I attempted Samsung’s Galaxy Book6 Extremely, and Panther Lake stands out

Samsung’s 16-inch Galaxy Book6 is the primary Panther Lake-powered PC I’ve had the pleasure of utilizing exterior of an indication. Combining an Intel Core Extremely Collection 3 CPU with discrete Nvidia graphics {hardware}, the Galaxy Book6 Extremely is a formidable premium machine. Samsung gave Galaxy Books a redesign for 2026, and this PC has a extra fashionable really feel to match its up to date internals.

Samsung hasn’t introduced pricing or availability for the U.S. but, this machine is a premium laptop computer that reveals simply how promising Intel’s Panther Lake {hardware} is. It’s a laptop computer with discrete Nvidia graphics that will get over 24 hours of battery life and delivers stable multithreaded efficiency. That might’ve been not possible only a 12 months in the past.

Samsung redesigned its Galaxy Books for 2026

I’ve reviewed previous Samsung Galaxy Ebook laptops, and this 12 months’s Galaxy Book6 has a redesign that can attraction to most individuals.

This 16-inch laptop computer ditches the quantity pad of final 12 months to supply a centered keyboard and trackpad with more room for audio system on the left and proper aspect. It seems to be smooth and fashionable, and it’ll attraction to everybody who isn’t in search of a quantity pad. The keyboard nonetheless feels snappy and responsive. It’s maybe a tad shallow, however there are not any surprises right here — it’s precisely what you’d count on on a machine like this one.

Samsung’s Galaxy Book6 fashions are smaller and extra compact than earlier generations. Earlier Galaxy laptops I’ve reviewed, together with final 12 months’s Galaxy Book5 Professional, felt like massive items of metallic with a tapered design on the edges, whereas this 12 months’s mannequin ditches the wedge-like edges for one thing extra squared off and compact.

Regardless of this, Samsung says these machines have re-engineered fan and vapor chamber programs for extra optimized cooling. My colleague Mark Hachman confirmed off the interior thermal system when he wrote a preview of the Galaxy Book6 Extremely at CES.

I didn’t thoughts the previous-generation Samsung Galaxy Ebook design, however these laptops at all times felt a bit utilitarian, massive metallic laptops filled with highly effective {hardware}. The design right here simply seems to be extra fashionable and minimal — shrinking the footprint somewhat bit and omitting the quantity pad makes an enormous distinction in how this machine comes throughout.

Even the trackpad feels extra fashionable: Samsung selected a haptic touchpad this time round. I’m an enormous fan of haptic touchpads. Nevertheless, there’s no IR digital camera for Home windows Good day right here, only a fingerprint reader.

The machine seems to be and feels nice, though it seems to select up fingerprints simply, as you’ll be able to see in among the images. It weighs simply over 4 kilos, and it feels svelte in comparison with what you get right here — in any case, this machine even has discrete Nvidia graphics! It ought to have the ability to deal with almost all the pieces you throw at it.

24+ hours of battery life in a laptop computer with Nvidia graphics

Samsung has a wide range of Galaxy Book6 fashions. The laptop computer Samsung loaned to me is a grey Galaxy Book6 Extremely (16-inch) PC with an Intel Core Extremely 7 356H CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 GPU, 32 GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and a 2 TB SSD.

The show seems to be nice, too: It’s a 16-inch contact AMOLED show with a 2880×1800 decision and as much as a whopping 1,000 nits of HDR peak brightness plus 500 nits of SDR brightness. It’s received an adaptive refresh charge from 30Hz to 120Hz.

The port setup is stable, with two Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports, a USB Sort-A port, HDMI 2.1 out, an SD card slot, and a headphone/microphone combo audio jack. This machine expenses through USB-C, however, sadly, each Thunderbolt 4 ports are on the left aspect. It will’ve been good to see a charging port on the proper aspect, too.

Regardless of the Nvidia GPU and massive, brilliant show right here, this machine exceeded 24 hours of battery life in an preliminary battery life run-down take a look at — round 25 hours or so whereas looping a video. That’s quite a lot of runtime on battery given the efficiency right here, and it reveals how robust Panther Lake is. Samsung’s Galaxy Book6 Extremely is a high-quality bundle that delivers on the strengths of Intel’s Core Extremely Collection 3 CPUs.

