QLED – Appliances catalogue

19 Apr

Samsung QN90A Neo QLED 4K HDR TV Review (QN65QN90A)

April 19, 2021
Posted by Samson

"The QN90A is a TV knockout."

Impressive brightness
Fixed black levels
Excellent overall contrast
Brilliant color
Ideal for playing

One HDMI 2.1 input
Possible screen uniformity issues

If the chatter I see online is any clue, a lot of people have questions about Samsung's Neo QLED TVs. I'm happy to say I have answers. AND some opinions on it. Let's take a look at the QN65QN90A Neo QLED TV, a device that comes with thousands of mini LED backlights and nearly 800 zones of local dimming.

But does it look great? Let's find out.

Out of the box

A quick fix to the video review (above): Samsung strongly recommends not using the stand mounting method as in the video – and I have to agree. I may prefer my method, but there is a reason manufacturers create these instructions and I would hate it if someone had a bad experience because I made up my mind to become a villain and disregard the instructions. So do what I say (now) and not like me and we'll all be right like rain.

The assembly of the stand is a bit precarious, no matter how you proceed. A positive note, however, is the appearance of the stand. While the TV will flex a little on the stand, this is a safe arrangement. Because it is centralized, there is less of a concern that a media stand has to be wide enough to support it.

Of course, if you're wall mounted – and if so, I recommend Samsung's own no-gap wall mount bracket for the best look – the stand isn't an issue.

Everything else about the unboxing experience is great. There's not a lot of lint, just a bit of plastic peeling off the edges of the TV, and when you're done you're staring at a very attractive TV with almost invisible bezels and a surprisingly thin profile.

Samsung QN90A Neo QLED 4K HDR details

While we tested the 65-inch model QN65Q90A, our test also applies to the other screen sizes available in the series.

Screen size	Model no	RRP
55 inches	QN55QN90AAFXZA	$ 1,800
65 inches	QN65QN90AAFXZA	$ 2,600
75 in	QN75QN90AAFXZA	$ 3,500
85 in	QN85QN90AAFXZA	$ 5,000

User experience

Spoiler Alert: I have very few negative things to say about this TV, but one thing I would love to see is the Samsung smart TV interface is being redesigned. That doesn't seem like a big deal if Chromecasts with Google TV and Roku sticks are so cheap these days, but if you used the TV's apps and the like, we'd all benefit from a little update to Tizen.

Samsung QN90A TV streaming and apps Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Fortunately, Samsung gets almost all good apps, sometimes before others. If you want to use intelligent assistants, you can choose from the most popular options. We like to have decisions.

While we talk about menus and the like, I have to say hello to Samsung for making this TV so easy to set up and tweak. Choose your preferred SDR picture settings and do some HDR picture adjustments. These are global – across all HDMI inputs and apps – which is a great remedy for headaches for all of us. So yes.

What is this Neo QLED about?

Now let's talk about this Neo QLED business. Neo is Samsung's trademark for its mini backlit LED TVs. You can still get QLEDs with standard LED backlighting – these are a little cheaper – or you can raise extra cash and get into a Neo QLED. For those unfamiliar, mini LED backlighting means the TV has thousands of tiny LED lights instead of hundreds of larger ones. It also has a lot more control zones – just under 800 on this set. In theory, this means that the TV should be able to get brighter, especially on HDR highlights, while keeping bloom and halo effects at bay – this is where you get a glow of light around a bright object on a black background and have a long time the plague of LCD-based televisions.

Samsung QN90A TV Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Samsung QN90A TV close-up Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Samsung QN90A TV Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Samsung QN90A TV close-up Dan Baker / Digital Trends

I'll get into brightness, uniformity, and black level performance soon, but first I'd like to point out that the backlight system seems a little slow. I noticed that when a bright image comes up on the screen after a darker scene, the television says, "Oh, I need to get lighter," and then it does. It may take a second for the TV to catch up at times. To be clear, this is something you don't see often when looking at most of the content – but I've seen it in the content at times before I started taking measurements and noticing it on color window test patterns. It's not something to be upset about, just an indication that there may be room for improvement.

Test results

Speaking of measurements, let's ditch a little. I tested the QN90A with Portrait Display's Calman software, an X-Rite i1 Pro meter, and a SpectraCal C6 meter. In SDR movie mode without adjusting the brightness setting from 23, I got 275 nits straight away, which is great for SDR in most cases. You can increase the brightness to a maximum of 50, and I measured 638 nits with my meter. When I jumped back to HDR in movie mode, I got about 1,583 nits. In standard mode, the TV shot past it and hit just under 1,900 nits – 1867 to be precise.

