Comparison of Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra and MacBook Pro 16 inches

Galaxy Book 3 Ultra vs. 16-inch MacBook Pro

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Samsung recently announced the Galaxy Book 3 line of laptops that offer high performance for gaming, productivity and more. Here's how the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra compares to the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

Announced on February 1 and released on February 17, the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra is Samsung's answer to Apple's MacBook Pro. This is a 16-inch laptop with some of the latest technologies such as a 13th generation Intel processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 graphics.

Samsung unveiled the new laptop at the Unpacked event along with other devices. Three different options — Galaxy Book 3 Ultra, Book3 Pro 360 and Book3 Pro — make up the Galaxy Book 3 line of laptops.

The most expensive device in the new line is the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra. Here's how it contrasts with Apple's 16-inch MacBook Pro, which was unveiled in January, and the target market Samsung is likely targeting with its offering.

Galaxy Book 3 Ultra and 16-inch MacBook Pro Specifications

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Best price on 16 -inch MacBook Pro

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< td>512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB, 4 TB, 8 TB

Specifications	Galaxy Book 3 Ultra	MacBook Pro 16″
Price (starting)	USD 2199.00 Sold at Samsung
Display size (in inches)	16.0	16.2	16.0	16.2
Dimensions (inches)	0.65 x 13.99 x 9 .86	0.66 x 14.01 x 9.77
Weight (lbs)	3.95	3.95	3.95	td>	4.7 (M2 Pro), 4.8 (M2 Max)< /td>
Max resolution (pixels)	2880 x 1800	3456 x 2234
AMOLED	Liquid Retina XDR
Processors	Intel Core i7-13700H< br>Intel Core i9-13900H	M2 Pro M2 Max
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070	19-core M2 Pro GPU 30-core M2 Max GPU M2 Max 38-core GPU
Memory	16 GB, 32 GB	Up to 96 GB
Storage	512 GB, 1 TB
Biometrics	Samsung Pass	Touch ID
Ports	1 HDMI 2.0 2 Thunderbolt 4 1 USB-A 3.2 1 Micro SD 1 headphone/microphone combo	1 HDMI 2.1 1 SDXC SD 3 Thunderbolt 4 3.5mm headphone jack
Webcam	1080p	1080p
Audio io	Four speakers	Six speakers
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 6E , Bluetooth 5.1	Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3
Color	Graphite	Silver Space Gray

Galaxy Book 3 Ultra and 16-inch MacBook Pro – design, size, weight

The two computers share some similarities in appearance, such as the color of the case and keyboard, and the large trackpad that is off-center on the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra.

The MacBook Pro chassis uses 100% recycled aluminum and all magnets use 100% recycled rare earths. The main logic board uses 100% recycled tin when soldering, and many components use 35% or more recycled plastic.

Samsung doesn't mention its aluminum materials, but it does say parts of the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra were made from recycled plastic. The plastic was sourced from discarded fishing nets, and the company has also eliminated plastic from product packaging.

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The Book 3 is lighter at 3.95 pounds than the MacBook Pro at 4.7 pounds or 4 .8 lbs with M2 Max chip. The Book 3 Ultra is thinner and longer at 0.65 by 13.99 by 9.86 inches compared to the MacBook Pro at 0.66 by 14.01 by 9.77 inches.

Each laptop comes with a 16-inch display that provides plenty of room for apps, games, browser windows and more. However, the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra might be more suitable if you prefer a lighter laptop to fit in your bag.

Galaxy Book 3 Ultra vs. 16-inch MacBook Pro – Display

Galaxy Book 3 Ultra display – AMOLED with a resolution of 2880 by 1800 pixels. Samsung doesn't list its laptop's pixel density, but a website that calculates that density gives 212 ppi depending on display size and resolution.

MacBook Pro has a pixel density of 254 pixels per inch at a resolution of 3456 by 2234. The increased density provides users with more detailed on-screen content, as well as sharper images and videos.

Apple's current design iteration has redesigned the display on the new MacBook Pros by adding a notch, although it doesn't have the face ID system found on the new iPhones. It stands out from the menu bar but blends in with the rest of the display, such as when users open full-screen apps.

MacBook Pro uses Liquid Retina XDR technology in the display, which allows professionals to use preset reference modes that set the color space, white point, gamma, and brightness of the display. Professionals can also create their own reference modes.

For backlighting, MacBook Pro uses Mini LED technology in the display, which provides a high contrast ratio and fast response time when displaying content. In contrast, AMOLED technology does not need a backlight as each pixel acts as a light source.

