Samsung’s new Galaxy Book Flex Alpha has QLED display, costs just $829

The first members of Samsung's new Galaxy Book laptop family have yet to appear, but the company is already expanding the lineup. The new Galaxy Book Flex α (Alpha) is an offshoot of the Galaxy Flex, one of the three Galaxy Books announced last year, and it gives users a slightly more affordable way to pick up Samsung's newest QLED laptops.

The Flex Alpha will start at $829 when it comes out later this year, which is more affordable than the presumed price of both the Galaxy Book Flex and the Galaxy Book Ion (around $1,100 and $1,400, respectively). The 2-in-1 machine has a design that melds the Flex and the Ion, with squared-off edges and a chassis that measures 13.9mm thick.

The star of the Flex Alpha is its 13.3-inch, 600-nit, QLED display—a signature of the Galaxy Book Flex and the Ion, and arguably even more impressive on the Flex Alpha considering its price tag. QLED displays can rival OLED panels with their rich colors and deep blacks, and the panel on the Flex Alpha will likely be one of its biggest selling points.

The Galaxy Book Flex Alpha will last 17.5 hours on a single charge, and it supports fast charging for getting a decent amount of juice in a short period of time. As far as specs go, the Flex Alpha will support 10th-gen Intel processors, up to 12GB RAM, up to 1TB PCIe SSD, as well as Wi-Fi 6 and inking with an optional active pen. The notebook will have one USB-C port, two USB-A ports, an HDMI port, a microSD card slot, and a headphone/mic combo jack.

Both the Galaxy Book Flex and the Galaxy Book Ion support 10th-gen Intel processors but they also support up to Nvidia MX250 graphics and perks like Wireless Powershare, a feature that lets you charge Qi-compatible devices by placing them on the laptops' trackpads. The Galaxy Book Flex Alpha does not support the latter two features, but that's understandable as Samsung had to sacrifice a bit to cut costs here.

On paper, the Galaxy Book Flex Alpha and the rest of the Galaxy Book line appear to be solid contenders in the mid-tier to premium laptop space. The Galaxy Book S was the first of the bunch to be announced last August, but we're only now getting details of its release: sometime in Q1 2020. This is the thinnest and lightest laptop of the group, and it runs on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8cx ARM processor (an Intel variant is scheduled for later this year). It's designed to be an "always-on," ultra-portable laptop with LTE connectivity, a fanless design, a promised 23-hour battery life, and improved performance over what was available on its predecessor, the Galaxy Book 2.

Samsung is clearly trying to become a more serious player in the consumer laptop space than it was with previous Galaxy Books and Notebook 9s. We're eager to give all of these laptops a spin, particularly to use their QLED displays and to see how well Samsung's battery life claims hold up.

The Galaxy Book Flex Alpha will be available in the first half of 2020 starting at $829.

Listing image by Samsung