Could someone please recommend a small, lightweight 2in1 style x86 laptop? Weight should be way under 1000g/2.2p. Best guess until now was some used Surface model, but those seem to be of really random quality and have overheating issues.
Chuwi Minibook X
201–210 of 318 posts
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#202I'm owner of this laptop - great device for home bed/couch use and traveling, which is easy to take and feels not risky in terms of potential damage or lost.
The screen isn't terrible. Frequency can be easily overclocked from 50 to 80Hz, making the manufacturer's decision quite odd. Good brightness, and after calibration, the colors are even somewhat normal.
In my case, the keyboard works reliably and isn't annoying, although it does take a little getting used to due to the smaller key size.
Only one thing that frustrates me - they cost-cutted on the battery controller. The OS only receives information about the battery voltage, without details on consumption/cycles/Ah. The consumption is hard-coded, which means the battery life estimate is never nearly accurate.
And yeah, terible touchpad but it's not that bad when you have touchscreen.
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#203For on-the-go compute I am using a 2017 12-inch Macbook (AS1534). This is a lesser known model, it was simply called "12 inch MacBook" (not air or pro) [0].
It has the aluminium body, it is ridiculously thin (3,5mm thinnest point, 13mm thickest point, feet included), it weighs just 920 gram. It charges via USB-C. It has a very good 2304 × 1440 (16∶10) IPS "retina" screen.
I run mine with MacOS/Linux dual boot, I charge it using my phone charger. It keep it in my go-bag at all times. I never have to worry being without it.
What to love:
- Super small, yet very sturdy.
- Can be found for relatively cheap (I paid €300 for mine 2 years ago)
- Really nice screen.
- Keyboard size is really good, though travel is obviously minimal with such a thin laptop.
- Plenty of battery life (and new batteries still available at Mac store last time I asked)
- upgraded model has 1.4Ghz dual core i5, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD, which is still more than enough for on-the-go use.
What not to love:
- Has only 1 I/O port (USB-C), which is also used for charging.
- No longer receives MacOS updates, if you find a 2017 production model you get updates up to MacOS 13.
- Linux support is not great. The WiFi/Bluetooth chip (BCM15700A2) is not fully supported in Linux, WiFi works but Bluetooth doesn't. Audio via headphone jack works, but speakers don't. There are some experimental patches to get BT and speakers somewhat working, but it's not great.
If you can find it, get a late production model (2017) with the 1.4Ghz CPU upgrade, it will have 16gb RAM instead of 8gb (earlier models) and receive MacOS updates up to MacOS 13.
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#204For on-the-go compute I am using a 2017 12-inch Macbook (AS1534). This is a lesser known model, it was simply called "12 inch MacBook" (not air or pro) [0]. It has the aluminium body, it is ridiculously thin (3,5mm thinnest point, 13mm thickest point, feet included), it weighs just 920 gram. It charges via USB-C. It has a very good 2304 × 1440 (16∶10) IPS "retina" screen. I run mine with MacOS/Linux dual boot, I char…
I had this laptop and I loved it, but it was underpowered even for basic web development by 2023. It struggled to play YouTube videos in the background while I worked.
I really wish they brought back this format with the modern M processors. On the other hand, my M2 Macbook Air is around 300 grams heavier, but I don't need to carry a power adapter most of the time, and the device is much better in every conceivable way.
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#205I feel like what I really want is a phone that can do this. I've been trying to figure out a reasonable workflow with a tiny mouse, an expandable keyboard, and a phone with termius (SSH Client) + a remote devserver. It's so close, the only issue is the screen is a tad bit too small to get anything real done other than ad hoc vibe coding.
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#206I have one, and I love it! I don't use it as much as I thought I would, but it brings joy everytime. If you have a need for an extremely portable, not very powerful device on your life, this might be it.
I agree with the complaint about the trackpad, but the keyboard has been just fine for me. Just a bit small, of course. I also find the screen perfectly acceptable for what I use this thing for: youtube, taking notes, writing emails, small bouts of coding and ssh'ing into servers.
My main complaint is related to battery management. May be it's becaused I'm used to Macbooks, but it drives me nuts to go pick the Minibook up and find that it has no power, because I haven't used it in a couple of days and I put it to sleep. I haven't measured, but the power use on sleep is noticeable, and I suspect the leakage while hibernating might be significant too.
I don't really like the laptop form factor. Laptops are the perfect solution for only one use case: using them on your lap. On a table, I'd rather have the computer be just a tablet, to add a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. At my desk, with bigger screens, I'd like the computer to disappear into a small puck or box, like a Mac Mini. With the Minibook, being so small, the form factor makes sense again. It's so portable, so easy to take with me to a coffee shop or on a trip, it's worth it.
A tablet with a keyboard might be a more practical solution, although generally more expensive, but I appreciate that my Minibook runs Linux so well, so I don't have to even think about Apple or Google telling me how to use my computer.
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
Confirmed. Minibooks are amazing in cramped locations (for example, airplane seats), or just to always keep in the bag for support. There's nothing in the market like them, which is a shame - I think a slightly better quality Minibook (Chuwis are plain crap) would be a very solid laptop.
a Steam deck with a small form factor keyboard?
I so wanted to love the Steam Deck, but it's a device with a 7 inch screen that occupies a massive volume on your bag. Unless you know you're going to play a fair ammount, it's not worth carrying around.
It's a fantastic console, but a mediocre general purpose computer.
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#208I'm owner of this laptop - great device for home bed/couch use and traveling, which is easy to take and feels not risky in terms of potential damage or lost. The screen isn't terrible. Frequency can be easily overclocked from 50 to 80Hz, making the manufacturer's decision quite odd. Good brightness, and after calibration, the colors are even somewhat normal. In my case, the keyboard works reliably and isn't annoying,…
> Frequency can be easily overclocked from 50 to 80Hz, making the manufacturer's decision quite odd.
99% it was done to extend battery life. It's probably in the order of 5%, but most likely not the only such decision.
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#209Used laptops are such a good deal that you could something high quality in excellent condition for so little that I almost can't justify buying something like this. Like used Dell XPS laptops are ridiculously cheap and they're amazing for the used price. Or really buy any laptop rated highly by Dave2D or other reviewers that's 4 to 5 years old.
This laptop has a 10” screen, weighs 900 grams and runs an efficient N100 cpu. Different category to a 15” 2kg cheap 5 year old dell.
As someone who always favors the smaller laptops that don't require me to gear up an entire backpack just to do a bit of work on the go, I'd argue that the difference between a 10" and 13" screen is not nearly as much as it sounds. I've found the Dell XPS 13's to be an excellent choice for stowing in my service bag so I have a small-but-functional machine on a job site. That and the Dell XPS 13 just has better hardware all around, when stood up against the Chuwi.
15", sure, that's a bit big, but smaller models are available.
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#210I feel like what I really want is a phone that can do this. I've been trying to figure out a reasonable workflow with a tiny mouse, an expandable keyboard, and a phone with termius (SSH Client) + a remote devserver. It's so close, the only issue is the screen is a tad bit too small to get anything real done other than ad hoc vibe coding.
[dead]