Samsung debuts the “most powerful Galaxy” devices with the Galaxy Book Pro lineup

• Andrew
• 4 years ago

A few weeks back, Samsung announced a surprise “Unpacked” event that took place earlier this morning. In the invitation, the company claimed that it would be debuting the “most powerful” Galaxy device, leading to speculation about a possible teaser for the Galaxy Z Fold 3. However, this event had (almost) nothing to do with smartphones but instead focused on the company’s refreshed Galaxy Book lineup of laptops.

Samsung Galaxy Book Pro

Kicking things off, we learned about the all-new Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 13 and 15, aptly named for the 13-inch and 15.6-inch displays provided by these new laptops. Both of these are powered by the latest 11th Gen Intel i5 or i7 processors, paired with the ultra-powerful onboard Iris Xe graphics. The arrival of the 11th gen chips comes as no surprise, considering that we’ve seen new offerings from Dell, Microsoft, and others with these latest processors. Now, Samsung is getting in on the fun.

Both of these laptops are pretty formidable, although there are a few limitations when compared to the Galaxy Book 360 Pro. Nevertheless, you’ll find FHD resolution on both laptops, along with Samsung’s fantastic Super AMOLED display panels. The 13-inch version can be configured with 8GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage courtesy of an NVMe SSD. Meanwhile, the 15.6-inch model sees a RAM boost up to 16GB if you want, while maintaining a maximum of 512GB of storage.

As for connectivity, you’ll find Thunderbolt 4, USB-C, USB-A version 3.2, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a microSD card reader. The 15.6-inch model gets a leg up thanks to the built-in HDMI port, so you won’t have to solely rely on dongles to connect your Galaxy Book Pro to an external monitor or display.

Samsung Galaxy Book 360 Pro

Moving to the star of the show, the Galaxy Book Pro 360 series are likely more compelling to those who want a versatile laptop. This is Samsung’s answer to Dell’s ultra-popular XPS 13 2-in-1 that continues to be the most popular and best laptop for many. However, instead of limiting the 2-in-1 design to just the 13-inch model, Samsung also brought the same reversible display to the larger 15-inch model.

For the most part, specs between the Galaxy Book Pro and Galaxy Book Pro 360 are pretty similar, with a few key differences. Notably, the Galaxy Book Pro 360 13-inch can be used with a 5G sim card, something that none of the other laptops announced today are capable of. Additionally, you’ll be losing out on that HDMI and USB-A port on the standard Book Pro in favor of an extra USB-C port on both size options.

Configurations are also pretty much the same, although the 13-inch Book Pro 360 can now be configured with up to 16GB of RAM instead of just 8GB. Meanwhile, you can configure the 15.6-inch variant with up to a 1TB NVMe SSD if you want or need some more storage.

Having the latest processor and some solid specs are great and all, but the real versatility of the Galaxy Book Pro 360 line shows up with the included S Pen. Samsung is including the new S Pen in the box, allowing you to draw, doodle, sign documents, or do whatever else you want with a stylus instead of sticking to the keyboard and trackpad

Samsung is also claiming that these laptops will last up to 21 hours on a single charge, which is a rather bold claim if we do say so ourselves. It’s clear this is a bit of a dig at Apple and the M1 chip found on the M1 MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. But we’ll have to wait until we can get our hands on the Galaxy Book Pro 360 to see if the claims are backed up with real-world usage.

Price and availability

If you’ve been in the market for a new Windows laptop and haven’t been impressed by the Surface Laptop 4 or Dell XPS, then now’s your chance. The Galaxy Book Pro and Galaxy Book Pro 360 are available for pre-order starting today, with official availability beginning on May 14th.

As for pricing, here’s how things stack up for each model:

There are some pretty solid trade-in incentives taking place if you want to purchase directly from Samsung. You can save up to $400 on any of these models when trading in a smartphone, tablet, or PC, depending on the model. Samsung is also throwing in a $150 credit if you pre-order one of these between today and May 13th. Amazon and Best Buy are expected to follow suit once the Galaxy Book Pro listings go live.

Samsung Galaxy Book Pro