Chuwi To Launch Core M Powered AeroBook And Ubook Models
by Brett Howse on February 28, 2019 8:00 AM EST
Chuwi has reached out to let us know that they are releasing a couple of new products soon. In a big move from the low-cost laptop maker, they are moving up several steps on the performance ladder with these new models which will both feature the Core m3-6Y30 processor. Previously, Chuwi has relied on the less-expensive Intel Atom lineup, most recently with Gemini Lake, so this is a significant departure for the company, and should be exciting to see in the market.
Chuwi AeroBook
Chuwi’s first Core M powered laptop will be the AeroBook, featuring a 13.3-inch 1920x1080 IPS display with 5mm display bezels, offering the modern look of a thin-bezel laptop. Since shrinking the display bezels shrinks the total size of the laptop, the company has also moved to a micro-bezel keyboard allowing them to keep their full-sized keyboard experience in this smaller chassis.
The main attraction though is the CPU. Intel’s Core m3-6Y30 offers a 2.2 GHz maximum frequency for the two cores and four threads, in a 4.5-Watt power envelope. This should offer a significant performance boost over Atom based Celerons that Chuwi has leveraged in the past, especially in the graphics department where the Skylake based Core m3 offers 24 Execution Units, which is twice what is offered on Atom.
Chuwi is offering 8 GB of LPDDR3 on this notebook, and 128 GB of storage. The company also says you can upgrade the storage to 1 TB, which likely means there will be a user-accessible door to add in a SSD, much like their previous models.
The laptop weighs in at just 2.76 lbs, and is 15 mm thick, meaning it is also very portable. The company is rating the battery life as up to 8 hours, but that’s likely ambitious.
Chuwi is hoping to launch the AeroBook in March for around $499.
Chuwi Ubook
The second model is the Chuwi Ubook, which is a 11.6-inch convertible tablet, also powered by Core m3-6Y30. As usual, Chuwi offers a lot of value with their products. In addition to the Core M processor, the tablet will ship with 8 GB of LPDDR3, and 128 GB of storage, and there will be a 1 TB model as well.
There’s plenty of expansion for IO as well, with two USB-A ports and a USB-C port, along with a headset jack, HDMI, and microSD. Unfortunately charging looks to be a 3.5mm barrel plug, and does not use the USB-C connector.
The kickstand is a U-shape, hence the name, and there is infinite adjustability here from 0 to 150°. A 30 Wh battery is rated at up to 9.5 hours, although again that seems ambitious.
The display has pen support as well, and Chuwi is shipping this device with the detachable keyboard at no extra cost.
Chuwi is targeting a price of around $469 for this model, which dramatically undercuts something like the Microsoft Surface Go, which offers a less-powerful platform, less RAM, less storage, and no keyboard at its base price of $400. The 1 TB model is targeting $699.
Both the Ubook and AeroBook look like very interesting devices, plugging a bit of a hole in the market where there’s not a lot of good options in the $400-$600 range. We’re hoping to get some hands on these when they launch and take them for a spin.
Source: Chuwi
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patrickjb - Friday, March 1, 2019 - link
The price and shipping makes this a good deal, but I'm sure if enough of us speak out, we might get a USB Type-C connector included before shipping starts. But regardless it is a very good dealJorgp2 - Thursday, February 28, 2019 - link
Pretty sure the higher end atoms outperform core m CPUs.And they have 18 EUs, not 12.
Valantar - Thursday, February 28, 2019 - link
Nope. The fastest Atoms are the Pentium Silver J5005 (10W, 4c4t) and Celeron J4105 (10W, 4c4t) (both Gemini Lake). The current _slowest_ core M is the m3-8100Y, at 5W, 2c4t. Here's a comparison of them from PassMark:https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-Pentium...
The m3 wins by a decent margin both in ST and overall. Passmark isn't the best source of CPU performance, but it's decent.
Also, the m3 has Intel UHD Graphics 615, which is 24EUs, 6 more than the UHD 600/605 of the Atoms.
patrickjb - Friday, March 1, 2019 - link
yes very accurate, We want a newer processor but going the Atom route is not it at all.Jorgp2 - Friday, March 1, 2019 - link
That doesn't really seem like a decent margin.Plus, is that taking steady state performance into account.
Brett Howse - Friday, March 1, 2019 - link
The laptop models (N Series) have 12 EUs - at least in the Celeron N4100 that Chuwi used. If you check out our Surface Go review:https://www.anandtech.com/show/13864/the-microsoft...
The N4100 is competitive in CPU performance with the Pentium Gold 4415Y but that is 1.6 GHz CPU with no Turbo boost at all. Core m3-6Y30 does have boost.
On the GPU side on that same review you can see that the Gemini Lake platform really struggles there with its 12 EUs.
BramEPC - Thursday, February 28, 2019 - link
I actually _like_ having the the barrel plug option for charging. I don't like having to 'sacrifice' the USB C port for something stupid like charging, though luckily the ubook seems to have 2 of them. I know you can get USB C hubs with PD and if you are lucky they even work correctly with your device, but they are expensive( and will take space, ... ). Ideally you have both options, a PD cable usb C 3.1 connector and a barrel plug.Johnmcl7 - Thursday, February 28, 2019 - link
If you have a barrel socket for a charger you are still giving up a USB-C port for charging because yu could fit a USB-C port in there instead. A barrel socket for charging is wasting space as it can only do charging and nothing else, furthermore it's not standard either. A USB-C port in the same place however can do both data and charging plus it's standard as well.The flaw is any design that only has a single USB-C port as an option for charging, the solution is to ensure there are at least two USB-C ports not to add a proprietary charging socket which offers no advantage.
BramEPC - Friday, March 1, 2019 - link
A barrel plug can be a fraction of the size of and USB-C plug. I assume it is also much cheaper to add. And it is much more robust too (not sure about the robustness of USB-C, microusb is horrible in any case). If i have to choose between 2 PD enabled USB-C connectors or 1 USB-C and one barrel, I 100% agree with you. But most likely it is between USB-C + the barrel plug or just USB-C (aka any smartphone out there) in which case I very much like the one with the barrel plug. I am now thinking mostly of older mobile phones that had USB and a barrel, and allowed to charge the phone from either of them (which is my ideal scenario mentioned above).nwrigley - Thursday, February 28, 2019 - link
I bought an Anandtech recommended Chuwi lapbook. It was the worst piece of technology that I have ever purchased. Battery stopped holding a charge after 3 months. Basic things like the trackpad had no drivers and was completely unusable. I would stay far away.