Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360 hands-on review: A stunning Lunar Lake laptop
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The Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360 is more than a refresh of the Galaxy Book 4 Pro 360. Featuring the new Intel Core Ultra 200V or “Lunar Lake” CPU, Samsung’s 2-in-1 convertible is the latest to join the heated AI laptop race. It promises to make your life easier thanks to its AI capabilities and interoperability with Samsung devices. As a Lunar Lake laptop, it’s also promising enhanced performance and power efficiency.
I briefly went hands-on with the Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360 during IFA 2024 and came away with mostly positive thoughts. Though I didn’t get a chance to go in-depth with its purported AI features, I found the laptop as well designed as its predecessors. It’s thin and lightweight yet plenty sturdy. The 2,880×1,800 OLED display is also quite striking. Plus, this 16-inch laptop has a spacious keyboard that’s comfortable to use.
We’ll soon have a full scored Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360 review for you, but for now check out my initial thoughts on Samsung’s first major Lunar Lake laptop.
Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360 hands-on review: Cheat Sheet
What is it? The Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360 is the first Samsung laptop featuring the new Intel Lunar Lake CPU.
Who is it for? For those who want a relatively thin 2-in-1 laptop that promises to have enough power for everyday tasks, along with long battery life.
How much does it cost? Samsung says pre-orders for the Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360 start sometime in September. There is no word on pricing at this time.
What do we like? The thin and light design, OLED display and spacious keyboard deck.
What don't we like? The AI features might be as underwhelming on this machine as on other "AI laptops."
Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360 hands-on review: Specs
Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360 hands-on review: Design and display
Design-wise, the Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360 is virtually identical to its predecessor. It’s a thin and lightweight 2-in-1 that’s easy to hold and carry around. Despite its slim design, the laptop’s aluminum chassis feels sturdy and doesn’t have much (if any) flex. It’s an elegant machine with an aesthetic that lends itself to just about any work or outdoor environment.
You get a decent amount of ports, including two USB-C, an HDMI 2.1 port supporting 8K@60Hz and 5K@120Hz, a microSD slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a lone USB-A port. This is a similar port selection to other Samsung laptops, which is great — especially if you’re like me and want at least one USB-A port for legacy devices.
As a convertible 2-in-1, the Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360 is both a laptop and tablet. I didn’t struggle when folding the device thanks to the smooth yet sturdy hinge. Even the best 2-in-1 laptops make for awkward tablets and Samsung’s convertible likely won’t change my stance. Samsung’s device is much too big and bulky to dethrone any of the best tablets. That said, the touchscreen is fairly responsive and should give you a functional tablet if you need one in a pitch.
Like the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge, the Book 5 Pro 360 features a full keyboard for those who need a number pad. Based on my brief time with this laptop, I’m sure I’ll enjoy typing on this roomy keyboard and performing gestures on the large trackpad. The keys are as bouncy and responsive as I’ve come to expect from Samsung laptops.
I’ll need more hands-on (or eyes-on) time with the Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360’s OLED display, but I liked what I saw so far. Samsung claims the display can achieve up to 400 nits of SDR brightness and up to 500 nits of HDR brightness. To my eyes, the display is plenty bright, even under the bright lights of Samsung’s IFA booth. The OLED seems to do a good job of delivering deep blacks and bright whites. We’ll see what the display can truly do after we’ve conducted our in-house testing.
Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360 hands-on review: Performance
The Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360 is one of the first Lunar Lake laptops and promises to deliver excellent performance and battery life, at least according to Intel and Samsung.
Intel claims this is the most efficient x86 processor ever. Laptops with Lunar Lake should deliver “exceptional performance” and “breakthrough” x86 power efficiency, according to Intel. The company also says Lunar Lake will have “no compromise application compatibility,” which is shot at Qualcomm’s Arm-based Snapdragon X chips which aren’t always compatible with certain x86-based apps.
According to Intel, Lunar Lake consumes 50% less power than the last-gen Meteor Lake chip. It also features up to 120 total platform TOPS (trillion operations per second) across the chip’s CPU, GPU and NPU. The company claims Lunar Lake’s Xe2 integrated GPU can deliver up to 31% faster gaming performance over Meteor Lake.
We’ll need to run the Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360 through our gauntlet of benchmark tests to see how its performance and battery life stack up to laptops packing Qualcomm and Apple silicon. Hopefully, Lunar Lake will live up to Intel’s lofty promises.
Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360 hands-on review: Outlook
The Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360 could be another excellent Samsung laptop. It has the same elegant and sturdy design I’ve come to expect, along with a vivid OLED panel, plenty of ports and a roomy keyboard.
Those aspects are good on their own, but if this machine can deliver performance and battery life on par with its rivals, the Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360 and other Lunar Lake laptops might give Intel the edge it needs to compete against Qualcomm and Apple.
Expect a full review of the Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360 soon!
