Early Verdict
Samsung's Galaxy Book Flex Alpha is a reasonably-priced 2-in-1 laptop with a 13.3-inch QLED display.
Pros
- +
QLED display
- +
Thin, lightweight chassis
- +
Fingerprint sensor
- +
Affordable price
Cons
- -
No Thunderbolt 3
- -
Max 12GB of RAM
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Samsung just stormed ahead of CES 2020 by unveiling the Galaxy Book Flex Alpha, a sub-$1,000 laptop with a QHD display. A variant of the Galaxy Book Flex we saw last year, the Galaxy Book Flex Alpha is an ultra-lightweight 2-in-1 laptop with an aluminum chassis and Intel 10th Gen processors.
Here is everything we know about the Galaxy Book Flex Alpha, including its price, features and availability.
Samsung Galaxy Book Flex Alpha price and availability
The Galaxy Book Flex Alpha will be available in the first half of 2020 starting at $829. It will come in the Royal Silver color variant in the United States.
Samsung Galaxy Book Flex Alpha design
We haven't spent time with the Galaxy Book Flex Alpha yet, but the laptop is similar in many ways to the Galaxy Book Flex.
Like its more premium relative, the Alpha model has a flexible aluminum chassis that folds into a tablet or into tent mode for viewing content. The Book Flex Alpha's design looks fairly ordinary, but diamond-cut edges should give it a regal flair, while a fingerprint sensor built into the keyboard will save you time and protect your sensitive data.
We're bummed, however, that the Galaxy Book Flex Alpha will only be available in Royal Silver in the U.S., and not the gorgeous blue you can get on the Galaxy Book Flex.
Samsung hasn't said anything about built-in Qi wireless charging on the Galaxy Book Flex Alpha, so that could be another cost-cutting measure Samsung made to bring the price down. We wouldn't mind too much if that gimmicky feature was left out. A bigger loss is the stylus slot (Active Pen sold separately) found on the Galaxy Book Flex but not the Alpha version.
The Galaxy Book Flex Alpha is an ultra-portable laptop, measuring just 0.55 inches thick and weighing in at 2.6 pounds. We've reviewed lighter laptops, but you shouldn't have any problem slipping the Book Flex Alpha in your bag and taking it on trips.
Samsung Galaxy Book Flex Alpha ports
You get a good variety of ports on the Galaxy Book Flex Alpha considering its size.
On the right side of the laptop are two USB 3.0 ports and a microSD card slot while the left side houses a USB Type-C input, an HDMI port and a headphone/mic jack. We wish there was a Thunderbolt 3 connection but not everyone needs super-fast transfer speeds or to connect to multiple 4K monitors.
Samsung Galaxy Book Flex Alpha display
Samsung is bringing the technology it uses on its high-end TVs to the Alpha's display. The Alpha has a 13.3-inch, 1080p QLED panel that Samsung claims can produce more than one billion colors and get up to 600 nits in brightness.
QLED, which stands for quantum dot LED, has several advantages over the standard LED displays you find on most laptops. As Samsung's TVs prove, QLED is typically brighter and more colorful than LED. While you shouldn't expect the same black levels or contrast ratios as OLED, the Galaxy Book Flex Alpha's QLED screen should have vibrant, accurate colors and be bright enough to use outside on a sunny day.
Surrounding the Galaxy Book Flex Alpha's display are thin bezels designed to draw your eyes toward that saturated screen and keep the Galaxy Book Flex's footprint to a minimum.
We're looking forward to setting our eyes on the Book Flex Alpha's QLED panel and putting it through our quantitative testing.
Samsung Galaxy Book Flex Alpha specs
Samsung is being coy about what lies under the hood of the Galaxy Book Alpha. The only hint we get is that it'll run on Intel 10th Gen processors. The Galaxy Book Flex is powered by Intel Core Ice Lake chips, so we're hopeful Samsung sticks with U-series processors and not the low-powered Y-series variant.
Interestingly, Samsung says the Galaxy Book Flex Alpha will have UHD graphics, not the Iris Plus graphics that pair with higher-end Ice Lake processors. That suggests a Core i3 CPU or a lower-end Core i5 chip. Other specs include up to 512GB of SSD storage and RAM of either 8GB or 12GB.
Samsung Galaxy Book Flex Alpha battery life
The Galaxy Book Flex Alpha is a winner if it gets anywhere near Samsung's ambitious 17.5-hour battery life rating. We'll believe it when we see it --- until then, take this claim with a grain of salt.
When the laptop's 54Wh battery runs low, you can quickly top it off using Fast Charging technology.
Bottom line
I can't remember the last time I've been so excited to review a Samsung laptop. It's not that I expect the Galaxy Book Flex Alpha to outperform the best laptops, but the Alpha's QLED display could make it an incredible value.
If that 13.3-inch QLED display is as good as we're hoping, and Samsung didn't compromise on performance to get the price so low, then the Galaxy Book Flex Alpha could ask serious questions of the HP Envy 13, our current favorite sub-$1,000 laptop.
