@@xkarpx Actually, what I meant was I liked the "raw" notes Mike left for us. He seems to have copied and pasted from his Notes app straight into the description. It's an unfiltered, rough hewn, un-GPT-ified capture of his first-hand thoughts before he even organized and produced it into the video. There's even a voyeuristic (behind-the-scenes) element to it, for us. Again, kudos.
It's crazy that Windows still advertises so heavily throughout the OS, particularly the Start menu. No Microsoft I do not want to get Cut The Rope and Candy Crush ads when I open the Start menu.
Really? when you have a Mac there are on the dock at least 10 Apps all from Apple which most of them are trash and no one uses but they still want to sell you their products. Better a tiny ads rather than X icon that does nothing.
I have a S 23 Ultra, Galaxy watch 6 classic and Buds 2 pro. And a Macbook Pro. I really wish there was a Samsung laptop that could compete enough to make me switch. Macbook has it all, style, build, port selection, and heat management. I dont really care too much about performance since I never run into any issues with the little I do on it.
Did you say port selection on a mac? You have to be joking. Low bandwidth hdmi 2.1, no regualr usb ports, no display port, no ethernet port. Ports are not a macbooks strength
*Bro what problems you face cause I also have similar setup, I have Samsung Phone, watch, tab , TV, Ac even washing machine lol and i dont wanna put a Mac in this equation thats why and I'm in high-school so i dont really need laptop this year in 2025 but i need in 2026 so I'm thinking of waiting for XElite 2 or ill just buy a M3 in winter Diwali Sales*
Do you feel like samsung is just testing the waters?? Cause it seems like they are not commiting to hardware specs/quality. Doesnt seem very innivative or compelling. I want to love it but it feels like their products are becoming less competitive.
I really hope this means they will go all in for their next galaxy book 5 ultra. The things to upgrade are so straightforward and have been so heavily criticized that there's just nothing else to upgrade.
@@slipknotfya SERIOUSLY! we NEED them to step up on the laptop market, yeah ASUS/Lenovo have great ultrabooks but nothing beats having your Windows laptop natively syncing with your phone + they're just beautiful with beautiful screens and finish. Give the Ultra touch screen + Wacom tech as well, but not 360 degrees for segmentation.
I have a Book3 360 and the "samsung features" like syncronised notes, multi control, tablet as display and the S pen features bought me. As well as the great display and dolby speakers (I am a college student so a compact tablet/laptop combo is great for me)
Just I note regarding the CPU. You've only mentioned that it's an Intel Core Ultra 7, but there are currently 14 different SKUs of Intel Core Ultra 7 for laptops at the moment with a very broad range of performance, depending on generation and TDP. Please provide the specific CPU in your reviews.
I've got a Samsung S23-ULTRA, a Tab S9, a Samsung Watch Active 2 and a Dell Precision 7670, all working very well as a system. Samsung Notes is very useful, Samsung Calendar also works fine, Microsoft 365 works very well across platforms, Google is well integrated and works very well with Android Auto in my truck. As an engineer who uses SolidWorks and SolidWorks Flow simulation, I need the Windows OS. MyTab S9 becomes my second screen for when I'm on the go. Never even have thought about switching to Apple.
Yeah think Samsung is just box ticking to say they have products in this segment. Not compelling at all when they are competing against zenbooks, xps's, spectre's, yoga 7s and 9s that pack the same if not better hardware, finish and features at a far lower price point.
Samsung may be competing with those brands but you have to understand Samsung. They are not like other computers. The other computers don't hold these unique features for the user experience. Everyone keeps talking about the same things but never talk about what Samsung is really known for. It's their unique features in what these apps can do. For example have you tried the Samsung Note? It is just incredible. The Samsung Note has incredible features like no other and how it flawlessly syncs with your phone. The speed in which the transfers data. I mean there are so many unique features in Samsung I do not see any other laptops. I use a high-end Lenovo and it's powerful and nice but it doesn't provide that user experience like Samsung.
The reason of that high cost is the build materials used in the laptop and also the specs you first dont think of like the AMOLED Touch screen display or the array of speakers.
Bro these laptops are made for efficiency not for gaming thats why they dont have rtx inside maybe yes these are a litte bit expencive but the lack of rtx isnt the thing you should be comlaining about
Even though the screen and ports are excellent, which I highly appreciate, there are too many things that make me pass on Samsung laptops. Too expensive, too limiting on RAM options, mediocre keyboard, mediocre web camera, and made to be too general. If going after a general audience, they cannot have it priced above the M3 Air 15 inch. Samsung could have massively grown their laptop business if they had a specific target audience. They seem like they didn't have anyone in mind and threw some high specs together.
Can't agree more. Galaxybook is overpriced base on what they are offering, and they discontinued the support to non-samsung PC to use samsung note which is extremely dumb. Big disappointment to samsung, s24 ultra and tab s9 ultra are great! Samsung need to improve their bud and laptop if they really want to develop samsung econsystem.
Hi Mike, I own a book 4 Pro. It's such a good-looking laptop. But also, it's very fragile. My laptop cracked when i was opening it in just 2 months. Can't claim warranty. The price for the screen was around $350. I will not recommend anyone to get book 4 pro. So my question is, do you think the laptop is stredy enough?
@@GeminiJay79 Second Screen generally doesn’t work on other computers. I got it working once after a lot of headache and it stopped working after a restart. Notes’ restriction can be bypassed pretty easily by Galaxy Book Mask
The microsd reader is more for storage extension! The card needs to be pushed all the way in and can only be removed using something like a toothpick or the sim card tool! Nowadays with cards at 1tb or 2tb it’s not bad to have.
4:58 "kind of an unexpected benefit" lol made me recall that Simpson episode of Homer gets an entry in the dictionary as "pull a Homer: succeed despite idiocy." I was wishing so much a Samsung laptop to complement my Samsung cellphone, smartwatch and TWS earphones, but I got an old iPhone 7 as a feature phone but it is actually quite a lovely experience, all seems to work just fine, including my Outlook mail from Microsoft, it works just fine in the ancient iPhone than in my Samsung note, so now I am checking macbooks.
