Samsung has updated its family of Galaxy Book Pro models, now in the third generation. The mainstay of the family is the Galaxy Book 3 Pro, which comes in both 14 and 16-inch sizes and sits alongside the Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 and the flagship, the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra.

The Galaxy Book 3 Pro models are an incremental update of 2022 models sitting in a similar position, offering a highly portable option in the 14-inch and something with a little more screen space in the 16-inch. We spent a little time with these new notebooks at launch.

Design and build

  • 14in: 312.3 x 223.8 x 11.3mm thick, 1.17kg 16in: 355.4 x 250.4 x 12.15mm, 1.56kg Graphite and Beige colours

The 14 and 16-inch Galaxy Book 3 Pro models look basically the same, with the same slim and light design. The aesthetic is generally the same, much in the same way that the MacBook Pro offers a little and large pairing.

  • Great design Lovely display Plenty of connectivity

  • Too soon to tell

The design is solid and eye-catching finished in metals with a huge and silky-smooth trackpad below the keyboard. It’s a nice chiclet keyboard, backlit, and offering a great typing action on first tap. There is some flex towards the centre of the keyboard, suggesting there’s not as much support behind the keys as you’ll find on some other devices, which might be something to test before you buy if you’re heavy-fingered.

The big difference between these two laptops is that the 16-inch model manages to fit in a numberpad on the keyboard, giving those additional input options. Because of the numberpad, you’ll find that the trackpad on the 16-inch model is offset to the left, so it’s central under the main keys, while the 14-inch gets a centralised trackpad, which we much prefer in terms of looks overall.

Of the two, the 14-inch model definitely catches the eye and will likely be the portable notebook that many plump for because of its portability.

There is an AKG speaker system on these notebooks, offering Dolby Atmos, with two 5W woofers and two 2W tweeters. The grilles are on the underside of the chassis, but we’ve not been able to test their performance.

Hardware and display

  • 14in: 2880 x 1800, 16:10, 120Hz AMOLED 2X 16in: 2880 x 1800, 16:10, 120Hz, AMOLED 2X 13 Gen Intel Core i5/i7, Iris Xe, 8-32GB, 256-1TB SSD 14in: 63Wh battery; 16in: 76Wh battery

Starting with the display, there’s obviously a difference in these devices, with the smaller model having a different display. But Samsung is packing both displays with the same resolution, so whichever you choose you’re still getting plenty of detail.

Both displays are AMOLED and neither of them supports touch, but the larger model gets that higher resolution. Both also support 120Hz to keep your content smooth.

When it comes to the power and connectivity, however, these are closely matched. Both run on the 13-gen Intel Core hardware with i5 and i7 options, with RAM from 8-32GB and storage from 256GB to 1TB. There’s also support for microSD down the side of the laptop.

In other areas, you’re well-covered too, with HDMI (although it’s only 1.4), and two USB-C connections, both supporting Thunderbolt 4. USB-C is also used for powering the Galaxy Book 3 Pro, which at least means you can use the same charger for all your Samsung devices. There’s also USB-A and a 3.5 socket.

We’ve not had the chance to test the performance of the new Galaxy Book 3 Pro models, so we can’t say anything about how fast they run or about the thermal management, something we’ll get to when we fully review these laptops in the near future.

Software

  • Windows 11 with Samsung extras

While these are Windows 11 machines, Samsung wants to add ecosystem value by giving you a range of connectivity options to help all its devices work together better. That means there’s a suite of software functions, such as instant hotspot so you can connect to your phone’s cellular connection without having to manually turn it on.

You can also send Expert RAW images from your Galaxy S23 Ultra to your Galaxy Book for instant editing, to get the most out of the photos you’re taking on your phone.

Beyond that, you can control multiple devices and use your Galaxy Tab as a second screen, allowing you to expand your usable screen space, if you happen to have a Samsung tablet too.

Many of these functions we haven’t had the chance to test, but we’re looking forward to testing everything in our forthcoming review.

First impressions

The Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro models are attractive, with a great design and competitive spec as daily working laptops. We’ve not had the chance to fully test the performance, but from the overall design, feel of the keyboard and quality of the display, there’s plenty to be excited about.

The new Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro is available to pre-order now from £1,099 for the 14-inch model, and £1,299 for the 16-inch model. General availability will be from 17 February.