Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is a worthy MacBook Pro rival , bend its muscle as an extremist - hefty Windows laptop computer that can speed through intemperate - duty undertaking , while also being light enough to convert to the office . barrage fire life and the AMOLED screen are excellent , although a high monetary value will turn most hoi polloi off .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The MacBook Pro has long been the nonpayment laptop pick for professional Maker thanks to its measured balance wheel of eminent public presentation , long electric battery living and portability .
The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is the latest Windows laptop in a long leaning of attempts to finally dethrone Apple . Having spend a few weeks with the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra , I ’m not convinced it ’s theMacBook Prokiller it longs to be , but it ’s a very proficient attempt .
With Intel ’s most powerful processor under the goon , as well as some beefy graphics chip options , this is one of thebest Windows laptopsI’ve tested for heavy workload .
Design
Samsung clear feels that it ’s perfected the design of its in high spirits - ending laptop , as the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra has the accurate same cuticle as its forerunner , theGalaxy Book 3 Ultra . In fact , the two laptop have nigh on the exact same dimensions , besides the Modern model having a marginally grievous weight ( 1.86 kg ) due to the updated internals .
The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is on the cusp of being mark as leaden , as it ’s just tripping enough for me to have a bun in the oven to and from the office without issue , but does cause melodic line to my carpus when holding it in one hand . It ’s perceptibly lighter than the modish MacBook Pro ( 2.14 kg ) , but you’re able to find passel of lighter big - screen laptops such as theLG Gram 17(1.35 kg ) if you ’re happy to give graphics firepower .
Samsung has opted for an Al casing for the laptop computer , which partly explains its weight . On the upside , this ensures that the laptop is solidly build , and so can easily subsist frequent commutes without business organization of getting damage .
I ’ve already mentioned the MacBook Pro a mates of clip in this critical review , but it ’s knockout to ignore give the similarities . Samsung clearly is n’t trying to distance itself from comparisons , as the excogitation takes a circumstances of inhalation from Apple ’s laptop computer serial publication . This admit the smutty screen bezel , which contrast nicely with the ash gray chassis . There ’s even a recessed keyboard .
Even the port survival of the fittest is almost identical to Apple ’s laptop with 2xThunderbolt 4 , 1x HDMI and a headphone jack . Samsung at least offers a USB - A and a MicroSD card slot for a picayune variance . I ’m impressed with the webcam too , which offers far more detail than the average laptop .
The keyboard is ok to typewrite on . If I was being harsh , I ’d say the keys are just a little too shallow for my like with not enough crunch , but I ’ve nevertheless had no problem typing out tenacious document such as this review . You get a full - size telephone number inkpad and a fingerprint electronic scanner too .
I ’m in person not a lover of the trackpad being so big – I can genuinely agree my intact hired hand on top of it . Its tumid size increase the chances of accidentally brushing it with your hired man , and requires a little more stretching when switching between a rightfield - click and a bequeath - click .
Samsung deserve a lot of credit for its sustainability approaching , using recycled plastics , glass and atomic number 13 for the laptop computer ’s design . The packaging is all recyclable too , with no plastic in sight . This is a rare but welcome wad , with Samsung setting a very high touchstone .
Screen and sound
The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra has superb specs across the instrument panel , and yet it was the screenland that leave me most impressed .
switch from a 13 - inch laptop screen to the 16 - inch panel of the Samsung attain a mighty difference , not only for make videos appear more cinematic , but also for squeezing more apps and browser app chit into vista .
The blind timber is splendid , with anAMOLEDpanel to insure cryptical black and rich colours , and a 2880×1800 resolution for elaborated , incisive imagery . It ’s a joy to see the the like of Netflix and YouTube on this laptop .
Do n’t just take my word for it though , as I ’ve also used a colorimeter to test the screen . The Galaxy Book 4 Ultra saw a peak brightness of 396 nits , which is above mediocre and just as smart as the latest MacBook Pro . direct contrast is perfect thanks to the AMOLED screen , while color coverage is good enough for professional with 100 % sRGB , 97 % Adobe RGB , and 100 % DCI - P3 .
Having such a mellow colour reporting is very authoritative for those dealing with colour tender workloads , such as editing photos and videos . This entail images / videos should look accurate with little distorted shape .
The Galaxy Book 4 Ultra has a quad - loudspeaker system arrangement , made up of dual tweeter and dual woofers . regrettably , the sound character here is poor . There ’s a cheesy , foggy texture to instrumentals that ’s unpleasant on the ear , while the bass often sound hoarse and hollow . The volume can be raised to a mellow decibel , but I ’m not sure why you ’d want to , as it ’s not an enjoyable listen .
The laptop speakers do better with movies / TV , as dialog is presented clear enough , but the shortcomings shortly become evident once a soundtrack gripe in , with the iconic Avengers theme sounding awfully screechy . It ’s not helped that the Speaker are locate on the underneath of the laptop , becoming strangle by a desk , or potentially even blocked when watching in seam . I suggest checking ourBest Headphonesguide to sabotage this takings .
Performance
If a laptop has the goal of displacing the MacBook Pro , then it ’s going to need a hefty performance . Samsung nail the brief with a combo of an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor and Nvidia RTX 4070 art chip .
That ’s a lot of superpower for a laptop computer of this ilk , and the performance difference was detectable as I switch over from a more standard ultrabook . Whether you ’re simply browsing the web , opening applications or dabble with more originative work load , the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra skate through tasks with ease .