Samsung finally realize people want compact and light stuff and teased the S25 Edge but still refuses to release a Dell XPS 13 like model. 14 inch is still a little too big for some not to mention heavy. I myself use my HP Aero 13 like a tablet and i love its feather weight and compact size.
The main advantages of the Macbook are the efficient M4 family, which leads to better battery, the touchpad, and speakers. The main advantage of the Galaxy Book 5 I'd argue is the OLED. I have a 4k OLED on the laptop I'm typing, although I use a workstation laptop. Samsung will have a higher end Galaxy Book 5 Ultra at some point in the future, which will be their flagship.
miniLED is as good as OLED for many people but has more advantages, including no screen-door effect, no PWM dimming, no burn-in, much higher brightness, longer life, etc. So the MB Pro M4 is similar in price and a far better choice due to a better trackpad, improved speakers, and faster GPU and CPU.
@@andyH_England There are trade-offs. Mini-LED tends to be brighter and no burn in, but the response time is slower and the dimming zones means that the contrast is based on a couple of thousand dimming zones rather than per pixel. The Macbook Pro has a very slow response time making it unfit for any fast paced gaming. With the new generation of brighter OLEDs, personally I think OLED is a better technology now of the two.
To save sometime - Go for a Lenovo or anything AMD or SD like Asus. I am a student in Germany and I have to travel in the public transport, I am constantly in my laptop and working, editing doing projects, prototyping designing, practically everything under the sun that a PC can do. Therefore I cannot use anything else other than a Mac and put up with its nonsenses. Because even after all these innovations on the otherside, they still haven’t been able to figure out how to keep 100 different tabs on a browser, keep multiple design and code environment softwares open and still be able to keep itself away from a wall. Or just charge using a small 100watt brick. What I am trying to say is, even if you are a student does not mean that piece of metal meets the requirements to be your daily driver because it won’t be able to keep up with what your throw at it.
My 4 Pro is AWFUL, The second you turn it on, And you click one thing on the desktop page it starts getting hot.... It's why I switch to the 4 edge, the elite chip is so good at cooling and has so much power, just sucks that arms windows isn't widespread yet
What I'd like to know about this laptop and others with a similar screen is: will modern Windows scaling allow me to replicate a Macbook-like 'retina' experience successfully? I guess I'm talking about using either a 50% or 200% level of scaling (I can't think which), so that the resolution appears to be 1400 x 900 and all text is larger, but everything is still perfectly sharp. In the old days, if you deviated from a screen's native resolution at all you would get slightly blurry text, but on a 3K screen like this I know the text would be far too small for me in native res. I'm used to working in a resolution of 1366 x 768 and I don't really want to go higher, but manufacturers don't tend to offer their higher-end models with low'ish res screens. So, I'm not sure where to go for my next laptop, and have even been wondering how well Windows works/ scales on a Macbook Pro if I can't get what I want from an actual Windows machine.
I was getting the same battery life for the 1st week. I turned off always on Quick share background and uninstall MacAfee antivirus. Now I'm getting the battery life they advertised and more. Quick share still works and still draws power, but it draws even less. It lasts me days when I keep on power saving mode on and combination with the change to "quick share background" and uninstall MacAfee. Before I was trying to return it since I was coming from a M1 MacBook pro, which had outstanding battery life. Now I love my Galaxy Book. P.S. Idk which was causing the power draw. MacAfee or Quick share.
How is it that McAffee is still on Laptops? Its the biggest bloatware we apparently cannot get rid off. Whenever I "optimize" a computer for friends and family it's the first thing I remove - and it is getting harder and harder. WHY DOES IT EXIST?
I'm convinced there's a bios setting for that default somewhere, or even a registry edit. Look it up (: you got nothing to lose. Driving the Samsung book 3 pro, along an old s21 fe and some buds 2. Experience is 8/10, and I can get an extra 1 for customizing it myself to how I like it. You can push these machines quite far, but I'm sad they don't push harder on the memory side of things. At least they offer it, if not for such a price I would've got a Mac myself, but I cannot stand the inability to change and fix these small things 😊
To be clear x86 chips are sooo easy to get full SIMD support and just very easy to optimize. Adobe is 100% perfectly optimized for x86. Not very well optimized for ARM64 like most apps. The mac would smoke it even more if Adobe had the same level of optimization for ARM64 as it does for x86. The M1max could export it at least 20seconds faster
Lockscreen is windows "Places" or some similar name. On desktop - once unlocked - it's standard windows wallpaper. This rainbow seem to be themed for AI Copilot laptops, but internet have them all in 4k ready for download.
And it's not built properly. It can break very easily. I own a book 4 Pro, and it broke in just two months when I was just opening it. You will have to treat it like a desktop only laptop and use it very gently. Otherwise, it will break. Everything else is good. If it's for daily use, get a sturdy laptop.
Great topic - I was trying to switch to Windows too, but I failed... I think the only real question is whether or not you can switch comfortably between Apple/Windows eco systems. For me (experienced Win user/admin) it was too difficult. Too many compromises - especially with iMessage integration, built-in photo manager, and good email client support (I have multiple accounts). On the Windows side the Outlook client is not suitable for this (the older Mail and Calendar apps were great). Outlook on Mac seems better (or the Apple Mail app). Watch and Phone integration are just an added bonus - not critical, but nice. And there is no local media (photo) manager? -- I have to buy something - or be online? Just didn't work for me. But I still NEED windows - I like to game. BUT... if I didn't care about iMessage or Email clients? - I would pick up an Asus and get excellent performance, and pretty good battery life. I don't think the Galaxy is in the same class.
Honestly, the lack of first party apps came as a shock to me on the windows side of things. Gotta say it was pretty upsetting, and basically a non-starter for me. As far as I’m concerned defaults need to be good for the product to be good, and not having any is disgraceful. Edge being the default pdf reader is unhinged. I shouldn’t have to shop around for basic utility.
@@JohnDoe-si4eg Funny - I'm back at it again (I really don't want two laptops - gaming vs everything else - actually, three, if you count the corporate assigned machine). But your point is completely valid. I just finished setting up a new Windows laptop - was really much more effort - updates in settings, then app store for more updates, then driver updates (AMD and Nvidia) not to mention Bios. (on ASUS). Razer / Dell do it a bit better - but still more work vs the Mac that I just set up.
