Samsung’s latest lightweight laptop is a beautiful piece of technology that impresses in almost every area.
Following up from the successful Galaxy Book Pro, Samsung has released a pair of new productivity laptops; the hybrid laptop-tablet Galaxy Book2 Pro 360, and the Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro. We’ve got our grubby mitts on the latter for a review, and here’s a shocking revelation for you: it’s just like the first one, only better. The Galaxy Book2 Pro starts at $1,050 in the States (£999, around AU$1,525), though that’s for the 13-inch model; the 15-inch version we’re reviewing here will run your $100 more for the base model. The 5G variant we were sent appears to be currently only available in the UK for £1,249 and up.
5G or not, this is clearly an impressive product. The original Samsung Galaxy Book Pro was a sleek and powerful laptop targeting the busy professional, with an undeniably premium price tag but performance and design quality to match. This sequel is no different, and it actually feels like Samsung wanted to change as little as possible here – but that’s not a bad thing. From the full-scale keyboard and huge trackpad to the super-skinny chassis, the Galaxy Book2 Pro presents itself as a premium choice for a refined work environment, just like it’s predecessor. But improved thermal performance, upgraded speakers, and a speedy new CPU make this an even more attractive package than before. Yes, the Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro comes equipped with the latest 12th-gen Intel laptop processor, which offers solid multitasking performance with less heat generation than previous models, which means that this laptop is able to run cooler than the original Book Pro. Despite the improved performance, this is still a phenomenally thin and light Ultrabook that stands among the best of the best. At just over a centimeter thick and weighing 1.16kg, the Galaxy Book2 Pro 5G looks and feels incredible despite a starting price that puts it below base models of the excellent Dell XPS 15. Oh, and the screen – oh, that screen! It might only be 1080p, but this isn’t a gaming laptop, and the AMOLED panel found here offers beautifully vibrant color reproduction along with a great level of brightness and a special ‘eye care’ certification that reduces blue-light output to reduce eye strain and headaches. The Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro is an absolutely top-notch laptop, well deserving of a space on our ranking of the best 15-inch laptops. If you’re still not convinced, read on to find out exactly why we love it so much. The lowest price you can pay for a Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro right now is $1,050 (£999, around AU$1,525), but if you want the 15-inch screen seen on our review model, you’ll instead be starting at $1,150 (£1,099, around AU$1,670). That gets you a Galaxy Book2 Pro with an Intel Core i5-1240P processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage, but you can also upgrade to an i7-1260P, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. These two processors have the same amount of cores, but the i7 chip is faster and benefits from the additional memory. These high-spec models cost $1,350 (£1,399, around AU$1,950). In the UK, the upgraded internal hardware is only available on the 15-inch model, while US consumers can get a third SKU that combines the 13-inch screen with the i7 processor and a reduced 8GB of RAM.
