Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro 360 16" Review (2024): AMOLED Excellence With Trade-Offs

The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro 360 is, genuinely, one of the most exciting 2-in-1 laptops you can buy right now if you're deep into the Samsung ecosystem or just want a proper premium convertible that doesn't compromise on the display. That's my verdict upfront. Specs matter, yes. But so does what real owners are actually saying once the honeymoon period wears off. So I've dug into both the spec sheet and the owner feedback (averaging ★★★★☆ (4.3) from 9 reviews) to give you the full picture.

The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro 360 Laptop (2024) 16" Intel Core Ultra 7 16GB 512GB Moonstone Grey sits in that enthusiast price tier where you expect a lot and Samsung mostly delivers. Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, Intel's latest Core Ultra silicon, Thunderbolt 4 ports, an included S Pen, and a chassis that genuinely turns heads. But 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage at this price point raises eyebrows, and the integrated Arc graphics means you're not gaming seriously on this thing. Worth knowing before you hand over your card.

Numbers on a spec sheet only tell part of the story. The other half is the real-world stuff: how it holds up through a full work day, whether the fans kick off in a quiet meeting, and if the hinge still feels solid six months in. That's what this review is about.

Paired with 16GB of RAM, though, and you start to feel the ceiling if you're a heavy multitasker. For most creative professionals doing photo editing, document work, video calls, and light video editing, 16GB is fine. But if you're the sort of person who has 30 Chrome tabs open, Lightroom running, Spotify going, and Slack pinging you every five minutes, you'll notice. You can't upgrade the RAM after purchase either, which is the frustrating reality of thin premium laptops in 2024. The 512GB SSD is fast (it's NVMe, as you'd expect at this price), but 512GB fills up fast if you're storing raw photo files or video projects. An external drive or cloud storage subscription is basically mandatory.

The GPU situation is Intel Arc Graphics, which is the integrated solution baked into the Core Ultra chip. It's genuinely better than Intel's old Iris Xe graphics, and it'll handle some light gaming (think older titles, indie games, or casual play) and GPU-accelerated creative tasks reasonably well. But don't kid yourself: this is not a machine for serious gaming or 3D rendering. It's a creative productivity machine with a stunning display, and that's exactly what it's designed to be. If you need dedicated GPU grunt, you're looking at the wrong laptop.

For creative work, the Arc Graphics integrated GPU handles Intel's XeSS upscaling and AV1 hardware encoding, which is genuinely useful for video calls and light video editing. Export times in something like DaVinci Resolve won't blow you away, but they're not embarrassing either. Owners consistently report that the machine handles their day-to-day creative tasks without drama. Photo culling in Lightroom, Illustrator work, even some light After Effects, it manages. Where it struggles is anything that needs serious sustained GPU compute, which is simply not what this chip was designed for.

The AI performance angle is worth taking seriously rather than dismissing as marketing fluff. The NPU in the Core Ultra architecture handles tasks that would otherwise hit the CPU or GPU, keeping things snappy without hammering battery life. Samsung's own AI features in Windows 11 (and their Galaxy AI integration if you're running a Samsung phone alongside this) benefit from this. It's not magic, but it's a real architectural advantage over older Intel generations. Compared to a machine running, say, a 12th-gen Core i7, the difference in responsiveness during background AI tasks is noticeable.

Real owners report performance that matches expectations for the class. Nobody's complaining about sluggishness in everyday use. The complaints, where they exist, are about thermal throttling under sustained heavy load (more on that in the thermals section) and the RAM ceiling for power users. For the target audience of creative professionals and premium productivity users, the performance is where it needs to be.

Vision Booster is a feature worth calling out specifically. It adjusts contrast and colour based on ambient lighting conditions, which means working near a sunny window or in a bright coffee shop is actually viable rather than a squinting exercise. Owners who work in varied lighting conditions consistently praise this. The Corning Gorilla Glass with DX coating and anti-reflective cover also helps enormously with glare, which is the usual enemy of glossy OLED panels. It's not perfect in direct sunlight (nothing is), but it's far better than most OLED competitors.

Colour accuracy is excellent for creative work. AMOLED panels typically cover a wide colour gamut, and Samsung's calibration here is solid. If you're doing professional colour grading, you'd still want to profile the display with a colorimeter, but for photography, graphic design, and content creation, it's more than capable straight out of the box. Viewing angles are essentially perfect, as you'd expect from OLED technology. And because this is a 360-degree convertible with a touchscreen, you'll be using it in tablet mode and tent mode too, where those wide viewing angles actually matter.