There’s plenty of good email apps for Windows. I agree the lack of iMessage and Apple Photos sucks though. My Google Fiber Internet comes with a free 1TB of Google Drive though, so I can use Google Photos through that at least
@@IceBlueLugia So I tried eM client - I need email, calendar, contacts - for multiple accounts. eM was always a decent alternative - but also always less polished. So I'm back on Outlook...
The problem of laptops. They have a fan. And its noisy in most actually used cases. At the end of the day they are expensive and not as powerful. The best price is on after market.
I have a hard time imagining a laptop at this price point with a mushier keyboard than a MacBook. The Surface laptops are about the same as the MacBook, maybe a little less. Lenovo's recent 1.5mm travel keys are so much nicer than any of those. I type a LOT and rather quickly, so I'm pretty much stuck with a Lenovo for a Dell XPS.
I have gaming laptop from windows: Acer predator. It is very powerful and at the same time very difficult to carry on, it is almost 5kg with its charger and other accessories 😢
Even corporate media content creation aside, I think 4k displays are important for home consumers on laptops. A lot of home videos are getting 4k these days. Smartphone cameras can capture in 4k, and so do action cameras like the GoPro and Insta 360 cameras. Cameras on higher end drones hit 4k as well.
@n1ngnuo 4K video content will look better on a 1080p monitor than on a 1440p or 3k monitor, due to simpler scaling factor. With a 1080p monitor, each pixel of the 4K content can be represented by a block of exactly 4 pixels, while with a 1440p it doesnt scale down to a whole number, so you rely on scaling algorithms
@@ts8960 I mean no not really that applies for rendering things at the lower resolution on a higher resolution display, like a 1080p image on a 1440p display or whatever, things downscale just fine, heck a lot of mirrorless cameras downscale 6k or whatever their sensor resolution is down to 4k for better image quality, and that isn't integer scaled I personally would prefer 1440p/1800p on ~15 inch laptops, 4k's just overkill and more power consuming
@robinrai4973 with oled you can turn the resolution down when you want to save battery (since the pixels will turn off unlike lcd) and turn it back on when watching a movie or videos. Its nice to have 4k just to have authentic content instead of downscale or upscale, because in 2025 so many vids are available on 4k. I would say 1440p is good on 14 inch, but 15 inch and above needs more pixel density and you also get clearer text and more screen bandwidth not just for content
@@ts8960 turning the resolution down won't turn off pixels like that feature found on some phone firmwares, the displays scaler will upscale it to the panels native resolution and all pixels will be lit. Oleds regardless tend to consume more power than LCD also even 1800p over 15 inches is far more pixel dense than 1440p on over 14 inches, and beyond the ~200 ppi where things get indistinguishable to the eye
I agree and value your review. There aŕe my complaints of Samsunģ devices. 1. They're too expensive for what they are, especially they are hitting for a specific demographic. I agree the Ultra is not a pro/creator/workstation laptop and much for home/everyday/ student users but those people cannot spend too much money on a laptop for those use cases unless it has value to which in my eyes, it doesn't. 2. The small things. The numpad is not a fav, trackpad is too big, stickers...really, the usb c not in different sides, no IR Windows hello facial, keyboard trash, speakers and webcam. If Samsung wanted to make this for that audience, the small things matter. 100% 3. Innovation, besides the Galaxy Ecosystem. Innovation side, it tries to copy the macbook pro but its not that laptop. Everyone is making thinner laptops, have OLED and others. Innovation is just low and Samsung is not investing enough in this lineup cause i wanted this lineup to succeed years ago. Windows complaints compared to Mac (this is for my peace of mind) 1. Bloatware is still a problem unless there are apps people actually use and essential for the OS but not the ad sucking and annoying ones. In mac, its a choice. 2. Consistency is getting more important than ever, for apps, features and even what makes Windows unique. 3. Reliability. Dont ask, we already know this 4. Battery life is still apple's game 5. App quality is better 6. Aesthetics and simplicity is better on mac Look, im been using Windows for a very long time and I've using macs from time to time and i felt more better with them, but gaming, file management, choices are still its strength, but they need to put their egos aside for their customers.
Owns a book 3pro 14', and I don't see any great updates on the specs except CPU...I thought they would upgrade to better speakers, haptic touch pad, face recognition, but NONE of these are seen through the 3 generations. Samsung does NOT care about their notebooks AT ALL.
*Waiting for XElite 2 please let it beat atleast M2 or M3 in all aspects. I want similar performance to M2 from XPlus 2 and I'll buy a Windows Laptop* 😄 *This is the exact reason why I'm still not buying any laptop cause i want a windows laptop but mac like performance but i have Samsung Phone, watch, tab , TV, Ac even washing machine lol and i dont wanna put a Mac in this equation thats why*
Galaxy ai circle to search is just one of Edge in browser features set. For me MS Edge is really good for work. It just an incredible browser. (Not trying to start beef but I'm never gonna use brave on window since it ad block is just okay. It isnt in the level of UBlockOrigin extension as I found Brave to be actually much weaker and just never caught up to UBlockOrigin which is weird. Brave got more control so I would assume so why?) Also, I really hate haptic trackpad. It just so weird and I rather have no sound at all. Since all touchpad can register light gesture and taps. You do not need to press down on it, although touchpads can dive on non macbooks laptops. Also to me the numeric pad is incredibly useful in other ways to navigate faster, but I can live without it although preferred to have one.
I would love a Samsung laptop but firstly they don't sell them in my country and second they are waaay too overpriced without even a gpu. I would love the Samsung ecosystem integration with my s24+ but the price for spec is just ridiculous.
I prefer the MacBook Air M1 over this thing… Once you work on a Mac, you simply never go back to Windows.Even if I had an Android smartphone, I would still choose a Mac. Not to mention that Samsung laptops are not available in many countries.
