The Galaxy Book pro 360; They keep showing up, but the obvious lack of effort makes you wonder if they want to be there. Recently, however, Samsung has started to kick the ball in the right direction. Products like the Galaxy Book Pro 360 and Galaxy Chromebook 2 are successful because they borrowed the best parts of Samsung’s beloved series of smartphones.
Windows PC that costs less than a grand. I was hoping that Samsung would have passed on some of its best laptop features to this mid-range device in the same way that HP did with its Envy line, but alas, those delights are reserved for more expensive products.
To be honest, this review was not easy to write. You see, the good gadgets are fun to try because they’re exciting, and the bad ones are easy to review because they allow you to turn pent-up frustration about the pandemic into 2,000 words. This Galaxy Book is somewhere boring in the middle: a device so innocuous it’s offensive, so vanilla it’s completely bland.
lifeless design.
But enough of the melodramatics, this is a product review for God’s sake, so I’ll begrudgingly give you guys a quick rundown of the Galaxy Book’s design.when you were interested in a feature, that black rectangle on the top row of keys is really just a power button, not even the most basic form of biometric login.
If this was me 10 years ago walking the aisles of Fry’s (RIP), I would have walked right past the Galaxy Book on my way to office supplies and energy drinks. I can’t fault the build quality, either: the 180-degree hinge is stiff but turns smoothly, and the aluminum surfaces don’t move when I apply pressure to the lid and keyboard. And while that’s not exciting, the Galaxy Book earns practical points for its generous selection of ports.Turn right and you’ll find a second USB-A port, headphone jack, microSD card slot, and lock slot
A surprisingly poor display
It’s the display that bugs me the most: yes, the Galaxy Book’s low point is about the only thing you’d expect from a top-tier display supplier. The laptop’s 15. 6-inch 1080p anti-glare panel prevents poor viewing angles. Sit to the side a few degrees or be lazy by tilting the lid directly towards your face and the colors fade. Take the ESPN website, for example.
When I look at the screen from the front, the background is gray while the content blocks are white. Tilt the panel even a few degrees down and everything will look white. When I tilt it up, the opposite effect happens and the content appears dark.
Things got a lot better when I aimed those pixels directly at my retina. Screen-centric graphics were colorful, and because the panel is matte, it can be viewed in bright conditions without glare, despite our colorimeter registering its maximum brightness at 235 nits.
I wish I could say more emphasis was placed on the speakers, but these are the usual dual drivers. They sound great, but they don’t even have a hint of bass and are only loud enough for solo listening. I should also take a second to warn you about the 720p webcam which, to put it lightly, is tragic.
Fast performance, but ignore discrete GPU
Best of all, The Galaxy Book never yelled at me or got too hot, even after watching a 20-minute 1080p video on YouTube, plus various other processes running in the background. I’ve made it abundantly clear that the Galaxy Book isn’t an interesting laptop, but there is one spec that caught my eye: Iris Xe Max graphics. Launched last year, Iris Xe Max is Intel’s first discrete mobile GPU, and while the company admits it’s not designed for gaming, the solution supposedly improves video encoding and editing.seems true.
The Galaxy Book played Civilization IV at a barely playable 1080p resolution at 32 frames per second, but it did well in our benchmarks against other ultraportable laptops with integrated graphics or discrete entry-level solutions. Note that Intel has already announced 12th Gen Core mobile chips, which balance performance and core efficiency to supposedly deliver faster speeds and longer battery life.
live with it
Samsung’s latest 2-in-1 is simply a joy to use, from the moment you pick up its lightweight aluminum body, until you open it up and get to work with its Super AMOLED screen. The trackpad and keyboard uphold that standard too, with an impressively sized trackpad flanking a keyboard with a surprising amount of travel, albeit one that lacks a bit of tactile feedback.
