Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra review: creative power behind stunning screen

Below the screen is a big and good keyboard, with a solid typing experience and a fingerprint reader in the power button. Gamers may want more feedback but for writing it was excellent. It has a decent but not class-leading 1080p webcam with various tricks such as auto-panning and blur effects at the top of the screen. The mics are very good, and the set of four speakers is pretty immersive for a laptop.

The Ultra is available in a small choice of configurations that vary by country, including models with an Intel Core i7-13700H processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX4050 graphics card, or a Core i9-13900H and RTX4070 at the top end as tested. Note, a model with 32GB of RAM or greater is not available in the UK, which may be a deal killer for some.

Even at full tilt, the fans in the Ultra manage to avoid being overly noisy compared with some hairdryer-like laptops. In more mundane day-to-day productivity work, it runs essentially silently, which is most appreciated.

Samsung does not provide an expected lifespan for the battery but it should last in excess of 500 full-charge cycles with at least 80% of its original capacity.

The laptop is generally repairable priced on a case-by-case basis but not upgradeable. The laptop contains recycled plastic in its casing. Samsung offers trade-in and recycling schemes for some old devices. The company publishes annual sustainability reports but not impact assessments for individual products.

The Ultra runs Windows 11 out of the box but comes pre-installed with a large range of Samsung apps and tools. Generally, it ran smoothly and without issue. I removed the free trial of McAfee and several other unwanted apps.

You may never use many of the 22 included Samsung apps and can safely uninstall them. But some, such as the quick settings tool, are very useful, allowing you to change system settings, performance modes, screen modes and other bits quickly and painlessly.

Some of the other tools, such as the Intel connectivity performance suite, give you much greater control over the hardware within the laptop, which is welcome given this is a power-user machine.

The Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra starts at £2,449 ($2199.99) with an Intel Core i7, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and a Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU. The Core i9 version with GeForce RTX 4070 costs £3,049.

For comparison, the equivalent Razer Blade 16 starts at £2,699, the Dell XPS 15 at £3,099, the Alienware m16 at £2,149, and the Apple 16in MacBook Pro at £2,699.

It is a thoroughly impressive machine, offering the ability to seamlessly switch between simple productivity work, serious photo and video editing, and then perform as a proper gaming rig at the end of the day, all without looking out of place. There are few machines that manage that quite so successfully, and in such a light and compact body for a 16in laptop.

The enormous trackpad is great, and the keyboard is really good for writing, but gamers might want a bit more feedback. It is very expensive, even if competitively priced for this type of machine. It could do with longer productivity battery life.

For those looking for a Windows alternative to a 16in MacBook Pro for creative work or a more subtle gaming PC they can lug to the office when needed, the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra is right up there with the best available.