Editor's Note: Check out our Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra hands-on review for our firsthand impressions of Samsung's most powerful laptop yet.
The Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra is the new high end of the Galaxy Book spectrum, as it’s the only Samsung laptop to pack the graphical horsepower of a discrete GPU. And since that GPU is a cutting-edge Nvidia GeForce RTX 4000 series laptop GPU, the Galaxy Book3 Ultra should be a reasonably competent gaming laptop – especially if you fully upgrade it.
Whether it’s good enough to compete with the best gaming laptops on the market remains to be seen. But based on what Samsung’s showed us so far, this unassuming ultraportable could be one of the best laptops of 2023.
Here’s what we know so far about the Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra.
Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra: Price and availability
The Galaxy Book 3 Ultra will be available for order starting February 14 via Samsung’s website for a starting price of $2,199. Samsung says it will begin shipping Ultra siblings the Galaxy Book3 Pro and Galaxy Book Pro 360 on February 17, while the Ultras will start shipping out February 22.
Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra: Specs
| Galaxy Book 3 Ultra | Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 | Galaxy Book 3 Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $2,199 | $1,699 | $1,449 |
| Display | 16-inch 3K (2,880 x 1,880 pixels) 120Hz AMOLED | 16-inch 3K (2,880 x 1,880 pixels) 120Hz AMOLED touchscreen | 14- or 16-inch 3K (2,880 x 1,880 pixels) 120Hz AMOLED |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-13700H | Intel Core i9-13900H | 13th Gen Intel CPU | 13th Gen Intel CPU |
| GPU | RTX 4050 laptop GPU (6 GB) | RTX 4070 laptop GPU (8GB) | Intel Iris Xe integrated | Intel Iris Xe integrated |
| RAM | 16-32GB | 8-32GB | 8-32GB |
| Storage | 512-1TB | 256GB-TB | 256GB-TB |
| Dimensions | 13.9 x 9.8 x 0.64 inches | 14 x 9.9 x 0.5 inches | 12.2 x 8.8 x 0.4 inches (14-inch), 14 x 9.8 x 0.49 inches (16-inch) |
| Weight | 3.9 pounds | 3.7 pounds | 2.42-3.4 pounds |
Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra: Design
Samsung’s Galaxy Book 3 Ultra might have the chops to go toe-to-toe with some gaming laptops, but it doesn’t look the part. Where most gaming laptops are matte black monstrosities with overly edgy lighting and decals, the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra is a plain, unassuming slab of aluminum.
It comes in any color you want, so long as it’s gray – or Graphite, as Samsung brands the metallic paint job that is your only option on the Ultra. The laptop itself measures roughly 13.9 x 9.8 x 0.64 inches and weighs about 3.9 pounds, sporting a 16-inch display and an aluminum frame with parts built from recycled plastics.
Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra: Display
The screen on the Galaxy Book3 Ultra measures 16 inches diagonally, which is positively spacious as laptops go. More notably, it’s a 16-inch AMOLED display with a 3K resolution (2,880 x 1,800 pixels) and a 120Hz refresh rate.
That’s a great display for a laptop, given that OLED screens typically deliver brighter brights, inkier blacks and more striking contrasts than LCD displays. With the 120Hz refresh rate it should be able to play nice with games that run higher than 60 frames per second, which is good news for folks who want a laptop to play games at high framerates.
Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra: Ports
Unfortunately, the focus on making the Ultra portable means you don’t get much in the way of ports.
You do at least get one USB-A port along with two Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports, which together give you decent options for plugging in peripherals old and new. You also get a HDMI 2.0 port, a microSD card reader and a 3.5mm audio jack for headphones.
Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra: Performance
The Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra is configurable with up to a 13th Gen Intel Core i9 CPU, up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 mobile GPU, and up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage.
With specs like that, this laptop stands firmly astride the ultraportable and gaming laptop categories. It has the chops to play the best PC games at decent framerates, and at nearly 4 pounds heavy it’s not exactly the lightest laptop on the market. But it’s still pounds lighter than similarly-sized gaming laptops, and the Galaxy Book3 Ultra’s subdued design helps it blend in at the office or coffee shop the way a beefy gaming machine might not.
We’ll have to wait until we get one in for testing to see for ourselves how powerful this laptop is, but at a glance the Galaxy Book3 Ultra appears to be a beast with beauty and brawn.
Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra: Webcam
Samsung has equipped the Galaxy Book Ultra with a 1080p webcam, just like on earlier generations of Galaxy Book.
We were satisfied but not particularly impressed with the quality of images captured by the 1080p webcams in Samsung’s earlier Galaxy Book laptops. Hopefully the company has made some improvements this time around, as so many of us still spend hours every week on video calls with friends and colleagues.
Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra: Outlook
Based on what we’ve learned so far, the Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra should be a solid laptop for work and play. The inclusion of a discrete Nvidia 40-series laptop GPU opens up some intriguing possibilities for gaming on the go, but we'll have to get one of these laptops in for testing to see how well it can run the best PC games.
We had a chance to go hands-on with a Galaxy Book 3 Ultra for a bit last month, but we'll have to wait until we get one in for testing and review to know how well it really stacks up against the competition. Stay tuned!
