Is that this $450 laptop computer from an unknown model too good to be true?

Discovering a superb laptop computer below $500 was onerous sufficient earlier than RAMageddon. They almost at all times had low cost {hardware} and underpowered, usually outdated chips. That’s what made the MacBook Neo so disruptive: It provided nice construct high quality and good-enough efficiency beginning at $599. Home windows laptops couldn’t contact it. Though it’s gone as much as $699, it’s nonetheless the laptop computer to beat.

So when little-known Chinese language model Chuwi introduced a $450 Home windows laptop computer with an aluminum construct and a brand-new Intel Wildcat Lake processor, it sounded too good to be true.

The UniBook is available in one configuration: a 14-inch with an Intel Core 3 304 processor, 8GB of soldered RAM, and a user-swappable 256GB SSD. That’s the lowest-end of Intel’s new Wildcat Lake chips, with simply 5 CPU cores: one efficiency core, and 4 low-power effectivity cores. And the built-in graphics? A single GPU core. The MacBook Neo’s A18 Professional is a six-core CPU / five-core GPU ensemble, and it’s a sizzling rod by comparability.

The UniBook feels sluggish in something past fundamental net shopping, emails, and messaging. Its benchmark scores verify how woefully underpowered that chip is. The MacBook Neo trounces it throughout the board: each single and multicore CPU efficiency, in addition to graphics. Our Adobe Premiere 4K export take a look at took over an hour on the UniBook. (Though no less than it didn’t crash out.) I do know it isn’t designed for video modifying, however neither is the MacBook Neo, and the Neo exports the identical video in below 10 minutes. The one edge the UniBook has is a barely sooner SSD.

However regardless of sooner storage, the UniBook’s 8GB of RAM remains to be a hindrance on Home windows 11. It didn’t randomly lag just like the latest 13-inch Floor Laptop computer did, but it surely isn’t onerous to overwhelm. As on the 8GB Floor, Home windows 11 makes use of wherever from 4.6 to over 5GB of reminiscence on the UniBook after a contemporary reboot with no further apps operating. When you open a half dozen Chrome tabs, a pair messaging apps, and a music streaming app, reminiscence utilization simply climbs to 7GB.

It’s no shock Chrome crashed on me a pair instances after I pushed it additional with over 20 tabs throughout a number of digital desktops. That is no downside on Home windows laptops with 16GB of RAM, and even the MacBook Neo may deal with extra earlier than slowing down. And you may rely on every part shifting like molasses throughout massive file transfers. It couldn’t even load the Begin menu or open the calculator app whereas importing images into Lightroom Traditional till the RAM and SSD bottlenecks eased.

Even when your computing wants are minimal, the Chuwi’s {hardware} makes each interplay disagreeable. The display screen is washed out, overlaying simply 64 % of the sRGB colour area, and at 300 nits it’s fairly dim. However the worst offender is the trackpad. It’s extremely stiff to click on. It’s a must to press it so onerous the entire chassis flexes a bit below the strain. You don’t should click on the trackpad; it could actually detect faucets too, however I by no means just like the loosey-goosey really feel of tapping — particularly when executing right-clicks or click-and-drags. Utilizing this trackpad made me bodily and mentally drained. And clicking round on a laptop computer? Fairly essential!

The audio system are an affront to any music you play, in addition to anybody else inside earshot. They’re a tinny mess. The telephone in your pocket has fuller sound. The 720p webcam is barely a smidge higher, but it surely’s nonetheless offensive to your face (and presumably your self-confidence). It’s nearly satisfactory in the perfect lighting, but it surely’s low-res, with a inexperienced colour solid. In dim or backlit lighting you turn into a darkish blur. After a couple of days, colleagues began greeting me in conferences with, “Oh, you have to be on the Chuwi.” It’s like being informed “Wow, you look drained.”

“Uhh, yeah. Good to see you too.”

Amid all these downsides, there are a couple of vivid spots. The UniBook does no less than have good battery life. It simply lasts as much as 10 hours on battery whereas doing the lightest of labor: writing emails, casually shopping the net, and opening the occasional PDF. And the keyboard isn’t unhealthy. It’s backlit, which is a real benefit over the MacBook Neo. It’s superb to kind on, however the Neo’s and plenty of different Home windows keyboards on the market really feel much less spongy. Additionally, a scarcity of operate lock means adjusting brightness, quantity, or media playback at all times requires a two-key combo. Not an enormous deal, however an odd omission of a ordinary mainstay.

The one factor concerning the UniBook that genuinely shocked me, except for the preliminary reverse sticker shock, was its quantity of ports. This little factor has 5 complete USB ports, HDMI-out, microSD, and even an ethernet jack. You would possibly anticipate all that on an enormous gaming laptop computer, not a thin-and-light. However sadly, not one of the USBs are sooner than 5Gbps, and the HDMI is simply 1.4b — topping out at a stuttery 30Hz at 4K.

Any cash spent on peripherals to offset the Chuwi’s shortcomings can be higher spent on a distinct laptop computer. I’ve began testing a $500-ish HP OmniBook 3, and coming from the Chuwi, it was an enormous aid. Even its cheap-as-they-get Snapdragon X chip provides eight cores, buoyed by twice the RAM and storage of the Chuwi, and that processor already proved it had distinctive battery life after I reviewed it within the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x.

I wasn’t overly impressed with the Acer Aspire 14 AI, which you’ll be able to usually get round $600, after I pitted it and the IdeaPad towards the MacBook Neo, but it surely’s approach higher than the Chuwi for $155 extra. Its Intel Lunar Lake chip will get good battery life and is highly effective sufficient to play indie video games and last-gen 3D titles on ultra-low settings. It has twice the RAM and storage because the Chuwi and almost as many ports, and the Acer’s ports are a lot sooner.

I take no pleasure in telling you the Chuwi UniBook is unhealthy and irritating to make use of. I wish to see first rate low cost laptops, and I’m all for them coming from lesser-known manufacturers. However Chuwi’s upstart standing additionally brings long-term buyer help into query — it doesn’t appear to have US customer support and restore facilities like larger laptop computer makers. And in early 2026, the corporate was discovered to have shipped laptops and mini PCs with older AMD chips disguised as newer, sooner ones (even on the BIOS degree). Chuwi ultimately put out a press release blaming a “manufacturing error” and provided refunds for a restricted time, however the scenario doesn’t encourage confidence.

The UniBook doesn’t depart an awesome first impression, however I wish to stay hopeful that higher issues are on the horizon — if not for Chuwi, then no less than for the Wildcat Lake processor household. A lot of the main laptop computer makers are launching funds laptops with higher-end Wildcat Lake chips to attempt to compete with the Neo. Microsoft additionally claims it’s engaged on bettering Home windows 11’s efficiency with 8GB of RAM — which these new laptops desperately want.

With laptop computer costs skyrocketing because of the RAM and storage crunch, we may all use a win. However the UniBook isn’t it.

Images by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge