Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely is the perfect Home windows try I’ve seen but at displacing the MacBook Professional. The design, efficiency and battery life don’t fairly meet Apple’s excessive bar, however a conveyable body however makes this an awesome choice for on-the-go creativity.
Professionals
- Highly effective sufficient for content material creation
- Skilled-grade display
- Moveable sufficient for on-the-go work
- Comparatively good battery life
Cons
- Costly
- Subpar audio system
- Rivals provide higher graphics efficiency
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Highly effective graphics efficiency:The choices of an Nvidia RTX 4050 and RTX 4070 permit for a strong graphics efficiency. -
120Hz OLED show:The OLED display ensures extremely correct colors, whereas the 120Hz refresh fee improves the apperance of quick movement. -
Moveable design:Weighing simply 1.8kg, this is among the most transportable 16-inch laptops with such specs.
Introduction
I’ve misplaced rely of the variety of Home windows laptops that confidently took a swing on the MacBook Professional, solely to overlook its mark and ultimately fade away into mediocrity. The Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely is the most recent contender.
Samsung is the most recent challenger to enter the ring, with the Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely doing its highest MacBook Professional impersonation in a bid to win over the inventive crowd. It has sufficient firepower for heavy-duty graphics jobs, an honest variety of ports to shun the dongle life, and a stunning 3K show with excellent color replica.
Sadly, it’s additionally picked up a nasty behavior from the MacBook Professional line, as Samsung is charging a fortune: a base value of £2449/$2199, and as much as £3049/$2999.99 if you happen to max out the specs. Meaning it’s going proper up in opposition to the 16-inch Macbook Professional which has a beginning value of £2699/$2499.
Can the Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely dethrone the MacBook Professional because the go-to laptop computer for skilled creators? I’ve spent a number of weeks with the laptop computer to search out out, so listed below are my ideas.
Design and Keyboard
- Lighter than most different 16-inch laptops
- Top quality webcam with AI options
- Recyclable packaging
Check out the Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely from a distance, and also you’ll probably mistake it for a MacBook Professional – and I’m fairly certain that’s no mistake on Samsung’s half. With the recessed keyboard, slim graphite chassis and unassuming but trendy design, Samsung is clearly attempting to seize the identical elegant vibe that the MacBook Professional has mastered.
I don’t suppose the Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely has achieved that purpose. It certainly not seems unhealthy, however the small Samsung emblem on the lid and bland mono-colour scheme trigger this laptop computer to battle to face out from different Home windows machines – there’s not a lot persona right here. The chucky under-glass bezel on the backside of the display seems a tad outdated too.
The Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely hits the scales at 1.79kg. I wouldn’t name that light-weight, but it surely’s nearly transportable sufficient for me to fortunately lug to the workplace each day, which is spectacular given the 16-inch display and highly effective specs. For context, the essential 16-inch MacBook Professional weighs a stonking 2.15kg, making it 360 grams heavier.
The off-centre trackpad is so large that it takes up half the chassis of the Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely. That sounds prefer it needs to be a superb factor, however the bigger dimension elevated the chances of meals crumbs or mud sneaking it method onto the floor, inflicting the contact enter to fall out of whack.
The huge trackpad additionally causes the keyboard to look just a little cramped in contrast. That have to be an optical phantasm although, because the keys are nonetheless spaced out effectively sufficient for an honest typing expertise, albeit with shallow journey which might be uncomfortable on the wrists after lengthy intervals.
My greatest concern with the keyboard is the lacklustre backlight, even when cranked as much as full brightness. I typically discovered it troublesome to determine whether or not the Caps Lock indicator gentle was switched on or off, whereas it may additionally show a problem for after-dark typing. Not less than you get a fingerprint sensor constructed into the ability button.
There’s an awesome amount of ports right here, with 2x USB-C (Thunderbolt 4) and HDMI discovered on the left facet, and Micro SD, USB-A and a headphone jack positioned on the proper. It has a Full HD (1080p) webcam too, which is among the higher ones I’ve examined on a laptop computer but, offering detailed and sharp seize of my face throughout calls.
Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely left facet ports
Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely proper facet ports
Samsung additionally gives a Studio Mode characteristic that’s accessible with no matter digital camera app you utilize, whether or not it’s Zoom, Groups or simply the default app in Home windows.
Studio Mode means that you can blur your background, observe your face to maintain you in shot, and even apply a filter over your face to take away the baggage beneath your eyes. It’s helpful to have all of those helpful options in a single place.
I used to be actually impressed with Samsung’s sustainability efforts for the packaging. The whole field is recyclable, and there aren’t any pointless plastic wrappings that many laptop computer producers are responsible of together with.
Samsung has confirmed that elements of the Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely are made up of recycled plastics that use ocean-bound discarded fishing nets. It’s a step in the proper course, however this represents a really small portion of the laptop computer.
Show and Sound
- Giant 16-inch display
- OLED ensures correct colors
- 120Hz refresh fee included
The display is among the most essential features of the MacBook Professional, because it gives near-perfect color replica to make sure creators can see an correct illustration of the colors for on-screen graphics, photographs and movies.
The 16-inch AMOLED panel of the Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely delivers equally good outcomes, with my checks exhibiting it to hit 100% protection for sRGB and DCI-P3, in addition to 99% for Adobe RGB – these are glorious outcomes for inventive professionals.
The AMOLED know-how additionally helps to drastically enhance the display’s distinction, able to inky blacks whereas commonplace LCD screens might paint shadows and evening skies with a subdued gray tint as a substitute.
The draw back of OLED is that the brightness can’t be pushed fairly as excessive as that of the Mini LED panel of the MacBook Professional. I recorded a extremely respectable 432-nit peak on the Galaxy Ebook, whereas Apple claims its newest MacBook Professional can hit 500 nits for SDR content material.
Samsung has ensured its display packs loads of element although, with a 3K (2880×1800) decision. Pictures on show look extremely sharp, whereas vibrant colors look so vivid that they’re seemingly poking out of the panel. Samsung has even cranked the refresh fee as much as 120Hz, leading to easy, fluid movement.
The Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely has a quad-speaker setup, discovered on the laptop computer’s rear however angled outwards relatively than straight into the desk. Quantity might be cranked as much as a room-filling decibel, however I wouldn’t suggest doing so, as instrumentals begin to sound muffled and strained, whereas bass sounds hole and hoarse. Flip down the amount, and the audio high quality is nearly superb to pump out your Spotify tunes.
Efficiency
- Skilled-grade efficiency
- Barely compromised graphics
- Speedy SSD
The Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely is offered with just a few completely different configurations. You possibly can select between i5 and i7 for the thirteenth Gen Intel Core H-series processors, whereas for the GPU you’ve gotten the choice of the Nvidia RTX 4050 or RTX 4070.
However how does the efficiency stack up? Samsung despatched me a unit with an Intel Core i9-13900H processor and RTX 4070 pairing, and it provided sufficient energy to glide by day-to-day duties with ease. It felt like an enormous bounce up from commonplace productiveness laptops such because the Dell XPS 13.
My benchmark outcomes confirmed the Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely to supply the same efficiency to the 14-inch MacBook Professional with an M2 Professional processor. Apple stole a lead within the Cinebench R23 take a look at, which is an efficient indicator for rendering workloads, however solely by a minor margin. The processing efficiency remained aggressive with high-powered Home windows laptops such because the ZenBook Professional 14 OLED, Vivobook Professional 16X OLED and Razer Blade 16.
The Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely wasn’t fairly as aggressive when it got here to graphics efficiency. Each the Zenbook Professional 14 OLED and Vivobook Professional 16X OLED stole sizable leads within the 3DMark Time Spy take a look at, regardless of each utilizing an RTX 4070 GPU too.
Digging into the specs, it seems like Samsung has opted for a 60W TDP (Thermal Design Energy) for the RTX 4070 GPU, whereas Asus has caught with extra highly effective 90W TDP iterations. This explains the graphics efficiency distinction, with Samsung seemingly sacrificing just a little energy for enhanced portability and battery life.
The Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely continues to be a strong laptop computer, effectively geared up for the likes of picture/video enhancing. I additionally discovered it to be able to taking part in Cyberpunk 2077 in Full HD with max graphics settings, with a mean 30fps efficiency. Contemplating this is among the most demanding PC video games you possibly can play, you possibly can anticipate this laptop computer to run just about any sport you fancy.
Thermal efficiency appears good too. I can’t keep in mind an occasion the place I observed the laptop computer heating up considerably, or the followers whirring as much as a stage that grew to become distracting.
The SSD efficiency is robust, with learn and write speeds of 6642MB/s and 4991MB/s respectively. This enables for fast transfers to and from the bodily drive, in addition to instantaneous loading occasions when gaming.
Software program
- Seamless connection to Galaxy telephones
- Irksome bloatware for these with out Samsung cellphone
Clearly impressed by Apple, Samsung has put in an enormous effort to create a extra streamlined ecosystem by bettering the communication between its smartphones and laptops.
