New 12GB RAM, 2K laptop could be best entry-level notebook of 2020

(Image credit: Chuwi)

The back-to-school period has seen the arrival of a number of interesting computing products, with up-and-coming Chinese PC vendor Chuwi joining the fray with its GemiBook.

Described by Chuwi as a “cost-effective” productivity business laptop aimed at the booming SMB/WFH market, the GemiBook is scheduled to go on sale globally from next week at just US$299 (around £230, AU$410), which appears to be its suggested retail price rather than an early bird offer. 

Chuwi recycled the chassis of the CoreBook Pro for the GemiBook, swapping out the Core i5 processor for the Celeron J4115 and upping the system memory by 50%.

The price gets the chop as well with a saving of just over 25% and it proves to be an astute choice as the Intel Celeron J4115 surpasses the the Intel Core i3-6157U thanks to twice the core count while the extra memory should help significantly when displaying the 50% extra pixels.

Pixel Galore

The other highlight of the Gemibook is its screen, a 2160 x 1440 pixel, fully laminated IPS display with a 3:2 aspect ratio, almost certainly the best screen you can get on a laptop under $300. Elsewhere, there’s a 256GB SSD, likely to be a Foresee SATA model, and 12GB LPDDR4X memory in dual-channel mode.

Chuwi has confirmed that the device will use a full metal body, has the footprint of an A4 sheet and will weigh 1.34Kg. We don’t know what the battery capacity is; the CorePro had a 46WHr one and lasted more than five hours on our battery.

Desire Athow
Managing Editor, TechRadar Pro

Désiré has been musing and writing about technology during a career spanning four decades. He dabbled in website builders and web hosting when DHTML and frames were in vogue and started narrating about the impact of technology on society just before the start of the Y2K hysteria at the turn of the last millennium.