Ultraportable Battle: Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 vs. Microsoft Surface Laptop 4

[PAGETITLE=Introduction][Top Ad] There once was a time when you had limited options if you wanted an ultraportable notebook, but fortunately, that was long ago. Today, there are almost a mind-numbing number of sleek and thin notebooks out there that offer outstanding battery-life along with ample performance. In this article, we're going to be taking a look at two popular ultraportable choices, both built around a 15-inch form-factor, and each featuring a different platform under-the-hood. On the AMD side, we're exploring Microsoft's Surface Laptop 4, equipped with a Zen 2-based eight-core Ryzen 7 4980U, along with Radeon RX graphics. For Intel, we're diving into Samsung's Galaxy Book Pro 360, sporting an 11th-gen quad-core Core i7-1165G7, with Iris Xe graphics. While both of these notebooks can often be found for less than their suggested retail price, the AMD-spec Surface Laptop 4 configuration, as tested, comes in at $1,699.99, while the Intel-spec Galaxy Book Pro 360 comes in at $1,349.99. Both notebooks include 16GB of memory. Despite costing more, the Surface Laptop 4 shipped with only a 512GB SSD, vs. the Galaxy Book Pro 360, which shipped with 1TB. Microsoft's Surface Laptop 4 (Left) and Samsung's Galaxy Book Pro 360 (Right) For a more in-depth look at specs, here's a helpful table: Surface Laptop 4 Galaxy Book Pro 360 Processor AMD Ryzen 7 Surface Edition2.0GHz Base / 4.4GHz Peak8-core / 16-thread Intel Core i7-1165G72.80GHz Base / 4.7GHz Peak4-core / 8-thread Motherboard Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 Samsung NP950QDB-KB1US Memory SK Hynix 16GBLPDDR4X-4266 Samsung 16GBLPDDR4X-4266 Graphics AMD Radeon Vega 8 Intel Iris Xe Display 15-inch 2496x1664 PixelSenseTouchscreen (works well with stylus) 15.6-inch 1920x1080 AMOLEDTouchscreen (works well with stylus) Storage SK Hynix HFM512GDGTNI512GBRead: 2.2 GB/sWrite: 1.0 GB/s Samsung MZVLQ1T0HBLB1,024GBRead: 3.1 GB/sWrite: 2.0 GB/s Optical N/A Audio Realtek HD AudioOmnisonic Speakers w/ Dolby Atmos Realtek HD AudioAKG Speakers w/ Dolby Atmos Wireless Wi-Fi 6 AX200 802.11axBluetooth 5.0 Wi-Fi 6E AX210 802.11axBluetooth 5.1 Connectivity 1x USB Type C1x USB Type A1x 3.5mm Audio Jack 2x USB Type C1x Thunderbolt 41x 3.5mm Audio JackMicroSD Reader Et cetera Supports Windows 1113.4" x 9.6" x 0.58"3.40lbs47.4Wh Battery720p Windows Hello Webcam Supports Windows 1113.97" x 8.97" x 0.46"3.06lbs68Wh Battery720p Webcam As Tested $1,699.99 $1,349.99 We've been using both of these notebooks quite intently the past month, making sure to give each a fair and long-term test. A notebook can't be properly reviewed if it's lightly tested, because the chance of overlooking either a great perk or not-so-obvious detriment is far too easy. At this point, we're confident that we've put enough time into each notebook to build a proper conclusion for each. Let's take a look at each notebook on their own, dive into performance tests, and then finally wrap up with final thoughts. Microsoft Surface Laptop 4. Since its introduction, Microsoft's Surface series has catered to those who love their notebooks really flexible, able to be used in multiple modes, including tent. Well, Surface Laptop is different. This series isn't a convertible, so you use it like an ordinary laptop without the ability to bend the screen all the way back around, or remove the keyboard. What's familiar, though, is the PixelSense touchscreen, and the 3:2 display aspect ratio. Like the Samsung notebook we'll also be tackling here, the Surface Laptop 4 includes a variety of configurations, both with AMD and Intel platforms available. Our goal with this article was to get a feel for both notebooks with a current-gen platform from each vendor, and see where one might excel over the other. While this Surface Laptop 4 has a touchscreen, it does not ship with a stylus (Surface Pen) like the Samsung does - but that's likely because most "laptop" users wouldn't be as apt to use one as convertible Surface users would be (a stylus is included with the convertible Galaxy Book Pro 360). Fresh desktop on Surface Laptop 4 Admittedly, in this day and age, Microsoft's Surface line is definitely an outlier when it comes to display aspect ratio, as the company typically foregoes 16:9, in lieu of going 3:2. This results in a resolution of 2496x1664, with the laptop defaulting to a 150% DPI in order to reduce eye strain. Microsoft's Surface Laptop 4 (bottom) includes a USB-A port As for connectivity, the Laptop 4 features both a USB-C and USB-A port - the latter of which will come in handy for anyone wanting to use a normal desktop keyboard, or plug in a typical flash drive. While USB-C is a great connector, it's been slow to catch on with peripherals and flash drives - although solutions do exist. Another perk of the Laptop 4 is the fact that it includes a webcam that officially supports Windows Hello. As for wireless, the Laptop 4 bundles both Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0. It's worth noting that the Surface Laptop 4 includes two different surfaces for the keyboard area. Our notebook sample is a "cool metal" model, offered in black, sandstone, and platinum. Another option is an Alcantara fabric surface, which is a soft material a bit easier on the palms, available in either platinum or ice blue. Mirrored Surface badge on the Laptop 4 As mentioned before, an AMD processor graces this Laptop 4, and it's a model that's a little more interesting than most, named "AMD Ryzen Microsoft Surface Edition". As you can tell, this is a custom-made APU delivered by AMD, and with it, along with a 47.4Wh battery, Microsoft claims you can achieve up to 17.5 hours of battery-life with typical usage with the Laptop 4. Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360. While we've tested a few Surface products over the years, it's been quite some time since we've had a chance to dive into testing a modern Samsung, so upon arrival, we were keen to get down with testing right away. While we'll save our full thoughts for later, the Galaxy Book Pro 360 really impressed us from the moment it came out of the box. It's undeniably sleek, and its color dark blue color really stands out. Speaking of "stands", unlike the Laptop 4, the Galaxy Book Pro 360 (what a name, by the way) is a convertible notebook, so you can use it in tent mode, or fold the keyboard entirely to its back, and use it as a tablet. Fortunately, this device does actually include a stylus, so you can begin drawing or sketching with it as soon as you get it booted, and get through the initial setup. This device's display sticks to a typical 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. That means its total pixel count is less than the Laptop 4, which in turn means that the Surface can display more content at a time - assuming you are using 100% DPI, which probably isn't the case. Whereas the Laptop 4 defaults to using a 150% DPI, this Samsung uses 125%, but both result in crisp images. Fresh desktop on Galaxy Book Pro 360 Compared to the Laptop 4, this Samsung has a couple of notable advantages, which are actually quite nice to see considering the lower cost. That includes Thunderbolt 4 support, as well as 2x USB-C (there's no Type-A here, but fortunately, adapters are readily available.) Interestingly, Samsung saw it fit to include a microSD slot here, as well. On the wireless front, this Samsung one-ups the Surface Laptop 4 ever-so-slightly with Wi-Fi 6E, and also Bluetooth 5.1. It also includes a beefier 68Wh battery, which is pretty impressive, considering the entire unit weighs 3.06lbs, vs. the Laptop 4, which is 3.40lbs. We'll see later how those battery capacities equate to battery-life. The Galaxy Book Pro 360 has a full numpad and finger print reader The Galaxy Book Pro 360 has a couple of other perks that might not be obvious at first. That includes a finger print reader at the top-right of the keyboard, something that makes logging into Windows an absolute breeze, and helps negate the fact that the notebook doesn't include an official Windows Hello-supported webcam. Just press the reader, and you're into your Windows desktop before you know it. Galaxy Book Pro 360 (top) offers USB-C and microSD on its right side While not everyone cares about a numpad, we happen to, as we use it a lot in Excel and the Windows calculator, so we were pleased to see one included here. For such a thin notebook, the Galaxy Book Pro 360 really does cram in the functionality, and since it also supports a 3.5mm audio jack as the Laptop 4 does, we're struggling to find something notable that's missing. Usage & Performance. There's no question about one thing here: both of these tested notebooks are great in their own right, but depending on personal taste, one is likely to stand out as the more attractive offering than the other. For those who might need a bit more CPU grunt, it will be hard to beat the Ryzen's eight cores in certain situations, although we can't imagine that many using an ultraportable are going to be doing heavy-lifting that would regularly utilize the full CPU. Where those eight cores really benefit are with rendering, and truthfully, neither of these notebooks are designed for that kind of work. For workstation use, you really want to seek out a bigger laptop with a discrete graphics card, since so many workloads benefit from them. Surface Laptop 4's eight cores will bode well for heavy multi-taskers For general use, both notebooks are fast, and didn't give us any impression of limitations during normal use. Even editing photos in Photoshop seemed just as fast on both, and multi-tasking was never a problem, thanks in part to having 16GB of memory on tap. Usually, when comparing two notebooks side-by-side, obvious differences with the keyboards and touchpads can be felt, but this is as close a match-up as we've seen in a while. Both notebook touchpads feel similar, and are really smooth and accurate to use, with each offering a large surface area. The left- and right-click at the bottom of the touchpad are also similar, but feels...

Ultraportable Battle: Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 vs. Microsoft Surface Laptop 4

Rob Williams