Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro 16" NP964XHA-KG2US 2025 Review

The Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro pairs a gorgeous 16-inch 2880x1800 AMOLED touchscreen with a capable Core Ultra 7 and 32GB RAM. It's not for gamers or heavy GPU workloads, but it's an excellent choice for productivity and media consumption. Pricing is all over the place, but around $1,690 it's a solid deal against pricier rivals like the MacBook Pro M5 Pro. Buy it for the screen, not for the frame rates.

Samsung's Galaxy Book5 Pro is one of those laptops that quietly nails the things professionals actually care about. You get a gorgeous 16-inch AMOLED touchscreen, a solid 32GB of RAM, and Intel's latest Core Ultra 7 chip with a dedicated NPU for AI tasks. It's not trying to be a gaming monster or a featherweight ultraportable. It's aiming for the coffee shop warrior who edits documents, crunches spreadsheets, and streams 4K video between meetings. And for that crowd, it's a really compelling option. The build feels premium without being flashy, and at 1.69kg, it's easy enough to sling into a backpack. Just don't expect to play Cyberpunk on it. Our entertainment score sits at a very strong 80.3, thanks almost entirely to that display, while the total score of 73.3 reflects the fact that this machine knows its lane and stays in it. If you're deep in the Samsung ecosystem with a Galaxy phone and tablet, the seamless connectivity features here might be the cherry on top.

The Core Ultra 7 258V is a capable 8-core chip that handles everyday multitasking without breaking a sweat. Our benchmarks show it landing right around the middle of the pack compared to other laptops in our database, which is exactly where you'd expect a modern thin-and-light CPU to sit. It's not going to embarrass an M5 Pro, but for Office 365, browser tabs in the dozens, and even some light photo editing, it's more than enough. Paired with 32GB of fast LPDDR5X RAM, you're getting a well-above-average memory configuration that keeps things responsive even under heavier loads. The integrated Intel Arc 140V graphics are where the performance story gets a bit more nuanced. They're fine for streaming, casual games, and hardware-accelerated creative work, but our gaming score of 21.5 is a blunt reminder that this isn't a gaming laptop. You can play older titles or indie games at reduced settings, but modern AAA games will be a slideshow. The SSD is snappy and sits in the top 20% for storage speed, so boot times and file transfers feel instant.

Pricing for the Book5 Pro is all over the place online. We saw listings ranging from a reasonable $1,690 all the way up to a baffling $541,862, which we're pretty sure is a typo and not a special edition coated in moon rocks. The sub-$1,700 price you'll find at more reputable retailers is actually competitive for what you're getting. A 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and that stunning OLED screen at this price puts it in a sweet spot against the MacBook Pro M5 Pro, which easily jumps past $2,000 with similar memory. For professionals who need a large, color-accurate touchscreen and don't need a discrete GPU, the value proposition is strong. Just double-check which vendor you're buying from, those five-figure listings are definitely mistakes.

Stacked against the Apple MacBook Pro M5 Pro, the Galaxy Book5 Pro fights with its screen and RAM-for-dollar equation. The MacBook has a much faster processor and better battery life, but you'll pay a premium and you're locked into macOS. If you need Windows and a touchscreen, the Samsung wins that round easily. The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 is a very different beast, a gaming tablet with a dedicated GPU, but it's smaller and costs more, so if you're after pure gaming power, skip the Book5 Pro and look there. On the other side, the MSI Prestige 13 EVO is a more portable 13-inch option, but it gives up that big beautiful OLED for a smaller, dimmer panel. The HP ZBook Ultra G1a is a workstation-class machine that will outmuscle the Book5 Pro in raw CPU and GPU performance, but it's heavier and pricier. Basically, the Samsung sits in a nice middle ground for content consumption and office productivity, while the competition pushes harder into niche extremes.

Hardcore gamers and 3D rendering pros should absolutely look past this Samsung. The integrated graphics score a bleak 21.5 in our gaming tests, so any modern title will be a disappointment. Similarly, if you're a video editor regularly working with 4K footage or complex timelines, the lack of a dedicated GPU will slow you down considerably. For those users, something like the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i or the HP ZBook Ultra G1a will be a far better fit. Also, if extreme portability is your obsession, the 16-inch size and weight might feel bulky next to 13-inch competitors like the MSI Prestige. You're paying for screen real estate here, and not everyone needs that much glass.

For the professional who spends their day in Microsoft 365, takes occasional video calls, and unwinds with Netflix, the Galaxy Book5 Pro is a dream. That AMOLED touchscreen alone might be worth the price of admission, and the specs ensure it'll handle multitasking for years. We'd recommend it to students, remote workers, and anyone who values display quality above raw computing horsepower. If you're even a casual gamer or someone who regularly edits 4K video, you'll quickly bump into the integrated GPU's limits and should look elsewhere. The same goes for travelers who need all-day battery life, the 76Wh cell is fine but not exceptional. In a world of laptops that try to do everything and often fail, it's refreshing to see one that picks two or three things and does them well.