Samsung launched a bunch of new laptops today at its global Unpacked 2023 event. But clearly the star of the show was the 16-inch Galaxy Book 3 Ultra. This is the most powerful laptop that Samsung has ever made and the way that it’s going about positioning it, it’s abundantly clear that it’s coming after Apple’s top-shelf MacBook Pro that just received a refresh a few weeks ago.
It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s promo materials –shared with the media ahead of launch— start off with the promise of an “unrivalled” connected experience, that is if you’re willing to live inside its ecosystem. Say for instance, if you own one of its high-end tablets (Galaxy Tab S7 and above), you can use it as a second screen. Think of it as Samsung’s version of Apple’s Sidecar.
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If you can chip in for the latest Galaxy S23 Ultra, you can control it with the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra’s keyboard and trackpad through a feature that Samsung is calling “multi control”. You can also sync RAW files taken on any of the Galaxy S23 series phones with the laptop through Wi-Fi Direct for more professional edits.
There’s a whole lot more but bottomline is, Samsung’s really pushing for more seamless integration and the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra makes a strong case for it. But we’ll see how all this pans out in the real world once we spend some more time with it.
Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra specs and features
Hardware-wise, the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra has a 16-inch WQXGA+ (2880 x 1800p) OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 16:10 aspect ratio. Under the hood, you get a choice of a 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700H or i9-13900H processor paired with Nvidia RTX 4050 or Nvidia RTX 4070 GPU, up to 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and up to 1TB of M.2 PCIe-NVMe SSD Gen 4. The laptop is Intel Evo-certified.
Connectivity options include 2x Thunderbolt 4, 1x USB A 3.2 Gen 1, HDMI 2.0, micro-SD card slot, 3.5mm audio jack in addition to Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.1.
The Galaxy Book 3 Ultra comes with a sleek and premium unibody aluminium chassis weighing in at about 1.79 kg. Rounding off the package are AKG-powered quad speakers with support for Dolby Atmos, 1080p webcam, and 76Wh battery with 100W fast charging.
Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro and Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 specs, features
Joining the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra are the relatively more mainstream Galaxy Book 3 Pro and Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360. As you can probably tell by the naming, the latter is a 2-in-1 with a touchscreen and stylus— S-Pen— support.
The Galaxy Book 3 Pro comes in two sizes— 14- and 16-inch with fast 120Hz OLED 16:10 panels boasting of the same resolution (WQXGA+) as the ultra-model. The Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 meanwhile has a 16-inch OLED touchscreen display, keeping rest of the specs same as the non-360 model. Under the hood, both the Galaxy Book 3 Pro and Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 come with a choice of either a 13th Gen Intel Core i5-1340P or Core i7-1360P processor paired with integrated Intel Iris XE graphics, up to 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and up to 1TB of M.2 PCIe-NVMe SSD Gen 4.
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The Book 3 Pro and Book 3 Pro 360 both come with Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, micro-SD card slot, 3.5mm audio jack, 2x Thunderbolt 4, 1x USB A 3.2 Gen 1, and HDMI 1.4 for connectivity in addition to AKG-powered quad speakers with support for Dolby Atmos and a 1080p webcam. The 14-inch Galaxy Book 3 Pro has a 63Wh battery while the 16-inch model comes with a larger 76Wh battery. The 16-inch Book 3 Pro 360 also has a 76Wh battery. Both ship with a 65W Type-C charger in the box.