Samsung QN90A TV remote control Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Now I've seen some comments about these peak brightness numbers being disappointing and I'll have to respectfully disagree. More is not always better. Take the Hisense H9G, for example. The maximum HDR brightness in a similar movie frame setting was a little over 1200 nits, and yet I found it to be unobservably bright at times, most likely due to the processing. On the flip side, the Vizio P-Series Quantum X-Series measures a bit brighter, but honestly, I'd rather see this TV (I'll explain why in a moment). My point is that I am completely satisfied with the HDR presentation of this TV. Part of it has to do with the black levels and backlight controls. Let's look at that.

Brightness, black levels and contrast

I often use a test pattern where white boxes are placed in each corner of the TV screen on an otherwise black background. In this case, I did. I started with SDR and if I look at the pattern with the naked eye you would probably see a little bit of halo around the edges of the white boxes.

Samsung QN90A - flourishing Dan Baker / Digital Trends

The HDR enhancement makes the boxes brighter and again it seems like there is more halo, albeit much less than on previous TVs, including the already excellent Samsung Q90T from last year. However, over the years I've learned that bright images on a black background in a dark room can play tricks on the eye.

The brightness and contrast of the QN90A are excellent.

In the video above, you can see that I cover the white box with a piece of cardboard up to the edge. When I do this, the halo or blooming appears noticeably reduced. Why? It has to do with our vision. This isn't the time for an anatomy lesson, but anecdotally we've seen the same pattern supposedly blooming on an OLED TV, and yet we know it can. On an OLED, the black pixels are black. Totally turned off.

What I'm saying is that sometimes what we find blooming when we're in a pitch black room with a white box in our eyes doesn't actually bloom. Don't get me wrong, it's blooming here, but it's less than I've seen in the past, and let me be clear here – the black uniformity on this TV is excellent.

Samsung QN90A Dan Baker / Digital Trends

The problem of shadow detail (often referred to as Black Crush) – or a lack of it – is always an issue, especially for players who need to see details in the shadow in order to play competitive first-person shooters. So I ran low-luminance and high-luminance star field patterns and found that the QN90A came out of black very well. For those who want to purposely increase black for gaming, Samsung offers an adjustment of the settings for just such things.

To sum it up, the QN90A's brightness and contrast are excellent.

colour

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

In the film preset, my measurements immediately indicated that red was a little too far ahead, so I undid that a bit in the two-point white balance menu, and – bam – the color mixing of this TV has reached an extremely impressive area. With HDR, the TV sometimes overshoots or undershoots some colors. Again, this isn't perfection, but the color on this TV is scary good.

From the sweet spot

One of the dangers of using a VA LCD panel is that off-axis issues, blooming, and color shifting become very apparent. I think one of the things that impresses me the most about the QN90A is the off-axis viewing experience. You can see that there is more blooming from the extreme side, but even less than in the Q90T last year, which was again well ahead of the pack. There's also very little color shift – overall, it's one of the best off-angle TVs we've tested here. That means a better place in the house for everyone.

The anti-glare agent is also excellent. If a lot of light comes into the room and you're watching a dark scene, you might see a rainbow effect, but I'd argue that this is better than looking in a black mirror.

Real picture quality

Enough with the nerd stuff. What does this TV look like when you watch normal content in SDR or HDR? It's really damn good. This is proven to be a better TV than the previous Q90T, and that was a pretty good TV already – I know, I repeat myself.

This TV has a very fast response time, which is great news for gamers and movie fans alike.

The images are lush and vivid, colors and HDR highlights pop, and the superior black levels convey a sense of depth that you normally can't get with an LCD-based television. I did notice some screen evenness issues with large swaths of light colors, but overall there was very little dirt-screen effect.

The movement processing is a mixed bag. This TV automatically removes all stuttering from 24p movie content – there isn't even a setting you can access to turn this off, which I think will be fine for most people.

But stuttering. That’s a different story. This TV has a very fast response time, which is good news for gamers, but for movie fans – just like with OLED – stuttering effects can occur. The only way to counter that is by smoothing motion, which creates a soap opera effect that most people seem to hate far less than I do. So maybe it's not a big deal. Movie fans will likely want to choose the lowest setting they can tolerate.

