Samsung’s Galaxy Book 3 Pro Keeps Samsung in the Windows Space

Samsung has introduced the third generation of its Galaxy Book laptops to coincide with the arrival of the new Galaxy S23 smartphones. Like the three smartphone offerings, each Galaxy Book 3 model has its own special marketing sauce. The Galaxy Book 3 Pro Ultra is the “ultimate” tier in the lineup, while the Book 3 Pro 360 is for lovers of the 2-in-1 form factor and the Book 3 Pro is for everyone else.

Let’s start with the main event: the Galaxy Book 3 Pro Ultra. This 16-inch laptop barely weighs four pounds and features a 3K-resolution Dynamic AMOLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate. It’s powered by a 13th-generation Intel Core i7 or Core i9 chip, with the option for either an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 or RTX 4070 Laptop GPU. You can get it with 16 or 32 GB of memory and up to 1 TB of storage.

The Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 is also a 16-inch laptop, though it can bend backward into a tablet-style device if need be, and it has a touchscreen. It comes with Samsung’s S Pen as a companion stylus, though I am regretful to report that it does not magnetically stick to the laptop like on Samsung’s Android-based tablets. Inside, it’s powered by the 13th-gen Core i5/Core i7 with integrated graphics—perfectly ample for cloud gaming. You can configure it from 8-32 GB of RAM and up to 1 TB of storage. It has Wi-Fi 6E and an FHD 1080p camera for video conferencing that’s hopefully better than the previous Galaxy Book generations.

Lastly, there’s the regular Galaxy Book 3 Pro, available in 14-inch and 16-inch configurations. It has most of the same specs as the 360, including the same processor and chip configurations, up to 32 GB of RAM, and up to 1 TB of storage.

All three laptops run Windows 11 and have a fingerprint reader embedded in the power button for added security, plus a quad-speaker system with two 5W woofers and two 2W tweeters. They have the same number of ports, including two Thunderbolt 4 ports, USB Type-A, HDMI, and the requisite headphone jack. There’s also a microSD expansion slot for adding on storage.

Samsung hopes the relative “seamlessness” between the Galaxy Book 3 family and its Galaxy smartphones and other devices will encourage users to stick to its ecosystem. The Galaxy Book 3 series includes Link to Windows, which supposedly allows Samsung users special control over their Samsung smartphones not available to other Android users, more than what’s already offered in the Microsoft-developed Phone Link Windows app. There’s an instant hotspot feature that instantly tethers your cellular connection from a Samsung smartphone to the laptop, similar to the ability already available on macOS and ChromeOS. And if you have a Galaxy Tab S7/S8 tablet, you can use it as a second screen.

The Galaxy Book 3 series of laptops will be available to purchase on Feb. 17 alongside the new Galaxy S23 smartphones. Pricing starts at $1,450 for the Galaxy Book 3 Pro and $1,900 for the Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360. The Galaxy Book 3 Ultra starts at $2,400, pitting it against the latest flagship Windows laptops.