Review: Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 360

After a couple of laptops, in form of the Galaxy Book Flex and Ion, that flattered to deceive, Samsung shook things up with a simpler range of Galaxy Book Pro devices. Both the Pro and the Pro 360 were no-frills machines, with a focus on build quality in a thin chassis—and it worked. Now, Samsung is back with the follow-up range, including the sequel to one of our favorite 2-in-1s, the Galaxy Book2 Pro 360. Samsung hasn’t sought to reinvent itself again, though, with iterative updates making up much of what is new with this latest model.

The Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 clearly isn’t designed to stun, with a fairly standard clamshell look—and this is particularly the case with the simple silver model I tested. Instead, it's the quality feel of the device, alongside its thinness, at 11.9 mm, and manageable weight, 3.11 pounds (1.4 kg), that’s worth appreciating. Though, burgundy and graphite options do half-heartedly attempt to jazz things up a bit. 

The quality of the device is, unfortunately, betrayed by one key qualm and a smaller nitpick. During my testing, the machine picked up some small marks below the display. These marks aren’t all that noticeable, but, having only been transferred to and from a bag for just over a week, it’s disappointing to see them crop up so easily. You’ll want to take extra, extra care with this Samsung laptop to ensure it remains pristine. You should also pick your color option wisely. The blue version available for last-year’s model was something of a fingerprint magnet, so the silver color may be the safe option for a tidy look. 

The thinness of the Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 is a key reason why it works so well as a 2-in-1 machine. When flipped around into tablet mode, it doesn’t feel cumbersome to hold and operate, and this is true of the 15.6-inch model I’ve tested for this review, so I would expect the smaller 13.3-inch version to offer even more comfort in this regard. The continually excellent S Pen is included with the Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 range, and it works speedily and accurately in tablet mode. You can use it in tent or clamshell modes, but this isn’t where a stylus performs best.

Photograph: Samsung

Like with the previous model, the quality of the display is a big selling point for this laptop. The screen is supremely bright, extremely colorful and brings impressive contrast. Some may be dismayed that Samsung once again sticks with a Full HD panel here, but the lack of pixels doesn’t tell the whole story. This AMOLED screen is stunning. And, combined with the 360-hinge, it makes this a great device for watching movies and TV as well as viewing your own photos and videos. 

The speakers add to the experience, with some of the best laptop sound around. The audio is booming in the right places, even for such as a thin device, as well as keeping its detail and accuracy at high volumes. They aren’t quite MacBook level, but they are up there with the excellent Dell XPS speakers.

The 16:9 display helps with the movie-watching experience, too, lessening those black bars framing your favorite flick. Nevertheless, this aspect ratio does feel out of date alongside some fairly hefty bezels, with the majority of Samsung’s rivals having moved to aspect ratios like 16:10 and 3:2. As such, you don’t get a very productivity-friendly display, afforded by a taller screen that squeezes on more text. 

The Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 laptop’s usability as a tablet is a saving grace. It isn’t a replacement for a squarer display, but positioning this device in a portrait orientation, in tablet mode, gives you a very tall screen for navigating articles and scrolling social media.

The Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 is extremely capable as a media consumption machine, powered by Intel’s very latest 12th Gen P-series processors—built for strong performance in thin and light devices. Samsung’s flagship laptop is one of the first with this new chip, and the results are pretty much as expected. These processors adopt an approach closer to how Arm chips work—like the Apple M1 series and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon offerings—with a mix of performance and efficiency cores. In practice, the goal is to manage power more efficiently, resulting in longer battery life but not compromising performance. 

However, the step up in power isn’t game-changing with the Galaxy Book2 Pro 360. The high-spec Intel Core i7-1260p and 16 GB RAM combination expectedly chews through productivity tasks with ease. You can load up more than 30 tabs in Google Chrome with nary a flinch, and the same goes for multi-tasking, with the ability to have several apps open at a time. Photo editing is well within this laptop’s remit, too, and even some light video editing.

Photograph: Samsung

Equally as important as performance, when it comes to getting tasks done on a laptop, are the keyboard and trackpad. For Samsung’s new model, they represent one of the best aspects and one of the worst. The keyboard is enjoyable to use, with a surprising amount of travel for a device so thin. There isn’t a whole lot of feedback there, but it’s more than comfortable. 

The trackpad, however, is infuriating. The 15.6-inch model I tested has a huge trackpad, but only the bottom half can be clicked, with the travel reducing as you move from the bottom to the center. Unlike the keys, the travel is underwhelming and far from satisfying. It’s a real annoyance and, as such, if you aren’t someone who simply taps to navigate (rather than physically clicking) you should absolutely test it in-person before picking up the Galaxy Book2 Pro 360. Yes, the touchscreen is also there to alleviate some of this pain, but Samsung is well behind the competition here, with the excellent trackpads of the Dell XPS 13 (6/10, WIRED Recommends) and MacBook Air (9/10, WIRED Recommends) sitting in a different league.

Battery life, similarly, isn’t revolutionary here either, but it’s a nice boost—if still falling short of feeling like Intel has produced a true Apple M1 rival. The length of time this Samsung machine lasts is also assisted by the reluctance to step up to a higher QHD resolution. The result is around 15 hours of battery life—impressive when compared to flagship rivals from Dell, HP, Razer and the like—but just a small one- to two-hour rise from the previous model.

The Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 is a predictable step-up from an excellent 2-in-1 device, and that’s not really enough. Some aspects of the previous model felt slightly out-of-date but, now, the distance feels more glaring—particularly with the 16:9 aspect ratio, as more brands adopt a taller display. The trackpad is a sore point, with its large size hindered by an unsatisfying click, and only half the surface being physically clickable at all. 

This machine still nails plenty, especially if you want a laptop that feels comfortable as a tablet as well as for watching television and movies. The display is remarkable, even if it is still held back at a Full HD resolution. Performance is silky smooth, and a pleasant keyboard is great to have as well. 

When all things are considered, this is a solid follow-up for Samsung, but with the releases of the Lenovo Yoga 9i and HP Spectre x360 14 looming, Samsung’s 2-in-1 crown looks to be in danger.