Samsung Galaxy Book Flex review
Our Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Book Flex is a long lasting 2-in-1 with a gorgeous expect and a bright display
For
- Amazing bombardment life
- Striking blueish design
- Built-in S-Pen
- Lighter than XPS 15
Against
- Hinge could be stronger
- Fingerprint reader disrupts typing
- QLED display pales to OLED panels
Tom's Guide Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Volume Flex is a long lasting 2-in-1 with a gorgeous await and a bright brandish
Pros
- +
Astonishing battery life
- +
Striking blue design
- +
Built-in Due south-Pen
- +
Lighter than XPS 15
Cons
- -
Hinge could be stronger
- -
Fingerprint reader disrupts typing
- -
QLED display pales to OLED panels
Samsung Galaxy Book Flex specs
Price: $1,399
Processor: 10th Gen Intel Core i7 (Ice Lake)
Memory: 12GB of RAM
Storage: 512GB SSD
Display: xv.6" QLED (1920 x 1080 pixels)
Size: 14 x 8.ix ten 0.6 inches
Weight: three.4 pounds
Ports: 2x Thunderbolt 3, 1x USB-C microSD reader, headphone jack
The Samsung Galaxy Book Flex is the visitor's latest attempt to stand out in a field it's had less-than-stellar success with: Windows PCs. But this 2-in-1 laptop offers a mix of stiff performance with some unique features, to mostly successful results.
From its brilliant xv-inch screen to its strong performance and striking color, the Milky way Book Flex is i of the best two-in-1 laptops yous can purchase, one that brings Samsung back into the PC conversation. Even further, its peachy Qi-charging touchpad offers the kind of unique functionality we'd like to see other laptop makers utilize.
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Nosotros likewise love the Galaxy Book Flex'due south fantastic endurance and solid performance, simply there are some asterisks getting in the fashion. Specifically, its keyboard takes some getting used to, thanks to a questionably-placed fingerprint reader and shallow keys.
Still, this Samsung Galaxy Book Flex review will show why Samsung's made one of the best laptops around. In fact, information technology's so good that it won a recommendation for longest-lasting laptop in our Tom's Guide Awards 2021.
Samsung Galaxy Book Flex review: Price and configurations
Samsung sells the Galaxy Book Flex in two sizes, each bachelor in a singular configuration. Nosotros tested the Galaxy Volume Flex 15-inch, which Samsung now marks down to $1,114 — down from $1,399. This laptop comes with a 10th Gen Intel Core i7 (Ice Lake) processor, 12GB of RAM and a 15.6-inch QLED 1080p brandish.
Its smaller brother, the Galaxy Book Flex 13-inch is commonly $1,349, but Samsung has it on sale for $864. Information technology besides packs an Ice Lake Cadre i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and a 13.3-inch QLED 1080p display. Both are old fabricated in the fetching Purple Bluish finish that you see in these photos.
The Galaxy Volume Flex arrived in May 2020.
Samsung Milky way Book Flex review: Design
Samsung is doing wonders with colors (the Fiesta Ruby-red Galaxy Chromebook is a highlight) and the Royal Blue Galaxy Volume Flex is no exception. Merely similar that Chromebook, the aluminum Galaxy Book Flex chassis catches the light bouncing off of information technology, and then y'all get a gradient of hues.
Measuring 0.6 inches thick and weighing 3.4 pounds, the Milky way Book Flex is lighter than the Dell XPS xv (0.5~0.7 inches thick, 4.five-pounds).
Because it'south a convertible two-in-one, you lot can rotate the Samsung Galaxy Volume Flex's display up to 360 degrees to apply it as a tablet or prop it up in brandish or tent mode. Since Samsung throws in its S-Pen stylus, I would take hoped the Galaxy Book Flex's hinge were a bit stronger. Alas, when I tried to gently write against the 15.6-inch screen, I noticed a trivial wobble. Thankfully, the screen's heavy enough for this not to be a problem when you apply the Galaxy Volume Flex in tablet style.
