness machine that may digitally connect with different Galaxy gadgets inside a single, 16-inch, 360-degree convertible laptop computer. Capping all of it off is a beautiful, highly effective new OLED show that places virtually all of its rivals and predecessor to disgrace.

Consider this $1,699 (MSRP) laptop computer for what it will probably do after hours in addition to your workday. While its 13th-gen Intel Core processor doesn’t outperform every little thing in its class, you’ll discover a ton underneath its hood that few rivals supply. So buckle up—there’s loads to speak about.

Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360: What it presents and the place it matches

Samsung’s Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 is certainly one of a small family of new Book3 laptops that consists of the Book3 Ultra, the Book3 Pro, the Book3 Pro 360, and the Book3 360. The Book3 Ultra is a brand new addition to the household, sporting an Nvidia RTX GeForce 4xxx GPU inside a thicker body. The Book3 Pro is Samsung’s conventional clamshell, transport in both a 14-inch or 16-inch dimension, with a pound of weight’s value of a distinction between the 2.

The Book3 Pro 360, which we check right here, is a single 16-inch 360-degree convertible laptop computer that may be folded again into pill mode, however is in any other case much like the Pro. Since it’s designed for inking, the Book3 Pro 360 additionally contains an built-in S Pen contained in the field. The cheaper Book3 360 doesn’t and makes use of the extra conventional 1080p show decision as an alternative. We had been additionally informed that the Book3 Pro 360 features a 5G choice. Our overview unit doesn’t supply that function, nevertheless, and it wasn’t listed on the index of Galaxy Book3 laptops Samsung has printed.

Mark Hachman / IDG

We reviewed Samsung’s Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 final yr. This yr, Samsung presents substantial upgrades from prime to backside. Save for the Book3 360, all members of the Book3 household—the Pro, Pro 360 and Ultra—now ship with a considerably improved AMOLED 2X show, which we’ll talk about under.

If you’re shopping for the Book3 Pro 360, you will have solely the choice of 16GB of RAM and both 512GB or 1TB of SSD storage. But Samsung can also be providing a free improve to the 1TB tier, which signifies that there’s primarily only one, upgraded mannequin of the Pro 360 out there.

Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360: Specifications and options

• Processor: Intel Core i7-1360P
• Display: 16-inch (2,880×1,800) contact, 120Hz AMOLED 2X, 400 nits, 120 % DCI-P3 coloration quantity
• Memory: 16GB LPDDR5
• Storage: 512GB/1TB SSD (512TB as examined)
• Graphics: Iris Xe
• Ports: 2 Thunderbolt 4, USB Type-A, HDMI 1.4, microSD, headphone/mic
• Security: Fingerprint reader
• Camera: 1080p (user-facing)
• Battery: 76Wh
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 6E (Gig+), 802.11 ax 2×2, Bluetooth 5.1
• Audio: AKG Quad Speaker (two 5W woofers, two 2W tweeters), Smart Amp, Dolby Atmos
• Operating system: Windows 11 Home
• Dimensions:  13.99 x 9.93 x 0.50in. (12.7mm)
• Weight: 3.66lbs (rated)
• Colors: Graphite, Beige (Graphite as examined)
• Price:  $1,699 from Samsung, transport Feb. 17

The Pro 360 is the premium choice of the 2 360-degree convertibles Samsung ships throughout the Book3 household, which permits it to fold again on itself in both laptop computer, tent, or pill modes.

Laptops have usually shipped with both 15-inch or 17-inch choices, so this 16-inch mannequin with a 16:10 show feels reasonably spacious. Normally, Samsung Galaxy Book laptops are recognized for being skinny and light-weight, however the additional room provides weight: 3.66 kilos isn’t that heavy, however it’s noticeable in your bag. The upside is that these notebooks cost with the identical tiny gallium nitrate (GaN) charger that accompanies its Galaxy telephones, so packing the Book3 Pro 360 and its charger for a piece journey will in all probability really feel lighter than a rival pocket book and its conventional energy brick. The new Book3 convertible remains to be surprisingly skinny, although—not as completely skinny because the 0.44 inches Apple cites for its MacBook Air (M2), however at 0.50 inches, shut sufficient.

Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360: An improved OLED show value speaking about

Samsung’s Galaxy Book Pro 360 emerges from its field as a svelte, slick slab of aluminum that appears greater than its precise 14 inches or so of width. Open it up with a finger, and the laptop computer’s attractive OLED reveals itself. Just do watch out with that finger, although. Our Graphite (black) overview unit the corporate offered attracts smudges very simply, particularly oils from fingers. Keep a material useful.

As the boot cycle begins, you’ll see why we expect it’s value speaking first about why the Book3 collection represents such a major improve over the Book2: the up to date AMOLED display. You received’t see the faint glow of an LED-lit display, since OLEDs emit gentle on a per-pixel foundation. Instead, when you briefly anticipate the white “Samsung Galaxy” font to be displayed on the jet-black background, don’t be stunned in case your first thought is, is that this factor really on?

Put merely, Samsung’s newest AMOLED 2X show claims enhancements in each visible efficiency and visible high quality. First, there’s merely the dramatic enchancment in decision. The Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 defaulted to 1080p shows, however now the Book3 Pro 360 features a 16-inch 2,880×1,800 show, which the producer characterizes as a “3K” (versus a 4K) show.

If you’re utilizing the Book3 Pro 360 for productiveness, there’s one thing right here for you, too: a brand new 120Hz show refresh charge. This could also be much less noticeable by way of transferring your mouse round, however inking with the built-in S Pen is markedly smoother when utilizing a high-refresh show. Gamers additionally favor 120Hz refresh charges and above, as increased refresh charge leads to smoother gameplay. That’s much less vital right here, because the Pro 360 merely makes use of Intel’s built-in GPU for graphics.

OLED shows’ inky blacks already present a marked visible improve in comparison with the glowy backgrounds of darkish scenes lit by LED-backed show. The Book3 Pro 360 is now VESA ClearMR and DisplayHDR TRUE BLACK 500 licensed, although that isn’t fairly as spectacular because it sounds. While its show can produce some respectable HDR effects just like premium TVs, they received’t be fairly as profound.

Samsung claims that the laptop computer produces 120 % of the DCI-P3 coloration gamut, which merely interprets into brighter, extra vivid colours than a distinct show. Our colorimeter checks merely reported the colour gamut as near 100 %, although that may very well be a fault of the testing {hardware}. The Pro 360 OLED show does function devoted modes for DCI-P3, AdobeRGB and sRGB, in addition to an “Auto” mode that presumably optimizes itself for the applying. We examined with out utilizing an adaptive coloration function that may additionally regulate colours relying upon what the laptop computer detects about your surroundings. That function might be enabled throughout the Windows settings.

We can also’t but check Samsung’s declare that the AMOLED 2X show reduces blue gentle by 78 % whereas in darkish mode, a noteworthy promoting level if true. Blue gentle can set off migraines and have an effect on sleep. Dark mode doesn’t seem to skew the show towards heat colours, which is often the way in which Windows customers can filter out blue gentle.

Mark Hachman / IDG

In all, the Pro 360’s show emits 392 nits of luminance, in response to our checks, sufficient for the laptop computer for use in a shiny room. Be conscious, although, that the display is fairly shiny, and displays your background simply.

Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360: Chassis and ports

Structurally, the Pro 360 feels far more like a typical convertible. Flipping the keyboard again works nicely for watching films or an impromptu enterprise presentation. As anticipated, the laptop computer’s hinge was sturdy sufficient to help it in both context.

The setup course of encourages you to combine your Galaxy Book3 with different members of the Samsung Galaxy ecosystem, particularly your telephone. We weren’t supplied with the newest Galaxy S23 smartphone for overview, however you may join older telephones. There are some advantages to that, which we’ll point out under. Otherwise, organising the Book3 Pro 360 is much like organising every other Windows pocket book.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Thin, gentle laptops can deliver tradeoffs, and the Book3 Pro 360 does produce a reasonably loud although impartial hiss as air is sucked in by means of a superb grille on the backside and is pushed out by means of the again. Fortunately, the laptop computer’s followers solely kick in underneath substantial load, which doesn’t embrace film playback. That’s vital, given content material consumption is a vital cause to this laptop computer. We couldn’t detect any of the distracting high-pitched whine that some followers produce, although, so you must be capable of tune it out or regulate the efficiency mode within the Samsung Settings app. There are High Performance, Quiet, and Silent modes to select from along with the default Optimized mode.

