The Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 is the exemplar of the ol’ “third time’s a appeal” cliche… The previous two ultra-slim convertibles offered a stable bedrock for rehabilitating the corporate’s laptop computer ambitions, and the third iteration just about knocked it out the park.
This begins with a slew of updates, however two are essentially the most noteworthy: a thirteenth Gen Intel Core i7-1360P CPU and a 16-inch, 16:10 show. The previous offers you a tasty enhance in efficiency and the latter delivers a much bigger canvas for productiveness — all in a body that’s very comparable in dimension, thinness and weight to final yr.
If portability is a precedence for you, the Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 will rank excessive in your private checklist of the very best 16-inch laptops to purchase. There are a few issues, which we are going to cowl, however let’s go in on what makes this pocket book stand out.
Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 value and availability
The Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 (opens in new tab) is available in at $1,399 for the bottom mannequin, packing an Intel Core i7-1360p CPU, 16GB DDR5 RAM and a 512GB SSD. In case you pre-order now, you may double that storage to 1TB for a similar value. As soon as this promotion is over, you’re paying $1,899 for that further house.
By way of 16-inch laptops, that’s surprisingly good worth for cash with the Huawei MateBook 16S as its closest kin, which lands at roughly the identical value when transformed from British Kilos, and it’s solely $200 greater than the bottom M2 MacBook Air (opens in new tab).
I convey these up compared for a really particular cause, which is able to reveal itself as we go ahead.
Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 design
As soon as once more, you’ll be shocked by how slim the Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 is — moreso for the enhancements which have been made to it. Don’t get me flawed; it’s slightly thicker and heavier than the earlier era 360 (the almost four-pound Ebook 3 Professional 360 has dimensions of 13.99 x 9.93 x 0.5 inches), however with the identical measurements elsewhere, it feels oddly baffling to carry a premium 16-inch laptop computer that’s so mild and skinny.
That very same luxurious aluminum chassis welcomes you in with its irresistibly upmarket really feel; weight distribution feels impressively balanced throughout its total physique. One massive aesthetic enchancment is no matter coating Samsung has utilized to the physique signifies that fingerprints aren’t any extra — not a single telltale smudge appeared throughout my time utilizing this magnificence. And naturally, all of this comes with very minimal branding, which is a giant win in my e book.
Opening the lid, it’s clear that the corporate has learnt a factor or two about robust hinges. Irrespective of how rigorously you poke the touchscreen or how violent your typing model is (shout out to anybody who beats up their keyboard whereas writing a passive-aggressive electronic mail), that hinge retains the show in a rock stable place. Plus, this provides an additional confidence within the rigidity of placing it in tent or pill mode.
In the meantime, taking these dimensions under consideration, you see Samsung has shaved slightly size off, however made it slightly heavier and thicker than the Ebook 2 on the identical time (14 x 9 x 0.46 inches, 3.1 kilos). On the opposite finish of the dimensions, the Huawei Matebook 16S is a chungus compared (13.8 x 9.9 x 0.7 inches, 4.4 kilos), however the far smaller M2 MacBook Air is clearly going to be extra transportable (12 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches, 2.7 kilos).
My solely gripe in regards to the design is Samsung nonetheless refuses to present you an S Pen silo. In fact, you may magnetically connect it to the lid, however that’s not an answer to having it someplace safe inside the body. The stylus is simply too simple to misplace.
Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 ports
Like most ultraportables, the port choice is proscribed, however there’s a respectable sufficient array to get stuff executed: two Thunderbolt 4 ports and HDMI 2.0 on the left, with a microSD card slot, USB Kind-A 3.2, and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the precise.
That does improve its versatility, however I’d have liked to see a full-size SD card slot and a pair extra USB-C ports on this array (in the event you’re in want of additional connectivity, the greatest docking stations will do the trick).
Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 show
The display is, certainly, the most important glow up of the Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360. Put merely, it’s magnificent.
