Two minute review
The Samsung Galaxy Book2 360 could very well be the best laptop Samsung has made. While Samsung’s smartphones have long been popular with many users, the Galaxy Book range of laptops is also developing a pretty good reputation and becoming serious competition for Apple’s MacBooks and Microsoft Surface range.
The latest addition to the Galaxy Book range is the second generation Galaxy Book2 360, a really attractive convertible model that doubles as a laptop or tablet.
It’s competitively priced, starting at $899.99 / £849 (around AU$1,200), but Samsung hasn’t cut corners, producing an elegant, sleek design with impressive battery life.
However, the most notable feature of the Book2 360 is its striking AMOLED display. It may not sound particularly impressive on paper, with the 13.3-inch screen offering only a 1920 x 1080 resolution, but the AMOLED technology produces excellent picture quality, with crisp, clear colors and a level of brightness and detail that really looks higher than the 1080p resolution would suggest.
Samsung doesn’t give a figure for screen brightness, but to the naked eye, the Galaxy Book2 360’s screen can rival its more expensive rivals, such as Apple’s 13.3-inch MacBook Air with its 2560 x 1600 display.
It’s not a gaming machine, but the 12th Gen Intel Core i5 processor in our review unit is more than adequate for routine web browsing or running office productivity software. Battery life is impressive too, and that striking display will be a treat for presentations or simply watching video at home, making the Galaxy Book2 360 a good all-round option for both home and business users on a budget.
Samsung Galaxy Book2 360 review: price and availability
- From $899.99 / £849.00
- Only two models with i5 or i7
- US and UK only
Specification sheet
Here’s the Samsung Galaxy Book2 360 configuration sent to Ditching for review:
PROCESSOR: Intel Core i5-1235U (1.3GHz – 4.4GHz)
Graphic: Integrated Iris Xe
RAM: 8GB DDR4
Screen: 13.3-inch, AMOLED (1920×1080)
Storage: 256GB PCIe SSD
Ports: 1x Thunderbolt 4, 1x USB-C, 1x USB-A (3.2), 1x HDMI, 1x audio in/out, 1x microSD card
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1
Camera: 720p
Weight: 2.56 lb (1.16 kg)
Mate: 11.98 x 7.95 x 0.51in (304.4 x 202.0 x 12.9mm)
There are currently only two versions of the Samsung Galaxy Book2 360 available, with an i5 or i7 processor. Prices start at $899.99 / £849 for the model we’re reviewing here, which includes a 12th-generation i5-1235U processor with a top speed of 4.4GHz, along with 8GB of memory, 256GB solid-state storage and a touch-sensitive AMOLED screen with 1920×1080 resolution.
That’s comparable to the 13.5-inch Surface Laptop 4 and slightly cheaper than the 13.3-inch MacBook Air – although neither model can match the Book2 360’s versatile convertible design.
The only other option currently available is to move to an i7 processor with 16GB of memory and a 512GB solid-state drive, which costs $1,099.99 / £1,149. Samsung also offers a trade-in program that may help you save some money if you have an old smartphone, tablet, or laptop that you no longer need. The Galaxy Book2 360 is available in the US and UK but does not appear to have reached Australia at the time of this review.
Samsung Galaxy Book2 360 review: Design
- Slim, lightweight design
- Convertible Tablet/Laptop
- Good connectivity
The Galaxy Book2 360 may not win awards for its original design, which bears a clear resemblance to the MacBook Air, with its 13.3-inch display, silver-grey casing and tapered profile.
But of course the Book2 360 is much more versatile thanks to its touchscreen controls and the convertible design that lets you fold the screen all the way back and use it as a tablet. It’s even lighter than the MacBook Air, weighing just 1.16kg and just 12.9mm thick, compared to 1.29kg and 16.1mm for the current version of the MacBook Air.
As mentioned, the AMOLED display is a delight, despite its relatively modest 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, and it’s a joy to watch video or edit photos. The Book2 360 is also built solidly, with a sturdy keyboard and large trackpad – although the individual keys don’t move very well and feel a bit lifeless when typing at speed.
Many lightweight laptops have to compromise on connectivity to keep their weight down, but the Samsung Galaxy Book2 360 manages to offer one Thunderbolt 4 port, one USB-C and one USB-A (3.2), along with a microSD card slot, combo audio in/out, and even HDMI for connecting an external display.
There is also Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 for wireless connectivity. Our only real complaint is that the 720p webcam isn’t great – it produces a slightly grainy image that is easily blurred in bright daylight.
Samsung Galaxy Book2 360 review: Performance
- Solid performance for productivity software
- Casual gaming only
Benchmarks
Here’s how the Samsung Galaxy Book2 360 performed in our series of benchmark tests:
3DMark: Night Raid: 13,536; Fire Attack: 3969; Time spy: 1,419
Cinema bank R23: Multiple cores – 6,780
Geek Bench 5: 1,608 (single wire)† 7.100 (multicore)
PCMark 10: 5,022 points
Battery Life (USA Health Reports Movie Test): 11 hours, 10 minutes
The Intel Core i5 processor powering the Samsung Galaxy Book2 360 is a versatile 10-core chip, which contains eight power-efficient cores that can vary their clock speed from 1.3GHz to 3.3GHz as needed to extend the life of the device. to extend the battery life as much as possible. if possible.
There are also two ‘performance’ cores running at 4.4 GHz to handle more demanding tasks. These produce a very respectable score of 7,100 for multi-core performance using GeekBench 5, better than the Surface Laptop 4 (4,918) and only slightly less than the current version of the MacBook Air (7,583). With the application-based PCMark 10 test suite, the Book 2 scored 5022, putting it about halfway through the overall PCMark results table – that’s pretty good for a laptop costing well under $1000 / £1000 – and packs all the power you need. for surfing the web and running productivity software such as Microsoft Office.
You might even be able to play some casual games, thanks to the integrated Iris Xe graphics. Our 3DMark testing all yielded scores that place the Samsung Galaxy Book2 360 in the ‘under 30 fps’ category, so it’s clearly not intended for fast-paced action games. But if you don’t mind tweaking the graphics settings a bit, you should still be able to get playable speeds for more casual games that don’t require split-second response times.
Samsung Galaxy Book2 360 review: battery life
- 11 hour battery life
- Similar to MacBook Air
To top it off, the Samsung Galaxy Book2 360 also offers a good battery life. It was unable to run the PCMark 10 battery test – due to a bug we encountered in PCM10 in the past – but when playing our movie test file it took 11 hours, before finally reaching 11 hours and 10 minutes. locked .
The MacBook Air and Surface Laptop 4 can match those scores, but they’re both more expensive than the Book2 360, confirming that Samsung has come up with an attractive convertible laptop that offers excellent value for money.
