Samsung Galaxy Book3 line for 2023 - heavier?

[Steerpike]

I'm looking for a new laptop for a friend, and since I love my "Samsung Galaxy Book Pro" NP950XDB (11th Gen Intel processor), I was checking out the latest from Samsung. Seems like the latest line is 13th gen (Intel), generally referred to as 'Book3', with models Book3, Book3 Pro, and Book3 Ultra.  This page has the details (have to scroll way down to the 'Compare / Specs' section to get anything significant) - 

Buy Galaxy Book3 360 | Book3 Pro | Book3 Pro 360 | Price & Deals | Samsung US 

 

To my dismay, it looks like they've all become heavier!  Plus, they've slightly increased the size of the displays on the 'pro' line (only); what was 15.6" is now 16" for the 'pro' line (the 'non-pro' line still has the 15.6").  But the weight is the biggest change.  My 15.6" 'Book Pro' weighs only 2.31 lbs (1.05kg); the new 14" 'Book3 Pro' is 2.58lbs (1.17kg), and the new 16" 'Book 3 Pro' weighs 3.44lbs (1.56kg) (that's an increase of 50% from my 15.6" 'Book Pro'!).  The 'non-360' versions still don't have touch screens (so no weight increase there), and their batteries don't seem to be much larger; the 14" 'Book 3 Pro' has a 63 Wh battery, while the 16" 'Book 3 Pro' has a 76 Wh battery - my 15.6" 'Book Pro' has a 67 Wh battery. 

 

So I wonder if they found the original 'Galaxy Book' line to be too flimsy?  I guess I need to go hunt down some online reviews! 

 

 

 

 

[Reciever]

I would lean more towards heat dissipation, I noticed the same on Dells Mobile Precision 5680 is thicker, but also hot enough to actually be painful while using only a 65w AC Adapter. More likely because its shell is metal though...

[Steerpike]

@John Ratsey - sorry to bother you but would you have any observations in this area, as an owner of the Book and Book2 lines?  This seems to be an entirely new direction for their Book3 release ... I loved my Galaxy Book pro (original release, circa 2021, 11th gen processor) but I ended up selling it to my friend who really needed it so now I want to replace it, and I'm not sure I want to stick with the Galaxy Book line due to the increase in weight. I've searched for articles that talk about it but haven't found anything so far. 

[John Ratsey]

Apologies for the slow response - I've been away from my desk. Cooling may be part of the reason for additional weight: The 14" Galaxy Book Pro 3 has two fans and I would expect the bigger version to be similarly equipped. Intel notebook hardware will only sustain the rated output for a few seconds unless supported by a good cooling system and this seems to get more noticeable with each generation which leaves the notebook manufacturers with the dilemma of either providing more fans or let them run fast and noisy. Samsung may have opted for less noise - one drawback of my Gram 17 is that it gets noisy under load as it only has one small fan (although there's room for another one).

 

The slightly bigger display sizes are the result of the welcome shift from 16:9 to 16:10 aspect ratio.

 

Chassis rigidity is much less of an issue than it was 10 or 20 years ago. Modern LCDs seem to be tolerant to significant flexing while mainboards are much more compact (and hence less vulnerable to chassis flexing) with ribbon cables connecting to subsidiary boards. Materials might also be a factor if it lowers the production cost.

[ryan]

after reading this threads posts. I saw a galaxybook2 pro for 900 cad at bestbuy and was very close to purchasing one, I think the battery life and oled display mixed with lite weight and good build quality more than covers the cost of the laptop. I will likely still end up buying one, I look forwards to having it as a couch surfing laptop.