Editor's Note: For our first-hand impressions of Samsung's most powerful laptop, check out our hands-on review of the Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra.

The Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra is the only Samsung laptop with discrete GPU graphics performance and is the new high-end model of the Galaxy Book. And since its GPU is the cutting-edge Nvidia GeForce RTX 4000 series laptop GPU, the Galaxy Book3 Ultra should be a reasonably capable gaming laptop - especially if fully upgraded.

Whether it is good enough to compete with the best gaming laptops on the market remains to be seen. But based on what Samsung has shown us so far, this humble ultra-portable could be one of the best laptops of 2023.

Here's what we know so far about Samsung's Galaxy Book3 Ultra.

The Galaxy Book 3 Ultra will be available for order through Samsung's website (opens in new tab) on February 14, with prices starting at $2,199. According to Samsung, the Ultra's siblings, the Galaxy Book 3 Pro and Galaxy Book Pro 360, will begin shipping on February 17, and the Ultra will begin shipping on February 22.

Samsung's Galaxy Book 3 Ultra may be capable of competing with some gaming laptops, but not in appearance. Whereas most gaming laptops are matte black monstrosities with overly edgy lighting and decals, the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra is a flat, unremarkable slab of aluminum.

It can be any color as long as it's gray, or even graphite, Samsung's brand name for the Ultra's only metallic paint option. The laptop itself measures approximately 13.9 x 9.8 x 0.64 inches and weighs about 3.9 pounds, with a 16-inch display and an aluminum frame with components made from recycled plastic.

The Galaxy Book 3 Ultra's screen is 16 inches diagonal, which is quite spacious for a laptop. More notable is the 16-inch AMOLED display with 3K resolution (2,880 x 1,800 pixels) and a 120 Hz refresh rate. [In general, OLED screens are brighter than LCD displays, blacks are sharper, and contrast is more pronounced. 120Hz refresh rate should be fine for games at 60 frames per second or higher, which is good news for those who want a laptop that can play games at higher frame rates. This is good news for those who want a laptop that can play games at high frame rates.

Unfortunately, due to the emphasis on making the Ultra portable, not many ports are included.

At least there is one USB-A port and two Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports, providing adequate options for connecting new and old peripherals. There is also an HDMI 2.0 port, a microSD card reader, and a 3.5mm audio jack for headphones.

The Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra can be configured with up to a 13th generation Intel Core i9 CPU, up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 mobile GPU, up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage.

With specs like these, this laptop stands firmly in the ultra-portable and gaming laptop category. With the prowess to play the best PC games at frame rates up there, and weighing about 4 pounds (8.5 kg), it is not the lightest laptop on the market. However, it is a few pounds lighter than similarly sized gaming laptops, and the Galaxy Book3 Ultra's understated design helps it blend into an office or coffee shop in a way that a burly gaming machine cannot.

We won't know how powerful this laptop is until we get it in our hands and try it out, but at first glance, the Galaxy Book3 Ultra looks like a beast that combines beauty and toughness.

Samsung has included a 1080p webcam on the Galaxy Book Ultra, just like previous generations of Galaxy Books.

We were pleased, but not particularly impressed, with the quality of images captured by the 1080p webcam on Samsung's previous Galaxy Book laptops. This is because many of us spend hours each week on video calls with friends and colleagues.

From what we've learned so far, the Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra should be a solid laptop for work and play, and with Nvidia's 40-series notebook discrete GPU, it offers attractive possibilities for gaming on the go. It opens up a wide range of possibilities, but we won't know how well it can run the best PC games until we get this laptop and test it.

We got a chance to go hands-on with the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra last month, but will have to wait until we get it for testing and review to know how well this product stacks up against the competition. Stay tuned.