Could you do Mac vs windows because I’ve never used Mac but I have an iPhone and I want to know which is better and whether it’s worth sticking to windows or switching to mac
Depends on how you feel about Windows, and how you use it (for example, CLI is important to me and if I wasn’t on Mac I’d be on Linux). Mac is better if you get a laptop for obvious reasons. Software wise Apple does stupid things, and windows does stupid things. Personally, the stupid things windows does irritates me more, and that’s really all it comes down to.
Wish Samsung would compete in the Surface Pro category. They've got the Tab S10 Ultra, why not put AMD in that with Windows 11 Pro and beat Microsoft at their game. This touch screen Book5Pro is proof they have the technology.
The creator economy may be larger than you expect RUclips estimates 390,000 US creators on the platform are full-time Instagram & TikTok probably have similar numbers Plus photographers Plus freelance video editors Plus videographers Lots of people are also casual creators who like to use these features for their own personal hobbies
@MikeOBrienMedia i just think for the price and considering every other manufacturer has a modern uniformed thin bezel design, it makes it look worse especially if you're at a best buy and you can compare it to the XPSs, Yogas and new Asus Zenbooks
@@MikeOBrienMedia if possible try with the new mbp m4 cuz they have 1000nits sdr brightness or you can increase brightness on previous macs using 3rd party software. Please compare the anti reflective coatings on both and the keyboard/trackpad experience. If possible do halo effect test on macbook pro mini led.
It just sucks that samsung refuses to send us Canadians an English keyboard.. instead they force on us a frustrating French keybaord. I normally buy a Samsung laptop each year, but this year opted for Lenovo instead - all because of that frustrating keyboard! Just because I'm Canadian doesn't mean I'm French, nor does it mean I want a French keyboard!
Damn. Samsung gets away with accounting fraud and stock manipulation and still couldn’t put that money into the laptop’s design? Crazy. Hopefully, for the next release, they have more employees sleeping in the offices and working under the threat of losing everything so we can get something more aesthetically pleasing.
![Is Samsung Better than Apple!? [I TESTED Both Ecosystems]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/fmThG8pnnmA/mqdefault.jpg)
![Is Samsung Better than Apple!? [I TESTED Both Ecosystems]](/img/tr.png)
Putting all of your notes for the script in the description of the video is a masterstroke. Keep up the great work!
Thank you so much! I figured it might be helpful for anyone wondering about the specs
transcript exists tbh
@@xkarpx Actually, what I meant was I liked the "raw" notes Mike left for us. He seems to have copied and pasted from his Notes app straight into the description. It's an unfiltered, rough hewn, un-GPT-ified capture of his first-hand thoughts before he even organized and produced it into the video. There's even a voyeuristic (behind-the-scenes) element to it, for us. Again, kudos.
It's crazy that Windows still advertises so heavily throughout the OS, particularly the Start menu. No Microsoft I do not want to get Cut The Rope and Candy Crush ads when I open the Start menu.
Yeah I hate the ads. It makes even the most premium windows laptops feel cheap
@ oh and god forbid you don’t “finish setting up your PC” 🤣
Bill Gates himself has physically threatened me.
Is this only in the US? I never see those 🤔
Really? when you have a Mac there are on the dock at least 10 Apps all from Apple which most of them are trash and no one uses but they still want to sell you their products. Better a tiny ads rather than X icon that does nothing.
Lol what 🤨, what kind of windows you use ?
I have a S 23 Ultra, Galaxy watch 6 classic and Buds 2 pro. And a Macbook Pro. I really wish there was a Samsung laptop that could compete enough to make me switch. Macbook has it all, style, build, port selection, and heat management. I dont really care too much about performance since I never run into any issues with the little I do on it.
book4 ultra is great! Just speakers, battery life, and heat management need improvements.
@@tizen_osso everything needs improvement lol
Did you say port selection on a mac? You have to be joking. Low bandwidth hdmi 2.1, no regualr usb ports, no display port, no ethernet port. Ports are not a macbooks strength
@@tizen_os we may get that in book 5 Ultra
*Bro what problems you face cause I also have similar setup, I have Samsung Phone, watch, tab , TV, Ac even washing machine lol and i dont wanna put a Mac in this equation thats why and I'm in high-school so i dont really need laptop this year in 2025 but i need in 2026 so I'm thinking of waiting for XElite 2 or ill just buy a M3 in winter Diwali Sales*
Do you feel like samsung is just testing the waters?? Cause it seems like they are not commiting to hardware specs/quality. Doesnt seem very innivative or compelling. I want to love it but it feels like their products are becoming less competitive.
I really hope this means they will go all in for their next galaxy book 5 ultra. The things to upgrade are so straightforward and have been so heavily criticized that there's just nothing else to upgrade.
@@slipknotfya SERIOUSLY! we NEED them to step up on the laptop market, yeah ASUS/Lenovo have great ultrabooks but nothing beats having your Windows laptop natively syncing with your phone + they're just beautiful with beautiful screens and finish. Give the Ultra touch screen + Wacom tech as well, but not 360 degrees for segmentation.
The video i have been waiting for
I have a Book3 360 and the "samsung features" like syncronised notes, multi control, tablet as display and the S pen features bought me. As well as the great display and dolby speakers (I am a college student so a compact tablet/laptop combo is great for me)
Same, love my laptop! The 13" one is very convenient as an engineering student
Do the synchronized notes feature require them to be uploaded to Samsung cloud?
@@WaterFresh7 yes i guess. At least i am using the cloud
Just I note regarding the CPU. You've only mentioned that it's an Intel Core Ultra 7, but there are currently 14 different SKUs of Intel Core Ultra 7 for laptops at the moment with a very broad range of performance, depending on generation and TDP. Please provide the specific CPU in your reviews.
I've got a Samsung S23-ULTRA, a Tab S9, a Samsung Watch Active 2 and a Dell Precision 7670, all working very well as a system. Samsung Notes is very useful, Samsung Calendar also works fine, Microsoft 365 works very well across platforms, Google is well integrated and works very well with Android Auto in my truck. As an engineer who uses SolidWorks and SolidWorks Flow simulation, I need the Windows OS. MyTab S9 becomes my second screen for when I'm on the go. Never even have thought about switching to Apple.