This yr, the window to your work is a 16-inch, 3K (2,800 x 1,800-pixel) AMOLED show with a 16:10 side ratio and a 120Hz refresh fee. That may be a gigantic step up over the 15.6-inch 1080p panel of the Ebook 2 Professional and the distinction is putting. The extra peak is superior for productiveness — the extra sharpness offers every thing a beautiful constancy, and the brand new era of AMOLED tech supplies a brand new luscious vividity.
Watching the trailer for Apple TV+’s new sci-fi epic Extrapolations proves precisely that. The extra oppressive scenes of grey tones are produced with a deep, dramatic distinction that permits the flashes of sunshine to glow off the display. Transferring over to the hotter tones of the worldwide warming-stricken world and it nearly feels such as you’re a transferring portray of the Earth falling aside.
Our colorimeter backed this up with the Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 panel hitting 85.2% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut (for context, the Ebook 2 Professional hit a barely greater rating of 88%). However with that in thoughts, this nonetheless simply bests the Huawei MateBook 16S (76%), the M2 MacBook Air (75.9%) and matches the premium laptop computer common (85%). It’s additionally value noting we’re testing the Ebook 3 Professional 360 show in its default setting. For a extra vibrant look you may change to its Vivid or Film mode.
Sadly, brightness remains to be one of many letdowns of the Ebook 3 Professional 360, hitting a median of 380.6 nits in our testing. Don’t get me flawed; that’s brighter than final yr’s mannequin. However with the M2 Air hitting 489 nits and the class common of 440 nits, we anticipated extra. That is going to be greater than sufficient for many lighting situations, however it means you could wrestle slightly when working in a vibrant, out of doors atmosphere.
Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 keyboard and touchpad
Extremely-thin laptops are all the time a problem on the subject of making a superb typing and clicking expertise. That’s all the time been the case for the Galaxy Ebook Professional 360 line, however Samsungmade some vital enhancements that put this head and shoulders above what existed earlier than.
Particularly, the chiclet keys have a extra noticeable journey to scale back any of the soreness that comes with shallow boards, and maintaining the quantity pad makes information entry a cinch. I managed to hit a stable 85 wpm common on 10fastfingers.com with 98% accuracy, just about bang on with my common throughout all laptop computer keyboards.
However now, we’ve bought to speak about that massive touchpad. Critically, it’s large. At 5.9 x 4.3 inches, it’s 39% bigger than the Ebook 2 Professional 360 and considerably bigger than plenty of its competitors. The sleek floor lets you glide effortlessly throughout it with Home windows 11 gestures supported.
Plus, in the event you want an extra interplay possibility, there’s that capacitive touchscreen that’s tremendous attentive to each fingers or the S Pen (in case it’s good to do extra exact work). I’m not an artist that might benefit from this, however it’s clear from the nearly zero latency between pen and (digital) paper and the zippiness of this interplay, this nonetheless delivers best-in-class contact efficiency.
Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 audio
The Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 ups the speaker sport with a quad AKG-tuned system with Dolby Atmos assist. Decrease tones are much more current, however as you’d anticipate for skinny laptops, it’s nonetheless an expertise with none actual depth. However I need to applaud the spectacular definition of mid and excessive tones nonetheless.
I listened to “2009” by Mac Miller, which proved every thing I mentioned above. The sharp stings of the 808 bass don’t land as a lot of an influence as you’d really feel in headphones or beefier audio system, however the finer particulars such because the cracks in Mac’s voice come by means of loud and clear.
Clearly, for the very best audio expertise, you’ll want a pair of wi-fi headphones. However in the event you’re in a clutch second with out cans, these audio system are adequate.
Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 efficiency
Let’s get into the technical aspect of issues right here, and the rationale why I’m pulling up the MateBook 16S and the M2 MacBook Air for comparability – I wish to see how far the thirteenth Gen Intel has progressed, and the way it stacks up towards an identical pocket book chipset within the Air.
The Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 sports activities an Intel Core i7-1360p processor with 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and both a 512GB or 1TB SSD. In private use, I may do loads of multitasking together with some heavier Photoshop use with out breaking a sweat or kicking up the followers. Don’t anticipate to play video games or edit a number of streams on 4K video on this factor, however for different productiveness wants, this may fulfill.
