My previous daily driver was a 1st gen. MSFT Surface Go (4415Y Processor, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD) running extremely light antiX Linux because it was really hurting running Windows. I’m a full-time nomad without intensive computing needs and the Surface suited me well for a long time, and did it while being tiny and light (I travel with a personal item only: https://lighterpack.com/r/omk8nf ). But all good things must come to an end so during the holidays I caught a sale on the MiniBook X for $273 and I made the switch.
Here is a YT playlist of every MiniBook X N100 review I’ve come across: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmZV3o22A6b8hxX_P5-qCLhajNpCXqoyl
My observations are in no particular order…
- The MiniBook X is slightly heavier. 2.04 lbs vs. 1.93 lbs (detachable keyboard and USBC gen USB 3.2 Gen 2x1 dongle comparable with the USBC ports on the Chuwi included). I thought this was a worthy tradeoff for the horsepower and active cooling. Here are a few pics of both:
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The unit feels very compact, solid, and well-built. Fit and finish is good. It’s like a little tank.- The keyboard works well and I like the backlighting. But keep in mind I am used to the even smaller Surface Go keyboard. Still, I think most folks would enjoy the spacing and typing experience.
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The trackpad is another story. It’s nice and slick and scrolls through web pages just fine, but it’s tiny (a tradeoff for the larger keys). Thankfully I work mostly with a mouse. One annoying part about the trackpad is it only allows you to drag an item halfway across the trackpad and then it will “drop” the item at the halfway point across the trackpad, wherever that ends up on your screen. In order to drag an item freely across your screen, use two fingers. One to select the icon/item and hold that finger still pressing the left click on the trackpad, then use a second finger to move the item across your screen completely. The trackpad registers taps well and if you want the full click you need to use the bottom of the trackpad.
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During normal browsing of the web and playing YT videos the unit is silent. I’m sure there are times when the fan kicks on, but I don’t hear it. The only time I hear the fan is when the CPUs are maxed out and even then the CPU fan is entirely reasonable. With the stock rubber nubs on the bottom of the unit, airflow is adequate to keep CPU temperatures reasonable. The fan keeps up and maintains temperatures in the high 50s to low 70s Celcius. I see no need to increase the airflow underneath the device when the laptop is on a desk. But if you use the laptop on your lap and (partially) block the air vents on the underside of the laptop, things get understandably toasty. I only really have the laptop on my lap when I’m in bed and I’m just watching YouTube or browsing the web. To be safe, I keep my other hand between my legs and the laptop to ensure there is airflow.
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The screen is fine in terms of brightness indoors, but only just adequate. If it were any more dim, I would not be happy. The screen dims down well in low light though. I don’t use the touchscreen much, but it seems to work fine with my fingers. I don’t own a stylus so can’t test there. Reviewers talk about the 50 Hertz display, but I don’t notice any lack of smoothness. I’m not a gamer and it works fine for me. I see there are mods to increase the refresh rate, but I’m not willing to improve on the smoothness at the cost of battery life.
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Reviews talk about “coil whine” and I don’t notice any whining with my unit, but when I plug in a pair of wired headphones AND the USBC power is plugged in (any power supply, not just the one that came with the unit), I hear a slight scratching any time there is movement on the screen. I’m unsure if this is the coil whine folks talk about, but I don’t notice it anymore, especially with ambient noise and I definitely don’t hear anything if I’m playing music at even the slightest volume through the audio jack. Also, when using BT headphones I don’t hear this slight scratching in any scenario.
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Performance. I mainly fart around in a web browser with a crap-ton of browser tabs open and watch Youtube videos. This laptop with the N100 processor performs wonderfully well for this and doesn’t break a sweat. I would think this unit would work for any college student (except for battery life in classes all day) in terms of processing power, RAM utilization, and storage unless I was someone doing high-end graphics work or compiling code all day. So will full-blown Windows 11 it does the job just fine and I can’t wait to see how snappy things get with Linux.
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There is conflicting information about what each of the two USBC ports can and cannot do. My guess is this is because the laptop has evolved and this is also why you need to supply Chuwi support with your S/N so they can look up exactly what components came with your unit to supply the correct Windows drivers. First of all, throw out the charger they include as it is not PD compliant and I have read reports of it frying other electronics. My 45W PD Anker charger does wonderfully. For my personal unit, The USBC port closest to me does not charge as fast as the port farthest away from me, but they both get the job done. I don’t have the means to test specifics and I have not tested HDMI out via a dongle on both ports yet.
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I have not tested battery life yet, but I suspect it won’t be very long given the two-cell battery. My laptop is plugged in 99% of the time. I see there are replacement batteries out there and replacing a worn battery looks to be very easy.
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The speakers are weak, tinny, but clear. My Surface Go had better speakers, but I mostly use headphones so no loss there.
The only thing I want right now is the ability to limit the charge of the battery to <100% for longevity. My old Surface Go could keep the charge to 50% and I’m confident this is why the Surface Go never had a swelled battery and is still in good shape since 2019. Unfortunately, Chuqi keeps the BIOS options very limited. But I do see there is a way to limit the battery charge in Linux and I’ll give that a shot after settling up dual boot Linux and Windows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14yC4GVGutQ
Otherwise for $<300, this thing rocks! I can’t ask for more. Enjoy!
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