The Ultrabook King is Dead? Long Live the King.
For years, the premium ultrabook space has been a two-horse race, dominated by Apple’s MacBook Air and Dell’s XPS line. To challenge them, you need more than just a spec sheet; you need a knockout feature. With the Galaxy Book3 Pro, Samsung isn’t just entering the ring—it’s aiming for the crown, and its right hook is a display that has to be seen to be believed. This isn’t just another thin-and-light laptop; it’s a statement piece that redefines what a portable screen can be, wrapped in a package that gets almost everything else right.
Design and Build: A Masterclass in Portability
Picking up the Galaxy Book3 Pro for the first time is a genuinely surprising experience. At just over 11mm thick and weighing a mere 1.17kg for the 14-inch model, it feels almost impossibly sleek. The full aluminum chassis, finished in a minimalist Graphite or Beige, exudes a quiet professionalism. The lines are clean, the branding is subtle, and it feels every bit the premium device it is. However, this pursuit of thinness comes at a small cost. If you press firmly on the keyboard deck or the lid, you’ll notice a bit more flex than you’d find on a unibody competitor like a MacBook. It’s not a deal-breaker by any means, but it’s a minor compromise in an otherwise stellar physical design.
The Display: Simply Jaw-Dropping
Let’s be clear: the screen is the star of the show. Samsung has equipped the Book3 Pro with its 3K (2880×1800) Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, and it is spectacular. The technology, trickled down from their flagship smartphones, delivers the inky, infinite blacks and vibrant, punchy colors that only OLED can provide. With a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, scrolling and animations are fluid and responsive. For creative professionals, the panel’s 120% DCI-P3 color volume coverage ensures outstanding color accuracy. For everyone else, it simply makes everything from watching Netflix to browsing the web an absolute joy. It’s so good, it makes even the best IPS panels look dull and washed out by comparison.
Performance and Experience: The P-Series Proposition
Under the hood, our review unit is powered by a 13th Gen Intel Core i7-1360P processor, paired with 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM. This P-series chip is the perfect choice for this form factor, offering a brilliant balance of performance and efficiency. For everyday tasks—juggling dozens of browser tabs, running office applications, and light photo editing—the Book3 Pro is effortlessly fast and responsive. The keyboard is comfortable with decent travel, and the enormous, precise trackpad is a pleasure to use. The laptop wakes instantly and handles productivity workloads without breaking a sweat. However, it’s not a mobile workstation. For sustained, heavy tasks like 4K video rendering or compiling large codebases, the processor will eventually throttle to manage heat in the ultra-thin chassis. It’s a thoroughbred sprinter, not a marathon runner.
Features and Ecosystem: The Samsung Secret Sauce
Where the Galaxy Book3 Pro truly distances itself from the Windows pack is its deep integration with the Samsung ecosystem. If you own a Galaxy smartphone or tablet, the experience is transformative. Features like Multi Control let you use the laptop’s keyboard and trackpad to navigate your phone, seamlessly dragging and dropping files between devices. You can use a Galaxy Tab as a wireless second screen with zero fuss. It’s this kind of software cohesion that Apple users have enjoyed for years, and Samsung has implemented it beautifully. Furthermore, the port selection is refreshingly practical, offering two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB-A 3.2, a full-size HDMI, and a microSD card reader—a generous loadout for an ultrabook in 2023.
The Verdict: A New Ultrabook Champion?
The Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro is a formidable contender for the ultrabook throne. It delivers a premium, ultra-portable design, solid everyday performance, and a class-leading suite of ecosystem features. But its true value proposition is that stunning AMOLED display, which is hands-down the best you can get in a laptop today. While the chassis could be a touch more rigid and the performance isn’t geared for the most demanding power users, these are minor trade-offs.
Ultimately, this laptop is for the mobile professional, the student, or the creative who prioritizes screen quality and portability above all else. If you’re invested in the Samsung ecosystem, the decision is a no-brainer. If you’re not, that gorgeous display might just be enough to win you over anyway.
Where to Buy:
Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro Quick Summary
Key Scores:
- Value: 90%
- Design: 94%
- Performance: 92%
- Quality: 92%
- Popularity: 89%
Top Pros
- ✅ The 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED display is absolutely stunning and class-leading.
- ✅ Its incredibly thin and lightweight design makes for excellent portability.
- ✅ Seamless integration with other Samsung devices adds significant value.
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Key Cons
- ❌ The aluminum chassis exhibits some noticeable flex under pressure.
- ❌ Performance can throttle under very heavy and sustained workloads.
- ❌ Its 1080p webcam is adequate but not exceptional for a pro device.