The Galaxy Book’s performance is there with the Dell XPS 13 and HP Specter x360 14, even slightly beating their rivals when it comes to our graphics tests, meaning you’ll be able to play basic games in titles like Rocket League and Fortnite. This lessens when it comes to fan noise: they are very impatient. Even when running relatively low-demand productivity tasks (3-6 tabs in Chrome), the fans kicked in. It wasn’t as distracting, but it’s there and more substantial than its rivals.
Fortunately, Samsung has included some of its own performance settings with this device, including “Silent” and “Fanless” modes. After enthusiastically enjoying the latter, there was a small noticeable slowdown (bottom got a bit warm), though it will probably need to return to normal under more sustained workloads. Fan speed aside, this laptop will comfortably meet all the productivity demands you’d expect from a high-end ultrabook: 15+ browser tabs and multitasking across multimedia apps… no problem.
While the keyboard is certainly the most impressive performer here when viewed in the context of this laptop’s extremely slim design, the speakers take a close second. They don’t quite match the capabilities of Apple’s MacBooks, but bass isn’t a million miles away. The sound is of a well-balanced quality, with a wide soundstage and really punchy bass. Volume doesn’t quite reach the heights of many rivals, but we don’t suspect that streaming music from your laptop is a priority for many.
There’s also a half-decent selection of ports. You may still be looking for a dongle if you’re someone who wants a full-size SD card reader or an HDMI port, but, for the most part, the combination of 2 USB-C 3.2 ports, and a Thunderbolt 4 port, headphone jack and microSD reader will be a solid offering. There’s also a fingerprint reader for quick login.
The Galaxy Book pro 360Why oh why…
The Galaxy Book ; Just don’t buy the blue one. We might caution you on this: unless it’s very, very clean. However, for the average person, the Mystic Navy version, as nice as it may seem initially, will become an unsightly magnet for smudges and fingerprints in no time. After using this laptop for about two weeks, it’s already gone from looking pristine dark blue as a device to a bit underwhelming from most angles. If you’re willing to clean it very often, the blue is a bit more exciting than the Mystic Silver but for practical reasons it’s probably best avoided.
The Galaxy Book has been an adept at the digital age of note-taking since the launch of the Galaxy Note in 2011. Many thought the stylus was obsolete, but Samsung has proven that a stylus can be useful if it actually looks like a pen. Samsung didn’t perfect its S Pen until the third-generation Galaxy Note in 2013. In the infamous Galaxy Note 7, the S Pen was like a pen, marker, pencil, or whatever drawing utility you wanted. It will be interesting to see how Samsung can improve an already near-perfect stylus with the upcoming Galaxy Note 8.
For Whom?
You’d better take care of it if you’re someone who’s been on the lookout for a laptop with a 360-degree hinge for a long time, perfect for watching movies in “tent” mode or doing some sketching in tablet mode. This doesn’t have to be your priority, however, as Samsung’s new 2-in-1 also outperforms as a regular ultrabook, with one of the best 1080p displays and a range of other high-spec features. However, the Galaxy Book Pro 360 faces stiffer competition in that area, like the Dell XPS 13 and Apple MacBook Air. The regular Galaxy Book Pro is also one to look out for, if 2-in-1s aren’t your thing.
So should you buy it?
If you’re looking for a 2-in-1 laptop, the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 sets a new standard. For a long time, laptops with a 360-degree hinge were a great option for watching videos, but they were often flattered to mess around in tablet mode – it just never felt right. With this laptop, Samsung has focused on a thin and light build that, even at the largest 15-inch model, looks like a device you could learn to love using in tablet form. The extraordinarily accurate S Pen, gorgeous Super AMOLED screen, impressive speakers, and more make this the best new 2-in-1 laptop you can buy right now.
The Galaxy Book Pro 360 wouldn’t be out of place against the best mainstream laptops, but over-avid fan noise and lack of a 16:10 or 3:2 display keep it firmly out of Dell’s rearview mirrors. and Apple.
