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The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 Has a 15.6” OLED and weighs just 1.3kg, but FHD Resolution Disappointing
The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 is a mixed bag with excellent portability thanks to its slim, low-weight design, fairly long battery life and tiny charger brick. But Samsung’s newness to laptops is showing; it skimped on the resolution FHD, instead of 4K, so the color and contrast are spectacular, but it just doesn't look that great for everyday work in most 'normal' conditions. The hinge is a little loose, and there are a couple of build compromises - despite the aluminum panels being used - and the keyboard is shallow. Samsung didn't have to make the tactile downgrade from an aluminum shell to a plastic or magnesium alloy shell to make this possible. This is an OLED display laptop, but it doesn't come with the huge leap in cost such displays usually incur. The dimensions are:
OLED screens in laptops are usually reserved for very high-end models, upgrades costing hundreds more for, and they typically offer a 4K resolution. The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360's OLED screen is a much less impressive Full HD (1080p) display and looks less sharp than a typical 15.6-inch LCD laptop screen. Text appears a little fuzzy and there's even what looks like chromatic aberration up closely (purple shadowing). There's even an issue with the screen contrast and it turns slightly blue-grey-ish when operating in high ambient light. Evaluating the screen with a colorimeter, the Galaxy Book Pro 360 screen's color and contrast are an improvement any laptop LCD screen. It is likely the most color-rich laptop panel at this price. And contrast is perfect, which will come across beautifully in a dim room.
But it lacks color and contrast in environments where OLED displays with higher pixel density’s excel. .
Samsung also includes an S-Pen stylus with this laptop. This is a full-size pressure-sensitive pen, not the thin stick you get with Galaxy Note phones and the Galaxy Book Flex. There's nowhere to stash the pen on the laptop itself, though, dramatically increasing the chances of it ending up somewhere and remaining undiscovered until you move house.
Battery life
The panel has a pixel density of 141 ppi. When Samsung first used the Pentile architecture in smartphone panels the pixel density was below 200 ppi and even DisplayMate, which currently awards the iPhone and Galaxy S OLED displays with a “best in class “ rating criticized the format, and it wasn’t until the density went above 300 ppi that the imaging issues were resolved. The 4K 15.6” panel has a 282 ppi and doesn’t exhibit the same faults.
The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 is a mixed bag with excellent portability thanks to its slim, low-weight design, fairly long battery life and tiny charger brick. But Samsung’s newness to laptops is showing; it skimped on the resolution FHD, instead of 4K, so the color and contrast are spectacular, but it just doesn't look that great for everyday work in most 'normal' conditions. The hinge is a little loose, and there are a couple of build compromises - despite the aluminum panels being used - and the keyboard is shallow. Samsung didn't have to make the tactile downgrade from an aluminum shell to a plastic or magnesium alloy shell to make this possible. This is an OLED display laptop, but it doesn't come with the huge leap in cost such displays usually incur. The dimensions are:
- 355 x 228 x 11.9 mm / Weight 1.39kg
- Largely aluminum shell
- 15.6-inch AMOLED display, 1920 x 1080 resolution
- 99.8% DCI P3 color coverage
- Effectively infinite contrast
OLED screens in laptops are usually reserved for very high-end models, upgrades costing hundreds more for, and they typically offer a 4K resolution. The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360's OLED screen is a much less impressive Full HD (1080p) display and looks less sharp than a typical 15.6-inch LCD laptop screen. Text appears a little fuzzy and there's even what looks like chromatic aberration up closely (purple shadowing). There's even an issue with the screen contrast and it turns slightly blue-grey-ish when operating in high ambient light. Evaluating the screen with a colorimeter, the Galaxy Book Pro 360 screen's color and contrast are an improvement any laptop LCD screen. It is likely the most color-rich laptop panel at this price. And contrast is perfect, which will come across beautifully in a dim room.
But it lacks color and contrast in environments where OLED displays with higher pixel density’s excel. .
Samsung also includes an S-Pen stylus with this laptop. This is a full-size pressure-sensitive pen, not the thin stick you get with Galaxy Note phones and the Galaxy Book Flex. There's nowhere to stash the pen on the laptop itself, though, dramatically increasing the chances of it ending up somewhere and remaining undiscovered until you move house.
Battery life
- USB-C charging
- 65W compact charger
- Claimed 20 hour battery life (~12 hours as tested)
The panel has a pixel density of 141 ppi. When Samsung first used the Pentile architecture in smartphone panels the pixel density was below 200 ppi and even DisplayMate, which currently awards the iPhone and Galaxy S OLED displays with a “best in class “ rating criticized the format, and it wasn’t until the density went above 300 ppi that the imaging issues were resolved. The 4K 15.6” panel has a 282 ppi and doesn’t exhibit the same faults.
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Barry Young
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