The Core Ultra 7 155H's efficiency architecture genuinely helps here. Intel's hybrid design means the chip isn't always running its performance cores flat out, and the NPU handling AI tasks off the main cores reduces power draw during those specific workloads. Compared to previous-generation Intel laptops in this form factor, the battery life story is meaningfully better. Owners generally report being happy with battery longevity for a 16-inch AMOLED machine, though nobody's claiming it'll last all day on heavy creative work.

Charging is handled via the included charger, and the two Thunderbolt 4 ports support USB-C Power Delivery, which means you can charge from a compatible USB-C charger if your included charger is at home. That's a genuinely useful feature for travel. Thunderbolt 4 charging also means you can use a single cable for both charging and connecting to a monitor or dock, which keeps your desk tidy. Owners who travel regularly specifically appreciate this flexibility.

One thing to keep in mind: the S Pen is included in the box, which is brilliant, but using the touchscreen and S Pen regularly does add to power consumption compared to pure keyboard and trackpad use. If you're planning to use this heavily in tablet or drawing mode, factor that into your battery expectations. Dark mode is your friend on this machine. Genuinely. The AMOLED panel draws significantly less power on dark backgrounds, so switching your OS and apps to dark mode is one of the easiest wins you can get for battery life.

The Moonstone Grey finish looks professional and understated, which matters if you're pulling this out in client meetings or co-working spaces. It doesn't scream "gaming laptop" or "look at me" in the way some premium machines do. If you spend a lot of time working from cafés, airports and hotels, it's worth running a good VPN to keep your connection private on shared Wi-Fi. The slim profile means it slides into a laptop sleeve or bag without too much drama, though you'll want a bag with a proper 16-inch laptop compartment rather than trying to squeeze it into something designed for a 15-inch machine.

For commuters and frequent travellers, this is a machine that works best when you have a proper bag for it and you're not carrying it miles between transport connections. It's a premium creative workstation that happens to be portable, rather than a portable machine that happens to have premium specs. Know that going in and you'll be happy. Try to use it like a lightweight ultrabook and you'll be frustrated.

The large touchpad is called out specifically in Samsung's own feature highlights, and owners back this up. It's smooth, responsive, and handles Windows 11 gestures well. Precision touchpad support means multi-finger gestures work reliably, which is something you notice most when you've used a laptop with a mediocre trackpad and then switch to something properly sorted. For a convertible that also functions as a tablet, having a great trackpad when you're in laptop mode is important, and this one delivers.

The 360-degree hinge means the keyboard folds flat when you're in tablet or tent mode. The keys are recessed slightly so they don't feel awful against a surface when the laptop is flipped over, though it's still not the most comfortable thing to rest on your lap in full tablet mode. That's a design compromise inherent to the convertible form factor rather than a specific failing of this machine. The S Pen integration is smooth, and the pen itself stores neatly rather than being something you'll lose down the back of the sofa.

Under sustained heavy load, the picture is more complicated. Sustained CPU-heavy tasks like long video exports or compiling large projects will push the thermals up and trigger the fans. Some owners report that the machine throttles back under prolonged maximum load to manage temperatures, which is a common behaviour in thin premium laptops. It's not unique to Samsung, and it's not a disaster, but it means this isn't the machine for hour-long 3D renders or sustained heavy encoding work. For bursts of intensive work followed by lighter tasks, it handles itself well.

Surface temperatures under load concentrate toward the upper keyboard area and the bottom of the chassis rather than the palm rest, which is the right place for heat to go. Your palms stay comfortable during normal use, and even during moderate load the keyboard area stays within tolerable limits. The underside gets warm under heavy load, so lap use during intensive work is less comfortable. In tent or tablet mode during lighter tasks, this isn't a problem at all.

Under moderate load, the fans spin up to a gentle whoosh rather than a whine or a pulse. It's not intrusive. You'd notice it in a very quiet room but it wouldn't bother you in a coffee shop or open-plan office. The fan character is smooth rather than the pulsing on-off cycle that some thin laptops do, which is more annoying than consistent fan noise. Samsung's thermal management seems tuned for steady, quiet operation rather than aggressive cooling that kicks in loudly and suddenly.

At full load, the fans get louder, as they do on any laptop working hard. It's not the jet-engine experience you get from a gaming laptop, but it's noticeable. For a machine aimed at creative professionals, the acoustic profile is well matched to the use case: silent for meetings and focus work, manageable for intensive bursts. If you're regularly doing sustained heavy work and acoustic performance is critical, a desktop or a larger laptop with better cooling headroom would serve you better. But for the target audience, this is fine.

