execs and cons

Professionals

• Strong efficiency
• Battery life
• Unbelievable show

Cons

• An excessive amount of Samsung software program
• Touchpad is nearly too huge
• Quantity pad is not large enough to be useful

extra shopping for selections

When Samsung lately introduced a trio of Galaxy S23 telephones, the corporate additionally introduced a line of Galaxy E-book 3 Home windows laptops. For the previous couple of weeks, I have been testing the Galaxy E-book 3 Professional 360. Its title is a mouthful, I agree.

This 2-in-1 laptop computer has a 16-inch show that rotates almost 360 levels (thus the title!), to drag double obligation as a pill. It even comes with Samsung’s iconic S Pen stylus within the field, so you’ll be able to jot down notes or sketch instantly on the attractive show.

There’s rather a lot to love concerning the E-book 3 Professional 360, at the very least with regards to the {hardware}. It is the software program the place Samsung’s laptop computer expertise begins to crumble. Let me clarify. 

Design

Arguably, the Galaxy E-book 3 Professional 360’s headlining function is its 16-inch show. It is the very first thing you discover when opening the lid, and for good cause. It is huge, shiny, and crystal-clear. Samsung used a 3K 16-inch AMOLED touchscreen show right here — that is the identical sort of display screen tech utilized in all of Samsung’s high-end smartphones. AMOLED shows are recognized for deeper blacks and extra exact shade saturation, and the E-book 3 Professional 360 delivers on these guarantees.

My lone criticism concerning the show is simply how reflective it’s. I fought shiny overhead lights your complete time I used to be testing it. 

Additionally: Galaxy E-book 3 Extremely vs MacBook Professional: A premium laptop computer showdown

The bezels surrounding the E-book 3 Professional 360’s show are skinny, leaving simply sufficient room on the highest for a 1080p webcam that appears like a typical laptop computer webcam. It is adequate for enterprise and private video calls, however you are not going to listen to anybody make feedback about how nice your feed appears.

Equally, the audio system are all proper for video calls, however when listening to music or watching YouTube, they sound virtually hole. They only haven’t any oomph to them.   

Under the show, on the laptop computer’s deck, is a full-size keyboard with chiclet-style keys, with a large touchpad that is centered with the keyboard, not the laptop computer’s housing. The keyboard is straightforward sufficient to sort on, requiring solely minor changes to get the lay of the land. I do not notably take care of the very small quantity pad on the best facet, nonetheless. It is too small for any actual key punching {that a} quantity cruncher would need. I desire simply utilizing the quantity row on the prime of the keyboard. 

The touchpad is nice to make use of, should you ever modify to its measurement and off-center placement. I discovered it irritating as a result of I would attain for the place I assumed the center of it ought to be, however find yourself right-clicking virtually 100% of the time.   

Simply above the quantity pad, within the prime proper nook of the keyboard’s footprint, is the facility button that additionally homes the fingerprint sensor that works with Home windows Hiya to unlock the laptop computer or signal you in to apps, equivalent to a password supervisor. Setup and use of the fingerprint sensor was easy; that is one thing Samsung has perfected on its smartphones, and now its laptops. 

The E-book 3 Professional 360 has a handful of ports: On the best facet of the housing are a microSD card reader, a USB-A 3.2 port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. On the left facet of the deck are two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports which might be additionally used to cost the laptop computer, together with an HDMI port. There’s additionally a small indicator mild exhibiting the laptop computer’s charging standing. 

An S Pen is included within the field with the E-book 3 Professional 360, although Samsung would not provide you with wherever to retailer the pen once you’re not utilizing it. Properly, technically, you’ll be able to magnetically connect the S Pen to the lid of the laptop computer, however it would not really feel very safe and is well knocked off. 

The E-book 3 Professional 360 measures 13.99 x 9.93 x 0.5 inches and weighs 3.66 kilos. It is not an enormous laptop computer, by any means, despite the fact that it has a big show. And its weight is according to different laptops of this measurement — the 16-inch MacBook Professional, as an illustration, weighs 3.6 kilos. It is a laptop computer you may really feel comfy placing in a backpack to take throughout campus or on a piece journey.

Total, the design of the E-book 3 Professional 360 is sweet, if not a little bit boring, with no options that actually blow you away or allow you to down.

Efficiency

In relation to choosing out a E-book 3 Professional 360, you’ll be able to select between two storage quantities — there is a 512GB mannequin for $1,699.99, and a 1TB mannequin for $1,899.99, providing you with double the storage. Both manner, you get an Intel Core i7–1360P processor, Intel Iris Xe graphics, 16GB of reminiscence, 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.1. 

Relying in your configuration, these costs are barely greater than a Floor Professional 9, however cheaper than a 16-inch MacBook Professional, and so they make sense for what you are getting with the E-book 3 Professional 360. 

