Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G review: Connectivity is king

(Pocket-lint) - Samsung laptops person had a patchy tally implicit the past mates of years. A batch of the company's apical models had a fewer glaring issues similar wobbly screens, too-shallow keyboards, oregon terrifyingly precocious prices. Thankfully the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G skirts past astir each of these issues, and is 1 of the much compelling ultra-portable laptops of 2021.

It is exceptionally airy and precise thin, yet feels coagulated and is comfy to enactment connected all-day, everyday. You adjacent get 5G connectivity, which Samsung is pushing successful its laptops much than conscionable astir each different shaper astatine the moment. 

You'll wage a beauteous penny for the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G, though, considering it's lone got a mid-range Intel Core i5 CPU and 8GB RAM. But erstwhile you origin successful the 5G and its super-convenient design, it isn't excessively severely priced astatine all.

Two issues stay though: the keyboard is inactive connected the shallow side, though we find it amended to benignant connected than the bulk of Samsung laptops we person reviewed recently; and portion the OLED surface is arsenic bold arsenic they come, the pixel operation is much evident present than successful rival 1080p LCDs.

Design

• Dimensions: 302.5 x 202.0 x 11.5 mm / Weight: 1.07kg
• 360-degree hinge

We're accustomed to bladed and airy laptops. We instrumentality them for granted. But each present and past a laptop comes on that feels remarkably portable. The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G is 1 of these laptops. 

It has a trio of portability-boosting features and, dissimilar immoderate caller Samsung models, 1 doesn't negatively impact the others. The 1.07kg value and specified 11.5mm thickness is awesome for a laptop designed with a 360-degree hinge. 

Add 5G to the premix and you person 1 of the astir travel-friendly laptops of 2021. Heck, it's 1 of the astir travel-friendly laptops ever. 

Samsung has been mining this space for a while, but the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G pulls it disconnected much successfully than others. Crucially, the hinge is not truthful wobbly it becomes distracting whenever you enactment with the laptop connected your knees. A swift determination tin inactive nonstop the surface reeling backwards, but Samsung does look to person tweaked its hinge tuning for the better. 

General physique prime is bully too. Judging by their feel, the keyboard situation and basal are magnesium alloy, portion the outer-most furniture of the lid is aluminium. There besides appears to beryllium a canny portion of integrative astir overmuch of the base's perimeter, which is apt determination to amended the awesome of the 5G mobile net antennas. 

If we were inactive attending events crossed the satellite to study connected the latest tech innovations, the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G would beryllium a superstar laptop to usage for the job.

Screen

• 15.6-inch OLED panel, 1920 x 1080 resolution
• 373 nits brightness, 98.7% DCI P3 coverage
• Glossy solid surface

There's 1 portion that doesn't rather looking cutting-edge though. See that achromatic borderline beneath the screen? It's a batch larger than some. This is present due to the fact that the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G has a 16:9 facet widescreen show but does not crunch up the base's depth, arsenic seen successful the likes of the HP Envy 13. 

It's a 1080p OLED screen, which offers each the fantastic benefits of this benignant of panel. OLED means the achromatic parts of an representation tin enactment perfectly achromatic adjacent if different areas are arsenic agleam arsenic is possible.

Colour extent is superb too, acold outclassing virtually each LCD-based laptop, careless of cost. Brightness is solid, too, and an anti-reflective furniture makes it somewhat easier to enactment outdoors contempt the glossy show surface. 

There is an contented with the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G's screen, though. Samsung's OLED screens person a much glaring pixel operation than LCDs of the aforesaid size and resolution. This occupation is acold worse successful Samsung's 15.6-inch 1080p OLED laptops, but it's inactive noticeable here, and means the archetypal content you get is thing similar that of a 4K OLED panel. 

It means that, contempt a clump of admirable characteristics, you mightiness not beryllium bowled implicit by the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G's surface compared to, say, a MacBook Pro. It mightiness person shallower colour and little contrast, but the higher pixel density much than makes up for it. Samsung Display truly needs to enactment connected a laptop-ready sheet with solution determination betwixt 1080p and 4K for models similar this. 

The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G supports an S-Pen pressure-sensitive stylus excessively - and 1 comes successful the box. However, our reappraisal illustration didn't see one. This is simply a neat summation but we person 1 interest here: the hinge is truthful casual to articulate that it's apt to determination nether each but the lighted pen pressure. 

Keyboard and touchpad

• 3-level achromatic LED backlight
• Textured solid touchpad

Samsung seems to person a akin narration to its keyboards arsenic Apple. They privation to marque them vanish completely, but yet travel to the realisation immoderate radical who bargain laptops really request to benignant worldly retired connected them. 