The USB-A port is there for your legacy devices, which matters more than people admit. USB-A is still everywhere: mice, USB drives, dongles, older peripherals. Having one built in means you're not immediately reaching for an adapter on day one. The microSD slot is useful for photographers and videographers who work with SD-card-based cameras (with a microSD adapter) or drones. The 3.5mm headphone jack rounds things out. It's a port selection that covers the bases without being excessive, and it's more than some competitors at this price offer.

On wireless connectivity, the spec sheet doesn't detail the specific Wi-Fi standard or Bluetooth version, so I won't speculate. What I will say is that at this price point and with this level of hardware, you'd expect current-generation wireless to be present. Owners haven't flagged wireless connectivity as a concern in their feedback, which is the practical indicator that matters.

• 2x Thunderbolt 4 (40 Gbps, USB-C PD charging, DisplayPort)
• 1x HDMI
• 1x USB-A
• 1x microSD card slot
• 1x 3.5mm headphone/microphone jack

The built-in webcam is there for convenience when you don't want to set up your phone, and it handles standard video calls adequately. For a premium laptop, it does the job. The microphone array handles voice pickup well enough for calls, with noise cancellation doing useful work in noisier environments. It's not a podcasting setup, but for its intended purpose of keeping you connected on calls, it works.

Speaker quality on Samsung's premium Book laptops has improved over the years, and the Book4 Pro 360 delivers audio that's decent for a laptop. It won't replace a proper speaker, but for background music, video playback, and calls, it's more than adequate. The 3.5mm jack means you can plug in proper headphones or a headset for anything where audio quality actually matters, which is the sensible approach on any laptop regardless of how good the built-in speakers are.

The 360-degree hinge is smooth and holds position firmly at any angle. This matters more on a convertible than people initially think: a hinge that wobbles when you tap the touchscreen in laptop mode is genuinely annoying, and Samsung's implementation avoids this. You can prop it up in tent mode for presentations or media consumption without it wobbling around, and the transition between modes feels deliberate rather than flimsy. Hinge durability over time is always a concern with convertibles, but there are no red flags in the owner feedback on this front.

The Moonstone Grey finish is fingerprint-resistant enough to stay looking presentable through a working day, which is more than can be said for some glossy premium finishes that look like a crime scene within an hour of use. The Corning Gorilla Glass with DX coating on the display adds a layer of scratch resistance that matters on a touchscreen you'll be using with both fingers and the S Pen. Overall, the build quality matches the price point. This feels like a premium machine, not a machine that's been dressed up to look premium.

The inclusion of the S Pen in the box is worth a specific mention. On some convertible laptops, the stylus is an optional extra that costs extra. Samsung includes it, and it integrates properly rather than feeling like an afterthought. The pen has good pressure sensitivity and works well for note-taking, sketching, and annotating documents. For the creative audience this machine targets, having a proper stylus included without an additional purchase is a meaningful value-add.

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 offers a discrete GPU option (Nvidia RTX 4060) which the Galaxy Book4 Pro 360 simply cannot match for GPU-heavy work. If graphics performance is your priority, that's a significant gap. But the Surface Laptop Studio 2's display, while very good, doesn't have the same AMOLED punch as Samsung's Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel. For display-critical creative work like photo editing and video review, the Samsung's screen is a genuine advantage. The Surface also uses a different hinge mechanism (a pull-forward "stage" hinge) which some people love and others find awkward.

The Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 9 is perhaps the closer comparison: a premium 360-degree convertible with strong build quality and a good display. Lenovo's OLED option is competitive with Samsung's panel, and the Yoga 9i has a strong reputation for keyboard quality. The Samsung edges ahead on display quality and the Samsung ecosystem integration (Phone Link, the connected camera feature), while the Yoga 9i has traditionally offered more flexibility in configuration options. The S Pen inclusion tips the balance for anyone who needs a stylus.

The limitations are real though, and you should go in clear-eyed. Sixteen gigabytes of RAM is on the lean side for the price, and you cannot upgrade it. Five hundred and twelve gigabytes of storage fills up fast for media-heavy workflows. The Intel Arc integrated graphics means serious GPU work is off the table. And the 16-inch form factor, while gorgeous, means this isn't a machine you'll forget you're carrying. If you need discrete GPU performance, the Surface Laptop Studio 2 with its Nvidia option is the alternative. If you want a smaller footprint, the Yoga 9i is worth considering.

For the right buyer, none of those limitations matter much. The display alone justifies serious consideration, and the complete package of build quality, keyboard, S Pen inclusion, port selection, and Samsung ecosystem features makes a compelling case. Owners give it ★★★★☆ (4.3) from 9 reviews, which reflects genuine satisfaction rather than early-adopter enthusiasm. This is a machine people are happy with after living with it. That counts for a lot. A solid 8 out of 10 for the enthusiast tier. It's not perfect, but it's proper.