It is a fact: getting a cheap laptop today is easier than a decade ago, when the average price of laptops did not fall below 500 euros. Currently it is possible to get a relatively capable team for a value around 200 euros. Within this price range Chuwi is the manufacturer that takes the cake. On Amazon and AliExpress, models such as the HeroBook, the HeroBook Pro or the AeroBook have accumulated dozens of ratings from users. Are they reliable in the long term? Chuwi is a good brand? What limitations do they have compared to a traditional laptop?
index of contents
- Design: its greatest attraction
- Along with the design, the display
- Performance, the Achilles heel of Chuwi notebooks
- Battery life - on par with the competition
- Long-term reliability, that great unknown
- Beware of the warranty
Design: its greatest attraction
We will not deny it: Chuwi's laptops remind us irretrievably of Apple's. For better and for worse.
Currently, most of the brand's laptops use an aluminum chassis that is only 1.3 centimeters thick and 1.5 kilograms in weight . This is accompanied by a backlit keyboard very similar to what we can find in apple computers. Unfortunately its distribution is American, although we can always use adhesive stickers.
Finally, it should be noted the size of the trackpad, with a surface very similar to that of the latest Apple MacBooks. The good news is that they are compatible with Precision Drivers , Microsoft's drivers for touch mice.
Along with the design, the display
So is. The cheaper Chuwi models have an IPS panel with Full HD resolution. The level of brightness and color representation is not far from that of a smartphone, in the words of some of its users. It is understood, therefore, that the brand uses quality panels .
If we opt for a more expensive model, the screen is based on a panel with 4K resolution , although this can partially reduce the performance of the system, which as we will see below is not the most appropriate.
Performance, the Achilles heel of Chuwi notebooks
The cost savings on the part of the Asian firm drink largely from the internal components, starting with the processor.
As a general rule, most Chuwi models integrate a processor from the Intel Atom series or the M series at best . Both are intended for office automation and multimedia playback tasks, not for programs like Photoshop, Camtasia or Cubase.
This cost savings is also carried over to RAM and internal memory. Almost all Chuwi laptops start from 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage, a storage based, generally, on eMMC 5.1 type flash memory, the type of memory that we can find in low-end mobiles . The result is poor performance on most tasks that require memory access.
Battery life - on par with the competition
The advantage of using low-power processors has a direct impact on battery life. To this must be added that the company implements modules with capacities that start from 38 Wh in the worst case . The total autonomy, although far from what the manufacturer promises, gives for a whole day of work, according to the general opinion about some of the brand's laptops.
Long-term reliability, that great unknown
The cost reduction by the manufacturer is not only seen in the choice of components, but also in their quality. In models of the brand that are currently offered on Amazon such as the Chuwi HeroBook , 24% of users have reported that the product has stopped working from one day to the next . Many others claim that components such as the network card or USB connections show deficiencies after a few months of use.
The bottom line is that Chuwi's laptops are not as reliable as advertised, although this may vary depending on the model.
Beware of the warranty
Chuwi is a Chinese manufacturer, with all that that entails. Any repair that we have to manage must inevitably go through a technical service generally located in China , since Chuwi does not have an official technical service in Spain. This has an impact on the total repair time - from a few weeks to months in the worst case.