Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360: The Screen is the Best Part of Samsung’s Uneven Flip Laptop (2025)

The fifth generation of Galaxy Book laptops has slowly started becoming available during the winter. They build on the previous generation’s models without making significant changes in style, design, functionality, or layout. The most notable upgrade is that Samsung has enhanced the processor to the second-generation Intel Core Ultra.

It provides stable performance for all kinds of office work and some types of media editing. However, it still feels a bit underwhelming. Its multi-core performance is surprisingly low, which means that intensive multitasking can suffer. Additionally, some uses, like compiling and video encoding, may take extra time.

You do get plenty of memory and storage, with 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB SSD in the model I tested. Thanks to the powerful NPU in Intel’s new generation, performance is significantly boosted for some tasks, while it has no impact on others.

On the other hand, it is extremely power-efficient, cool, and mostly quiet during operation. You can set it to a mode called “Completely Silent,” which indeed makes it silent except in emergencies, at the cost of performance. However, you don’t need much power for simple tasks like browsing, emailing, and running Office, so you can often switch to it to save battery and create a calmer work environment. Not that it’s too noisy otherwise. Even in the “High Performance” mode, the most cooling-intensive setting, it’s not excessively loud, although the fans are noticeable.

Brilliant Display

The integrated Intel Arc graphics are relatively fast, allowing for performance boosts in some applications and even enough power for light gaming. However, it’s only suitable for simpler games, and at times I wish for a discrete GeForce card.

The screen would be a delight to game on. It’s a high-resolution AMOLED display with high brightness and vibrant colors that exceed the DCI-P3 standard, with color accuracy that makes calibration unnecessary. It also has good HDR support. Streaming a high-resolution HDR movie from Netflix or Prime Video looks absolutely fantastic on the 16-inch screen.

The built-in sound quality is excellent. There’s both richness and spaciousness when playing music and movies. It lacks some bass frequencies, which means there’s no real depth in tones or rumble in sound effects, but that might be too much to expect from a laptop.

Long-lasting Battery

The 76-watt-hour battery delivers long battery life, longer than expected. Under maximum CPU load and full brightness, it drains the battery in less than two hours. However, in power-saving mode, with silent cooling, reduced brightness, and simple tasks like word processing, it can last from early morning until bedtime. With minimal brightness and passive but active use, the measured battery life exceeds a full day.

Part of the reason for this is that the screen brightness can be significantly dimmed and that it has a dynamic refresh rate. The only refresh rate choice is 120 Hz, but you can set it to dynamic mode, which means it lowers the frequency when high refresh rates are not needed. This transition is seamless. I tested the battery life in dynamic screen mode, and as far as I can tell, it has no noticeable drawbacks.

The laptop can also be set to a mode called “Battery Protection,” which prevents the battery from charging above 80 percent to maintain longevity. However, this also means you’ll constantly have 20 percent less time for daily use. To gauge its performance, I allowed it to fully charge before testing the battery life.

Sleek but Not Always Comfortable

The laptop features a large touchscreen that flips and supports both touch and pen input. You get a comfortable Samsung pen with good precision and control, without being active or battery-driven. However, I’m slightly disappointed that it doesn’t have a dedicated spot on the laptop, like the S-Pen on a Galaxy Tab, which increases the risk of losing it.

It’s a much more comfortable format to work on than the 14-inch version, but it’s also noticeably heavier to carry around. The weight of 1.69 kg is only part of the story—the sharp edges make it feel heavier than it really is.

Otherwise, the build quality is absolutely top-notch. The design is elegantly slim, with sturdy aluminum and smooth hinge movement. The screen is covered with glass, and the panel has slightly rounded corners that give it a sleek, phone-like look. You almost expect to see a selfie camera hole at the top of the screen, but instead, it’s just above the screen with a slightly wider bezel.

The webcam is not the best I’ve seen from Samsung. They usually have good camera quality, but here the image is both pale and relatively blurry. A good microphone still manages to save video calls.

Uninspiring Keyboard

The lower edge also has more margin, raising the screen slightly, which is good for ergonomics. However, the keyboard itself is questionable, with a very short key travel that makes it feel stiff to work on. It feels premium and well-assembled, but I would prefer a bit more responsiveness from the keys. The clear backlighting is a plus, and a numeric keypad on the side fits without feeling cramped.

Dual Thunderbolt 4 ports, an additional USB-A, HDMI, and an analog audio output provide a solid set of connections. However, keep in mind that one Thunderbolt 4 port is often occupied for power.

The laptop can be purchased with both Windows 11 Home and Pro, and my model comes with Home. Besides Microsoft’s own programs and features, Samsung has preinstalled a plethora of its own apps. Apart from the Samsung Settings control panel, I’m not particularly impressed by the rest. Many seem to be primarily for Samsung Galaxy phone users, especially the promised “Galaxy AI” features. But these are functions handled by a Galaxy phone and only displayed on the laptop.

Windows already has good tools for mobile integration, so you don’t need to lock yourself into Samsung’s ecosystem. And shouldn’t the processor’s NPU be able to handle Galaxy AI? Samsung had a golden opportunity to make a laptop that was “Copilot Plus, but better.” Instead, they’re using misleading AI promises to entice you to buy a Samsung phone, and the laptop itself is not worth it—there are better alternatives.

Specifications

• Product Name: Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360 NP960QHA-KG3SE
• Tested: March 2025
• Manufacturer: Samsung
• Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 258V, 4 P-cores up to 4.4 GHz + 4 E-cores up to 3.3 GHz
• Graphics: Intel Arc 140V
• NPU: Intel AI Boost, 47 TOPS
• Memory: 32 GB LPDDR5X
• Storage: 1 TB SSD, microSD slot
• Display: 16-inch glossy AMOLED, 2880 x 1800 pixels, dynamic 120 Hz, 500 cd/m²
• Webcam: 1080p
• Ports: 2x Thunderbolt 4, USB-A 3 Gen 2, HDMI 2.1, headset
• Wireless: WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
• OS: Windows 11 Home
• Other Features: Backlit keyboard with numeric keypad, fingerprint reader
• Noise Level: 0–37 dBa
• Battery: 76.1 Wh, 1 hour 40 minutes (high load, full brightness) to approx. 25 hours (low load, low brightness)
• Size: 35.54 x 25.22 x 1.28 cm
• Weight: 1.69 kg