Foundry / Chris Hoffman

As at all times, you received’t get 24 hours of battery life in actual utilization. However that is extremely energy environment friendly for a machine that may run PC video games {and professional} apps with stable efficiency if you’re plugged in. It’s an actual “do all of it” machine so long as you’re tremendous with a 16-inch laptop computer that weighs 4 kilos. Earlier generations of Intel CPUs made you select between Lunar Lake‘s battery life and Arrow Lake‘s efficiency, however Panther Lake appears to supply each.

Samsung additionally guarantees super-fast charging: As much as 63 p.c of battery life restored in simply half-hour. And this machine did appear to recharge quick.

Panther Lake’s multithreaded CPU efficiency is nice

I used to be impressed with 2025’s Lunar Lake machines, however that they had a large downside: Intel’s last-generation battery-efficient processor struggled when it got here to multithreaded efficiency. These machines had been nice thin-and-light programs for workplace employees who by no means ran demanding apps, however they struggled when the CPU actually wanted to ship efficiency. For an Intel-powered Home windows PC, that was not superb. Many individuals handed up Lunar Lake for that reason. In the event that they went with Intel programs, they lived with laptops that had been much less energy environment friendly and didn’t ship severe battery life.

This time round, Panther Lake guarantees to ship the very best of each worlds. We had been impressed by the high-end Intel Core Extremely X9 388H CPU, however the Intel Core Extremely 7 chip right here is extra consultant of what folks will get on the common Panther Lake laptop computer in the actual world.

I ran some preliminary benchmarks as a take a look at. Right here’s a fast comparability:

• 2025’s Galaxy Book5 Professional with its Intel Core Extremely 7 256V Lunar Lake CPU accomplished a Handbrake encode in a median of 1,433 seconds — that’s almost 24 minutes.
• 2026’s Galaxy Book6 Extremely with its Intel Core Extremely 7 356H Panther Lake CPU accomplished the encode course of in a median of 671 seconds — that’s simply over 11 minutes.

That’s over twice as quick when severe multithreaded CPU efficiency is known as for. And 2026’s quicker Galaxy Book6 Extremely delivered somewhat extra battery life, too.

The multithreaded CPU efficiency right here is the most important leap, however efficiency is up throughout the board and battery life is up, too. I’m impressed.

Foundry / Chris Hoffman

Panther Lake delivers, and so did Samsung

Samsung’s Galaxy Book6 Extremely is a severe premium laptop computer, and I’m a fan of the redesign. It appears like a extra fashionable tackle a Samsung Galaxy laptop computer, though I do want it had facial recognition sign-in help for Home windows Good day. That omission is unlucky.

That stated, the actual story right here for me are the internals. That is my first time sitting down with Panther Lake {hardware}. And the preliminary benchmarks are simply what I hoped to see.

My first impression is that Panther Lake lives as much as what Intel promised. I’ve reviewed so many Intel laptops over the previous few years. I’ve repeatedly stated “Lunar Lake will get nice battery life, however has poor multithreaded efficiency. Arrow Lake delivers nice efficiency, but it surely has worse battery life and generates extra warmth.”

That’s been the Intel trade-off, and there’s been no escaping it — till now. I used to be extra of a fan of AMD’s Ryzen AI CPUs, which delivered what I felt like was a greater steadiness, not as a lot battery life as Lunar Lake, however extra efficiency.

This time, Intel’s Panther Lake is delivering the entire bundle. I’m positive this laptop computer isn’t good, and I’m positive Panther Lake has its quirks — I’ve solely had my palms on it for a number of days! However Intel has its mojo again.

One open query is what this machine is definitely like to make use of in the actual world. Does battery life dive with actual day-to-day internet shopping and productiveness app utilization? I received’t know for positive till I’ve a number of days with this machine.

Nonetheless, in some ways, the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Extremely seems to be the most effective laptops I’ve ever used. It’s additionally the primary Panther Lake laptop computer I’ve ever used, and that’s no coincidence: The mix of efficiency and lengthy battery life right here is unbelievable.

And also you’re getting all of it with a standard x86 Intel CPU, no Arm CPU obligatory, so that is appropriate with all of your conventional Home windows desktop software program and outdated {hardware} drivers. The Nvidia GPU right here will ship stable gaming efficiency whereas plugged in.

The Samsung Galaxy Book6 Extremely is spectacular, and so is Intel’s Core Extremely Collection 3. I look ahead to spending extra time with each of them.