Galaxy Book 3 Ultra's AMOLED display

The backlight on your MacBook Pro is 1000 nits full screen and 1600 nits full screen. peak for HDR content. The SDR brightness reaches 500 nits and the contrast ratio reaches 1,000,000:1. The P3 wide color gamut supports one billion colors for smoother gradients.

Book 3 delivers 400 nits for SDR content and 500 nits for HDR content. Like the MacBook Pro, it supports the DCI-P3 color gamut for approximately one billion colors.

Each laptop has an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz for smooth visual gaming, video or even simple content scrolling.

According to Samsung, the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra is DisplayHDR True Black 500 certified. The technology delivers deep black levels of up to 0.0005 cd/m2 and a peak brightness of 500 cd/m2, which means candela per square meter.

The Book 3 display is also SGS Eye Care Display certified for blue light reduction.

Apple has a blue light software feature called Night Shift that automatically changes your display colors to warmer colors as the sun goes down. Another software feature, called True Tone, can adjust the display's color and intensity so that images look the same even when the lighting changes.

Galaxy Book 3 Ultra vs. 16-inch MacBook Pro – Processor

The powerful M2 Pro chip in the MacBook Pro has a 12-core processor and a 19-core GPU. In addition, it has a unified memory bandwidth of 200 GB/s.

Users can upgrade to the M2 Max chip with 12-core CPU and up to 38-core GPU. It also has a single memory bandwidth of 400 GB/s and supports up to 96 GB of combined memory.

The M2 Pro and M2 Max chips each offer eight performance cores and four efficiency cores. The M2 Pro has a Media Engine for video encoding and decoding and another one for ProRes. M2 Max has two media engines for ProRes and video encoding and decoding.

Both chips also have a 16-core neural engine capable of 15.8 trillion operations per second for solving machine learning problems.

Intel's Core i7 and Core i9 chips each offer two multi-format codecs for hardware encoding and decoding.

On the Galaxy Book3 Ultra, users can add a 13th Gen Intel Core i7 or 13th Gen Intel Core i9 processor. The Core i7-13700H and i9-13900H have eight efficiency cores and six performance cores, and each has a maximum memory of 64GB.

The Core i7 chip supports Intel Turbo Boost technology at 5.00 GHz, while the Core i9 boosts it to 5.40 GHz. Turbo Boost can provide increased core performance by increasing the processor's clock speed.

There are no benchmarks yet on Geekbench for the 2023 MacBook Pro with M2 Pro or M2 Max chip. However, a 2023 Mac mini with a 12-core M2 Pro chip has a single-core score of 1915 and a multi-core score of 14,507.

Despite the fact that the score was obtained using a Mac mini, a MacBook Pro with the same chip would have shown similar results.

Initial benchmarks for the M2 Max chip appeared in December, though it's not clear which Mac it is. But the results show 2027 points for single core and 14,888 points for multi-core performance.

It's unclear which model Geekbench lists for the Intel Core i9-13900H, but the Samsung device scores 1,614 for single-core performance and 11,657 for multi-core performance. Unfortunately, there are no Samsung devices with an Intel Core i7-13700H processor on Geekbench yet.

Apple's chips easily outperform Intel's on every metric, but as with all benchmarks, they don't necessarily reflect real-world performance.

Galaxy Book 3 Ultra vs. 16-inch MacBook Pro – graphics

Apple does not include discrete GPUs in its dedicated M-series silicon chips. Instead, the M2 Pro chip offers a 19-core GPU, while the M2 Max supports either a 30-core or 38-core GPU.

Metal tests for the M2 Pro and M2 Max are 52,691 and 86,805 respectively. On the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra, users can choose either NVIDIA RTX GeForce 4050 or NVIDIA RTX GeForce 4070, but most testing platforms do not yet have ratings for these new products.

MacBook Pro supports a variety of external displays through a variety of ports and configurations. For example, the M2 Pro can drive two monitors up to 6K resolution at 60Hz via Thunderbolt.

Or it can support one monitor up to 6K resolution at 60Hz via Thunderbolt and one monitor up to 4K resolution at 144Hz via HDMI. The third option is one external display at 8K resolution at 60Hz via Thunderbolt or one external display at 4K resolution at 240Hz via HDMI.

M2 Max also supports external displays in various configurations. One configuration offers up to three displays at 6K resolution at 60Hz via Thunderbolt and one display at resolutions up to 4K at 144Hz via HDMI.

The second configuration includes three — two at 6K@60Hz via Thunderbolt and one up to 8K@60Hz or 4K@240Hz via HDMI.

The Intel Core i7 and Core i9 chips can drive up to four external displays, though neither Intel nor Samsung go into resolution details like Apple does. However, the Galaxy Book3 can connect to some second screen tablets, including the Galaxy Tab S7, S7+, S7 FE, S8, S8+, and S8 Ultra.