Over the previous couple of weeks I’ve used the E-book 3 Professional 360 for my regular computing wants. That would imply someday I would spend just a few hours in Microsoft’s Edge browser doing analysis for a narrative or buying on Amazon, and the following day I would be monitoring emails, writing in Google Docs, and exchanging messages in Slack, whereas streaming music from Apple Music. I additionally did some mild picture enhancing, and trimmed just a few video clips in Microsoft’s Photographs app. The E-book 3 Professional 360 dealt with all of it like a champ. 

The Geekbench 6 benchmarking device was lately launched; it helps measure the efficiency of a pc or smartphone when doing each day duties. I ran it 3 times on the E-book 3 Professional 360 and averaged the scores. The only-core rating was 2,219, with a multicore rating of 8,916. I additionally ran the identical device on my 2020 M1 Apple MacBook Professional, and it had a mean rating of two,300 for single-core and eight,025 for multicore. 

Objectively, the E-book 3 Professional 360 has the identical single-core efficiency as my M1 MacBook Professional, and outperforms it on multicore duties. Subjectively, I can not inform a distinction in efficiency between the 2. 

All that’s to say — with the E-book 3 Professional 360, you are getting a laptop computer that provides stellar efficiency that is on par with the first-generation Apple Silicon processor. 

Utilizing the S Pen on the E-book 3 Professional 360 felt clean and responsive, with a Samsung twist. Because the pen nears the laptop computer’s display screen, you’ll be able to carry up the Air Instructions menu by urgent the pen’s lone button. Choices included within the menu embody creating a brand new be aware in Samsung’s Notes app, Samsung’s Sensible Choose device for capturing screenshots, and including your personal shortcuts. I do not typically use a stylus on any pc, but when I owned a E-book 3 Professional 360, I would use this one.

Software program

The E-book 3 Professional 360 runs Home windows 11 House out of the field. You will discover all the commonplace Microsoft apps and companies preinstalled on it, however along with that, Samsung provides its personal software program to the E-book 3 Professional 360 with a really heavy hand (because it does with its Android telephones).

I counted over two dozen Samsung-branded apps put in on the E-book 3 Professional 360. Two dozen! A few of them you may certainly by no means use. That is along with the pointless McAfee LiveSafe antivirus software program. 

Additionally: Galaxy S23 Extremely vs S22 Extremely: Do you have to improve?

There are a few Samsung apps which might be value utilizing should you already use Galaxy merchandise. Samsung Notes is a staple on any Galaxy system, going again to the Notice line, and now the S22 Extremely and S23 Extremely. Samsung’s SmartThings platform, too, is helpful for individuals who use it to handle their good house. 

When you’ve got a Samsung cellphone or pill and a Galaxy E-book 3, you need to use the mouse and keyboard in your laptop computer to manage and kind in your cellphone. It took me just some clicks of the touchpad to set it up, after which my mouse magically would seem on the Galaxy S23 every time I moved the pointer off the best facet of the display screen. That is the kind of software program function Samsung ought to concentrate on constructing and implementing in its laptops. 

However do you want a Samsung model of a Stay Wallpaper app? Or the Samsung Gallery app? Or what about Samsung Studio Plus? Fast Search? There are good variations of these options constructed into Home windows already. 

Battery life

Over a pair weeks of use and testing, I have never had any points with the E-book 3 Professional 360’s battery life. It is powered by a full day of labor, consisting of video calls, writing in Google Docs, streaming music, and maintaining manner too many tabs open in Edge whereas triaging my electronic mail and Slack messages. The battery would not have sufficient juice to get by two full days of labor, so you may wish to take your charger with you on fast journeys. 

Additionally: My 5 must-have devices for work journey

Each time I take a look at a laptop computer, I play a 4K video file that loops time and again, with the show set to 50% brightness, all different apps closed, and any additional connectivity options (like Bluetooth) turned off. I then seize a timelapse at 1-minute intervals to trace how lengthy the battery lasts. 

Working that take a look at on the E-book 3 Professional 360, the battery powered by 9 hours and 9 minutes of video playback. That is a good quantity of use, and greater than sufficient to observe a few films on a cross-country flight. 

Backside line

Samsung’s Galaxy E-book 3 Professional 360 is a good 2-in-1 laptop computer that is quick, with a tremendous display screen and sufficient battery life to get by a full day of labor, and a value that matches its options. 

Even should you’re somebody who’s closely invested in Samsung’s ecosystem, the abundance of Samsung apps and companies on the E-book 3 will be irritating to navigate. That stated, die-hard Samsung followers will admire the entry and tight integration with Samsung’s total platform.

Options to contemplate

A smaller, cheaper model of the E-book 3 Professional 360. 

Microsoft’s Floor Professional line is the unique 2-in-1, and it is nonetheless round for good cause. It units a excessive bar. 

For those who’re not offered on a Home windows laptop computer, the 16-inch MacBook Professional is among the finest laptops accessible proper now.