Apple’s MacBook Air is great laptop with only two or three rivals in its level. Due to its class, it has spawned many copycats, that cost less than $310. The Chuwi LapBook 12.3 is in this category, which simply means the device can only be compared to the MacBook in appearance.
Chuwi is a company that is just having its name popular on books, thanks to its production of budget computers. They are usually low on processing power, but also surprisingly produces good build quality.
The specs of the Chuwi LapBook are just what one can expect for the price range. The laptop is powerd by a 7 Gen Celeron N3450 processor, but comes with 6GB of RAM instead of 4. It also includes 64GB of eMMC storage, but comes with a MicroSD slot and an easily accessible M.2 slot.
There’s also a 2MP front-facing camera, two USB ports, one of which is USB 3.0, and a mini HDMI port.
However, these stats pale in comparison to the display, which was described as “really good” by The Next Web. The Chuwi LapBook 12.3 sports a 12.3-inch IPS panel, with a 2736×1824 (3:2) resolution. It is rated at 450 nits of brightness, and it also has 99 percent sRGB coverage.
These are almost identical specs to the Microsoft Surface Pro display. This is incredibly impressive, compared to the MacBook Air’s 1,440×900 display.
The battery life is another area where the Chuwi LapBook 12.3 falls short of expectations. It is reported to last just 6 hours. But then, intense activity at full brightness would drain the battery in 4 hours, so users would have to economize anyway.
One could look around for laptops as powerful as this at similar prices, but chances are that you won’t find one so easily. If you have a small budget and care about a great display and build quality, the Chuwi LapBook is worth a shot.