Samsung Galaxy Book 6 Ultra review: A MacBook Pro alternative that actually lasts all day

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I’ve been testing Samsung’s latest flagship laptop for the past month Galaxy Book6 UltraAnd from the moment I started using it, I realized that the company had expanded on what made last year’s Galaxy Book 5 Pro so good, including key features like battery and design.

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Similarly, this also reflects some of the same frustrations of mine. let’s take a look.

Refined (and rebuilt)

Aesthetically, the Galaxy Book6 Ultra looks almost identical to the Galaxy Book5 Pro. The main visual difference is its slightly larger size. It measures 14.05 x 9.76 x 0.6 inches and weighs a little less than four pounds. Even with the extra weight, it’s still a sleek device. Samsung also updated the laptop’s PCB layout to better distribute its weight, allowing it to pass the one-finger lift test with flying colors.

The only thing that remains the same as the previous generation is the display. On the upside, the Galaxy Book6 Ultra has a 16-inch, AMOLED 3K touchscreen. It has the same peak HDR brightness of 1,000 nits, the same adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, and Corning Gorilla Glass with DXC for added durability. This isn’t a knock against Samsung; The company apparently recognized that the display was one of the best features of the Galaxy Book5 Pro, and brought it back.

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However, more meaningful changes were seen in the audio system. It has a six-speaker setup, which includes four force-canceling woofers and a pair of tweeters. The result is crisp, room-filling audio with excellent clarity. Instruments and vocals remain clear even at high volume. Distortion is well controlled due to the unique design of the woofer.

However, I wish the bass output was stronger. It is quite restrained. Some music genres like rap lose their influence.

I had some issues with the design of the laptop. First of all, I’m not a fan of the wrist rest. The edges are slightly sharp, so they tend to sting. This isn’t a deal breaker, but it can be a little irritating. Similarly, the keyboard is a mixed bag. I found it better than the Galaxy Book5 Pro; It’s not as pulpy, but still falls short.

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The key travel is shallow, which makes typing slow. I wasn’t able to write at my normal pace, and I noticed that I made more mistakes than usual. Below the keyboard is the Galaxy Book’s mega-sized trackpad, which takes up a large portion of the wrist rest.

I really enjoyed using it and am glad it has been improved upon from the previous version. Its size and responsiveness work in its favor, ensuring precise navigation.

Panther Lake Show

My review unit of the Galaxy Book6 Ultra has an Intel Core Ultra 7 356H processor, 32GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 graphics card. Below, I compare Samsung’s latest flagship with the Asus ProArt P16, Dell 16 Premium, and the 2026 Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i; Three 16-inch laptops that share the same use case as Samsung’s machine.

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The results are telling: The Galaxy Book6 Ultra with Intel’s Panther Lake processor outperforms both the Asus and Dell in multi-threaded benchmarks. Lenovo’s machine gives it a slight edge thanks to slightly stronger hardware. In real-world use, this translates into better overall efficiency, like faster 4K video exporting and handling resource-intensive tasks with ease.

Samsung’s device has a single-core score of 2,832. This means everyday performance will feel fast and fluid. Apps launch quickly, web pages load just as quickly, and the UI feels extremely responsive. There are other laptops that outperform the Galaxy Book in this area. For example, Apple’s M5 MacBook Pro has a single-core score of 4,111. However, in this example, I don’t think this metric makes or breaks its usefulness.

The Galaxy Book6 Ultra is primarily a work laptop and in this respect it is quite successful. 2,832 is perfectly acceptable for casual browsing. I don’t think you’ll lose much.

Samsung has also given a new cooling system in its Galaxy Book 6 Ultra. It’s made up of several different components, like a new outlet fan and heatsink pair to draw heat from the processor. It also has a large inlet grille to improve airflow. Most of the time, the system works very well, and the laptop remains cool to the touch under moderate workloads. However, when you push the hardware, the temperature climbs rapidly.

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I tested the PC by running several AAA video games and the Unigine Superposition benchmark to see how the laptop runs under heavy workloads. All tests went well, but the keyboard surface got uncomfortably hot during gaming. So hot that I felt the need to remove my hands from the keyboard. In contrast, for the Superposition test, the laptop got a little warm, but not too intensely.

Finally, the Galaxy Book6 Ultra boasts impressive endurance. During testing its 80.2 Wh battery lasted about 20 hours on a single charge, just short of Samsung’s claimed 30 hours. The charging speed was also equally good. I saw it reach 65% in about 30 minutes.

ZDNET’s shopping advice

You won’t have to wait long to get your hands on the Galaxy Book6 Ultra. Ahead of Unpacked 2026, Samsung announced that each Galaxy Book6 model will launch in the US on March 11. Prices for the Ultra model start at $2,450.

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Although official pricing is not available, we can look at previous models to give ourselves an idea. The Galaxy Book5 Pro with 32GB RAM is currently priced at $1,750. Taking all the upgrades into account, I’m estimating the Galaxy Book6 Ultra to cost around $2,000.

If you are interested in laptop, Samsung has a reserve page Where you can sign up for notifications to be alerted when the Galaxy Book6 Ultra, Galaxy Book6 Pro, and base Galaxy Book6 become available.