Yeah think Samsung is just box ticking to say they have products in this segment. Not compelling at all when they are competing against zenbooks, xps's, spectre's, yoga 7s and 9s that pack the same if not better hardware, finish and features at a far lower price point.
Samsung may be competing with those brands but you have to understand Samsung. They are not like other computers. The other computers don't hold these unique features for the user experience. Everyone keeps talking about the same things but never talk about what Samsung is really known for. It's their unique features in what these apps can do. For example have you tried the Samsung Note? It is just incredible. The Samsung Note has incredible features like no other and how it flawlessly syncs with your phone. The speed in which the transfers data. I mean there are so many unique features in Samsung I do not see any other laptops. I use a high-end Lenovo and it's powerful and nice but it doesn't provide that user experience like Samsung.
I got the galaxy book 4 regular and it was 560 dollars and really good ecosystem.
Too pricey for the specs and not even RTX
The reason of that high cost is the build materials used in the laptop and also the specs you first dont think of like the AMOLED Touch screen display or the array of speakers.
they always discounted in best buy. 2 years ago I got the book 3 360 for like a 1000, this year I saw the edge 4 for like 800 dollars
Only the galaxy book Ultra gets Nvidia graphics
Better than macbook price
Bro these laptops are made for efficiency not for gaming thats why they dont have rtx inside maybe yes these are a litte bit expencive but the lack of rtx isnt the thing you should be comlaining about
Great review
For the NumLock normally in the BIOS you can change that setting to be on or off when booting.
Thanks!
that cable is not 5 or 6 foot long 😅🤣 love your videos dont get me wrong, that just made me laugh
Thank you very much! Mike!
Not going to lie, you may be the best tech content creator. Most topics not covered by other techs will guarantee be here!
Wow this made my day. Thank you so much!!
Exactly it is just like whenever I'm looking for something that is not as popular for reviews, I end up finding yours
Even though the screen and ports are excellent, which I highly appreciate, there are too many things that make me pass on Samsung laptops. Too expensive, too limiting on RAM options, mediocre keyboard, mediocre web camera, and made to be too general. If going after a general audience, they cannot have it priced above the M3 Air 15 inch.
Samsung could have massively grown their laptop business if they had a specific target audience. They seem like they didn't have anyone in mind and threw some high specs together.
Very well said
Can't agree more. Galaxybook is overpriced base on what they are offering, and they discontinued the support to non-samsung PC to use samsung note which is extremely dumb. Big disappointment to samsung, s24 ultra and tab s9 ultra are great! Samsung need to improve their bud and laptop if they really want to develop samsung econsystem.
A $1500+ for a laptop you can’t “push” or use for creating content is absurd
u can but just its gonna be worse than the macbook did u not hear what he said?
@@xkarpxthat proves the point? It should be great for that price!
If you can't afford $1,500 just to buy another laptop you don't use, you're not working hard enough son. Get you another job.
@ x86 window laptops are new in a couple of years not even gonna be a competition
$1200 or less (for 14") with preorder deals + student website discount
Flipping your screen is useless but opening your screen with one finger is important 😂
Hi Mike, I own a book 4 Pro. It's such a good-looking laptop. But also, it's very fragile. My laptop cracked when i was opening it in just 2 months. Can't claim warranty. The price for the screen was around $350. I will not recommend anyone to get book 4 pro.
So my question is, do you think the laptop is stredy enough?
The review is spot on! But man, seeing you wear a jacket indoors somehow makes me feel uneasy.
Nice review, I use and MacBook Air M1
tbf the Samsung ecosystem on windows could also be used with any windows laptop by downloading the apps in Microsoft store
Which apps?
For the most part, but many small things like Second Screen are pretty buggy
That is true for some apps like Samsung Flow, Second Screen, and Quick Share but apps like Samsung Notes and Pass only work on Samsung laptops.
@@GeminiJay79 Second Screen generally doesn’t work on other computers. I got it working once after a lot of headache and it stopped working after a restart. Notes’ restriction can be bypassed pretty easily by Galaxy Book Mask
New subscriber,, beautifully explained
Thank you for subscribing!
@@MikeOBrienMedia welcome
The microsd reader is more for storage extension! The card needs to be pushed all the way in and can only be removed using something like a toothpick or the sim card tool! Nowadays with cards at 1tb or 2tb it’s not bad to have.
4:58 "kind of an unexpected benefit" lol made me recall that Simpson episode of Homer gets an entry in the dictionary as "pull a Homer: succeed despite idiocy." I was wishing so much a Samsung laptop to complement my Samsung cellphone, smartwatch and TWS earphones, but I got an old iPhone 7 as a feature phone but it is actually quite a lovely experience, all seems to work just fine, including my Outlook mail from Microsoft, it works just fine in the ancient iPhone than in my Samsung note, so now I am checking macbooks.
Samsung finally realize people want compact and light stuff and teased the S25 Edge but still refuses to release a Dell XPS 13 like model. 14 inch is still a little too big for some not to mention heavy. I myself use my HP Aero 13 like a tablet and i love its feather weight and compact size.
Amazing Review mr. O'Brien.
Send me one to South Africa please.
The main advantages of the Macbook are the efficient M4 family, which leads to better battery, the touchpad, and speakers.
The main advantage of the Galaxy Book 5 I'd argue is the OLED. I have a 4k OLED on the laptop I'm typing, although I use a workstation laptop. Samsung will have a higher end Galaxy Book 5 Ultra at some point in the future, which will be their flagship.
miniLED is as good as OLED for many people but has more advantages, including no screen-door effect, no PWM dimming, no burn-in, much higher brightness, longer life, etc. So the MB Pro M4 is similar in price and a far better choice due to a better trackpad, improved speakers, and faster GPU and CPU.
@@andyH_England There are trade-offs. Mini-LED tends to be brighter and no burn in, but the response time is slower and the dimming zones means that the contrast is based on a couple of thousand dimming zones rather than per pixel. The Macbook Pro has a very slow response time making it unfit for any fast paced gaming.
With the new generation of brighter OLEDs, personally I think OLED is a better technology now of the two.