Sound quality

The sound quality of the QN90A is above average. There's not a lot of bass – that's typical – but overall it's balanced and bearable while many of the TVs I test make me wince. It's a little strange that you have to turn the volume up pretty high to get a normal volume in the room, but I suppose that means more precise control over the volume levels.

I'll say that Samsung's object tracking sound is pretty effective too, but not on par with a Sony OLED where the screen is the speaker. Samsung's soundbars go well with the TV, and the Samsung Symphony sound, where the TV's speakers work together with the soundbar, is particularly impressive.

Play

This TV is an excellent choice for gaming because it has remarkably low input lag – less than 10 milliseconds in game mode for all resolutions at 60 Hz and less than 6 milliseconds for all resolutions at 120 Hz. The TV also supports Freesync, but unfortunately no G- Sync. I'm not sure if this is a huge loss for most people as the variable refresh rate is there regardless.

Fortnite on the Samsung QN90A TV Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Games on the Samsung QN90A TV Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Caleb gaming on the Samsung QN90A TV Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Either way, HDR gaming is great on this TV too, with very little crushing of the blacks. If you're playing a really dark game, you can turn up the blacks a bit for slightly better shadow detail. I didn't really need to play it in a dark room, though. The TV comes out of black pretty well and retains most of the shadow detail. However, it's the bright highlights that really sold me. Games popping on this TV.

On the other hand, the TV only has one HDMI 2.1 input. So if you own both the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, you'll have to manually swap them out, or opt for a full-featured HDMI 2.1 A / V receiver to switch between them. Add a gaming PC to this mix – and it's more of the same.

My attitude

With only one HDMI 2.1 input, no Dolby Vision and a smart TV interface that can withstand a facelift, the Samsung QN90A is not a perfect TV. But by the most sensible measures it is really excellent. Setting all the numbers aside, I like to do a simple gut check – I watch a lot of TVs and some of them are a letdown, some are okay, some are great, and some are real knockouts. I have to put the Samsung QN90A in this last category. I just love to see it.

Is there a better alternative?

At this point, I haven't tested a better LCD TV than the QN90A. I'm excited to see what the Sony X95J looks like this year, and LG's top-notch TV looks promising too, but it's hard to imagine that the QN90A will be significantly outperformed. Another alternative could be the brighter LG G1 OLED, although it comes at a pretty high price.

For more options, check out our best 2021 TVs.

How long it will take?

Although the QN90A only offers one HDMI 2.1 input, it supports the latest and greatest in connectivity and backlight technology. It should last owners for many years.

warranty

Samsung offers a one-year parts and labor warranty for home use and a 90-day parts and labor warranty for commercial use.

Should you buy it?

Yes. The QN90A is a remarkable television with excellent picture quality.

Editor's recommendations

26 Jun

Blog

Samsung Q90T 4K HDR QLED TV review: Mostly Exceptional

June 26, 2020
Posted by Samson

"The Samsung Q90T delivers a breathtaking picture."

Eye-catching design
Excellent brightness and contrast
Spot color accuracy
Excellent for playing

Rainbow effect from the screen level
Still expensive
Nobody connects box

Given that the Samsung Q90R was one of my favorite TVs in 2019, I had high hopes for its successor in 2020, which I suspected would be the Q90T tested here. As it turned out, Samsung had some interesting plans to shake up its 2020 lineup, which was unveiled at CES earlier this year.

Unlike the Q90R, the Q90T doesn't come with Samsung's One Connect Box (a feature I'm a big fan of), the backlight system has fewer local dimming zones, and the panel layer that enables deeper black levels isn't quite as effective. To use these functions, you have to switch to the Q800T, which is an 8K television.

All of this makes the Q90T appear less as a replacement for the Q90R than as an effort by Samsung to bring premium buyers to its 8K TV line. But it's not all bad news. The 65-inch Q90T costs $ 1,000 less than the 65-inch Q90R when it was released. It has a pimped sound system and is available in other sizes – including 55, 65, 75 and 85 inch variants.

Ultimately, the Q90T doesn't seem to be as advanced as last year's 4K flagship, but it is still a remarkable TV and will likely be one of the best TVs you can buy this year.

