Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra review — this is now my favorite Windows laptop

The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra ($2,399 to start) is the company’s largest laptop, and it’s here to take on the latest MacBook Pro 16-inch. It’s a fair fight given how Samsung’s notebook features a 16-inch OLED display, an Intel Core Ultra CPU and an Nvidia RTX 40-series GPU. The Galaxy Book 4 Ultra isn’t joking around.

For those keeping tabs, this is a refreshed version of last year’s Galaxy Book 3 Ultra, which was the first Samsung laptop with the “Ultra” branding. Given its specs (and lofty price), this is a machine aimed directly at power users such as video editors or hardcore gamers — or both! Not only does the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra pack serious power, but its vivid 16-inch 3K OLED is also ideal for those aforementioned tasks.

There’s little to complain about with this notebook given all it offers. The only real ding against it — which could also be a positive for some, is that it comes pre-installed with a ton of Samsung software. If you’re already invested in the Samsung ecosystem then you might appreciate the interoperability this laptop has with the company’s other devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S24 phone line. If you’re like me and don’t own many (or any) Samsung products, you might consider all the Samsung-specific apps as bloatware.

The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is one of the best Windows laptops, and best laptops overall due to what it offers. Yes, it’s decidedly pricey, but if you’re in the market for a powerful Windows laptop with a drop-dead gorgeous display, this is a machine to consider. Read my full review to find out why. 

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra review: Cheat sheet

•  What is it? A 16-inch Windows laptop featuring an Intel Core Ultra CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-series GPU
• Who is it for? For power users who need a laptop that can handle heavy workloads and is also great for gaming
• What does it cost? The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra starts at $2,399 on Samsung’s website. It’s currently discounted to $1,999 but that price might not last
• What do we like? Its lightweight design and powerful performance
• What don’t we like? Samsung apps aren’t great if you aren’t invested in Samsung’s Galaxy ecosystem

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra review: Specs

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra review: The ups

There’s a lot to like about the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra. Its thin and light design makes it great for travel. Pair that with excellent performance, a gorgeous OLED display and exceptional battery life, and you have one of the best laptops I’ve reviewed this year. Samsung’s notebook epitomizes what’s great about Windows laptops. 

Lightweight design

The Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is large, but it’s not bulky. It’s relatively thin and light at 13.9 x 9.8 x 0.6 inches and 4.1 pounds. That makes it a great travel companion since it won’t take up much space in your backpack. Thanks to its great weight distribution, carrying it around your home or office isn’t cumbersome — though I recommend doing so with two hands.

Samsung didn’t change the laptop’s design from the previous model. The graphite finish, machine aluminum chassis and thin design give the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra an air of elegance. Its chassis not only feels good to hold but is also very sturdy. Lifting the lid with one hand is easy and the hinge glides smoothly when you open the laptop.

There’s a generous port selection, with a pair of Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports, a USB-A port, an SD card slot, an HDMI port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. I always appreciate it when laptops include an HDMI port, and I’m also a fan of having at least one USB-A port for legacy devices.

Striking OLED display 

The Galaxy Book 4 Ultra’s 16-inch 3K (2,880 x 1,800) OLED display is a wonder to behold. Images appear sharp, bright and colorful, but not oversaturated. Details come through with great clarity and the 120Hz refresh rate ensures everything moves smoothly.

I enjoy how colors pop off the screen, especially when watching HDR content like the latest Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire trailer. Vibrant games like Doom Eternal and Cyberpunk 2077 also appear phenomenal thanks to the display’s color reproduction and the stark contrast between dark and light elements. 

Our lab tests confirm my anecdotal experience. The Galaxy Book 4 Ultra’s display gets nice and bright when viewing both SDR and HDR content. Color reproduction and accuracy are solid as well. Even if other laptops have brighter and more colorful screens, the OLED tech helps everything look stunning. I doubt most folks will find fault with the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra’s display quality. 

Strong RTX performance 

Our Galaxy Book 4 Ultra review unit packs an Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 CPU, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. Thanks to these powerful components, this laptop can handle almost any demanding task — including (but not limited to) video editing and gaming. And of course, it has no trouble handling everyday work. 

The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra’s main competitor is the Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch. Both devices are similarly sized premium laptops for video programmers and gamers. Their starting configurations are also in the same price range, with the $2,399 Galaxy Book 4 Ultra costing $100 less than Apple’s machine.