To save sometime -
Go for a Lenovo or anything AMD or SD like Asus.
I am a student in Germany and I have to travel in the public transport, I am constantly in my laptop and working, editing doing projects, prototyping designing, practically everything under the sun that a PC can do.
Therefore I cannot use anything else other than a Mac and put up with its nonsenses. Because even after all these innovations on the otherside, they still haven’t been able to figure out how to keep 100 different tabs on a browser, keep multiple design and code environment softwares open and still be able to keep itself away from a wall. Or just charge using a small 100watt brick.
What I am trying to say is, even if you are a student does not mean that piece of metal meets the requirements to be your daily driver because it won’t be able to keep up with what your throw at it.
Or go Intel (Lunar Lake)
With the S14 from Asus for example.
I wouldn’t recommend Snapdragon Laptops to most users.
@ Intel only if its selling for a discount of 200-300 dollars. Otherwise its too much considering the price to performance here
Performance? Always do a gaming test
My 4 Pro is AWFUL, The second you turn it on, And you click one thing on the desktop page it starts getting hot.... It's why I switch to the 4 edge, the elite chip is so good at cooling and has so much power, just sucks that arms windows isn't widespread yet
Jealous? Obviously the M4 pro is a new chip and most of the apps are not optimized yet for the chip. What a joke 😂
@TechOs19 huh😭😭
@ talk trash M4 pro
@@TechOs19 what are you talking about I'm talking about my Galaxy book 4 Pro u fool 😭😭😭😭😭 hence WINDOWS ON ARM
@ 🙄🙄 just because you own a galaxy book 4 pro doesn’t mean you should trash talk M4 MacBook Pro because you don’t even own one in the first place
What I'd like to know about this laptop and others with a similar screen is: will modern Windows scaling allow me to replicate a Macbook-like 'retina' experience successfully? I guess I'm talking about using either a 50% or 200% level of scaling (I can't think which), so that the resolution appears to be 1400 x 900 and all text is larger, but everything is still perfectly sharp. In the old days, if you deviated from a screen's native resolution at all you would get slightly blurry text, but on a 3K screen like this I know the text would be far too small for me in native res. I'm used to working in a resolution of 1366 x 768 and I don't really want to go higher, but manufacturers don't tend to offer their higher-end models with low'ish res screens. So, I'm not sure where to go for my next laptop, and have even been wondering how well Windows works/ scales on a Macbook Pro if I can't get what I want from an actual Windows machine.
I was getting the same battery life for the 1st week. I turned off always on Quick share background and uninstall MacAfee antivirus. Now I'm getting the battery life they advertised and more. Quick share still works and still draws power, but it draws even less. It lasts me days when I keep on power saving mode on and combination with the change to "quick share background" and uninstall MacAfee. Before I was trying to return it since I was coming from a M1 MacBook pro, which had outstanding battery life. Now I love my Galaxy Book.
P.S.
Idk which was causing the power draw. MacAfee or Quick share.
How is it that McAffee is still on Laptops? Its the biggest bloatware we apparently cannot get rid off.
Whenever I "optimize" a computer for friends and family it's the first thing I remove - and it is getting harder and harder.
WHY DOES IT EXIST?
"Only a 3k display"? Bro you need some serious reality check. I don't think 16inch retina display is 4K resolution.
Other than that, good review.
That’s true. No MacBook has ever had a 4K display. Perhaps he knows that and just wishes the entire industry including Apple would upgrade.
Some people may prefer 4K for what they do, but for the vast majority, even 1080p on 13-inch laptops will do a great job.
I laughed on that as well
12:21 Yep. But now I am used to it. The first step of mine is to hit that num lock. After power button. And it needs to solve.
I'm convinced there's a bios setting for that default somewhere, or even a registry edit. Look it up (: you got nothing to lose.
Driving the Samsung book 3 pro, along an old s21 fe and some buds 2. Experience is 8/10, and I can get an extra 1 for customizing it myself to how I like it.
You can push these machines quite far, but I'm sad they don't push harder on the memory side of things. At least they offer it, if not for such a price I would've got a Mac myself, but I cannot stand the inability to change and fix these small things 😊
To be clear x86 chips are sooo easy to get full SIMD support and just very easy to optimize. Adobe is 100% perfectly optimized for x86. Not very well optimized for ARM64 like most apps.
The mac would smoke it even more if Adobe had the same level of optimization for ARM64 as it does for x86. The M1max could export it at least 20seconds faster
Yes, Adobe apps are not well-optimised on iOS or macOS. I would use FCP instead for the fastest exporting.
Could I have those wallpapers? Absolutely amazing!
Lockscreen is windows "Places" or some similar name.
On desktop - once unlocked - it's standard windows wallpaper. This rainbow seem to be themed for AI Copilot laptops, but internet have them all in 4k ready for download.
Is the screen still paper thin and crack very easily lol
I really wish to know when it's coming to India.....
I'm planning to buy a laptop this year and the book 5 pro looks perfect...
This laptop is just a joke at its price
And it's not built properly. It can break very easily. I own a book 4 Pro, and it broke in just two months when I was just opening it. You will have to treat it like a desktop only laptop and use it very gently. Otherwise, it will break. Everything else is good.
If it's for daily use, get a sturdy laptop.
Don’t bother, it’s garbage. Samsung has no clue how to make good laptops. It’s why Samsung will never beat Apple in terms of ecosystem
Great topic - I was trying to switch to Windows too, but I failed...
I think the only real question is whether or not you can switch comfortably between Apple/Windows eco systems. For me (experienced Win user/admin) it was too difficult. Too many compromises - especially with iMessage integration, built-in photo manager, and good email client support (I have multiple accounts). On the Windows side the Outlook client is not suitable for this (the older Mail and Calendar apps were great). Outlook on Mac seems better (or the Apple Mail app). Watch and Phone integration are just an added bonus - not critical, but nice.
And there is no local media (photo) manager? -- I have to buy something - or be online? Just didn't work for me. But I still NEED windows - I like to game.
BUT... if I didn't care about iMessage or Email clients? - I would pick up an Asus and get excellent performance, and pretty good battery life. I don't think the Galaxy is in the same class.