Out of the box

The Q90T is one of the heaviest 65-inch devices I've wrestled with from Samsung and Panasonic plasma TVs since sunset. Most of the weight comes from the stand, a sturdy, curved piece of brushed metal that attaches to the center of the TV. This weight instilled confidence that the panel is held securely, and it is, but the TV still wobbles a lot more than I want. Be sure to install a seat belt to ensure safety when you mount this TV while standing.

Do-it-yourself wall mounting needs a friend. I dare to say that even the 55-inch set would require a second set of hands to be securely mounted on the wall. I would also recommend drilling the wall mounting plate into studs as I'm not sure if drywall anchors would do the trick.

Samsung Q90T remote control Dan Baker

In addition to the TV and the stand, the packaging contains the simple but effective remote control from Samsung, batteries, stand screws and some product literature, which contains an installation guide that I would like to recommend to buyers, since the method of installing the TV stand depends on Stand size varies TELEVISION.

Properties and design

The Q90T is a very eye-catching television, even if its bezels are not as invisible as that of the Q90R. It's a black plate with an intentionally thick profile, but I like it. Maybe it's all lush brushed metal, but the Q90T seems to be on business.

The Q90T is a very eye-catching television

I mentioned the absence of Samsung's One Connect box, which handles all incoming connections from game consoles, Blu-ray players, etc., and conducts power and video signals over a single clear cable that is virtually undetectable on a wall. Its convenience and practicality are missed.

Dan Baker

The Q90T has four built-in HDMI inputs, of which only one is HDMI 2.1 capable. This means that the TV supports eARC together with variable refresh rate (VRR), automatic low latency mode (ALLM) and up to 4K 120 Hz signals. All of this is good news for gamers.

Samsung's workmanship has also improved this year. You will see fewer artifacts, especially if you stream content from Netflix, Hulu, Disney + or HBO Max. Apps for which everyone is directly integrated. Samsung has also reduced its tendency to sharpen the image too much by making the image presets in the focus department less aggressive. These are all welcome improvements.

Regarding the backlight, I have already mentioned that there are fewer zones, but as I will explain shortly, this is not a weak point for this TV. Samsung's local dimming processor seems to be working even better than last year, fewer zones or not.

user friendliness

Samsung's Tizen operating system is fine. There is nothing wrong with that. I think most people will navigate it easily enough. Maybe it just feels a little stale to me because I've used it so often and I've been using it for a long time. I will say that Samsung's automatic detection function, which detects what you have connected to the TV, labels it correctly and allows immediate control via its own remote control, is something I have always appreciated on Samsung TVs and that for the user friendliness of this television set is of great importance.

Compared to LG's webOS, which looks a bit dated, Tizen makes less effort to integrate the smart home, which I think is a little more geared towards meeting the needs of television. Tizen also complies with LG's webOS in that it combines free wireless and free TV channels provided over the Internet and summarizes everything in one guide.

Compared to Android TV, which is used by Sony, Tizen feels a bit more individual, but less language-friendly. Samsung added the ability to make Amazon Alexa the default voice assistant – much better than Samsung's own Bixby – but the integration was uncomfortable for me. Android TV makes using the Google Assistant very easy.

picture quality

It gets a little tricky here. From the moment I turned on the Q90T for the first time, I found that it had a problem with the uniformity of the panel. Certain areas of the screen appear blotchy, which is known in television circles as the dirty screen effect (DSE). I've seen this on less expensive TVs, but never on a premium Samsung.

Dan Baker

I think that's an anomaly. Let me explain.

First of all, it is clear that this TV has been used before – the screws of the TV stand were in a sandwich bag and I could see some small scratches on the back of the TV. In addition, the TV box saw significantly more than the typical mailing campaign. Speaking to representatives from Samsung, I also learned that, given the global coronavirus pandemic, it was difficult to send review samples to reviewers, and part of this fight meant that the device I had received was unlikely to be checked, before it was shipped to me.

The Q90T is a top performer.

I have requested a replacement sample for Q90T and will update this review as soon as I have made a second review. I only offer this option in extreme cases when I suspect that a television is damaged or otherwise defective. Until then, my rating and rating for this TV contains the uniformity issues I've seen.

But uniformity is only part of the picture quality. Otherwise, the Q90T is a first-class service provider.

The Q90T's black levels are the best I've seen outside of Samsung's own high-end models (like the 8K Q900R and probably the Q800T, which I haven't checked yet) and the Sony and LG OLED TVs, one use completely different technology. Blooming is well controlled, which is particularly evident when, in some films, subtitles run across the bottom black letterbox bars without turning the black bar gray.

