Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro review: A powerful and practical laptop built to last | Technology News
Being a Samsung phone user, I have always wanted to experience the Galaxy ecosystem, especially to understand how seamlessly they unite software and hardware. The South Korean tech giant recently introduced its Galaxy Book4 series of laptops powered by the Intel Core Ultra processor. And, when I got the chance to review Galaxy Book4 Pro, I couldn’t resist.
For the last three weeks, I have been using the Galaxy Book4 Pro, and here is how it fares. The important question here is how the Samsung ecosystem stacks up against Apple’s.
A premium finish
The laptop comes with a metal unibody finish (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar/The Indian Express)
I absolutely adore simplicity, making the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro an ideal machine for me, especially since its practicality far outweighs the looks. While on the surface, the laptop looks plain, but it packs a lot more than meets the eye. The Galaxy Book4 Pro is indeed a sturdy laptop. From its expansive trackpad to its large and spacious keyboard with a dedicated NUM-pad, the Book 4 feels right at home for most users, even those transitioning from a MacBook.
The Galaxy Book4 is a 16-inch laptop with a metal build and weighs 1.56 kg. Regardless of the bulky specs, it is surprisingly portable and light. Among the additional advantages is the USB-A port, which is important for users like me who use a gaming mouse. Besides, it has a full-sized HDMI 2.1 port which I feel is a practical addition to have on a laptop of this size. There is a MicroSD card slot along with a couple of USB-C ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
A splendid display
While it isn’t the sharpest screen, it is definitely one of the brightest and colour accurate screens on a laptop (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar/The Indian Express)
Samsung is known for its display technology, and the Galaxy Book4 Pro easily has one of the best screens on a 16-inch laptop. With a native resolution of 2880 x 1800p spread across 16 inches, the OLED screen looks sharp and colourful. On top of that, the anti-reflective coating also ensures that it cuts down the light reflections to enable a better viewing experience in all lighting conditions.
Most laptops offer displays with sharp-edged corners, while the Galaxy Book4 Pro has curved corners on all four sides, and reminds me of a tablet rather than a laptop. This is also one of the biggest devices with touch input that I have used so far. The 120Hz refresh rate ensures that everything on this machine feels fluid.
The touch input also makes it a large-screen tablet (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar/The Indian Express)
A big display comes with a host of advantages. I used the Galaxy Book4 Pro as my main source of entertainment. On days when I finish work early, I simply take the laptop with me to the most comfortable corner of my home to watch my favourite movies and YouTube videos. AKG-tuned speakers on the Galaxy Book4 Pro nicely complement this machine while watching movies, however, the speakers still don’t match the clarity and loudness of a 16-inch MacBook Pro M2 Pro.
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The ecosystem experience
Samsung still needs to work on its ecosystem (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar/The Indian Express)
Samsung needs to work on its ecosystem, as the integration between a Galaxy smartphone and a Galaxy Book is nowhere near as good as an iPhone and a MacBook. While my Galaxy Buds 2 automatically switched from my Galaxy S23 to Galaxy Book4 Pro, there is nothing extraordinary. In fact, to receive texts and calls on this device, much like any other Windows laptop, I had to set it up via the Phone Link app.
One can also configure apps like Intel Unison, but again, setting up the same is a bit of a process, where a MacBook and an iPhone with the same Apple ID simply work well with each other without any extensive setup process. Interestingly, Quick Share came pre-installed, which made it easy to share files between my Android phone, and this laptop. If you are looking for a laptop and a smartphone that works seamlessly with each other.
Powerful AI hardware
The laptop is powered by the Intel Core Ultra processor (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar/The Indian Express)
The Galaxy Book4 Pro is one of the first AI PCs from Samsung. It is powered by the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor with Arc graphics, 32 GB of RAM, and 1 TB of internal storage. On Geekbench 6, the laptop scored 2284 points on the single-core CPU test and 12484 points on the multi-core test. I played Far Cry 6 at 1080p resolution with high graphics settings and I noticed an average FPS of 29, and the gameplay was satisfactory.
For someone who engages in video calls and e-meetings, this laptop offers AI-backed features like auto-framing, background blur, and eyesight correction on platforms like Google Meets, Teams, and Zoom. The 1080p web camera offers crisp images making it ideal for pictures and videos. Moreover, apps like Audacity are also now optimised to make use of the NPU on the Intel Ultra Core processor for better power efficiency. More apps and services are likely to make use of the new AI processor in the coming days.
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Verdict: A productivity powerhouse
A perfect large-screen laptop for productivity and content consumption (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar/The Indian Express)
The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro is an excellent laptop, especially for those, who are looking for a reliable Windows laptop with a premium build, up-to-date hardware, and great battery life, as this machine can easily deliver over seven hours of battery life (when used for tasks like web browsing and video streaming). While the lack of a dedicated GPU does hurt a bit, especially considering its Rs 1,81,990 price tag, this machine has everything that most users seek from a thin-and-light laptop.