Apple has a similar Sidecar technology that allows users to use their iPad as an external monitor for their Mac. This requires macOS Catalina or later and iPadOS 13 or later.

Galaxy Book 3 Ultra and 16-inch MacBook Pro – Camera

Each laptop comes with a 1080p webcam for clear video calling, conferencing, and more. The MacBook Pro camera offers an advanced image signal processor with compute video support.

MacBook Pro running macOS Ventura has a unique Continuity Camera feature. If users are not satisfied with the webcam, they can use their iPhone with iOS 16 or later as a webcam instead.

Samsung includes a feature in its webcam called “Studio Mode” that offers a wide-angle view with beauty effects for touching up a person's appearance, as well as correcting lighting and eye contact.

Galaxy Book 3 Ultra vs. 16-inch MacBook Pro – storage, connectivity, power

This MacBook Pro has several advantages over the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra. First, in storage, it offers configurations that include 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB SSDs, compared to the Book 3 Ultra, which only has 512GB and 1TB storage options.

The ports on each model also vary: The Galaxy Book 3 Ultra features one HDMI 2.0 port, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, one USB-A 3.2 port, a Micro SD slot, and a 3.5mm audio jack for headphone output and microphone input.

Left: Galaxy Book 3 Ultra. Right: MacBook Pro

Meanwhile, Apple is no longer worried about USB-A ports on Mac laptops. Instead, the MacBook Pro offers three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, and an SDXC card slot. An SDXC card, or Secure Digital Extended Capacity Card, provides more storage capacity than regular SD cards, up to 2TB.

For connectivity, every laptop offers Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax), but while the Book 3 Ultra uses Bluetooth 5.1, the MacBook Pro supports Bluetooth 5.3. Bluetooth 5.3 provides less connection interference and better quality depending on the required bandwidth.

Samsung doesn't reveal the battery life of the Book 3 Ultra, but lists its 4,757mAh capacity. As for Apple, the 16-inch MacBook Pro provides up to 15 hours of wireless web browsing and up to 22 hours of movie playback on the Apple TV app, though this may vary by usage and configuration.

Apple doesn't usually list specific battery capacities for its products, although the tech specs page does mention that the 2023 MacBook Pro's 16-inch battery offers 100 watt-hours. The company's battery life testing involved playing HD 1080p content in the Apple TV app with the display brightness set eight clicks down.

Galaxy Book 3 Ultra vs. Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch – Other Features

Macbook Pro uses three studio-grade microphones in a high-ratio array for audio noise and directional beamforming. It also has a high-quality six-speaker sound system with forced-suppression woofers.

The Galaxy Book 3 Ultra features speakers from AKG Acoustics — two woofers and two tweeters. Both laptops support Dolby Atmos, a surround sound technology. Samsung also claims that the two microphones are “studio quality”.

MacBook Pro Touch ID

Each laptop is equipped with a security fingerprint reader located on the power button on both models. Again, Samsung doesn't reveal specifics, but Apple's Touch ID technology offers AES-256 encryption with a false positive of 1 in 50,000.

Galaxy Book 3 Ultra and 16-inch MacBook Pro prices

The Galaxy Book 3 Ultra starts at $2,199 for a base model with an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of memory, 512GB of onboard storage, and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 graphics card. Choosing 1TB of storage increases the price, but Samsung offers that capacity at a lower price. price for a limited time, which usually costs an additional $200.

At the same time, the Intel Core i9 processor option starts at $2,799 and this option also gives users the choice between an RTX 4070 GPU with 32GB of memory and 512GB of memory or 1TB of memory. Samsung also offers a 1TB storage option for this configuration with a limited $200 discount.

The 16-inch MacBook Pro starts at $2,499 with a 12-core M2 Pro chip with a 19-core GPU, 16GB of storage, and 512GB of storage. Other chip options include a 12-core M2 Max with a 30-core GPU for $200, or a 38-core GPU for an additional $400.

The oldest 16-inch MacBook Pro with all updates costs $6,499

The M2 Pro offers an upgrade to 32GB of memory for an additional $400, while the 30-core M2 Max comes standard with 32GB of memory and can be upgraded to 64GB for $400. The highest-end M2 Max with a 38-core GPU unlocks a similar $400 upgrade to 64GB of storage or 96GB of storage, adding $800.

All processor options on the MacBook Pro have the same storage upgrades: $200 for 1TB, $600 for 2TB, $1200 for 4TB, and 8TB max for $2400. The top-tier 16-inch MacBook Pro with all the upgrades is $6,499, while the most expensive Book 3 Ultra is $2,999 after the storage and GPU discount ends.