Samsung is not the name you usually hear when looking to buy a laptop, but that certainly doesn’t mean that it’s a brand you can’t consider. Samsung’s new Galaxy Book 2 Pro does many things right that it could just be your next laptop.
Released earlier this year in march, the Galaxy Book 2 Pro is an improvement upon the last year’s Galaxy Book Pro. It is available in 13-inch and 15-inch sizes in 5G/WiFi and WiFi-only models. Samsung also launched a convertible variant named Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 so if you want a touchscreen, you would have to check that out.
Though the config you can get on the 5G variant is limited to Core i5, 256GB, and 8GB RAM, the higher-end Core i7 16GB RAM variant is only available in WIFI. And that’s what we are going to review today.
Specs at Glance
CPU: Intel Core i5 1270p | GPU: Intel Iris Xe Graphics | RAM: 16GB DDR5 | Display: 15.6” 1920×1080 OLED | Storage: 512GB eMMC | Battery: 67Wh | OS: Windows 11
Chassis & Design
The Galaxy Book 2 Pro hasn’t changed much from the last year’s Galaxy Book Pro, where the chassis is more or less the same. Though Samsung has improved some of the flaws, like flexing around the touchpad, somehow registering clicks on the touchpad, etc.
Though the graphite tone color looks appeals to me with its stealthy and minimal look, I would highly advise you not to buy it since it will turn your laptop into a fingerprint smudges showcase. We advise you to get a skin along with the Galaxy Book 2 Pro if you plan to buy it.
As for the weight of the device, it;’s quite light. Though it weighs slightly higher than last year at 1.11kg (2.62lbs), it’s on par, if not better than what the competition offers in terms of weight. In terms of dimensions, the Galaxy Book 2 Pro is the same as the last model, so nothing has changed on that end. It is 355.4mm (13.99 inches) in length, 255.8mm (8.89 inches), and 11.7mm (0.46 inches).
The lid successfully passes the one-finger test, and though the lid may wobble at first, it shouldn’t be an issue as the Galaxy Book 2 Pro has strong hinges, which means that it won’t wobble when you type on it.
I/O Ports
The I/O ports are pretty respectable on the Galaxy Book 2 Pro. On the left, it features two USB C ports, one of which supports Thunderbolt 4 and they are also used for charging, and an HDMI 2.0 port allows you to get a display out without carrying a dongle with you in meetings. Though we would have liked to see an HDMI 2.1 port so you can connect a higher refresh rate display but this is doable.
On the right side, it features a microSD card slot, a USB3 3.2 Type-A port, and an audio combo jack. This I/O could have been certainly been better, considering the competition like the LG Gram has both of its USB C ports with Thunderbolt 4 while also cramming in an additional USB 3.2 port. But regardless, the I/O ports are pretty usable on the Galaxy Book 2 Pro.
Webcam & Speakers
Webcam
The webcam is quite an upgrade from the previous model with Samsung now including a 1080p camera that looks much better in terms of sharpness and overall picture quality. It also has some Samsung magic put into the webcam that we are going to talk about later in detail.
Unlike something like the LG Gram, there is no Windows Hello facial recognition here, however, you can still biometrically lock your PC via the fingerprint reader embedded in the power button.
Speakers
The sound on this laptop is also a significant step up from the previous model. They now sound fuller, by not only having more bass than before but by also sounding crispier on the highs. Considering the thin chassis of the Galaxy Book 2 Pro, this is as best as they sound.
Though they do not sound as best as the sound on the much pricer Macbook Pro, they still sound better enough for daily use and occasional content consumption.
Keyboard & Touchpad
Keyboard
The Galaxy Book 2 Pro features a full-size keyboard with a dedicated Numpad. Though what bothers me is that the Numpad is cramped into the keyboard deck, which led to little space between keys. But regardless, you would still be able to hit every key precisely and type with ease. Also since the Galaxy Book 2 Pro is also geared towards office/ college work, the Numpad can come in real handy.
The keys have short travel so you won’t get that same level of tactile feedback that you would usually find on a chiclet keyboard.
However, the typing experience is still quite satisfying as the keys are silent and could be perfect for someone who works at night and can’t afford to ruin someone’s sleep.
Also, for those wondering, the keyboard has a backlit, so you can comfortably type at night.
Touchpad
The touchpad may look the same, but it has also improved from last year. Gone is that weird issue where flexing the chassis around the touchpad triggered clicks on the touchpad.
Though we still have one complaint with the touchpad, which is that it’s located quite low, which would require you to readjust your hand to lower it every time you would want to move the cursor.
