Even at first glance, the Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro looks light. The dark-grey metal housing has no design gimmicks. The slim forms should speak for themselves. And they do. At first glance, the question arises as to whether there is still room for a processor, especially since the keyboard is slightly lowered again.
Despite a 13.3-inch display, the Galaxy Book2 Pro weighs just 870 g. The overall height of 1.1 cm is also low for a full-fledged notebook. And thanks to the slim bezels around the display, the footprint is very compact at 30.4 x 20 cm. Of course, this has an impact on stability, but to a lesser extent than one would expect. Some effort is required to provoke twisting of the substructure. The same cannot be said of the extremely narrow display lid. At least its stability is high enough to prevent influences on the display itself – such as the formation of waves. The hinge provides the display with a decent hold, but the angle of attack is not particularly large.
AMOLED but classic
The display is made for work. Thanks to the AMOLED technology, high contrasts and rich colors are offered. However, many competitors that are explicitly recommended for the work environment deviate from the conventional aspect ratio of 16:9 and rely on higher screens. The Full HD resolution (1920×1080 pixels) is no longer "state of the art". Fine details, such as the writing in texts, suffer and appear blurry. Something more would be desirable, especially for editing images and creating graphics.
Samsung relies on Intel's new middle class
With the i5-1240P, the latest Intel generation moves into the Galaxy Book2 Pro, and it is significantly more powerful than its predecessor. There are a total of twelve CPU cores that can run 16 threads in parallel, four of the cores are so-called P cores with a higher level of performance, and the eight other E cores should lead to lower energy consumption in less demanding processes. Compared to the previous i5-1135G7, the performance in Geekbench's single-core test has increased by around 10 percent. If the performance of all cores is measured in combination, the difference is one third. The distance to the i7-1260P is small, at least in this area.
The i5-1240P is left behind in graphic calculations. The Iris Xe GPU integrated here only has 80 execution units instead of the 96 in the full version. Depending on the test run, a difference of up to 15% can be determined in the GFX benchmark and corresponds approximately to the level of a Radeon Vega 7, which AMD uses for its Ryzen 5 5500U.
The stinginess with the main memory is not entirely understandable. A notebook that should cost more than 1000 euros can easily be equipped with 16 GB of RAM. Samsung leaves it at 8 GB for the Galaxy Book2 Pro, even if it already complies with the new LPDDR5 standard.
Samsung Galaxy Book 2 ProData
Display: 13.3 inch, AMOLED, 1,920 x 1,080 pixels)
Processor:Intel Core i5-1240P
Graphics: Intel Iris Xe
Memory: 8GB, LPDDR5
Storage256 GB, SSD
Connections: 1x USB Type-C 3.2, 1x Thunderbolt 4, 1x USB Type-A 3.2, Micro SD
Wireless: WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2
Battery: 63Wh
Scope of delivery: power supply
Dimensions: 30.4 x 20 x 1.1 cm
Weight: 0.87kg
Operating system: Windows 11 Home
Price: 1,199 euros
SSD: Lame and small
Samsung is quite stingy when it comes to data storage. The NVMe SSD from our own production offers a capacity of only 256 GB. The competition mostly offers twice the memory size in this price segment.
In terms of speed, the Samsung drive isn't exactly a force either. In the Diskmark benchmark, data transfer rates are slightly less than 2100 MB/s when reading and slightly more than 1100 MB/s when writing. However, the speed should not slow down in the foreseen range of applications.
The Galaxy Book2 Pro is not a long-distance runner
With a 63 Wh battery, the Galaxy Book2 Pro is basically well positioned. Rather, it should no longer fit into the tight housing. The runtimes are decent, but not exceptional. After an hour in the browser, around 14 percent of the reserves are used, when playing Asphalt 9: Legends, 42 percent of the previously full charge are missing after an hour. A working day without charging the battery should only be possible if the notebook is not used continuously.
Display without touch
The Galaxy Book2 Pro not only does not have a hinge that allows the display to be rotated by 360°, but also the entire touch function. It's a pity really, because direct input on the screen can make work easier even with a classic notebook.
At least you can't complain about the touchpad. The movements of the fingers are transferred precisely to the screen, and the click mechanism is also successful. The keys, on the other hand, could have a little more travel for those who type a lot. The attack is rather soft.
There is even enough space for an HDMI port
Ports: Minimal desktop must-haves
Slim silhouettes quickly come into conflict with the connections that are suitable for everyday use. This is no different with the Galaxy Book 2 Pro, although Samsung tries to find a good compromise: in addition to two USB ports in Type C format, there is also a classic USB socket as well as HDMI for connecting an external monitor. This fulfills the minimum mandatory program for the desk. If the ports are occupied, Bluetooth 5.1 is ideal for connecting additional devices. Intel's AX211 module, which supports WLAN 6E, is used for network access.
Conclusion
Compact, light and of high quality. In addition, hardware that only reaches its limits with higher performance requirements. Anyone who travels a lot will find the Galaxy Book2 Pro to be a stylish companion that can cope with everyday work. However, the question arises as to why you shouldn’t go straight for the 360° version. The two models are similar in many places and the difference in price is not particularly high. In return, the tablet mode offers considerable added value.
Per
Chic and well-made business notebook High-performance, state-of-the-art hardware Very light
Cons
No touch displaySmall SSDSimple pen, no transport option