The Pro 360 contains two Thunderbolt 4 ports with a USB-C interface, plus a USB-A port for legacy gadgets like a wired mouse. Samsung additionally features a microSD slot of an undisclosed nature and an HDMI port, which a Samsung consultant informed us is an HDMI 1.4 port. That’s enough for enjoying again 4K video at 24 frames per second—superb for watching films, however not likely for high-bit-rate digital video. For that, you’ll want the Galaxy Book3 Ultra, its HDMI 2.0 port, and its give attention to content material creation.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Samsung’s USB-C charger claims that it will probably cost the laptop computer about 35 % in 30 minutes, a declare which bears out in idle mode however not underneath load. While utilizing the laptop computer, the Pro 360 charged 18 % in 35 minutes.

Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360: Once once more, a surprisingly good keyboard

I’ve at all times most well-liked deep laptop computer keyboards with roomy journey, and Samsung retains confounding me: I wish to dislike their shallow keyboards as uncomfortable, however they’re merely not. The huge 16:10, 16-inch type issue show permits Samsung to unfold its keys out, together with a slim island keypad to the appropriate. I actually felt comfy typing on it for a size of time, although I’d usually desire a distinct keyboard for long-term use.

Since the Book3 Pro 360 is a thin-and-light convertible, it’s not that stunning that Samsung continued to forego the usage of a depth digital camera. Instead, the facility button hides a fingerprint reader, which is delicate to smudges and requires repeated faucets to arrange. On the opposite hand, your finger doesn’t change over time, so that you just received’t have to “reset” your finger as some depth cameras do. You can energy up and log into the Book3 Pro 360 with a single faucet.

Mark Hachman / IDG

The Book3 Pro 360 does have some quirks, together with a fully huge touchpad on the backside of the display that’s 24 % greater than the Book2. Some laptops merely refuse to fill this area, however Samsung’s touchpad sprawls throughout and nonetheless offers you a good palm relaxation on both aspect. The touchpad placement skews in direction of the left, nevertheless, so that you just proper palm can have far more area to relaxation. Unfortunately, whereas the complete touchpad is tappable, you may solely click on on the underside two thirds.

Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360: A stunning webcam enhances stable audio

The Book3 Pro 360 features a 1080p webcam with a typical 87-degree viewing angle, with a 60fps choice hidden within the Windows Camera app’s settings.

Mark Hachman / IDG

What we had been stunned to see, nevertheless, had been “Studio Mode” results utilized to the webcam; face results, HDR, auto framing, background blur, and eye contact. It’s not clear how these results—which mirror the Windows Studio Effects usually discovered on AI-capable gadgets just like the Surface Pro 9 (5G) —made their means onto the Book3 Pro 360, or in the event that they’re enabled by the Movidius AI card Intel said it would add to “select” 13th-gen Core PCs.

Our checks confirmed that Eye Contact labored, hardly ever, to change the webcam picture in a means that made it seem as in case your eyes had been centered straight on the digital camera. Apps like Zoom do a greater job of blurring or changing the background than these algorithms do, however auto framing works marvelously, panning and zooming out and in to border your face within the digital camera’s imaginative and prescient. Samsung has traditionally included “beauty” settings to redden your cheeks or slim your face. These aren’t current any longer, and the built-in “face effects” make little distinction.

Samsung does use AI to assist cancel noise in video calls, nevertheless, and does so very nicely. A pair of studio mics seize your voice.

Samsung’s audio system, in the meantime, are normally glorious, and the Pro 360’s are not any exception. AKG tuned the Book3 Pro 360’s audio system, with a pair of 5W woofers and two 2W tweeters. The former elevate the Pro 360’s audio into one thing you’ll wish to take heed to, with substantial quantity that may decently fill a small room.

You could also be much less enthusiastic concerning the built-in Dolby Atmos stereo enlargement system, which normally is the one factor that makes laptop computer audio aurally palatable. Here, leaving Atmos off, which is the default setting, is a great alternative. Otherwise, Atmos produced a type of cacophonous impact till I went into the Atmos app and adjusted its settings to “Dynamic,” as an alternative. At least there’s nonetheless a headphone jack!

Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360: Finicky inking is in any other case good

The Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 contains an S Pen within the field, and the primary query you might have is, now the place do I put it? Samsung doesn’t actually have a solution, so that you’ll must give you your individual resolution.

The S Pen inks with 4,096 ranges of strain, and the Book3 Pro 360 interprets various ranges of strain into ink width in addition to any laptop computer we’ve seen. The giant display space on the Pro 360 signifies that I typically carelessly draped or dragged each palms throughout the display to try to maintain issues regular, nevertheless, and the laptop computer was just too delicate in attempting to translate my faucets into what it thought had been makes an attempt to entry a menu or different choice. Sometimes, after I thought I used to be inking… I wasn’t. I’m additionally not a fan of how the S Pen’s single button is positioned far down, the place your fingers naturally grip the pen.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Ink flowed easily from the tip of the pen, because it was purported to. There was additionally little or no to imperceptible ranges of ink judder, the sinuous line that may be produced whereas attempting to ink slowly with a straight edge. Incidentally, the Pro 360 ships with Noteshelf, an Android note-taking app.

Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360: Integration ties throughout the Galaxy ecosystem

Whether or not you got down to purchase a Samsung Galaxy telephone, pill, and laptop computer, the producer presents you a bonus in the event you do: a number of apps that tie the assorted gadgets collectively. They embrace Samsung Multi Control and Second Screen plus the present Quick Share and Private Share apps.

Samsung has additionally supplied the Link to Windows / Phone Link apps on its telephones and Books, respectively, which permit the Book to manage a Galaxy Phone a bit higher than the Phone Link app connects to other Android phones. Ironically, because the Book3 Pro 360 is an Evo system, Intel included its Unison app on board, which does pretty much the exact same thing.

We weren’t given a Galaxy S23 telephone to check a brand new functionality: how Samsung Flow can join a Samsung Galaxy Tab pill, S23 telephone, and Book3 collectively through the use of the mouse to mouse between and switch information between all three gadgets. The producer additionally has a brand new “Expert Raw Auto Share” app that may take uncompressed uncooked information from the telephone and switch them to the Book3 for enhancing. The firm additionally offers a two-month trial of Adobe Lightroom.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Otherwise, Samsung offers a ton of preloaded apps you in all probability received’t use. Just be sure to take a look at the Samsung Galaxy Experience, Samsung Update, and the Samsung Settings app for controls that can provide help to handle specialised features like supplying energy to the USB ports when the Pro 360 is sleeping.

Finally, Samsung (or Windows itself) presents a OneDrive configuration the place information saved on the Windows desktop, Documents, or Pictures are at all times synced with the cloud. This was somewhat complicated, as we bumped into an error message early on that mentioned it was not possible to show off this function, one thing that Windows doesn’t usually do. Then, afterward, the objections disappeared.

Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360: Performance

We’re concluding from our expertise with the Book3 Pro that it’s a content-consumption machine first, although not particularly for gaming. Anecdotally, the laptop computer often hiccupped, pausing exercise for a second whereas switching on its Dolby audio, for instance. There was additionally a little bit of lag when opening a 4K60 YouTube video, a casual verify on how the laptop computer performs streaming video.

The latter check is beneficial, since there’s a hidden management that reveals in what decision YouTube is delivering the video, and what number of frames are dropped. In our checks, that translated into 164 dropped frames out of 10,000, which generated only a tiny little bit of shaky video when taking part in it again. (The Book2 Pro 360 dropped about half that when rendering the identical video, although at 1080p.) Otherwise, nevertheless, we observed no different glitches.

Finally, understand that the Book3 Pro 360 is likely one of the first 13th-gen Core laptops out of the gate, which helps its placement in efficiency standings.

We use 4 key checks to find out a laptop computer’s efficiency: PCMark 10, which measures day-to-day efficiency in workplace purposes, video calls, CAD work, and light-weight gaming; Cinebench, a pure CPU benchmark; 3DMark, which does the identical for the laptop computer’s GPU; and Handbrake, a device which we use to measure extended efficiency. Two extra stress checks in Cinebench and 3DMark will help us additional decide if the Pro 360’s efficiency will drop in the event you’re utilizing it intensively for greater than a minute or two.