The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G has, finally, what we'd picture arsenic a much than capable keyboard, aft respective models that conscionable didn't connection capable feedback. It's inactive a shallow keyboard, but the actuation consciousness is precise good defined, letting you consciousness assured arsenic you benignant away. In this respect it is akin to the keyboard of the Apple MacBook Pro 16. 

We've written possibly 6000 words for assorted articles connected the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G, and are inactive not each that bothered astir switching to different machine. Would we similar greater cardinal depth? Absolutely. But judging by Samsung's caller designs we're not going to get that immoderate clip soon. 

The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G keyboard has an elegant-looking three-stage blueish-white backlight, which is neat. 

Samsung has besides resisted doing thing excessively silly with the touchpad. Recently we've seen immoderate alarmingly costly laptops with integrative touchpads, which conscionable don't chopped it successful four-figures and upwards models. 

This 1 is simply a mid-size sheet of solid with a creaseless digit glide and a reasonably accordant clicker consciousness crossed its surface, barroom a tiny dormant portion astatine the top, which is to beryllium expected of a non-haptic pad. The click consciousness is bright, and a small loud, but again we'd beryllium blessed to usage it each time for work. 

Overall the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G is not rather a pad and keyboard superstar. Microsoft's Surface Laptop 4 outclasses it connected some counts, by rather a distance. But bash see we're talking from the position of radical who walk much clip than astir typing. 

Performance

• Intel Core i5 CPU (1130G7)
• 8GB LPDDR4x RAM
• 256GB SSD

Some of you mightiness initially beryllium amazed erstwhile you spot the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G's spec. It has an 11th Gen Intel Core i5 CPU, 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD. 

That is not a peculiarly high-end array considering the starting price. However, we request to see this laptop has 5G, which remains a overmuch much costly upgrade successful laptops than it is successful phones.

The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G is not the laptop to bargain if you are keen connected getting the implicit champion show per spend. This was ne'er Samsung's volition anyway, arsenic shown by its usage of the Core i5-1130G7 alternatively than the much communal i5-1135G7. They dependable akin but this processor has a overmuch little powerfulness ceiling. It's present to get you decent show and longevity successful a precise bladed and airy laptop. 

Most astir apt won't announcement the deed to wide show each that much. Windows 11 runs precise well, and this is among the precise archetypal laptops to motorboat with that mentation of the OS. 

However, it does dull the interaction of the mostly large Intel Xe graphics, which dramatically improved however good baked-in Intel graphics could grip erstwhile high-end games similar The Witcher 3. 

We person nary existent contented with the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G's performance, arsenic agelong arsenic you attack it with expectations suitable for the benignant of laptop this is. However, its instrumentality sound is often much noticeable than those of its peers.

The fans often commencement up with precise small instigation. And portion existent decibel number is ne'er particularly high, 1 of the fans is high-pitched, creating a trebly whine that tin beryllium distracting. If you're looking for the astir evident mode this Galaxy Book's slim operation acts against the laptop, this is it. 

Battery life

• 63Wh battery
• 1x Thunderbolt 4
• 2x further USB-C

Thankfully, you don't spot immoderate large deed to artillery life, nary uncertainty acknowledgment to Samsung's usage of a processor specifically designed for debased powerfulness use. It lasts for 9 hours 50 minutes of video streaming.

This is the maximum you tin expect it to last, erstwhile doing precise airy work. We besides tried perfectly maxing it retired to spot however abbreviated the artillery beingness tin be. You tin drain it successful 169 minutes, oregon 2 hours 49 minutes. You'll get amended results nether strain from a MacBook Pro with M1 CPU. 

The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G speakers aren't rather arsenic bully arsenic a MacBook's either, but they are fantabulous for a tiny Windows laptop. There's a hint of bass, treble clarity is good, and there's coagulated operation to the sound. Just marque definite you power the Dolby dependable optimisation mode on, arsenic different the standard and measurement conscionable aren't successful the aforesaid league. The processing adds importantly to the loudness of these interior speakers though. 

Want to cognize astir connectors? There's 3 USB-C ports and microSD. One of the USB-C ports is simply a Thunderbolt 4 connector. As versatile arsenic accelerated USB-C ports tin be, we inactive admit classical USB-A sockets and video outputs. But we already knew we weren't going to get them from an ultra-slim Samsung laptop successful 2021. 

Writing by Andrew Williams. Editing by Mike Lowe. Originally published connected 18 October 2021.