Dan Baker

The brightness is more than sufficient. Using Portrait Display's Calman software, along with a SpectraCal C6 HDR colorimeter and a Videoforge Pro pattern generator, I measured the sustained peak brightness in HDR at 1500 nits, which is bright enough to provide a stunning HDR image from the Screen appears. Compared to the brightness of the Sony X900H of 750 nits that I am currently evaluating, the number is twice as high, although I would say that it is not twice as bright.

The Q90T delivers a breathtaking picture

The color accuracy in the Q90T's film image preset was immediately ready for use in both SDR and HDR. I've made minor adjustments to the white balance that have further improved color accuracy, but I think most people will love the color of the TV without any adjustment. So far, only the Sony X900H has achieved ready-to-use color accuracy, but with a slightly lower color volume due to the lower HDR brightness. However, I still have a lot of TVs to check, so I will be running updates all year round.

Apart from technical data and dimensions, the Q90T delivers a breathtaking picture. In my case, the dirty screen effect was a distraction, but it didn't affect other performance elements. I suspect that the replacement device I am getting has a more typical "clean" panel than I have seen in the past.

I have a complaint that I am less optimistic that a replacement TV will respond, and this is a rainbow effect that I have observed on the screen. This can be a side effect of Samsung's anti-glare treatment or the wide-angle viewing layer, both of which are very effective for the intended purpose. This is also something that I would like to investigate further and that I will update as I learn more.

When I saw this TV for several days, I was often amazed by its picture quality. Samsung tends to over-brighten the picture, especially in HDR mode, but I suspect this move away from technical accuracy is actually enjoyed by many viewers. However, purists should check out the Sony A8H OLED, the Sony X900H LED or one of LG's OLED televisions if strict compliance with the intent of the creator is of the utmost importance.

Gaming performance

This is an excellent TV for gamers. The Q90T's response time is among the best I've seen from a VA LCD panel, its input delay is also exceptional at just 10 ms in game mode, and its support for Freesync VRR will be a huge bonus for gamers, especially if the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X arrive.

At this point, the only televisions that can compete for games with the Q90T are LG's OLEDs that topping Nvidia's G-Sync VRR.

Our opinion

The Q90T will likely turn out to be one of the best 4K HDR LED TVs you can buy in 2020. Without the suspicious problems with panel uniformity I've seen, this TV would be enthusiastically received by me. I suspect a replacement pattern review will lift all of the caveats as the Q90T outperforms any other television I've seen in its class this year and in all previous years. It's no small thing that Samsung offers such premium picture quality at a significantly cheaper price than last year.

Is there a better alternative?

At this point, I have not yet tested a superior 4K LED TV for the Q90T. I'm excited to see what Vizio brings this year and I've been impressed with the Sony X900H so far, but if history is an indicator, the Q90T will be one of the best 4K LED TVs you can buy this year.

You can find more options in our best TVs of 2020.

How long it will take?

With an HDMI 2.1 input, the TV supports extended functions for many years. I suspect that this television will continue to exist in the future.

warranty

Samsung offers a one-year warranty on parts and labor for home use and a 90-day warranty on parts and labor for commercial use.

Should you buy it

I'm holding back to give this TV the "Digital Trends Recommended Product" award, but I still think the answer is "yes" until a solution to the extremely uniformity of my sample is found. This is one of the best TVs you can buy this year. If you find problems with the uniformity of the panel that were to some extent a problem for all TV brands, you can request a replacement from your authorized Samsung dealer.

Editor's recommendations

04 May

Blog

Samsung Galaxy Book Flex Review: QLED For the Big Win

May 4, 2020
Posted by Samson

"The Samsung Galaxy Book Flex offers incredible battery life and a vibrant QLED display."

Light, thin design
Good performance
Excellent battery life
The QLED display has great colors
Built-in S-pin

Cumbersome keyboard placement
Huge lower bezel

Samsung operates a tech empire. From phones and televisions to air purifiers and vacuum cleaners, Samsung has expanded everything down to the individual components that drive these products.

However, laptops have always been the only small domain outside their limits. Sure, there have been a lot of Samsung laptops over the years, but none that were really worth putting up Samsung's proud banner.