Consequently, the Samsung Galaxy Ebook comes with quite a few apps pre-installed that well sync up together with your Samsung Galaxy cellphone. For instance, the Samsung Circulate app means that you can immediately switch photos and movies out of your cellphone to your PC. This did wonders for my workflow, rushing up the method tenfold.
The Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely additionally comes pre-installed with Samsung Gallery and Samsung Notes, syncing up together with your smartphone mechanically to make sure your photographs, movies and buying listing are all accessible on each your laptop computer and smartphone.
The catch right here is that these software program options are solely helpful when you have a Samsung Galaxy smartphone – they’re wasted on somebody like me who owns a Google Pixel 6. For these with no Samsung cellphone, all of those pre-installed Samsung apps really feel like bloatware, taking on pointless house. Fortuitously, they’re simple sufficient to uninstall.
Battery Life
- Battery lasts over 8 hours
- Takes 2 hours to recharge
Home windows laptops with a discrete GPU normally stumble in battery checks, struggling to even surpass the 5-hour mark. Samsung has accomplished an awesome job of balancing all of the specs right here to make sure prolonged stamina.
When working the PCMark 10 battery benchmark, which simulates day-to-day duties till the cell is depleted, the Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely lasted for 8 hours and half-hour. To stress simply how good that result’s, the Razer Blade 16 solely managed 4 hours and 37 minutes in the identical take a look at, whereas the Asus Zenbook Professional 14 OLED achieved 7 hours and 59 minutes regardless of having a smaller 14-inch display.
Apple stays the champion for battery life although, as my colleague may browse the net for near 14 hours with the MacBook Professional earlier than reaching out for the charger.
My testing exhibits that it takes roughly 2 hours to recharge the Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely again as much as 100%. Samsung bundles a 100W charger within the field, whereas Apple packs in a barely extra highly effective 140W adapter with the MacBook Professional.
Newest offers
Do you have to purchase it?
You desire a transportable machine for content material creation
The Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely is one in every of my high suggestions for content material creation on the go, due to its cautious steadiness between efficiency and portability.
You’re in search of the perfect worth
The largest challenge with the Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely is its steep value. There are extra reasonably priced choices such because the Acer Swift Go 14 and MacBook Air for people who simply want an entry-level graphics efficiency.
Closing Ideas
The Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely is a superb selection for creators. The 3K display supplies glorious color accuracy, the graphics efficiency is sufficient to deal with heavy workloads and it’s transportable sufficient to take in your travels.
Is it ok to thwart the MacBook Professional? Not fairly. Apple’s laptop computer gives superior battery life, a touch higher efficiency and a extra luxurious design. However, the Galaxy Ebook 3 Extremely runs it shut, and is among the finest makes an attempt I’ve seen from a Home windows laptop computer within the creativity market.
The excessive value is an issue, nevertheless, costing upwards of £3000/$3000 if you’d like the perfect specs for a excessive efficiency. The Asus Zenbook Professional 14 OLED represents higher worth and the Razer Blade 16 might be discovered with related specs at a less expensive value. Try our Greatest Laptop computer, Greatest MacBook Options and Greatest Laptop computer for Video Modifying lists for much more choices.
How we take a look at
Each laptop computer we overview goes by a collection of uniform checks designed to gauge key issues, together with construct high quality, efficiency, display high quality and battery life.
These embody formal artificial benchmarks and scripted checks, plus a collection of real-world checks, akin to how effectively it runs standard apps.
We use overview machines as our principal laptop computer for at the least every week.
We take a look at the efficiency through each benchmark checks and real-world use.
We take a look at the display with a colorimeter and real-world use.
We take a look at the battery with a benchmark take a look at and real-world use.
FAQs
No, it doesn’t have a touchscreen. If that’s a precedence, take a look at the Samsung Galaxy Ebook 3 360 as a substitute.
No, it lacks a touchscreen so a stylus shouldn’t be supported.
For those who’re a creator who wants a superb graphics efficiency, but additionally a conveyable design, then it is a nice different to the MacBook Professional.
Trusted Opinions take a look at knowledge
PCMark 10
PugetBench for Premiere Professional
Cinebench R23 multi core
Cinebench R23 single core
Geekbench 6 single core
Geekbench 6 multi core
3DMark Time Spy
CrystalDiskMark Learn pace
CrystalDiskMark Write Pace
Brightness (SDR)
Black stage
Distinction
White Visible Color Temperature
sRGB
Adobe RGB
DCI-P3
PCMark Battery (workplace)
Battery recharge time