We haven’t reviewed the entry-level MacBook Pro 16-inch yet. As such, we’re comparing the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra to the 14-inch MacBook Pro M3 Pro we recently reviewed. This laptop’s M3 Pro chip has a lower CPU and GPU core count than the processor in the 16-inch Pro model. However, even this 14-inch model beat the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra on every CPU test we conducted — which should give you an idea of how Samsung’s laptop would fare against its direct competitor.

The Galaxy Book 4 Ultra might not be marketed as a gaming laptop but it can play the best PC games wonderfully at medium settings and 1080p resolution. At those settings, Doom Eternal ran between 35 and 44 frames per second. With Nvidia DLSS to boost frame rates, the game ran between 45 and 66 fps. Cyberpunk 2077 stayed in the low 30 fps range but hovered in the high 50s with the frame-boosting Intel XeSS option enabled.

We also saw strong results when we ran in-game benchmarks on a handful of titles, as you can see above. Suffice it to say that the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra delivers great performance.

Roomy keyboard 

I was a big fan of the previous model’s keyboard, so it’s no surprise I’m equally enamored with the keyboard on the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra. That’s saying a lot considering I prefer using the best mechanical keyboards over the membrane keyboard usually found on laptops. The typing experience on Samsung’s notebook is pure joy, even for a keyboard snob like me.

The keys are decently thick and have good travel distance. They also deliver a satisfying click when pressed. Thanks to the keyboard deck’s large size my hands never felt cramped, even during long writing sessions.

Like its predecessor, the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra has one of the biggest touchpads I’ve ever seen. The smooth and precise touchpad never failed to register my gestures, and despite its size, I never accidentally touched it while typing. I’d still prefer using one of the best wireless mice over a touchpad, but this one is pretty great. 

Incredible battery life 

We at Tom’s Guide consider 10 hours of battery life to be good for a Windows laptop nowadays, with 12 hours being fantastic. I’ve seen battery life get worse on refreshed Windows laptop models over the years so I feared the same would be true for the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra, whose predecessor clocked in at 10 hours.

Thankfully, not only did Samsung’s laptop beat the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra, but it even surpassed many modern Windows notebooks.

In the Tom’s Guide battery test, which involves continuous web surfing at 150 nits of brightness, the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra lasted for an incredible 13 hours and 19 minutes. That’s four hours less than the MacBook Pro M3 Pro we reviewed, but nearly 13 and a half hours of endurance is incredible for a Windows laptop.

I should note that if you plan to play games on the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra, battery life takes a huge nosedive — plummeting to 2 hours and 27 minutes on the PCMark 10 gaming battery test. However, that’s about an hour more battery life than we see in the best gaming laptops. 

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra review: The downs

I had difficulty finding faults with the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra. It’s almost a perfect Windows laptop in all the ways that count. There is one potential downside, though said flaw might actually be beneficial for Samsung fans. 

Samsung bloatware 

The Galaxy Book 4 Ultra comes preinstalled with a slew of Samsung apps and features. This includes connectivity apps like Samsung Multi Control, which lets you control your Galaxy smartphone with the laptop’s keyboard and touchpad.

If you’re invested in the Samsung ecosystem and own Samsung devices, these apps and features might be useful. But for the majority of people (such as myself), these apps are effectively bloatware. Thankfully, you can ignore most of these apps — though you will be prompted to update them every so often.

The presence of these apps isn’t a deal breaker since you can still use the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra as a normal Windows laptop and ignore all the Samsung apps. But having so many apps I’ll never use feels like a waste of space and a hassle to uninstall.

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra review: Verdict

Like its predecessor, the new Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is powerful enough to handle almost anything you throw at it — including everyday work, video editing and high-end gaming. On top of that, it has a vivid OLED display and is light and thin enough to take with you wherever you go. And let’s not forget its incredible battery life for a Windows 11 laptop.

Does the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra challenge the MacBook Pro 16-inch with an M3 Pro chip? In terms of overall performance and battery life, Apple’s laptop wins. However, if you’re a gamer and want access to all the games available on Windows, the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is the better choice. The Samsung laptop also has a USB-A port for legacy devices, which is something the MacBook Pro lacks.

Even if you don’t care for Samsung apps and features, the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is an easy choice if you’re looking for an all-around killer Windows 11 laptop. Like the last model, this notebook is worthy of its “Ultra” moniker.