Honestly, the lack of first party apps came as a shock to me on the windows side of things.
Gotta say it was pretty upsetting, and basically a non-starter for me. As far as I’m concerned defaults need to be good for the product to be good, and not having any is disgraceful. Edge being the default pdf reader is unhinged. I shouldn’t have to shop around for basic utility.
@@JohnDoe-si4eg Funny - I'm back at it again (I really don't want two laptops - gaming vs everything else - actually, three, if you count the corporate assigned machine). But your point is completely valid.
I just finished setting up a new Windows laptop - was really much more effort - updates in settings, then app store for more updates, then driver updates (AMD and Nvidia) not to mention Bios. (on ASUS). Razer / Dell do it a bit better - but still more work vs the Mac that I just set up.
There’s plenty of good email apps for Windows. I agree the lack of iMessage and Apple Photos sucks though. My Google Fiber Internet comes with a free 1TB of Google Drive though, so I can use Google Photos through that at least
@@IceBlueLugia So I tried eM client - I need email, calendar, contacts - for multiple accounts. eM was always a decent alternative - but also always less polished. So I'm back on Outlook...
@@JesseProwisor How come you didn’t use Spark or Canary?
Not all people are content creator! Most of the people will be fine using Samsung Laptops
This is paid positive review...
I did not watch the whole video. Quick question, Does this come with a cellular connectivity chip inside?
about the numpad thing, atleast on my desk pc, i had to go to the bio's and enable numpad at start
What about changing Num-Lock Settings in UEFI?
The problem of laptops. They have a fan. And its noisy in most actually used cases. At the end of the day they are expensive and not as powerful. The best price is on after market.
I have a hard time imagining a laptop at this price point with a mushier keyboard than a MacBook.
The Surface laptops are about the same as the MacBook, maybe a little less. Lenovo's recent 1.5mm travel keys are so much nicer than any of those.
I type a LOT and rather quickly, so I'm pretty much stuck with a Lenovo for a Dell XPS.
I have gaming laptop from windows: Acer predator. It is very powerful and at the same time very difficult to carry on, it is almost 5kg with its charger and other accessories 😢
Fingerprints all over the screen is a huge advantage.
How to get Thumbnail Wallpaper
I agree with you that all displays should be 4K in 2025, even for 14 inch laptops. Any PPI under 300 is noticeable
Even corporate media content creation aside, I think 4k displays are important for home consumers on laptops. A lot of home videos are getting 4k these days. Smartphone cameras can capture in 4k, and so do action cameras like the GoPro and Insta 360 cameras. Cameras on higher end drones hit 4k as well.
@n1ngnuo 4K video content will look better on a 1080p monitor than on a 1440p or 3k monitor, due to simpler scaling factor.
With a 1080p monitor, each pixel of the 4K content can be represented by a block of exactly 4 pixels, while with a 1440p it doesnt scale down to a whole number, so you rely on scaling algorithms
@@ts8960 I mean no not really that applies for rendering things at the lower resolution on a higher resolution display, like a 1080p image on a 1440p display or whatever, things downscale just fine, heck a lot of mirrorless cameras downscale 6k or whatever their sensor resolution is down to 4k for better image quality, and that isn't integer scaled
I personally would prefer 1440p/1800p on ~15 inch laptops, 4k's just overkill and more power consuming
@robinrai4973 with oled you can turn the resolution down when you want to save battery (since the pixels will turn off unlike lcd) and turn it back on when watching a movie or videos. Its nice to have 4k just to have authentic content instead of downscale or upscale, because in 2025 so many vids are available on 4k. I would say 1440p is good on 14 inch, but 15 inch and above needs more pixel density and you also get clearer text and more screen bandwidth not just for content
@@ts8960 turning the resolution down won't turn off pixels like that feature found on some phone firmwares, the displays scaler will upscale it to the panels native resolution and all pixels will be lit.
Oleds regardless tend to consume more power than LCD
also even 1800p over 15 inches is far more pixel dense than 1440p on over 14 inches, and beyond the ~200 ppi where things get indistinguishable to the eye
I agree and value your review. There aŕe my complaints of Samsunģ devices.
1. They're too expensive for what they are, especially they are hitting for a specific demographic. I agree the Ultra is not a pro/creator/workstation laptop and much for home/everyday/ student users but those people cannot spend too much money on a laptop for those use cases unless it has value to which in my eyes, it doesn't.
2. The small things. The numpad is not a fav, trackpad is too big, stickers...really, the usb c not in different sides, no IR Windows hello facial, keyboard trash, speakers and webcam. If Samsung wanted to make this for that audience, the small things matter. 100%
3. Innovation, besides the Galaxy Ecosystem. Innovation side, it tries to copy the macbook pro but its not that laptop. Everyone is making thinner laptops, have OLED and others. Innovation is just low and Samsung is not investing enough in this lineup cause i wanted this lineup to succeed years ago.
Windows complaints compared to Mac (this is for my peace of mind)
1. Bloatware is still a problem unless there are apps people actually use and essential for the OS but not the ad sucking and annoying ones. In mac, its a choice.
2. Consistency is getting more important than ever, for apps, features and even what makes Windows unique.
3. Reliability. Dont ask, we already know this
4. Battery life is still apple's game
5. App quality is better
6. Aesthetics and simplicity is better on mac
Look, im been using Windows for a very long time and I've using macs from time to time and i felt more better with them, but gaming, file management, choices are still its strength, but they need to put their egos aside for their customers.
I seriously doubt if you can tell the difference between 3k and 4k on a 14 inch screen.
0:37 has a lid that opens, a display that lits up, a keyboard you can type on, a trackpad- it's a macbook clone 🤡
Which one has more battery life: your macbook pro or Galaxy Book 5 pro ??
eco system never feels great until u make ur own os. so Mac eco system is always the best one on the market..
Owns a book 3pro 14', and I don't see any great updates on the specs except CPU...I thought they would upgrade to better speakers, haptic touch pad, face recognition, but NONE of these are seen through the 3 generations. Samsung does NOT care about their notebooks AT ALL.
My mac, my mac, my mac... Is he an Apple salesman?