Samsung Galaxy Book Flex review: Ports and Due south-Pen
Y'all detect the Galaxy Book Flex's faster Thunderbolt three USB-C ports on its right side, next to its power button and S-Pen dock. The regular USB-C port, headphone jack and microSD reader are on the left side.
Samsung also throws in a USB-C to HDMI adapter and a USB-C to USB-A adapter. And while I assume I'd lose both of these relatively small parts, they're ameliorate than zilch. The Dell XPS fifteen and HP Spectre x360 15 both pack USB-A and Thunderbolt 3, plus HDMI.
The Due south-Pen, which protrudes e'er so slightly, feels kind of unnecessary for this machine. When I popped it out of the PC, it showed a list of potential commands on screen. These included taking and viewing notes, using the S-Pen to draw a region for a screenshot and even annotating the screen. The creative course, looking to putter or draw or taking notes with handwriting rather than with their keys, volition dearest the option.
The best matter I tin can say about the South-Pen is that I adopt this method of taking a screenshot to how Windows ten's screen capture tricks piece of work.
Samsung Galaxy Volume Flex review: Display
Capable of producing Loftier brightness and vivid colors, the Samsung Galaxy Book Flex'southward 15.four-inch QLED panel is impressive. Watching the F9 trailer, I saw the glimmering gold of a public statue that the coiffure sped effectually, verdant greens in mountainside copse that other cars drove past and a vibrant red in the bus bus that Vin Diesel fought John Cena on top of.
Taking the Milky way Book Flex outside for a brief moment in the park, I found itsOutdoors Style to prove useful. Nether the glare of real sunlight, the Milky way Book Flex's screen appeared a bit dim. But subsequently hitting Fn + F10 to trigger this style, the screen regained some of its pop with text condign more legible and colors actualization more vibrant.
Yet, Outdoors Manner couldn't fight the glare for amusement. When I tried to watch the F9 trailer outside on a stoop, the added effulgence didn't make Michelle Rodriguez any clearer, as she was caught in the reflections.
According to our colorimeter, the Samsung Galaxy Book Flex produces 158.2% of the sRGB color spectrum and up to 381.2 nits of brightness. That brightness jumps to 536 nits when you turn on Outdoors manner. The 4K Spectre x360 OLED (258%, 483 nits), 4K XPS xv (210%, 418 nits) and 4K XPS fifteen OLED (239%, 626 nits) are brighter and more colorful.
Samsung Galaxy Book Flex review: Sound and cameras
Listening to The Arcade Fire's "Rebellion (Lies)" on the Samsung Galaxy Book Flex, I noted how information technology filled my medium-sized living room with articulate and authentic vocals and crisp violin strings. That same quality came through in Ghostface Killah's "Cherchez La Ghost."
The 0.ix-megapixel webcam inside the Galaxy Volume Flex is serviceable for Zooms, just it's as well grainy for taking any serious video. It's sadly the norm for laptops, and shouldn't be a surprise or disappointment. I can't wait for some visitor to buck the tendency and put a serious webcam in a laptop, just for at present, nosotros recommend checking out i of the all-time webcams for your setup.
Samsung Galaxy Book Flex review: Keyboard, touchpad and touchscreen
The keys in the Samsung Galaxy Book Flex aren't the real problem: the layout is. Using the Galaxy Book Flex'southward shallow keys (similar to the MacBook Pro'southward troubled and generally-retired Butterfly keyboard), I hit a rate of 65 words per infinitesimal on the 10fastfingers typing test, with an 80% accuracy rate.
That's a ways abroad from my 80 wpm and 93% accuracy averages, but I don't blame the keys. The Galaxy Book Flex's fingerprint reader, which sits right nether the render key and takes upwardly half of the space the right Shift fundamental should, is the culprit. Because of that one-half of a Shift fundamental, which I frequently constitute myself trying to click before realizing the mistake I made, I made a lot more typos than I usually did.
