Samsung shifted its priorities with the launch of the Galaxy Book, Galaxy Book Pro, and Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360. Looks have been reigned in, giving a couple of key features their chance to shine. For the Galaxy Book Pro 360, Samsung has genuinely taken the 2-in-1 category up a notch.
Table of Contents
Who’s it for?
You’ll be best served if you’re someone who’s long had their eye on a laptop with a 360-degree hinge – ideal for watching movies in “tent” mode or doing some sketches in tablet mode.
Design
The Galaxy Book Pro 360 is one of the best-looking laptops you can buy right now. This laptop is laser-focused on a thin and contemporary look. No frills, just finesse.
At between 11.5-11.9mm thick and 1.04-1.39kg – depending on if you opt for the 13.3 or 15.6-inch model – the Galaxy Book Pro 360 is remarkably portable. The 15.6-inch model is easily one of the most portable of its size. Samsung has taken many cues from the LG Gram range with these new machines but turned up the dial on build quality as well as display capabilities. That’s a clever move, as LG’s laptops are already strong options in their own right.
Living with it
Samsung’s latest 2-in-1 is nothing short of a pleasure to use – from the moment you pick up its light, aluminum body to opening it up and getting to work with its Super AMOLED display. The trackpad and keyboard keep this standard up too, with an impressively large trackpad flanking a keyboard with a surprising amount of travel – if lacking a bit of tactile response.
Display
The AMOLED touchscreen is not too reflective, and it’s crisp enough, with colors that pop nicely and very wide viewing angles. Videos looked good, and enabling HDR manually will let you enjoy HDR content as well. The sound from the stereo speakers is unfortunately thin and a bit harsh when listening to music, but voices come through clearly.
The creative capabilities of this 2-in-1, as well as its video watching chops, are all presented gloriously on the 1080p Super AMOLED panel of the Galaxy Book Pro 360. While the HP Spectre x360 14 goes in a bit harder with an OLED option at a QHD+ resolution, Samsung’s 2-in-1 makes a smarter play by producing the best 1080p display you’ll have ever seen on a laptop – with a welcome boost to battery life, coming in at upwards of 13 hours for the 15-inch model. The display itself looks quality far beyond what you’ll have come to expect from a 1080p panel, aided by that Super AMOLED tech. Vibrant and crisp colors make for a stunning movie-watching experience and a delightful time to be had in creating your works of art with the included S Pen.
Performance
Performance is up there with the Dell XPS 13 and the HP Spectre x360 14, even slightly topping rivals when it came to our graphical testing – meaning you’ll be able to eke out some basic gaming in titles like Rocket League and Fortnite. It does fall when it comes to fan noise – they are very eager. Even when carrying out fairly low-demand productivity tasks – 3-6 tabs in Chrome – the fans got going. It wasn’t all that distracting, but it was there and more substantial than its rivals.
Thankfully, Samsung has included some of its performance settings with this device – including “Silent” and “No Fan” modes. After eagerly taking advantage of the latter, there was a little slowdown of note – the underside did get a tad warmer – though you’ll likely have to shift it back to normal under more sustained workloads.
While the keyboard is certainly the most impressive performer here when viewed in the context of this laptop’s extremely thin design, the speakers come in a close second. There’s a well-rounded quality to the sound, with a wide soundstage and genuinely impactful bass. The volume doesn’t hit the heights of many rivals, and there is no blasting out music.
There’s a half-decent port selection too. You may be still reaching for a dongle if you want a full-size SD card reader or HDMI port. But, for most, the combination of 2x USB-C 3.2 ports, a Thunderbolt 4 port, a headphone jack, and a MicroSD card reader will be a solid offering. There’s a fingerprint scanner too, for swift sign-in convenience.
Battery
Despite being so slim and light, the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 did surprisingly well in terms of battery life. I got through a full workday with a lot of Web browsing and work in online apps. Additionally, some video streaming and general testing, with around 20 percent still left. Samsung has implemented some power-saving measures of its own. You can also switch between High Performance, Silent, Quiet, and Optimized modes with a keyboard shortcut. The intense Battery Eater Pro test ran for a pretty impressive 3 hours, 11 minutes before draining the battery completely. Using the bundled charger, the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 got from zero to 42 percent in 30 minutes and 83 percent in an hour, but only if it was not on while charging.
In 360
This laptop has 2-in-1 fans, which hits all the key features you’ll be looking for. Whether you set it up in tent or tablet mode, it works great. The hinge is slightly less sturdy, but it stays in place once you put it down. It’s also the best 2-in-1 laptop we’ve ever used in tablet mode. Of course, you can’t escape the awkward feeling of having the keys on the back of the device. But, in terms of weight distribution and just not feeling cumbersome to hold, the Galaxy Book Pro 360 nails it.
S Pen
The ease of use in holding this laptop certainly comes down to its shape and thinness. Unfortunately, the thinness does mean there’s no room for a slot for the S Pen—a fully sized stylus. The S-Pen performs remarkably well. The company recently beefed up its mobile S Pen capabilities for its phones. This S Pen feels just as performant – with near unnoticeable lag and pressure sensitivity for when you want to shade.
Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 (13.3-inch) price in India
There’s just one configuration with a 15.6-inch screen. It’s priced at Rs. 1,29,990 with an Intel Core i7 CPU, and it’s only available in Graphite. The 13.3-inch models are all available only in silver, and you can choose between a Core i7 CPU for Rs. 1,20,990 and a Core i5 CPU for Rs. 1,15,990. As for the 13.3-inch versions, the prices are Rs. 1,06,990 for a unit with a Core i5 CPU and Rs. 1,14,990 for a Core i7 CPU, both in silver. You can see the details here.
At its global launch, Samsung had announced that the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 in both sizes would be available with either CPU and in Silver as well as Graphite, with an additional Burgundy option for the smaller model, so these options might pop up later. You can claim a pair of Galaxy Buds 2 true wireless earphones for Rs. 999 with each purchase and get Rs. 5,000 cash back if you’re a customer of a certain bank.
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