But 2020 is the year of conquering Samsung's laptops, and the Galaxy Book Flex is its war horse. It starts at $ 1,349, though my more expensive configuration comes with 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB of storage, and a Core i7 processor. No question, this is the best laptop Samsung has ever made. But is that one you should buy?

QLED display and battery life

The Galaxy Book Flex has some outstanding features that come from other areas of the Samsung empire. The most notable feature is the QLED display. This comes from Samsung's hugely successful TV business. As an alternative to the standard LED, the Galaxy Book Flex is the first laptop to use QLED that uses quantum dots. The results are groundbreaking.

It's bright (428 nits) and has a high contrast (1,080: 1), but QLED really makes a difference in color gamut and accuracy. It hits 92 percent of Adobe RGB, a color space that most laptop screens struggle with. This colorful, accurate screen is important for photographers. Perhaps it is one of the best photo laptops you can get at this price.

There is even an "outdoor mode" that increases the brightness to 600 nits. This can be useful if you work outdoors. This is Samsung that flexes its muscles.

The Galaxy Book Flex offers the best battery life you can get with a laptop.

However, Samsung has two competitors. The 13-inch MacBook Pro still has a brighter, more colorful screen and a higher-resolution display. OLED screens also offer better contrast and better colors, but are rare on 13-inch laptops. There is only one option for the HP Specter x360 13 and only available in 4K. It looks good, but it's expensive. The Specter is a $ 300 display upgrade, while the Galaxy Book Flex QLED is standard.

In addition, 4K OLED screens are expensive in terms of performance. The Galaxy Book Flex's QLED 1080p is far better in terms of battery life. In fact, the Galaxy Book Flex has some of the best battery life you can get in a laptop.

It delivers almost 14 hours of battery with low power consumption and a whopping 17.5 hours when playing local videos (no streaming). Many laptops promise such numbers, but none deliver as much as the Galaxy Book Flex. It overtook the Dell XPS 13 battery life champion by an hour and lasted more than twice as long as the 4K Specter x360.

Sticking to 1080p helps here, but Samsung also jammed a 69.7-watt-hour battery. It's a huge battery for a laptop of this size that pays off.

S pen and keyboard

The S Pen was also borrowed from another Samsung product – in this case the Galaxy Note. Earlier Samsung laptops also used the S Pen, such as the Notebook 9 Pen and the Galaxy Book 2 from 2018. The pen itself has not changed, but is now in a slot above the keyboard. Clicking on the pin in the slot ejects it, making it quick and easy to access (and you won't lose it). This accessibility has always been special about the S Pen: it is part of the device and not an additional peripheral.

The S Pen is suitable for all common pen functions such as notes, sketching and selecting. A button on the S Pen opens a familiar options menu that allows you to dive straight into the drawing on the screen. These simple apps are fairly simple, but provide a good entry point to try the S Pen for the first time.

A larger pen like the Surface Pen or the Apple Pencil fits better in the hand for illustrations and detailed work. The S-pen is just long enough to fit in my hand and doesn't mimic the feel of a real pencil as well. However, that was never the point. As with the Galaxy Note, the greatest strength of the S Pen is its convenience. It's always there and it's easy to take out and start writing.

The Galaxy Book Flex is a 2-in-1 device, meaning you can fold the screen flat with its 360-degree hinge. Unfortunately, the screen is pretty shaky and the hinge is a bit loose, so using it in a position other than completely flat makes it difficult to take notes.

The S Pen's convenient location also has a disadvantage. To make room in the case, Samsung had to impair the typing experience. The keyboard sits closer to you and leaves less space for the palm rests. They are one centimeter narrower than a MacBook Air and about half a centimeter narrower than the Dell XPS 13. The lack of support is just enough to make typing on the Galaxy Book Flex uncomfortable, as the edges of the aluminum case dig into your palms . The keyboard layout also feels tight, although the keycaps are no smaller than most laptops.

To make matters worse, the Galaxy Book Flex uses a keyboard with low travel. It's not as flat as the old MacBook keyboards, but the keystrokes could take a little more depth.

The touchpad is quiet, easy to track and can even be used as a wireless charger. Now there is something I have never seen in a laptop. A Qi-enabled phone or a pair of earphones will charge wirelessly, which is a nice addition. You can't use the laptop often when a phone is in the way, but I could imagine that this is a convenient option in a confined space.

design

In the past, Samsung made some of the lightest laptops. They were also some of the most flimsy. The Galaxy Book Flex manages to balance these two things by providing aluminum for stability and keeping the weight at just 2.5 pounds. It's lighter than the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 and the MacBook Air, but built just as well as the Galaxy smartphones with which it shares its brand.