But other than that, it still manages to track excellently and has a smooth surface to glide your finger on.
Display on the Galaxy Book 2 Pro
The display on the Galaxy Book 2 Pro is, simply put, beautiful. The OLED panel brings out a picture with deep inky blacks contrasted beautifully with vibrant punchy colors.
It also gets quite bright, around 400 nits allowing you to comfortably use it outdoors on a sunny day. The brightness of the Galaxy Book 2 Pro can be further pushed up to 500 nits if you play HDR content on it.
Color accuracy is also excellent, where it covers the entire sRGB color gamut while covering about 71.5% of DCI P3. So this is a great display to consume content on if you were to have a little movie night in your dorm room.
This Galaxy Book 2 Pro simply beats laptops like the Yoga 7i or the LG Gram when it comes to display quality.
Though our only nitpick at this almost perfect display would be the lack of a 16:10 aspect ratio that currently the competition such as the LG Gram has.
This would not only allow for more screen real estate to work with but it would have also helped the Galaxy Book 2 Pro look bezel-less.
Performance
CPU
The performance is what you would come to expect from a high-end thin and light notebook. The Alder lake core i7 gives a significant boost in performance compared to the last gen.
In Geekbench 5 single-core it got 1595 which is 16% faster and in the multi-core, we saw an 88% increase in performance where it got 7158.
And a similar story can be seen in Cinebench R23 where we didn’t see a substantial improvement in the single-core score where it got 1541 which is just 8% faster.
However, we saw a significant improvement in multi-core benchmarks, where it got 7070 which is almost 40% more than last year. The performance is more or less the same compared to the competition, like the LG Gram or the Lenovo Yoga 7i.
This makes the Galaxy Book 2 Pro a great productivity machine. Not only would you be able to do your regular office tasks of writing on word documents and working on spreadsheets with ease but you can also do some demanding creative work on it too.
The Galaxy Book 2 Pro is perfect for Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator thanks to it’s excellent multithreaded performance.
GPU
The Galaxy Book 2 Pro is not a gaming laptop by any means, and a lack of a dedicated GPU clearly indicates that.
It does pack in Intel’s Iris Xe Graphics which are capable of running triple-A titles by any means. Still, it packs enough punch to run some older titles like the original COD 4 Modern Warfare along with eSports titles like CS GO, Dota 2, etc.
So if you are planning to buy a laptop with the intention to the game, you might want to consider something else, like the Asus TUF Dash 15 or the HP Victus.
Battery Life
You can comfortably go out with the Galaxy Book 2 Pro without worrying about carrying a charger. The 67Wh battery comfortably lasts around 12 hours which is certainly not the level of what could be achieved with Apple’s Silicon, but it’s still pretty darn good.
Though if you still want something more than this on the Windows side of things, you can consider buying something like the LG Gram that lasts around 16 hours on casual use.
Expandability and Upgradability
Well, expandability is usually not the strong suit of thin and light laptops, and the Galaxy Book 2 Pro is no exception.
Though the included 16GB RAM is more than enough for casual office and school work, including working on spreadsheets and word documents with multiple chrome tabs open in the background, it can’t be upgraded.
Although thankfully, you can still upgrade the 512GB SSD, which may fill up in the long run, so that is nice to see.
Samsung bloatware that might be helpful
Though we usually discard bloatware that manufacturers include in their devices as they are usually used to just collect user data at the cost of your device performance, Samsung has actually included some useful programs that you might wanna take a closer look at.
However, this software would only be useful if you own a Samsung Galaxy phone. Samsung’s software allows you to transfer files between your Samsung phone and laptop or mirror your phone screen to your laptop. This is as close as you can get to having a Mac-like experience with a Windows and an Android device.
Conclusion: Should you buy the Galaxy Book 2 Pro?
The Galaxy Book 2 Pro is a pretty solid laptop intended for folks who would mainly use this laptop for productive work such as getting some serious office work done with Microsoft Excel or researching something for a college assignment.
This laptop would also make a great choice for you if you use a Samsung phone and want to have some synchronization between your phone and laptop.
As far as the competition is concerned, something like the LG Gram is better in almost every way compared to the Galaxy Book 2 Pro. It got a better battery life, a taller 16:10 display, and better I/O ports.
But what helps the Galaxy Book 2 Pro to stand apart from the competition is the OLED panel which allows it to have the best display in a laptop.
So if your top priority is having a laptop with an amazing display and other things being fine, then you won’t be disappointed with the Galaxy Book 2 Pro.
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