Time to get into the meat of this part and put up some comparative stats.
| Benchmark | Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 | M2 MacBook Air | Huawei MateBook 16S |
|---|---|---|---|
| Geekbench 5 (Multi-core) | 8250 | 8919 | 9337 |
| Handbrake (transcode 4K to 1080p) | 08:07 | 07:52 | 07:45 |
The P-series thirteenth Gen Intel Core i7 doesn’t fairly match as much as the extra highly effective Intel Core i7-12700H within the MateBook 16S – neither does it beat the M2 MacBook Air. Sure, the laptop computer feels quick in apply, and these numbers are a superb signal that Intel is getting slightly nearer to Apple silicon, however this isn’t the yr they cross the road.
Different extenuating elements might be taking part in an element too, similar to a lowered TDP, however it’s value placing this chip into context. It’s quick, however not as quick as we’d’ve preferred from a laptop computer at this value level.
One half I used to be pleasantly shocked by is the gaming efficiency. You received’t get AAA gaming on right here, however it was greater than able to taking part in the likes of F1 Supervisor 22 and Two Level Campus, alongside some indies at a easy 60 frames per second with settings turned all the way down to a mix of medium and low.
Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 battery life
What’s the finish results of that larger show and barely extra highly effective internals? The battery life takes a little bit of a success. The Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 hit 7 hours and 46 minutes in our Laptop computer Magazine battery life check, which entails steady net browsing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness.
It is a knock down from the Ebook 2 Professional 360’s 11 hours and 59 minutes the Ebook 2 Professional runtime, which is in of itself weaker than the unique that achieved 13 hours and 34 minutes. This additionally falls under the premium laptop computer common (10:37), and the stonking M2 MacBook Air (14:06). A few of that is attributable to the Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360’s beautiful new 2.8K show, however it’s nonetheless disappointing to see it fall that far.
No matter this backslide, you’ll nonetheless reliably get by means of most of a day on one cost, which is spectacular given the scale and weight of this pocket book. However I believe we’re on the level the place Samsung shouldn’t sacrifice anymore battery juice subsequent yr.
Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 webcam
The 1080p webcam within the Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 has had some software-based tweaks in comparison with final yr, which does assist enhance your picture on video calls. However the outcomes are nonetheless slightly tough.
Nicely-lit areas nonetheless produce imagery with a good bit of noise, and when the sunshine goes decrease, you’re caught with a mushy high quality because the backend does its greatest to deal with the difficult situations. In case you want one thing higher, then you definitely’ll must dip into your pockets and purchase an exterior webcam, however this may do for the short video convention.
Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 warmth
One profit that comes out of a few of these improved internals and higher thermal administration is that the Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 is healthier at maintaining its cool.
Beneath stress, the touchpad reached 80.5 levels fahrenheit, the keyboard touched 89 levels, and the most popular space (the underside vents) peaked at 92.5 levels. Don’t get me flawed, the MacBook Air has a superhuman nature of maintaining warmth to a minimal and beats these numbers (80, 82 and 84 levels respectively), however all the above numbers match effectively under the 95-degree consolation threshold.
Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 software program and guarantee
The Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 ships with Home windows 11 put in, and past some Samsung apps that permit for seamless integration between this laptop computer and the likes of the Galaxy S23, that’s about it.
That is fairly a flip from the Ebook 2 Professional 360, which got here preloaded with bloatware from the likes of McAfee, making the setup course of an entire lot much less time consuming.
The Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 comes with a one-year restricted guarantee. You possibly can see how Microsoft usually fares on this entrance in our Tech Help Showdown particular report.
Backside line
And that concludes the story of what’s going to be a troublesome laptop computer to beat within the massive display ultraportable house. The Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 has updates within the areas the place it issues like show and CPU, whereas sprucing up different parts just like the keyboard, touchpad and webcam to make a superb laptop computer.
Positive, some issues stay — we nonetheless don’t have a spot to retailer the S-Pen within the laptop computer, the battery life falls a bit quick, and the display is just not as vibrant as we’d like.
However with spectacular ergonomics and efficiency in one thing this skinny and light-weight, this is a wonderful addition to Samsung’s lineup.