Does the display support DRR (Dynamic Refresh Rate), similar to Promotion on the MacBook Pro?
About the numpad; isn't there an option on BIOS to keep Num lock turned on?
Was your video export speed on battery or plugged in? I'm just curious if there is a big difference
plugged in
*Waiting for XElite 2 please let it beat atleast M2 or M3 in all aspects. I want similar performance to M2 from XPlus 2 and I'll buy a Windows Laptop* 😄
*This is the exact reason why I'm still not buying any laptop cause i want a windows laptop but mac like performance but i have Samsung Phone, watch, tab , TV, Ac even washing machine lol and i dont wanna put a Mac in this equation thats why*
Galaxy ai circle to search is just one of Edge in browser features set. For me MS Edge is really good for work. It just an incredible browser. (Not trying to start beef but I'm never gonna use brave on window since it ad block is just okay. It isnt in the level of UBlockOrigin extension as I found Brave to be actually much weaker and just never caught up to UBlockOrigin which is weird. Brave got more control so I would assume so why?)
Also, I really hate haptic trackpad. It just so weird and I rather have no sound at all. Since all touchpad can register light gesture and taps. You do not need to press down on it, although touchpads can dive on non macbooks laptops.
Also to me the numeric pad is incredibly useful in other ways to navigate faster, but I can live without it although preferred to have one.
Nice video
I would love a Samsung laptop but firstly they don't sell them in my country and second they are waaay too overpriced without even a gpu. I would love the Samsung ecosystem integration with my s24+ but the price for spec is just ridiculous.
have you tried the snapdragon version of the book?
this is the same as my bookpro 360 2 just a HDMI port was added same i7 chip aswell
I hate the numpad. It's archaic
Wait.. no notch?
I prefer the MacBook Air M1 over this thing… Once you work on a Mac, you simply never go back to Windows.Even if I had an Android smartphone, I would still choose a Mac. Not to mention that Samsung laptops are not available in many countries.
Not buying it if its not repairable, not upgradeable and thermals are not in order.
windows laptops seem to despise haptic trackpads for some reason
they should run it on DeX
Could you do Mac vs windows because I’ve never used Mac but I have an iPhone and I want to know which is better and whether it’s worth sticking to windows or switching to mac
Depends on how you feel about Windows, and how you use it (for example, CLI is important to me and if I wasn’t on Mac I’d be on Linux).
Mac is better if you get a laptop for obvious reasons.
Software wise Apple does stupid things, and windows does stupid things. Personally, the stupid things windows does irritates me more, and that’s really all it comes down to.
Good video
Shot up Does Apple have a 4k screen you keep mentioning apple
Wish Samsung would compete in the Surface Pro category. They've got the Tab S10 Ultra, why not put AMD in that with Windows 11 Pro and beat Microsoft at their game. This touch screen Book5Pro is proof they have the technology.
Still waiting for that laptop with an XQD card reader.
Is this better than Macbook?
"The creators", that 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% of the population. So important...
The creator economy may be larger than you expect
RUclips estimates 390,000 US creators on the platform are full-time
Instagram & TikTok probably have similar numbers
Plus photographers
Plus freelance video editors
Plus videographers
Lots of people are also casual creators who like to use these features for their own personal hobbies
File Explorer is definitely way better than Finder. It's one thing that Microsoft is really good at.
when did they get release?
Samsung don't have IR camera, haptic touchpad, no improvements, but have hefty price tags.
Don’t get 16Gb RAM. All Samsung features and apps make it slow and lag. Try to get 32Gb RAM if you can.
When is samsung going to update their outdated design? Having a bottom chin that thick in 2025 is insane
Tbh, it's definitely thick and strange to look at but I don't really mind it from a practical standpoint. It moves the content up slightly
@MikeOBrienMedia i just think for the price and considering every other manufacturer has a modern uniformed thin bezel design, it makes it look worse especially if you're at a best buy and you can compare it to the XPSs, Yogas and new Asus Zenbooks
This is the sole reason I haven't even considered a galaxy book in the last 5 years. So many better looking options with just as great specs
Probably after another weekend committing accounting fraud.
@tasdiqbashar2355 exactly especially from Asus with their Vivobook and Zenbooks!
no Windows hello using facial recognition is a dealbreaker for me…
High price tag for what it offers
How to choose between Galaxy Book5 Pro and ROG Zephyrus G14(2025)?😮💨
Easy win for the Zephyrus
Better than 360, they should have made it more powerful for gaming
Can you please upload a comparison video with macbook pro
Which MBP? The M1 Max is what I use but tbh a more fair comparison might be a base level M-processor (not pro or max)
@@MikeOBrienMedia if possible try with the new mbp m4 cuz they have 1000nits sdr brightness or you can increase brightness on previous macs using 3rd party software. Please compare the anti reflective coatings on both and the keyboard/trackpad experience. If possible do halo effect test on macbook pro mini led.
@@MikeOBrienMedia comparing their processing power is not necessary, just compare user experience as both r already very powerful in processing.
How much it can flip ?
I have GalaxyBook 2 pro, The keyboard sucks.
3:46 useful? Bruh I want to use laptop not fricking tablet with keyboard
Cool leather jacket. Nice look on you
Core ultra 2nd gen?
Y r u always referring every tech product to apple
Dude i edit 4k and 6k video i only have a 1440p display its perfectly usable at 3k
I actually liked how pale you look with the camera
It just sucks that samsung refuses to send us Canadians an English keyboard.. instead they force on us a frustrating French keybaord. I normally buy a Samsung laptop each year, but this year opted for Lenovo instead - all because of that frustrating keyboard! Just because I'm Canadian doesn't mean I'm French, nor does it mean I want a French keyboard!
8:27 you should say more than double 100 secs vs 210 secs... 😅😅😅
Damn. Samsung gets away with accounting fraud and stock manipulation and still couldn’t put that money into the laptop’s design? Crazy. Hopefully, for the next release, they have more employees sleeping in the offices and working under the threat of losing everything so we can get something more aesthetically pleasing.
Yeah man its dissappointing. They used to take risks and offer band for your buck back in the day