Opinions on the Galaxy Book Flex 15? Or any better 2in1?

[10KiloVolts]

  Hello! New to LTT, but been a big fan for a while @_@ I recently graduated high school (yay!), and now that my first fall semester of college is coming up, I need to get myself a laptop. I want a 2-in-1 preferably, since I can't seem to find many good windows Tablets that boast decent specs. My main concern is over the Battery, then probably its processing, then its display, then all the other stuff like ports, keyboard, size, heat, etc.

 

  So far, my favorite choice is the Galaxy Book Flex 15, which sites say has really good battery life, an S-Pen built in, and QLED 1080p all for ~$1400. (I'm not too knowledgeable on display, so pls tell me if that's considered good.) I have a budget of around $2000, so I'm completely fine with spending money, but would anyone give their opinion of the Flex 15, and any other tablet or 2in1 suggestions? I mainly don't care too much on specs, as long as it runs the basic stuff. I won't really be playing many games on it, maybe Osu! and Minecraft at the most, but I more importantly hope that it runs the Adobe apps like Photoshop and Premiere Pro. Obviously I'd also prefer a battery that will last for the day, which will be around 10 hours, as my lectures start at 8 and end at 5-ish. I'd also prefer it be good enough to not have to buy another in 4 years before I hopefully get my Bachelor's in Biology

[BiotechBen]

Might I recommend something more like this?:

https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/hp-envy-x360-2-in-1-laptop-15-ey0797nr

 

Having dealt with someone who had a pixelbook (yes I know they aren't a 1:1 comparison) at uni, it was super convenient for battery life but wasn't really suited for more than browsing or taking notes.

 

And as someone who is (hopefully) going to be getting their piece of paper this August for Biology, I wish you luck. Organic Chem is going to be really hard, keep at it, don't feel intimidated to ask for help, yes you do really need to study. If you are someone who really likes the investigative part: you are going to love Microbiology.

Remember: keep at it, get through your gen eds with good grades, and fight the voice telling you to drop out when you feel hopeless.

[Bombastinator]

Better for what?  The generic “best 2 in 1” is an iPad with a keyboard portfolio cover.  Lately because it’s the only truely functional tablet.  I’m kind of assuming you’re avoiding that though. 

[BiotechBen]

2 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Better for what?  The generic “best 2 in 1” is an iPad with a keyboard portfolio cover.  Lately because it’s the only truely functional tablet.  I’m kind of assuming you’re avoiding that though. 

Have to agree that an m1 ipad is gonna be epic for uni, especially for the ecosystem, but x86 based machines are still kinda required for biology. I speak from experience.

[Bombastinator]

5 minutes ago, BiotechBen said:

Have to agree that an m1 ipad is gonna be epic for uni, especially for the ecosystem, but x86 based machines are still kinda required for biology. I speak from experience.

Hence the question.  So you’re going to ini but need a PC (which I am assuming means x86) to do the bio stuff? This one sounds pretty specific.  An m1 can emulate x86 with something like a 10% speed hit.  The big advantage x86 machines have is they can use dGPUS which can radically speed up certain functions other than graphics. 2 in1s don’t have them though unless you can find a 2 in 1 with a thunderbolt port (I don’t know of any off hand, but it doesn’t seem impossible to me so there could be some) and then go with an eGPU box

Edited June 30, 2022 by Bombastinator

[BiotechBen]

2 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

Hence the question.  So you’re going to ini but need a PC (which I am assuming means x86) to do the bio stuff? This one sounds pretty specific.  An m1 can emulate x86 with something like a 10% speed hit.  The big advantage x86 machines have is they can use dGPUS which can radically speed up certain functions other than graphics. 2 in1s don’t have them though unless you can find a 2 in 1 with a thunderbolt port (I don’t know of any off hand, but it doesn’t seem impossible to me so there could be some) and then go with an eGPU box

Isn't necessarily for hardcore stuff, mostly for programs that need XP compatibility to run because the programs haven't really changed since then so there was no need to buy new perpetual licences for the programs.