If you ’re the case of person that likes to have legion browser app tabs and apps open simultaneously , you ’ll be proud of to hear that the 32 GB of RAM allows for such multitasking juggle without any detectable lag . This really is a powerful machine .
In terms of processing world power , you ’ll struggle to find a more powerful Windows laptop computer . The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra beat most of the competition in the benchmark tests with aplomb , include other fantastic laptop computer such as theDell XPS 16andAsus Vivobook Pro 15 OLED . That pronounce , it was still far off the gait of the wickedly fast ( and expensive)M3 Maxchip of the gamy - end MacBook Pro configuration .
The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is n’t quite so manufacture - contribute when it occur to the graphics performance , with the Nvidia RTX 4070 considered an upper mid - kitchen range alternative . That said , it ’s still a powerful art chip that easily outpaces ultrabooks such as theMacBook Air . If you want to use the like of Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Pro , while also dabbling in play , then the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is up for the job .
I ’m yarn-dye with the thermal performance here too . When triggering a challenging benchmark test , the fans purr into action , but they were scarcely audible . Play some quiet music , and you ’ll likely not comment the fan dissonance at all . The Galaxy Book does get warm right above the keyboard when running such test , but the field you ’re most likely to touch stay systematically cool .
The SSD functioning was remarkably quick , with read and save fastness of 6682MB / s and 4945MB / s respectively . These sort of speeds intend boot up sentence is instantaneous , while applications and games load up in a flash bulb . Storage capacities are uncommitted in both 1 TB and 2 TB , which is plentiful for the immense bulk of people .
Software
One of the key selling points of a MacBook is how well it synchronize with aniPhone , which is a sound motivator to remain faithful to the Apple ecosystem . Samsung is attempting to double this design by shipping its Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra with software that complements yourGalaxy smartphoneor tablet .
One of these pre - installed apps allows you to well use a Samsung as a lower-ranking exhibit for your Galaxy Book laptop computer , while Samsung Flow allow you to easily channelise documents , share notification and seamlessly do up a roving hotspot . These are all handy feature , but are spare if you do n’t own a Samsung earphone . The Samsung Studio app is more useful , acting as a destitute alternative to the likes of Adobe Premiere Pro where you could easily edit out and stitch together a video .
Unfortunately , the Galaxy Book comes with McAfee antivirus pre - installed . You get a free trial for a calendar month that you ’re automatically enrolled on , which is nice , but then you ’ll be bombarded with presentment to sign up for a long subscription . This chop-chop farm vexatious , although uninstalling the app solves this issue .
Microsoft ’s Copilotalso features , although it ’s useable on fairly much every Windows laptop computer now . This is Microsoft ’s answer toChatGPT , with the AI bot able to suffice questions and complete basic Job like your very own assistant .
Battery
Plenty of Windows laptops pack a powerful poke , but very few can also extend a long assault and battery life at the same time . So imagine my surprise when Samsung take that the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra can last up to 18 hour for video playback .
In gild to test this claim , I reduced the screen smartness down to 50 % and ran a benchmark which loops productiveness tasks until the battery hits zero . The Samsung laptop computer impressed in this trial , managing to run for 11 hour and 40 instant .
Considering that even crushed - power ultrabooks will often struggle to collide with the 10 - minute marker , this is terrific stamina from Samsung . The 16 - inch MacBook Pro still flash superscript stamina , but I do n’t sleep with any Windows laptop computer with such firepower that can equate the Samsung .
The laptop come bundled with a 140W charger , offering far more ability than the fair laptop computer . This enable you to tear the Galaxy Book in just under 90 minutes in total , with 30 minutes of charge seeing a 34 % boost – that may not sound speedy , but it ’s of import to recollect you ’re refill a immense 76Wh cellular telephone here .
The bundled courser uses a USB - C connexion , which also supports plenty of other devices including forward-looking smartphones and tablets . Due to the 140W ability , it does have the downside of being one of the great chargers I ’ve seen for a laptop , but I was still able to easy fit it in my rucksack .
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Should you buy it?
The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is overkill for introductory productiveness tasks , but its combination of a in high spirits carrying out and accurate screen make it a fantastic pick for on - the - go professional creators .
There ’s no getting past the high price of the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra . If you ’re felicitous to give some artwork big businessman , then you may get a far more low-cost laptop computer such as theMacBook AirandZenBook 14 OLED.&bsp ;
Final Thoughts
Out of all of the laptop computer I ’ve reviewed so far , the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra come up the closest to matching the quality of theMacBook Pro . It ’s supremely powerful , flash a professional - grad AMOLED screen and has a delightfully foresightful battery life .
The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is coherent across the board and it ’s tough to consider of many flaws . The big issue , however , is that it in effect cost the same amount of money as a MacBook Pro , despite Apple propose even better barrage fire life history , as well as a high execution cap ,
But if you prefer Windows to macOS , then the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is one of the best laptop options for heavy - duty cosmos . For more pick , check out ourBest Laptopranking .
Trusted Score
How we test
Every laptop computer we review goes through a series of uniform checks project to guess primal gene , including build quality , performance , CRT screen caliber and battery life .
These include stately synthetical benchmarks and scripted trial run , plus a series of tangible - earthly concern substantiation , such as how well it runs popular apps .
FAQs
Yes , the screen here is touch - enabled and it ’s very reactive .
Test Data
Full Specs