The Galaxy Book Flex is pretty too. The silver-colored, diamond-cut edges subtly reflect the light, and of course the dark blue color is unforgettable. If you want something different, but even bolder, check out the red on the Galaxy Chromebook, the Chrome alternative to Flex.

Both are a little too brave for my preference. The flex resembles the HP Elite Dragonfly in tone, but is even brighter and more pronounced. Compared to the Flex's two main competitors, the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 and the HP Specter x360, the Galaxy Book Flex is the aesthetic that I least prefer.

It's more than just a color preference. The steady rests are my real touch. The top and bottom edges are narrow, and to make up for this, the Galaxy Book Flex has an unusually large lower chin. It is a real eyesore. When you sit next to the XPS 13, it's strange how high the screen starts. In addition to the MacBook Air, it even looks strange, which I often criticize for its large bezels.

These bezels spoil the otherwise attractive design.

On the silver sides you will find a selection of USB-C ports, but no full-size USB-A. Two Thunderbolt 3 ports flank the right side next to the power switch and S-pin. The headphone jack, the microSD card slot and a USB-C 3.1 port are on the left.

Next to these connections is a pair of speaker grilles. The audio output is branded by AKG and the result is impressive sound quality. The MacBook Air is in another league, but the Galaxy Book Flex has a fuller-bodied audio profile than some of its competitors and even offers a hint of bass in the mix. It blows the XPS 13 2-in-1 out of the water with thin, downward-facing speakers.

performance

The Galaxy Book Flex is powered by a standard mix of high-end components. On the processor side, the latest 10th generation Ice Lake processors from Intel are used, which provide the laptop with four cores, eight threads and a base clock speed of 1.3 GHz. My test device was the Core i7 variant with 16 GB RAM, although the only 13-inch model sold in the USA only has 8 GB RAM. It also comes with 512 GB SSD storage.

I would like to see more configurations in the future, but the one offered is a fairly fast computer. My daily routine consists of dozens of Chrome tabs, Spotify, Slack, Office and some light photo editing. The Galaxy Book Flex never flinched. It'll crank up its fans and seem to get a little warm by chance, but it was never loud or hot enough to distract.

There are faster laptops like the XPS 13 in this class. The Galaxy Book Flex was only 5 percent behind in Geekbench 5, but 24 percent slower in Handbrake video coding. You may not be planning much video encoding with the Galaxy Book Flex, but the ability to create content may be somewhat limited compared to the powerful XPS 13. Still, it's one of the more powerful laptops with these processors.

The Galaxy Book Flex also has Iris Plus graphics. This is the greatly improved integrated graphics from Intel, which promises twice the performance of the old Intel UHD graphics. The Core i7 model has the best of these Iris Plus graphics, which allow for improved content creation and even easy gaming.

It was still struggling with a game like Fortnite, which is unfortunate. You need to reduce the resolution to playable frame rates. But the Galaxy Book Flex can handle lighter games like Rocket League without too much trouble.

Our opinion

The Galaxy Book Flex is everything you could want in a modern laptop. It's slim, portable, and powerful – and outperforms some of the best laptops in key areas like display and battery life. Adding the S-pin to the case is just the icing on the cake.

Some minor user experience issues such as keyboard placement and front panel size prevent them from getting really great, but it is without a doubt the best laptop Samsung has ever made.

Are there alternatives?

There are tons of laptop options out there, but the Flex's closest rivals are the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 and the HP Specter x360 13. The Galaxy Book Flex gains battery life and display, even though I match the keyboard and frame size of the other options prefer. The Specter x360 is also a battery life champion and the cheapest of the three. I prefer the design and look of the XPS 13 2-in-1, although the Galaxy Book Flex's colorful QLED screen is ideal for photographers. I wish there was a 4K option as well as a cheaper Core i5 model.

When you're ready to go without the 2-in-1 element, the Dell XPS 13 remains the best laptop you can buy as it can be configured with a touchscreen.

How long it will take?

The Galaxy Book Flex should last for at least four or five years. The components are up to date and the build quality is excellent. Samsung offers a one-year limited warranty at the time of purchase.

Should you buy it

Yes. The first-class battery life and the display make it an outstanding 2-in-1 laptop.