Just similar Apple didn't take to endeavor and reinvent keyboards with the Butterfly switch, Samsung didn't demand to break upward the Shift central to give the fingerprint reader a new abode. Absolutely, this new location makes it really easy to observe the fingerprint reader. Merely information technology would take been just as easy to use in the top right corner where the Asterisk push is, much like it is on the Samsung Milky way Chromebook Flex.
The Galaxy Book Flex has a pretty large touchpad at iv.7 x iii.1 inches, and it offers smooth and responsive navigations. The frosted-red rectangle (which offsets the cherry ruddy keyboard deck) rapidly registered my 2-finger scrolling and three-finger gestures in Chrome. I wish this touchpad weren't so wide, as I kept accidentally correct-clicking it. But it seems piece of cake enough to become used to with fourth dimension.
Similarly, the Galaxy Book Flex's 15.vi-inch touchscreen speedily and accurately registered my taps and swipes every bit I used the Kickoff menu and opened the Action Center. Folio scrolling in Google Docs also went smoothly.
Samsung Galaxy Volume Flex review: Performance
The 10th Gen Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU and 12GB of RAM the Galaxy Book Flex allow for speedy multitasking. I saw no stutter when I split my screen betwixt 12 Chrome tabs, including Google Docs and Giphy alongside a 1080p YouTube video (with Slack open in the groundwork too).
On the Geekbench iv.three general performance benchmark, the Galaxy Volume Flex netted a 19,137 on the multi-core examination. And while information technology falls nether the 28,882 from the XPS fifteen (Intel Core i9-9980HK processor and 32GB of RAM), that doesn't reverberate poorly on the Galaxy Book Flex, as the XPS xv model we tested packs a beefier CPU and more than retention.
The 512GB SSD in the Galaxy Book Flex duplicated iv.97 GB of files in 26.54 seconds, which is notably slower than the x-second and 12-2nd transfer times from the XPS 15 (1TB SSD) and Spectre x360 (1TB SSD), respectively.
On the Dirt 3 racing game, Galaxy Volume Flex ran at 52 frames per second on Medium graphics at 1080p, simply the Spectre x360 (Intel Cadre i7-8565U CPU, Nvidia GeForce MX150 GPU, 16GB of RAM) beat that with a rate of 118 fps.
Samsung Galaxy Book Flex review: Battery life and Qi-charging touchpad
Talk near a flex. The Samsung Galaxy Volume Flex thrived on our laptop bombardment test (web surfing at 150 nits of brightness), posting a lengthy time of 15 hours and 44 minutes — and 13 hours and xiv minutes with Outdoors mode enabled. The XPS fifteen (4K non-OLED: 8:48, 4K OLED: eight:07) and the Spectre x360 OLED (7:46) lasted much less time.
Samsung Milky way Book Flex review: Heat
The Galaxy Book Flex stays cool nether pressure. Subsequently streaming xv minutes of Hard disk drive video on Samsung's notebook, our rut gun picked up temperatures that roughshod under our 95 degree comfort threshold. Its underside (the laptop's hottest spot) ranged from 84 degrees Fahrenheit to 92 degrees by the exhaust vent, and its touchpad (74 degrees) and keyboard (82 degrees) were less warm.
Samsung Milky way Volume Flex review: Verdict
Throughout this Samsung Galaxy Book Flex review, I've been impressed generally. Amazing battery life and decent 10th Gen Cadre i7 operation combine for a 15-inch laptop that is made for piece of work, while its built-in S-Pen is a boon for the creative class.
That being said, while Outdoors mode helps the Galaxy Volume Flex become brighter, you'll find an even brighter and more colorful screen on the eastward OLED XPS fifteen. Nevertheless, you'll be paying at to the lowest degree $345 more for Dell's laptop , and yous as well lose battery life. And compared to the $2,547 super-fast XPS 15 mentioned above, the $ane,399 Samsung Galaxy Book Flex looks similar a bargain.
Overall, the Milky way Book Flex is i of the all-time laptops for creatives who desire a big sail for their adjacent project.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/samsung-galaxy-book-flex
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