The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 is a new 2-in-1 laptop that promises to embody learnings from the company's bustling smartphone business in a svelte Windows PC.
Unveiled today alongside the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro, these new notebooks pack 11th Gen Intel CPUs and AMOLED screens (a first for Samsung Windows laptops), making them both strong contenders for a spot among our best laptops you can buy.
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Samsung appears to be making a bold push for more dominance in the Windows laptop market with the launch of these new machines, and we're eager to get some in for testing and review to see how they stack up. Here's what we know so far about the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360, which is available for pre-order today at a starting price of $1,199 for the 13-inch and $1,299 for the 15-inch.
Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360: Price and availability
The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 is available for pre-order starting today (April 28th), and it's scheduled to ship May 14th.
The price starts at $1,199 for the 13-inch Galaxy Book Pro 360 and $1,299 for the 15-inch, though it can go up by several hundred dollars if you configure the laptop with increased storage or improved hardware.
Samsung claims it's also offering deals through Amazon, Best Buy, and its own website that will let customers who pre-order before May 14th claim $150 in future credit (or the choice of a free pair of Galaxy Buds Pro earbuds, if you buy through Samsung); anyone who buys a laptop between May 14th and May 30th through Amazon, Best Buy, or Samsung's website will instead be eligible for $100 in future credit.
Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360: Specs
| Header Cell - Column 0 | 13-inch Galaxy Book Pro 360 | 15-inch Galaxy Book Pro 360 |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $1,199 | $1,299 |
| Screen | 13.3-inch Super AMOLED (1920 x 1080) | 15.6-inch Super AMOLED (1920 x 1080) |
| Processor | 11th Gen Intel i5/i7 | 11th Gen Intel i5/i7 |
| Graphics | Intel Iris Xe graphics | Intel Iris Xe graphics |
| Storage | 256GB to 512GB NVMe SSD | 256GB to 1TB NVMe SSD |
| Memory | 8GB, 16GB LPDDR4x | 8, 16GB LPDDR4x |
| Ports | 1 Thunderbolt 4, 1 USB-C, 1 USB 3.2, MicroSD reader, headphone/mic jack | 1 Thunderbolt 4, 1 USB-C, 1 USB 3.2, MicroSD reader, headphone/mic jack |
| Security | Fingerprint reader on power button | Fingerprint reader on power button |
| Audio | Sound by AKG, Dolby Atmos support | Sound by AKG, Dolby Atmos support |
| Connectivity | 5G, Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+), Wi-Fi 6E ready, Bluetooth 5.1, 802.11 ax | Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+), Wi-Fi 6E ready, Bluetooth 5.1, 802.11 ax |
| Battery | 16 hours (Samsung claims) | 16 hours (Samsung claims) |
| Dimensions | 12 x 7.9 x 0.4 inches | 14 x 8.9 x 0.5 inches |
| Weight | 2.3 pounds | 3 pounds |
Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360: Design
The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 is designed to be a thin and light Windows laptop with a screen that can be rotated all the way around to flatten against the deck, allowing it to function as a tablet.
Unlike its less flexible sibling, the Galaxy Book Pro, the Galaxy Book Pro 360 sports a touchscreen and ships with a Samsung S Pen. Factor in the laptop's built-in support for sharing information and displays across other Windows and Android devices, especially those made by Samsung, and the Galaxy Book Pro 360 seems well-designed for mobile productivity.
The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 is relatively small, weighing in at 2.3 pounds for the 13-inch and three pounds for the 15-inch. To give you a sense of comparison, the specs suggest the 13-inch Galaxy Book Pro 360 will be a bit heavier than its Galaxy Book Pro counterpart and just a bit heavier than both the Dell XPS 13 and the 13-inch MacBook Pro.
The Galaxy Book Pro 360 chassis is fully aluminum and comes in two matte color options: Mystic Navy or Mystic Bronze.
Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360: Display
Both the 13.3-inch and 15.6-inch models of the Galaxy Book Pro 360 sport Full HD Super AMOLED touchscreens with a native 1920 x 1080 resolution.
The "Super" part is just a marketing term Samsung appends to denote that these are AMOLED displays with a built-in touchscreen digitizer. But they hardly need the superlative, as AMOLED displays are typically beautiful and vibrant with excellent contrast, thanks to the use of LEDs rather than LCDs.
The Galaxy Book Pro 360 is Samsung's first Windows PC with a Super AMOLED display, and we're eager to get one in for testing so we can see how it performs in person. Samsung says the laptops also ship with a built-in Intelligent Color Engine utility that can dynamically change the screen's color space to complement whatever you're doing (think: gaming, watching movies, editing photos). That's as long as the app you're using is optimized to work with the Engine.
Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360: S Pen
Stylus lovers will appreciate that all models of the Galaxy Book Pro 360 will ship with a new S Pen stylus. Samsung says this is an upgraded version that's now 2.5x thicker than the S Pen for the Galaxy Book Flex, which should hopefully make the stylus more comfortable to use for long screen-writing sessions.
The Galaxy Book Pro 360 will come with a number of built-in apps which support the S Pen, including a time-limited free version of Clip Studio Paint.
Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360: Keyboard and touchpad
The keyboard on the new Galaxy Book Pro series laptops uses a scissor mechanism to offer 1mm of near-silent travel, according to Samsung, with wide rubber-domed keys.
The touchpad is built to be a bit larger than those on earlier Galaxy laptops like the Galaxy Book Flex and Galaxy Book Ion, though Samsung declined to provide specific measurements for the touchpads on the Galaxy Book Pro 360.
Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360: Battery life and charging
Samsung hasn't been upfront about what it expects from the Galaxy Book Pro 360 in terms of battery life, stating in its presentation that owners of Galaxy Book Pro series laptops should expect up to 20 hours of video playback or 16 hours of standard usage.
We're still trying to nail down specifics for each laptop in the lineup, since the Galaxy Book Pro series covers both sizes of the Galaxy Book Pro and the Galaxy Book Pro 360, which would seem to have significantly different power resources.
As far as charging goes, Samsung claims the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 laptops support 65W fast charging and can deliver 8 hours of video playback after 30 minutes of charging.
Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360: Connectivity
Connectivity is a key selling point of these new Galaxy Book Pro laptops, with Samsung claiming to have integrated its expertise in smartphone design (specifically, its Galaxy smartphones) into the design of these new machines.
If you already have a Samsung smartphone or tablet, you'll find the Galaxy Book Pro 360 laptop comes with a suite of options for connectivity (or presumably any device running Android 7.0+ or later). This allows for sharing information, displays, and phone calls across devices. Plus, the Galaxy Book Pro 360 will ship with Samsung's SmartThings app, which lets the laptop interface with SmartThings-compatible smarthome devices like lights, appliances and thermostats.
The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 also supports Wi-Fi 6 (and is Wi-Fi 6E ready) and Bluetooth 5.1. Plus, the 13-inch model can be configured for 5G support, though Samsung is quick to note that the quality of that support will depend on your carrier and environment.
Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360: Outlook
Samsung has a well-earned reputation for building great smartphones and tablets, but its laptops have never made a significant impact in the global market.
But recent moves by the company suggest that may be about to change. We appreciated the premium touches Samsung brought to its Galaxy Chromebook, for example, and more recently we liked how the company adapted that pricey design for more efficient daily use with its Galaxy Chromebook 2.
This new lineup of Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 and Galaxy Book Pro laptops seems likely to continue that trend, given that they all pack the latest Intel CPUs into slim, attractive machines sporting AMOLED displays.
The price is pretty reasonable too, suggesting that we may soon need to re-evaluate whether Samsung's latest laptops can land on our best laptops list, usurping the Dell XPS 13 and MacBook Pro 2020. That means we're eager to get some in for testing so we can see how they measure up against the competition.