[Bombastinator]

30 minutes ago, BiotechBen said:

Isn't necessarily for hardcore stuff, mostly for programs that need XP compatibility to run because the programs haven't really changed since then so there was no need to buy new perpetual licences for the programs.

A virtual machine will do fine for that.  Might even be preferred actually.  Assuming that iOS will even do a virtual machine.

[Qyygle]

Do you really care about the stylus functionality? If that's a major concern for you, I'd say the galaxy book would be best. Battery probably won't be as great as the noted 10 hours, but honestly, you don't have to worry too much about anything that'll last past 8 hours for college. Power ports are all over on a campus.

 

Will this be your only computer? If it is, I can't recommend going the iPad route. Between the galaxy book and ipad, I'd actually give the galaxy book the better pen performance, and it'll be a lot more versatile in terms of usage. If you are going to use a portable tablet for going to classes paired with a desktop or something for more heavy work, an iPad could be a feasible choice.

 

If you need an all in one as your main machine though, your choice is fine. The HP recommended above is also a nice option, it'll do comparable and with the AMD chip might have a longer battery even. The stylus will be worse, and you'll give up USB4/Thunderbolt. The integrated graphics on both of these are fine for things like Minecraft or Osu, etc. Another option would be one of HP's Spectre lineup, or a Lenovo Flex

[Bombastinator]

What would the number of years you would use the thing with a PaaS go for?  I just have no idea about pricing for that. Might be the best way to go if it’s cheap and there’s good bandwidth or the worst way to go if it’s not or there isn’t.  As for stylus functionality my memory is the second best was the Microsoft surface 3 but specifically for not taking and highlighting stuff.  It didn’t actually draw all that well.  The best is the Apple Pencil 2 along with whatever it works with its $200 though and always sold seperately. 

[10KiloVolts]

6 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

Better for what?  The generic “best 2 in 1” is an iPad with a keyboard portfolio cover.  Lately because it’s the only truely functional tablet.  I’m kind of assuming you’re avoiding that though. 

Mainly better in the preferences I listed (those being battery, performance, and display) as long as it's around the $2000 pricetag or lower.

[Bombastinator]

51 minutes ago, 10KiloVolts said:

Mainly better in the preferences I listed (those being battery, performance, and display) as long as it's around the $2000 pricetag or lower.

$2000 is a lot for a 2 in 1.  So adding battery life and display quality to xp compatibility.  Still iPad.  By a lot in the case of display. The impression I get in general is that for 2-in-1s it kinda goes apple, Microsoft, everyone else.  With everyone else a distant 3rd. 

[Qyygle]

10 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

What would the number of years you would use the thing with a PaaS go for?  I just have no idea about pricing for that. Might be the best way to go if it’s cheap and there’s good bandwidth or the worst way to go if it’s not or there isn’t.  As for stylus functionality my memory is the second best was the Microsoft surface 3 but specifically for not taking and highlighting stuff.  It didn’t actually draw all that well.  The best is the Apple Pencil 2 along with whatever it works with its $200 though and always sold seperately. 

If you're comparing pen technology, the general consensus has changed a bit with Microsoft's current version of MPP, but that specifically applies only to the Surface Pro 8 and Surface Laptop Studio, paired with a new Slim pen 2. Older models are a third place at best. At pricing for these two though, I would not recommend them unless you absolutely need that pen + Surface experience.

 

At the top end of stylus performance, you're looking at Apple's Pencil vs. any kind of recent Wacom EMR tablet, which the Galaxy Book qualifies under. Any of Samsung's S Pen tech is using Wacom EMR. I prefer EMR over the Apple pencil, it gives you a lot more options in pen selection and can allow use of side buttons and top erasers, which is actually really intuitive compared to the Pencil's only option of side tapping to switch. EMR pens also don't require their own battery or charging, so you'll never need to worry about making sure the stylus is charged.

 

At the bottom of stylus performance is Wacom AES or Microsoft's MPP. In the past, these have been pretty similar, and it really depended on the manufacturer and sometimes even laptop model as to how good they were. The HPs are probably using the old MPP, Lenovo's typically used AES, but for general notes and things they can be usable. I'd not consider this for art or sketching.