Thin-and-light notebooks are inclined to run on the smaller aspect, and OLED shows wander between content material creation and consumption. So we’re evaluating the Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 with a large swathe of rivals: the chunkier although cheaper Asus VivoBook Pro 16X OLED; the 14-inch, high-resolution Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X and Lenovo Yoga 9i 14; 2022’s outdated-at-launch, attractive HP Spectre x360 16; and a pair of smaller convertibles, the HP Elite Dragonfly Max and the Folio G3. We shut with one other gentle laptop computer, the Lenovo ThinkpadX1 Nano, and the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5. (We thought of the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio, however that appears aimed toward content material creation.) We’ve additionally famous the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro2 360 in orange, to indicate off any generation-to-generation variations.

PCMark 10 places a laptop computer by means of a battery of checks: phrase processing, Web searching, some CAD work, videoconferencing, and extra. It’s a great indicator of general efficiency throughout quite a lot of duties.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Cinebench R15 is an older check, pushing the entire cores and threads within the laptop computer’s CPU to their most. Later revisions of this benchmark use extra complicated scenes, however this check is an effective illustration of how a laptop computer handles fast duties. The draw back? Modern CPUs deal with this activity rapidly, so extended checks measure how the laptop computer performs over time.

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We use the Handbrake utility to transcode a Hollywood film right into a format acceptable for storing on a pill. The conversion course of pushes the entire cores to the restrict for a chronic interval — anyplace from half an hour to 90 minutes. This is a measurement of how nicely the laptop computer can carry out underneath extended thermal load.

Mark Hachman / IDG

We additionally examined extended efficiency utilizing Cinebench R23’s thermal stress check and 3DMark’s looped Time Spy benchmark, individually benchmarked just under. Here, there was a 7.5 % drop in CPU efficiency over the lifetime of the Cinebench benchmark, which ran for a number of minutes. In extended 3D efficiency, the laptop computer fared higher: it wasn’t capable of maintain its framerate over repeated loops of the benchmark, however did so 95 % of the time. (In this, 96 % is taken into account a passing grade.) Put merely, strenuous workloads that activate the laptop computer’s fan will barely diminish in efficiency if run for lengthy durations.

Our ultimate efficiency benchmark is the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark, which might be much less vital provided that this laptop computer isn’t designed for gaming. Still, as our recent tests showed, even built-in GPUs can ship low-end “gaming-class” efficiency.

Mark Hachman / IDG

We measure battery life by looping a 4K video time and again till the laptop computer shuts down for need of energy. Video playback is probably not the one technique to measure battery life, however it mimics a standard state of affairs: bringing a retailer of downloaded films from Netflix or different companies on to your laptop computer for an extended airplane flight.

This is an actual energy of the Book3 360 Pro, although not fairly as sturdy as its predecessor. (That could also be due to the elevated show decision—lighting extra pixels takes extra energy.) Still, 812 minutes is simply over 13.5 hours of battery life, on common, which is superb.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360: So a lot to supply

We see plenty of laptops which simply push north of $2,000 simply by banking on a couple of new options. Here, Samsung’s Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 justifies its worth with many extra, on prime of a considerably affordable price ticket. For what you’re paying, the Book3 Pro 360 presents substantial upgrades over the Book2 Pro 360 in addition to some best-of-class options, interval.

Even in the event you aren’t as in love with OLEDs as we’re, the upper decision OLED and refresh charge actually assist promote this laptop computer. Inking, the convertible type issue, its stable audio and webcam expertise, and its presence as a 13th-gen Core Evo laptop computer do too. Buying a Samsung laptop computer to accompany a Samsung Galaxy telephone is an in the end much less compelling want.

We do assume that the Book3 collection presents one thing distinctive that perhaps solely the Asus Vivobook and Zenbook series appear to be consciously addressing: laptops centered on exhibiting off content material in the beginning. (Consider the Vivobook Pro 16 OLED as a substitute till we handle to check the newest choices.) For all it brings to the desk, Samsung’s Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 earns certainly one of our first Editor’s Choice awards of 2023.