Samsung’s newest Galaxy E-book Professional is a quick and versatile Home windows 10 laptop computer that has a gorgeous-looking OLED display screen.
Out there as a normal laptop computer costing from £1,099 ($999) or one with a display screen that folds again on itself referred to as the Galaxy E-book Professional 360 for an additional £100 ($200). It’s the successor to 2020’s Galaxy E-book Flex and follows the same theme: good 13.3in display screen, 360-degree folding hinge and skinny steel physique obtainable in a particular royal blue color.
The physique of the Professional 360 has misplaced somewhat of the visible flourish of the Flex. However the brand new machine makes up for it with an upgraded OLED display screen as an alternative of the LCD know-how widespread to most laptops. This provides it vastly improved distinction, inky blacks and vibrant colors just like one of the best smartphones.
The 13.3in display screen appears nice, however is simply full HD (1080p) decision making it barely much less crisp than rivals with increased decision shows. It additionally has a standard widescreen (16:9) ratio making it improbable for TVs and films however much less helpful for work by being a bit wanting peak in contrast with extra sq. display screen ratios equivalent to these of the Floor Laptop computer 4 or MacBook Air.
The massive, clean and exact trackpad is nice and the keyboard has been improved with well-spaced and responsive keys. Each are pretty noisy and the keys have solely a shallow depth when pressed. Good, however not fairly finest at school.
Specs
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Display screen: 13.3in FHD (1080p) Tremendous AMOLED (166PPI)
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Processor: Eleventh-gen Intel Core i5
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RAM: 8GB
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Storage: 512GB
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Graphics: Intel Iris Xe
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Working system: Home windows 10 Dwelling
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Digital camera: 720p HD
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Connectivity: Wifi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1, 1x Thunderbolt 4, 2x USB-C, microSD, headphone
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Dimensions: 302.5 x 202.0 x 11.5mm
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Weight: 1.04kg
Sturdy efficiency, 8-plus hour battery
Each 13.3in Galaxy E-book Professional variations include the identical Eleventh-generation Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, apart from the 4G mannequin that comes with a 256GB SSD solely.
The brand new chip comes with Intel’s much-improved Xe built-in graphics and is quicker all-round on paper, though usually not appreciably so in contrast with the well-performing earlier technology. Efficiency was excellent for a common computing gadget and it ran pretty quietly with the followers solely audible when doing one thing extra intensive when used on battery. Plug it in, and the followers ran virtually continually, nonetheless.
A Samsung utility can flip down the fan noise to “silent” or fully off by decreasing efficiency.
Battery life was barely above common for Intel-based PCs, lasting slightly below 9 hours of labor between fees, however a way behind the 16-hour battery lifetime of the Apple MacBook Air. That was with the brightness set to 70% with really useful battery settings, utilizing Chrome, Evernote, Typora and a number of other messaging apps, plus some mild picture modifying in Affinity Photograph.
Sustainability
The Galaxy E-book Professional 360 is repairable by authorised service centres within the UK. Samsung charges the battery for at the very least 1,000 full cost cycles whereas nonetheless sustaining at the very least 80% capability. Samsung additionally has battery lifespan-extending choices on the laptop computer, equivalent to people who restrict the utmost cost to 85% to lengthen its helpful life.
The battery will be changed out of guarantee by authorised service suppliers. The laptop computer is just not comprised of any recycled supplies and whereas Samsung provides trade-in and recycling schemes for different units, however not but for laptops. Samsung company-wide sustainability stories however not breakdowns for particular person merchandise.
Home windows 10 Dwelling
The Professional and Professional 360 ship with Home windows 10 Dwelling within the UK, with a couple of helpful Samsung apps and instruments put in. It additionally ships with McAfee Livesafe put in, which having skilled issues with prior to now I uninstalled instantly, reverting to the built-in Home windows Defender for anti-virus safety.
The laptop computer is eligible for a free replace to Home windows 11 on launch within the autumn.
Utilizing the laptop computer was usually bother free. The fingerprint scanner labored nice for logging into Home windows and the assorted utilities had been useful, together with these for the stylus and the Bluetooth sync system that routinely related a set of Galaxy Buds Professional earbuds. However I had points with Home windows Mail crashing with my work Google electronic mail account and getting the laptop computer to sleep correctly when plugged in.
Observations
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The shiny display screen may be very reflective, which means glare will be a difficulty in some lighting situations.
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The display screen suffers from so-called “jelly scroll” when utilized in portrait orientation, an issue widespread to giant OLED touchscreen units the place one aspect of the display screen reacts sooner than the opposite if you drag your finger on it to scroll the web page.
Worth
The 13.3in Samsung Galaxy E-book Professional prices from £1,099 ($999) and the Galaxy E-book Professional 360 from £1,199 ($1,199).
For comparability, Microsoft’s Floor Laptop computer 4 begins at £999, Dell’s XPS 13 begins at £949, Apple’s MacBook Air begins at £999 and MacBook Professional begins at £1,299.
Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy E-book Professional is a skinny, mild and engaging Home windows 10 PC with the newest Intel chips.
In its Professional 360 kind , it’s a versatile gadget that may pull double obligation as a pill with stylus and will be propped up in a number of methods to fit your surroundings, whether or not for movie-watching or getting work achieved.
The OLED display screen is the star of the present, beating common LCD opponents on color and distinction, whereas being vivid sufficient for many environments. It isn’t fairly as sharp as some, although, and its wide-screen ratio is best suited to films than work.
About 9 hours of battery life is nice for an Intel-powered machine, however pales into comparability to the market-leader, Apple’s 16-hour MacBook Air. The Samsung suffers from sleep points and pretty fixed fan noise when plugged in, which hopefully will get mounted with software program updates.
Professionals: Eleventh-gen Intel Core i5, 1x Thunderbolt 4 + 2x USB-C ports, microSD slot, wealthy AMOLED display screen, convertible hinge, good keyboard, good trackpad, fingerprint scanner, wonderful stylus included.
Cons: 16:9 ratio and decrease decision display screen, noisy followers, battery life nowhere close to prime rivals, no built-in stylus storage, display screen very reflective.
