Samsung has a refreshed line of laptops for 2023 with a range of options in the Galaxy Book 3 Pro line-up. Of these, the Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 is one of the most interesting, with options that the regular models don’t offer.

It follows on from Samsung’s previous offerings, positioning itself very much as the replacement for the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360. And it’s all about that flexible hinge.

Design and build

  • 2-in-1 design 355.4 x 252.2 x 12.8mm, 1.66kg (Wi-Fi) / 1.71kg (5G) Graphite or Beige colours

Samsung refers to the 360 as a 2-in-1, but it’s not a 2-in-1, not in the sense that some might expect. It has a flexible hinge that allows you to rotate the screen all the way around, fold it flat or use it in tent mode, rather than being a tablet with a detachable keyboard. No, this is very much a connected laptop, but with the support for touch interaction - which makes it different to other Galaxy Book devices.

  • Premium slim design Touchscreen with S Pen support Connectivity options Samsung ecosystem software

  • Too soon to tell

The design more or less reflects the previous iteration of this laptop, with slim and light being at its heart. Well, it’s not that light, weighing in at 1.66kg, a little more than the regular Galaxy Book 3 Pro with a 16-inch display.

The design is slim, however at 12.8mm, while there’s still plenty of space on the deck for a huge trackpad - which is silky-smooth like you’d find on an Apple MacBook - while the full keyboard also gives you a number pad to aid entry and input options. There’s some flex to centre of the keyboard which means it might be a little bouncy when it comes to typing, but we haven’t had the chance to test it to any great extent beyond first impressions.

First impressions of the hinge are reassuring: it will let you position the display and keyboard at just about any angle without feeling like it’s going to wobble around, meaning there’s plenty of flexibility when it comes to how you position this device for work or play.

Around the body you also have a great selection of connections, including HDMI (although it’s only HDMI 1.4), while there’s also 2x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, microSD, USB-A and 3.5mm. The Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 also supports 5G, so there’s space for a SIM card on the right-hand side too. USB-C is used for charging and there’s a 65W charger in the box that can be used for all your other Samsung devices too.

There are AGK speakers, offering Dolby Atmos - although we haven’t had a chance to fully test that.

Display and hardware

  • 13-gen Intel Core i5/i7, Intel Iris Xe 8-32GB RAM, 256-1TB storage 76Wh battery, 65W charging 2880 x 1800 AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, Touch S Pen compatible

These latest updates from Samsung are all about moving to Intel’s latest hardware, 13-gen. There are Core i5 and Core i7 options for the Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360, which very much reflects the hardware options for the non-360 version. The graphics are integrated, so this isn’t going to be a graphically adept as the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra, but will be fine for daily computing tasks, light gaming and photo editing jobs.

We’ve not had the chance to test this hardware beyond our first examination of the new laptop, so we can’t comment on the performance or the battery life, or indeed how well the 5G connectivity might work. Neither have we been able to test the endurance of that 76Wh battery.

The display again is the same as the other 16-inch models, but with a difference: it supports the S Pen. Many windows laptops now support touch, so the Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 offers parity with those devices, while some might feel that its absence on the regular Galaxy Book 3 Pro is an omission.

Touch makes for more versatile use and supports the range of modes you might choose for the 360, with the ability to fold the keyboard right back and essentially use it as a tablet. We’ve not had the chance to fully explore the S Pen skills, but whether that’s useful to you or not very much depends on your workflow or what you want to do - if you never want to sketch or write, it might be unnecessary, but we’ve found quick touches useful at times on Windows 11.

We can’t fully gauge to performance of the display, but first impressions are that it’s bright and vibrant, with plenty of detail. That’s what you’d expect from Samsung and we look forward to testing it in more detail for a full review.

Smart software

  • Windows 11 Samsung ecosystem extras

While the Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 is a Windows 11 machine, the important part of the name is the Galaxy part. The laptop is designed to work within Samsung’s ecosystem, to integrate with Galaxy Tab and Galaxy phones to make your life easier.

That means you’ll get features like instant hotspot (if you don’t have a 5G model), you’ll also be able to extend the display with Second Screen, so you could use your Galaxy Tab as a wireless external display to give you more space to work or play.

There are other convenience features, like being able to sync your Expert RAW images from the Galaxy S23 Ultra directly with your Galaxy Book, so you can take photos and have them open for editing on the laptop instantly.

There’s a lot that we haven’t had the chance to explore on the software side of things, but it’s clear that there’s more than you’ll get with some other laptops. That might entice those with other Samsung devices to jump onboard and pick a Galaxy Book too.

First impressions

The Samsung Galaxy 3 Pro 360 is a versatile device, offering touchscreen and support for the S Pen which none of the other devices in the family do. The design looks great while the hinge offers a full range of articulation for multi-mode use, so there’s a lot on offer.

It’s an update of an existing device, so there aren’t too many surprises here and we have a lot more to explore when we get the Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 for review - but first impressions are good. The Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 will be available from £1,549 with pre-orders open immediately and general availability from 17 February.