Nowadays, all Windows laptops in a given segment look and work alike—premium aluminum body, full-day battery life, performance in alignment with the processor they use, etc. Even among such equals, Samsung’s Galaxy Book3 Pro stands out as a premium product, mainly because of its super bright display, close integration with other Samsung devices, and productivity tools.
When I moved from almost a year-old Galaxy Book to Galaxy Book3 Pro 360, it was an upgrade in every aspect. I used the Book3 Pro 360 for a month as my daily driver connected to Galaxy Z Fold4 and brand-new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (experience review of that coming soon). I found it to be a well-rounded laptop that functions as a great work, life, and play companion.
All my experience is with Book3 Pro 360—quite a mouthful but descriptive —3rd generation Galaxy Book, a Pro version, 360-degree rotating display. There are also Ultra, Pro, 360, and plain vanilla Book3 versions, with varying capabilities and price points.
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Sleek and light with a premium look
Even with a touchscreen display and 360-degree hinge, Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 is only 0.5in thick and is one of the thinnest 2-in-1 laptops in the market. It also weighs only 3.66 lbs. The slim aluminum body, lightweight, and non-slippery grip makes it ideal for traveling, moving around for meetings, or working while watching your kid finish karate class.
Compared to the first-gen Galaxy Book, Book3 is far more stylish. Its tapered and contoured soft edges give it a modern, premium look.
On the outside, it has plenty of ports, one HDMI, two USC-C Thunderbolt 4, one USB-A 3.2, a Headphone/Mic jack, and a microSD slot that supports up to 1TB.
Samsung “Connected Experience”
The most distinctive character of the Galaxy Book3 series is a suite of “Connected Experience” features that allow connecting and managing select other Samsung devices seamlessly. The first in the suite is Multi-Control, which lets you use Books3’s keyboard and mouse with other devices and easily copy/paste/transfer files between them. I am a power user of the “Phone Link + Link to Windows” combination, and Multi-Control takes that experience to the next level. I keep my phone and laptop next to each other on my desk, and most of the day, I never have to touch the phone; everything is managed through Multi-Control.
The second feature is Quick Share. It automatically identifies all the nearby Samsung devices and facilitates easy content sharing. No set-up is needed. It even converts the files to a suitable format if the receiving device can’t play the original format. The next level of this is Private Share. This one is a bit more involved and requires some set-up. As the name suggests, shared files are kept only in specific folders. These can’t be reshared. Even you can’t take screen grabs of these. The sender can also set an expiration time.
These sharing features use cellular, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or Wi-Fi Direct. So, you could use them even when not in cellular/Wi-Fi coverage. I tested them with Galaxy Book3, Galaxy S23 Ultra, S22 Ultra, and Z Fold 4 phones. The experience was buttery smooth, and worked consistently. The other two features are using a tablet as a second display and instantly synching RAW photos from Samsung S22/23 Ultra phones. I don’t have a Samsung tablet or use RAW format, so I couldn’t test them.
This is the first time that Samsung has adopted an “ecosystem” approach to its products and tried providing differentiated experiences among its own devices. If done correctly, with its broad reach, covering every part of the consumer electronics market, Samsung has the potential to build a formidable ecosystem play. That can help it build consumer preference, increase the stickiness of its offerings across the board and build a loyal following that is even bigger and more meaningful than Apple’s.
Bright display, excellent performance, and battery life
Another unmissable feature of this laptop is its gorgeous, super bright (400 nits). AMOLED 3k (2880 x1800), 16in display. You will enjoy it when watching movies or videos or working on it outdoors.
The bright display has high utility for me. Being in San Diego, one of my favorite things is to work from my backyard, overseeing our pool and picturesque landscape. I couldn’t do that on most sunny days before. But Book3 solved that problem. The touch screen is very responsive as well.
The 16in size and 16:10 aspect ratio is a pleasure for road warriors like me. I was unsure how different it would be from a 15.6in/16:9 display. It was apparent when working on long documents or wide spreadsheets. You have to use it to believe it.
I have mixed feelings about its enormous touchpad. On the one hand, it makes it more accessible, but parts of the hand often touch it while typing and make the mouse/cursor jump around.
The Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 I tested had Intel 13th Gen Core i7 (1360P) with 16 GB RAM. It handled every productivity workload I threw at it. At any given time, I was simultaneously running many Microsoft Word documents, Excel sheets, large graphic-intense PowerPoint files, Microsoft Outlook with many open messages, more than 30 active tabs in Edge, and about ten in Chrome, WhatsApp, Phone Link, and other programs. All worked fine, without any lag. More importantly, the laptop was highly stable. Imagine my agony if it froze when those many programs were open with unfinished business. But that never happened, not even once during the 5 to 6 weeks I used it. When at home, I usually use my AOC 32in (1080p) external monitor as a second display. That worked well too.
I am not a big gamer, but I let my son use my laptop while on travel to play a few of his favorites. Minecraft played pretty well, Apex Legends was playable, Fortnite was mostly ok, and Counter Strike: Global Offensive struggled. All except Minecraft were in low settings. Of course, if you are a serious gamer, you should consider the pricier Book3 Ultra, which has a beefy discrete Nvidia GeForce 4050/4070 GPU.
With Book3 Pro 360, I always got more than a day of battery life. The included 65W compact, fast charger charges more than 30% in 30min or so. So, I never experienced being totally out of juice.
Unparalleled productivity and creativity tools
Apart from the premium hardware, what stands out are the productivity tools of Galaxy Book3. Even after Covid-19, over 75% of my meetings are still online. Additionally, I speak at a lot of online events. All of that requires the best camera and audio performance, and that’s precisely what Book3 offers. The 1080p FHD camera provides lifelike image quality, even in low light conditions. The AKG quad speakers with Atmos provide clear, loud sound with bass. The studio-quality dual-mic with bi-direction noise cancellation works best even in a noisy background. After Book3, I stopped using external cameras, speakers, and mics, except for podcast recording.
Additionally, the AI-based Studio Mode software tools make conference calls professional grade. The auto-framing feature ensures you are always at the center of the frame with perfect zoom. The blurring background effect is one of the best I have seen. Eye contact correction is excellent when reading and moving your eyes. For people concerned about how they look on screen, Face Effect has options to smoothen wrinkles and skin tone.
The included S-Pen in Book3 Pro 360 is interesting. I am slowly warming up to it for taking notes, drawing schematics, etc. If it could be stored in the laptop, I would have probably used it more. Others, who are more artistic, can use it better for drawing, painting, etc.
In summary
Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 is a worthy upgrade. It has many things that stand out in the crowded laptop market. Currently, it sells for $1099, which might feel a bit pricy, but it is well worth the premium hardware and the experience you get, especially if you have other Samsung devices.
If nothing else, I would buy this just for the “connected experience’ and super bright display alone.
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