Chuwi changed into one of the first Chinese pc (and laptop) manufacturers to leap on the crowdfunding bandwagon; an automobile used successfully to elevate tens of millions of dollars to finance 5 separate merchandise over the last two years.
The Hero book is the contemporary offering to come out of its design labs and try to wow affluent consumers looking for a laptop that appears extraordinary, plays admirably, and doesn’t fee the earth.
Design
You can get without difficulty hint the layout journey because it has been that Chuwi’s team has carved out during the last 3 years: from the Chuwi Hi12 to the Hi13, the SurBook, the SurBook Mini, the LapBook 12. The Hi10, the LapBook Air, the LapBook SE, and the cutting-edge newcomer, the HeroBook. The manner of evolution is seen through those fashions, with Chuwi forging its own identification after several iterations.
The Hero book embraces the brushed metallic finish and space gray color scheme of the MacBook’s own family, however, without going to extremes to reduce the dimensions. The laptop measures 310 x 209 x 16mm (at its thickest factor) with a weight of one.27kg; no longer as nimble as the Dell XPS thirteen, but quite outstanding.
Having more space to play with allowed Chuwi to go large on connectors and enlargement capabilities. There’s a detachable cover that hides an M.2 slot; that’s manifestly fantastic if you want to add more storage. Furthermore, there are two USB 3.Zero ports, one USB Type-C connector, one microSD card slot, one mini-HDMI, and one audio jack (but no Kensington lock here).
Note that the Type-C connector permits you to fee the laptop, which paves the way for a few interesting possibilities – and Chuwi has judiciously delivered a proprietary port powered by a small brick electricity supply unit (12V, 2A).
Flip the computer over, and you’ll observe a pair of factors. First, four black, spherical rubber toes elevate the pocketbook using a few millimeters, and then there’s the fact that there are no air vents. Indeed, the computer is totally quiet in operation, even below load. However, it does warm up; however, the greater warmness is hastily dissipated thanks to the big heatsink, the aluminum alloy shell.
Specifications
Chuwi opted for an older processor for this product, the Intel Core m3-6Y30, a Skylake (sixth-technology) 14nm dual-center processor. If that seems ordinary, understand that there are presently supply issues with Intel’s CPU inventory. Possibly this explains why Chuwi has been compelled to fall back on a processor that’s four years vintage.
However, that doesn’t mean this Intel chip is gradual – far from it, as we can see later. And with a TDP of four.5W, it runs cooler and consumes less strength than the likes of Intel’s Celeron N4100 – which must translate into extended battery life. The drawback is that the 6Y30 has older integrated photos and might struggle with packages that thrive on multi-center, as it has 1/2 the number of cores ( rather than four).
Choosing the 6Y30 processor had a knock-on impact on the memory – the Aerobook uses slower LPDDR3 RAM than the quicker, more electricity-green DDR4. The flipside, although, is that it’s far configured in a twin-channel mode which improves reminiscence bandwidth.
Also, note that Chuwi has changed the garage specifications of the laptop multiple instances after hitting stretch desires on Indiegogo. The model despatched for evaluation had 128GB of pressure with slower eMMC flash (the ever-present SanDisk DF4128). The new version will function 128GB eMMC and a 128GB SSD. We are still amazed by the reality that carriers inclusive of Chuwi select to put in the running gadget at the slower pressure, resulting in poorer all-spherical overall performance.
Connectivity-wise, you get 802.11ac Wi-Fi courtesy of an Intel 3165 chip which also affords Bluetooth 4.2. All that is powered by using a 38WHr battery with additional custom BIOS optimization from Chuwi engineers.
Performance and usage
Let’s forget any doubts apart: this laptop is far quicker than any N4100-powered tool we have examined yet, which shouldn’t come as a marvel. Most packages are satisfactory-tuned for unmarried-thread computing, which explains why the m3-6Y30 processor did nicely on many of those benchmarks but fell far behind N4100 gadgets (just like the Teclast F7 Plus) multi-threaded tests.
The 13.3-inch IPS Full HD display is glossy with very skinny bezels (as small as 6mm) with a claimed display screen-to-body ratio of 80%, in addition to being “fully laminated.” It gives a decent color gamut and is shiny enough for ordinary usage, although it will warfare in brilliant daylight hours.
As for the keyboard, it’s miles beneficiant in share with slightly concave, backlit keys, which have an awesome journey and super remarks. We wouldn’t object to the use of it for touch typing.
Chuwi chose to have a crimson border for the energy button, which we’ve been instructed is a choice that turned into made to save your users from accidentally shutting down their laptops. We encountered very little keyboard flex at some point of our checking out; however, your mileage may also vary depending on your typing fashion, of course.
The touchpad is ready for the scale of two credit cards and supports Windows 10 gesture management. It is smooth and pretty touchy. However, our sample appeared to have an exceptional control difficulty, as one corner protruded ever so barely above the palm relaxation.
The competition
The retail price of the Aerobook could be around the $500 mark for the 256GB version – that’s a fair bit of coins for what is largely an unknown brand in the western international. So what form of opposition would possibly this notebook have? A couple of models spring to mind.
The jumper has a comply with the EZBook X4 that we reviewed final yr, and with a Pro moniker, you’d expect a few fireworks. However, the reality is that it’s a mixed bag: it has 4 speakers, a backlit keyboard, a big touchpad, and a design that’s harking back to the Xiaomi Mi Laptop Air. At $490, it’s far cheaper than the Aerobook but comes with an older CPU – a Core i3-5005U. Ouch!
The Dell Inspiron 13 7375 2-in-1 computer is a ways greater high priced at $630, but the way to everyday promotions (the only at the time of writing is 15% off), you may get this machine for approximately $530. It’s equipped with a completely rapid Ryzen five 2500U processor wearing one of the fastest integrated portraits ever produced, in conjunction with 8GB of DDR4 reminiscence, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and a 45WHr battery. You best get a 128GB SSD, but that’s an amazing compromise given that there’s a 13.3-inch FHD touchscreen show.
Neither HP nor Lenovo had similar competitive offers – at the time of writing – to compete with the above, although several products pitched on the $six hundred fee factor.
Commercial enterprises take
Chuwi killed the distracting and vain lit-up brand at the back and has embraced a subdued, low-key design rather resonate well with an enterprise target audience eager on first-class however now not on flashiness. That said, businesses may have little impetus to shop for the Aerobook while simplest, barely more costly options exist that shouldn’t be offered abroad.
Chuwi’s device is a splendid laptop – don’t get us incorrect – however, for SMB or SoHo purchasers, if something is going incorrect with the system, the idea of getting to ship the laptop back to mainland China – at their personal expense, and without a substitute – would possibly well be something few could need to contemplate. Unlike cheaper fashions (like the $280 Chuwi Laptop SE), this notebook isn’t ‘disposable’ enough to warrant shopping for a pair, and preserving one in reserve, just in case. We’ve picked out the first-rate enterprise laptops of 2019.
