Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra review: Luxury that lasts all day

At a glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

• Absolutely fantastic battery life
• Solid GPU and graphics performance
• Gorgeous OLED screen that can be used outdoors
• Great audio
• AI-powered Core Ultra inside

Cons

• Chargers keep getting bigger
• Still not a great keyboard

Our Verdict

Samsung’s premium laptop still delivers an all-around great experience, now with even better battery life and an AI-powered processor.

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$2999.99

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Samsung’s Galaxy Book4 Ultra delivers on the promise that its predecessor first made: a stunning screen, lovely audio, and a discrete GPU that could be used for content creation and gaming alike. But this followup just lasts and lasts, refusing to power down after a full day’s worth of playing back video.

Samsung’s Galaxy Book4 is the successor to the Samsung Galaxy Book3, one of the first “content creation” laptops. Not quite a gaming PC, but a bit chunkier than a traditional thin-and-light, this class of laptops feature luxurious OLED displays, rich audio, and a discrete GPU. It’s the flagship of Samsung’s notebook line, and offers even more connectivity options if you buy into the Samsung Galaxy ecosystem.

These aren’t cheap PCs, especially if you opt for the higher-end Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU inside the $2,999 model that Samsung sent us for review. But aside for the middling keyboard, there’s not a lot to this notebook PC that holds it back.

Looking for more options? Check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best laptops.

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra: What’s new

Samsung’s Galaxy Book4 Ultra is its premium model. It also offers the base $1,449 Galaxy Book 4 Pro clamshell, plus the $1,099 Galaxy Book4 Pro 360, and the $1,899 Galaxy Book4 Pro 360 convertible. The Book4 Ultra is an Intel Evo Edition laptop, the brand that denotes that it received special testing from Intel engineers. It’s also now secured by Knox, Samsung’s security technology.

Samsung offers the 16-inch Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra in two versions: a $2,399 version that includes a Core Ultra 7 and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050; and a $2,999 premium option with a Core Ultra 9 and a GeForce RTX 4070 inside. The cheaper model also includes 16GB of memory and a 1TB SSD, while the higher-end model bumps the memory to 32GB. Samsung provided us a review unit in the more expensive configuration.

What’s new? Two things: the more advanced Core Ultra processor options, making them AI PCs and the addition of an integrated touchscreen. Samsung’s Galaxy Book3 Ultra didn’t offer a touchscreen at all, though it did include 32GB memory options as well as the two GeForce RTX 4050 and 4070 GPUs. Samsung does not include an S Pen, however.

Smaller improvements also appear. Last year’s model also offered a 512GB SSD as the default, with the 1TB offering as the premium option; now it’s standard. The HDMI port has been upgraded to HDMI 2.1, which can connect to a 4K display at 120Hz versus the 60Hz of HDMI 2.0. Bluetooth has been slightly upgraded to Bluetooth 5.3.

Samsung also beefed up the display with what it calls a Vision Booster, tweaking the color and contrast to adjust for different types of lighting. It also expanded the Book4’s internal cooling solution by 11 percent, theoretically increasing performance but adding to its weight. Skip ahead to our performance tests for that.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

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Otherwise, the Galaxy Book4 appears to be largely the same as last year’s model, with the same, ports, keyboard, and trackpad — well, almost. Like many new laptops, it now includes a Copilot key to launch Microsoft’s integrated AI app.

On Samsung’s site, Samsung offers trade-in offers as well as financing. At press time, Samsung offered a bundle that provided a top-rated T7 Shield external SSD, at 2TB, for free.

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra: Specifications

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 155H/ Core Ultra 9 185H (Core Ultra 9 as tested)
• Display: 16-inch touch (2,880×1800), 120Hz AMOLED 2X, 120 percent DCI-P3 color volume
• Memory: 16GB/32GB LPDDR5x (32GB as tested)
• Storage: 1TB SSD PCIe Gen 4
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050/4070 mobile GPU (RTX 4070 as tested)
• Ports: 2 Thunderbolt 4, USB Type-A, HDMI 2.1, microSD, Headphone/Mic
• Security: Fingerprint reader
• Camera: 1080p (user-facing)
• Battery: 76Wh (rated)
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 6E (Gig+), 802.11 ax 2×2, Bluetooth 5.3
• Audio: AKG Quad Speaker (two 5W woofers, two 2W tweeters), Smart Amp, Dolby Atmos
• Operating system: Windows 11 Home
• Dimensions:  13.99 x 9.86 x 0.65in. (16.5mm)
• Weight: 4.1lbs (rated)
• Colors: Moonstone Gray
• Price:  beginning at $2,399.99 ($2,999.99 as tested)

Two things struck me as I unboxed the Galaxy Book4 Ultra: how light(?!) it felt, though at 4.1 pounds; and the chunkier, rather awkward charger that Samsung ships with it.

More and more laptop makers are turning to so-called GaN chargers, which eliminate the power “brick” by well, squishing it into a smaller form factor. But if you don’t own a power strip with perpendicular plugs, forget it. It fits quite nicely into a wall socket, however. My Galaxy Book3 Ultra review asked Samsung to spend a bit of time actually shrinking the charger; instead of listening, Samsung ignored me and went into the entirely opposite direction. Oh well.

Mark Hachman / IDG