The Galaxy Book Pro 360 is one of the new laptops that Samsung has unveiled today. The company has taken a completely different approach when building these machines. It wants to create laptops that appeal to mobile-first users, that provide the same level of convenience as smartphones.
Such a machine needs to tick a few boxes right out the gate. It needs to be thin, lightweight, powerful and packed with features. That's check, check, check and a resounding check on this list for the Galaxy Book Pro 360.
Galaxy Book Pro 360 hands-on
Design
It's beautiful. That's the simplest and most accurate description of the Galaxy Book Pro 360's design. We've seen Samsung's industrial design prowess flex its muscles with various products over the past few years. We get all of that, and then some, with this new laptop.
The 6000-series aluminium not only guarantees durability but provides a very premium feel to the device. Every curve, every edge appears to be purposefully crafted and delicately engineered. It's all put together very well. The hinge doesn't creak, the keys aren't loose and nothing seems flimsy. It's hard to fault what Samsung has achieved here.
The hinge basically allows the notebook to double as a tablet. I can see it being very useful for just laying back in the garden on a nice day and watching a movie or taking it with you on the plane for some in-flight entertainment.
Display
The Galaxy Book Pro 360 will be available with 13.3-inch and 15.6-inch displays. We have tested the 15.6-inch variant. These are Super AMOLED displays and you can guess what I'm about to say next.
Samsung makes the best OLED displays in the business. It hasn't cut back on quality here. The OLED panel on this notebook is exceptional. The display gets nice and bright with vivid colors and great viewing angles.
It's pertinent to note that the resolution of this brilliant panel maxes out at FHD (1920×1080). That could have been better, since you're bound to notice the difference when switching between the laptop and a Galaxy phone with a high-resolution OLED panel.
S Pen
An upgraded S Pen ships with the Galaxy Book Pro 360. Samsung has made it a bit thicker to provide a more true-to-life writing experience. Apps like Clip Studio Paint and PENUP are included to let you get the most out of the S Pen.
If you've been using the S Pen for a while on Samsung's mobile devices, it's quite a familiar experience. It works as you'd expect. Writing, drawing or doodling, the S Pen is a joy to use on the Galaxy Book Pro 360. It does feel a bit comical using the S Pen on a large 15.6-inch display, the 13.30inch model would be a better fit.
Performance
The Galaxy Book Pro 360 packs quite a punch under the hood with its range of 11th Gen Intel Core processors and up to 32GB of RAM. We haven't been able to put the laptop through its paces extensively as yet but the first impressions are promising.
It doesn't seem to buckle under our normal workload and is able to provide enough battery longevity to last us through the day. What we particularly like is that despite its slim and lightweight profile, Samsung didn't go for unrealistic minimalism by ripping out the necessary ports.
There's a full range of Thunderbolt, USB Type-C and USB 3.2 ports along with a 3.5mm headphone/mic port and a microSD card slot. As someone who's not that into the external adapter lifestyle, this wins the Galaxy Book Pro 360 huge points in my book.
Many of the mobile-first features that Samsung has built into the new laptop remain untested. They weren't working on our unit as the apps require an update. We'll check them out once the updates arrive and provide an assessment in our detailed review.
Conclusion
Samsung hasn't just made these laptops for the sake of launching new laptops. There's a sense of purpose and clarity behind this. It's evident in the way the Galaxy Book Pro 360 has been made and the features that have been developed for it.
The company now sees the laptop as an integral part of its Galaxy ecosystem. No wonder it had been hyping it up as the “most powerful Galaxy” before its launch. It wants the laptop to feel like a seamless extension of its Galaxy smartphone experience.
To that end, we feel that Samsung has achieved what it set out to do. The Galaxy Book Pro 360 doesn't seem to have that conventional laptop DNA. It feels like a different product, built for tomorrow, and that's precisely what makes it so appealing.
