Samsung unveils Galaxy Book Pro premium laptops

Samsung on Wednesday unveiled its latest premium laptops – the Galaxy Book Pro and Galaxy Book Pro 360 – during its Galaxy Unpacked April 2021 event.

Samsung said the new laptops boasted its thinnest and lighest designs yet, offering smartphone-like mobility with the power of a PC.

“Inspired by the portability of a smartphone and packed with innovative computing features and experiences, these latest additions to the Galaxy Book lineup have been built for today’s routines, with portability, connectivity and convenience at their core,” Samsung said.

The Galaxy Book Pro features a conventional clamshell form-factor, while the Galaxy Book Pro 360 is a 2-in-1 convertible with a touch display that can rotate nearly 360 degrees towards the back.

This latter model allows for use as either a typical laptop or as a tablet with the screen pushed back.

Both models are offered in two sizes – 13.3-inch and 15.6-inch.

Notably, the Galaxy Book Pro 13-inch weighs just 0.87kg, and measures only 11.2mm thin, compared to the 8.9mm thickness of the Galaxy S21 Ultra smartphone.

This compactness doesn’t come at the expense of protection, however, with 5000- and 6000-series aluminium on the laptops providing military-grade durability, Samsung said.

Display and power

These laptops are also Samsung’s first to offer Super AMOLED displays, with full HD resolutions of 1,920 x 1,080 on both models.

For connectivity, all the configurations offer a USB-C port with Thunderbolt 4 support.

The greatest selection of ports comes with the 15.6-inch Galaxy Book Pro, which boasts one Thunderbolt 4, one USB-C, one USB-A connector, an HDMI port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a microSD card reader.

On the inside, the full line-up packs Intel’s 11th-generation mobile processors, which are offered with Intel Xe graphics on the Core i5 and Core i7 variants.

13.3-inch models of either laptop come with a 63Wh battery while the 15.6-inch units get 68Wh packs.

At face value, this may appear to be modest capacities, however, they support and come with a 65W charger, which means they could be filled from 0-100% in around an hour.

While the Galaxy Book Pro is offered with LTE connectivity, the Galaxy Book Pro 360 ups this to 5G.

Pricing and availability

The Galaxy Book Pro comes in Mystic Silver, Mystic Blue, and Mystic Pink Gold, while the Galaxy Book Pro 360 is available in Mystic Navy, Mystic Silver, and Mystic Bronze ​.

In the US, the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro line-up will start at $999 (R14,278), whereas the entry-level Galaxy Book Pro 360 comes with a price tag of $1,199 (R17,137).

Pricing and availability in South Africa remain to be confirmed, although it should be noted that previous models were only available via import.

The tables and images below show the specifications and designs of the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro and Galaxy Book Pro 360.

Samsung Galaxy Book Pro

Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360

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