By Anuj Bhatia
Ever since I began working from home during the pandemic, I have revisited my relationship with the many devices in my life. Over the past few months, I ditched a lot of products and started leaning on a single device for my computing needs. Recently, I switched to a new Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 (hello…I still use my phone) and used it in the most creative way possible. Here are some thoughts on the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360.
It’s sleek & lightweight
When the lid is closed, the Book 2 Pro 360 is just 11.7mm thin. It weighs around 1.1kg. The size and weight are perfect for a portable laptop—big enough to be comfortable to use but still perfect to be mobile. The Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 hits the sweet spot in terms of portability. This thing is really beautiful to hold, use and look at. I think people will like the silver finish of the notebook. Surprisingly, despite its compact size, the notebook offers an ample number of ports— including a microSD card reader, and three USB-C ports (one of which is a Thunderbolt 4 port) but a USB-A port is missing.
The 13.3-inch touch display on the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 is phenomenal. It’s a Super AMOLED display, the same kind of panel as Samsung uses in its smartphones. That translates to punchy colours, deep blacks and improved battery life. The 1080p display translates to a great experience for any average user. Whether streaming a movie on Netflix, working on a presentation or web browsing, this is a nicer display to have for most people. And, as the “360” moniker implies, it is a 2-in-1 notebook. Since it is so lightweight, using it as a tablet for long periods was not an issue. It’s smooth and easy to fold and the hinges are quite sturdy. The display is also stylus-compatible — the S Pen is sold separately.
A 1080p webcam for video calling. The Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 ships with a 1080p webcam that does a much better job with colour and brightness than older 720p webcams on most laptops. The keyboard is my third favourite thing in this notebook. I love typing on it. The backlit keyboard is snappy with a solid click and finds the keys responsive enough to type for long periods. Writers and bloggers will love it.
Inside the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 is a 12-th Gen Core i7 processor with 16GB RAM and 512GB of SSD. This machine seems quite fast enough for my needs. For what I use a laptop for, it seems to have more than enough processing power. The Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 is great for web browsing and office work, and although I wouldn’t recommend it for professional users like video editors and graphic designers or coders, it is good enough to handle those kinds of tasks. The battery life is satisfactory. I got about a day’s work out of the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360. In my tests, I got roughly nine to 10 hours of battery which is still impressive.
I was completely unconcerned about Samsung apps until I used the Quick Share app. There are always people who oppose the idea of having so many preloaded apps on their devices — 34 apps, mostly made by Samsung, on a Galaxy Book, is too much. But, while using the device, I noticed that some apps are actually useful such as Smart Switch, Quick Share (alternative to Apple’s AirDrop) and Samsung Notes.
Should you buy or skip it?
I liked the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 after a week of use. There’s a certain feel to it that appeals to me, especially writers and bloggers. The responsive screen, S Pen compatibility, terrific keyboard and long battery life all make the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 closer to a perfect notebook, but my reason for getting excited about this device is its ultra-portability. The only thing you need to consider before buying the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 is the price. At `1,20,990 you are paying a price for portability and long battery life.
