This week’s Samsung Event featured three new Book3 convertible models with S-pen support. A 16" Pro model, plus 15.6" and 13.3" non-Pro models. Main specs below, taken from the Samsung website.
Available Feb 17. The pre-order page currently offers a free 512GB to 1TB storage upgrade ($200 value) and various device trade-in offers. The $1300 13.3" non-pro model doesn’t appear to be available for pre-order yet (edit: as of 2/17 it is available), but the 15.6" non-pro model is available at $1350.
And some personal comments after the factual OP: the 13.3" non-pro version is almost my perfect device. AMOLED, lightweight (2.56lbs), S-pen, huge battery (61WH vs the 47Wh in my Book 2).
The main downside is the screen resolution. 1080p on 13.3" is disappointing, given that years ago they gave us a 12.5" Book2 with a 1440p OLED touch screen (edit: it’s also 16:9, and 370nits, neither of which are great imo). I also don’t love that it has a mix of USB-C and TB4, but it’s better than no TB4 at all.
Not sure if I could go back to a Yoga type convertible after the glorious Laptop Studio, but if I were to do it, the 360 13.3" would be a serious contender over the heavier X1 Yoga 8th gen.
I’m most interested in the new AMOLED displays, they are allegedly more power efficent which is why the new systems are both lighter but also have smaller batteries.
I also suspect the inclusion of only one TB port is likely another (sneaky IMHO ) way to limit power consumption by effectively limiting the number of devices you can connect at any one time.
I just assumed it was cheaper and a way to get people to look at the Pro model. As for power consumption I’d think that once you’re connecting a bunch of devices to TB4 and USB-C ports there’s typically a powered docking station involved.
Either way, kind of an annoying choice. TB4 cables are short, so having TB4 only on one side of the laptop means your laptop orientation on the desk is likely going to be determined by the port location.
Yes, but it seems to me they are chasing the LG gram contingent which I find odd as LGs sales are a rounding error in the overall PC market except in their home turf, but since they are both Korean companies perhaps it’s a national pride thing ?
@SteveB just pointed out that the 16” model has a 16:10 aspect ratio screen (nice!), while the 15.6” and 13.3” models have 16:9 screens (and at 1080 to boot…).
I also just realized that we don’t know the max brightness of these screens just yet, or any battery life estimates. Anybody here planning to buy one of these? Curious to hear some impressions.
That’s likely down to lack of anything other than 16:9 OLED in the 15.6 and 13 inch sizes. Though Samsung has talked about other sizes and/or aspect ratios, to date they haven’t officially annouced them.
In other words the 16 inch display is likely a one off (at least at present) specifically for the new Samsung device.
Not that I was planning on buying it, but it’s so strange how Samsung’s product page doesn’t actually acknowledge the existence of the 13" 360. I mean as noted in the OP, it’s listed in the specs table, but you can’t see the cost or details of that model anywhere.
Also, I really hate how Samsung shows the price after trade-in by default, not the actual price.
I see that Samsung doesn’t put very high value on their own laptop trade in. Kinda insulting to trade in a laptop for 80 dollars. My Notebook 9 wasn’t even on the list so joke’s on me I suppose
It looks to be a very good to excellent system including the display being step forward over the previous 1080p.
Small nitpick, I get why so many love OLED, but I wish they would apply some more rigor to actually testing them and going more in to both the pros and cons of the technology generally versus standard LCD/LED or even with miniLED. OTOH this is a brand new generation of Samsungs’ OLED so…
I just realized that Samsung is quite early with Intel 13th gen for a 2-1 laptop (kudos for Samsung on that).
Also what a gigantic TouchPad, that size would actually be useful for a Asus Screenpad (Asus if you’re reading this ).
Yes, I really hope we will get the chance to test one. I’m curious for instance how they will deal with some of the alleged thermal throttling issues with 13th gen especially since those are inherently exacerbated by a 2-1 design
Powerful argument for a slab/tablet in a slim origami case — may I please have a successor to my Samsung Galaxy Book 12?
That said, I’m hoping the Galaxy Book3 360 is a dry-run for a folding dual-screen device à la the Lenovo Yogabook 9i — I’m down to buy the first such device which has a Wacom EMR stylus.
I keep looking at Windows devices, I currently have a M1 MBA that I use daily and an iPad Pro 11" with a pen that I use for OneNote/travelling for movies etc.
I am wondering if the 13" Book3 360 could replace both??
Given your stated use case I’d say “yes, absolutely”. It depends on if you mind feeling keys behind the screen when you use it as a tablet, and whether you mind if your tablet is heavy-ish (2.6lbs). Also: make sure you can live with 1080p. And finally, you’d want to make sure all apps you need are available on Windows. Oh, and the device should actually be for sale… So far there’s not even a pre-order option for the 13.3" version (edit: … on the US site).
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