CHUWI HeroBook Pro laptop 14.1 Ultrabook Intel Gemini Lake n4000 review weighs only 3.06lb and slims to 0.84 inch, perfect for at-home or on-the-go computing. 14.1 inch Full HD 1920×1080 display provides better view experience when watching videos and daily working. It comes with 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD storage that helps you run multiple apps seamlessly. With up to 128GB TF expansion provides plenty of room for your documents,photos and videos. A separate M.2 SSD expansion is provided for greater space and faster read/write speed. Powerful and efficient Intel Dual Core Gmini lake N4000 Processor base frequency is 1.1GHz and burst frequency is 2.6Ghz, thanks to the 14-nm process technology and 5W ultra-low power design. The built-in Intel UHD Graphics 600 ensures faster image processing. Find more about features in CHUWI HeroBook Pro laptop 14.1 Ultrabook Intel Gemini Lake n4000 review (CHUWI HeroBook Pro 2020 review).
Specification – CHUWI HeroBook Pro laptop 14.1 Ultrabook Intel Gemini Lake n4000
| General | Brand: CHUWI Classification: Ultrabook Material of back cover: ABS+PC Battery / Run Time (up to): 9 hours video playing time Battery Type: Lithium-ion Polymer Battery |
|---|---|
| Hardware | Core: 1.1GHz,2.6GHz CPU: Intel Gemini Lake N4000 CPU Brand: Intel Graphics Type: Integrated Graphics Graphics Chipset: Intel UHD Graphics 600 OS: Windows 10 Power Consumption: 10-15W Process Technology: 14nm Usage: Business,Office |
| Storage | External Memory: TF card up to 128GB (not included) RAM Type: LPDDR4 RAM: 8GB Largest RAM Capacity: 8GB ROM: 256GB SSD Hard Disk Interface Type: M.2 |
| Network | Bluetooth: 4.0 Support Network: 2.4GHz WiFi WIFI: 802.11b/g/n wireless internet |
| Display | Screen type: IPS Screen size: 14.1 inch Display Ratio: 16:9 Screen resolution: 1920 x 1080 (FHD) |
| Camera | Camera type: Single camera Front camera: 0.3MP |
| Connectivity | Power Interface: Yes 3.5mm Headphone Jack: Yes Mini HDMI slot: Yes TF card slot: Yes USB Host: Yes 1 x USB 3.0+1 x USB2.0 |
| Media Formats | E-book format: DOC,TXT MS Office format: Excel,PPT,Word Music format: AAC,MP3,WAV Picture format: BMP,GIF,JPEG,PNG Video format: 1080P,AVI,H.264,MP4 |
| Languages | Language: English |
| Keyboard | Backlight Type: No |
| Package Contents | Notebook: 1 Power Adapter: 1 User Manual: 1 |
| Dimensions and Weight | Product weight: 1.3900 kg Package weight: 2.0000 kg Product size (L x W x H): 33.20 x 21.40 x 2.13 cm / 13.07 x 8.43 x 0.84 inches Package size (L x W x H): 40.70 x 27.90 x 6.10 cm / 16.02 x 10.98 x 2.4 inches |
Compare CHUWI HeroBook Pro laptop vs ASUS VivoBook 15
| CHUWI HeroBook Pro 14.1 inch Windows 10 Laptop PC, 8G RAM / 256GB SSD | ASUS VivoBook 15 Thin and Light Laptop, 15.6” FHD Display, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD | |
|---|---|---|
| Computer Memory Size | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| CPU Model Manufacturer | Intel | Intel |
| CPU Speed | 2.60 GHz | 3.4 GHz |
| Display Resolution Maximum | 1920*1080 pixels | 1920 x 1080 pixels |
| Screen Size | 14.1 inches | 15.6 inches |
| Hard Disk Size | 256 GB | — |
| Item Dimensions | 13.07 x 8.43 x 0.84 inches | 14.10 x 9.10 x 0.80 inches |
| Item Weight | 3.06 lbs | 3.75 lbs |
| Operating System | Windows 10 | Windows 10 S |
| Processor Count | 2 | 2 |
| RAM Type | DDR4 SDRAM | DDR4 SDRAM |
| Wireless Communication Standard | 802.11ac, 802.11bgn, Bluetooth | 802.11ac, Bluetooth |
CHUWI HeroBook Pro laptop 14.1 Ultrabook Intel Gemini Lake n4000 2020 review
Appearance
If you really want to have the model with an aluminum body, check the CHUWI LapBook Pro 8gb Pro instead (shown below).
CHUWI HeroBook N4000 offers comfort, adequate power, and portability. If you want a laptop that is not bulky, which can fit in an office bag or any bags in that size, you will be thrilled with this laptop. The body is made from plastic but looks premium with the aluminum look.
The space grey color, especially those thin bezels make the HeroBook looks like MacBook, except you won’t need to spend thousands of dollars! The full-sized and borderless keyboard looks very simple, yet aesthetic. The keyboard is not backlit, but has chiclet style so the typing experience is pretty comfortable.
IPS display
HeroBook Pro comes with an amazing 14.1-inch IPS display with a wider view and a 1920×1080 ultra-high screen resolution that enables you to experience vivid and vibrant details on your computer screen. Furthermore, to reduce the risk of having eyestrain this laptop is equipped with the color and the night mode settings.
The gorgeous 1080p IPS screen is not a touchscreen, but it is surprisingly very beautiful with full-HD 1080p which beats down the competitors with the same price. Most similar laptop at this price comes with only 720p resolution. There are even more expensive laptops that has 720p screen.
Even though this laptop does not come with a USB-C charger, it has a US plug and is a DC port for a fast charge. This CHUWI HeroBook Pro laptop model weighs only 3.06 lbs and 0.8 thin. It’s very light and thin, and unobtrusive to carry in your bag.
It also does not have Pulse-Width Modulation or PWM in the backlight which is a big advantage to avoid headaches and eyestrain. The provided charger adapter is the most compact and the most lightweight charger you will ever see.
CHUWI HeroBook Pro 14.1 inch Windows 10 Laptop PC, 8G RAM / 256GB SSD with 1080P Display, Intel Gemini Lake N4000 Notebook, Thin and Lightweight.
The US-format keyboard is pretty decent given the price. Granted it’s a little noisy and the deck isn’t the most solid you’ll ever encounter, but the keys are large and well spaced, the action reasonably clean and the 1.5mm travel well judged. The keyboard isn’t backlit, but the large one-piece Precision trackpad needs no apologies: it’s pleasant to the touch and works perfectly.
Driving the HeroBook is an Intel Braswell quad-core Atom x5-E8000 processor and associated Intel HD Graphics GPU. It’s not one of Intel’s Atom SoCs I’ve encountered in the wild before.
The x5-E8000 is a low-power (5W TDP) chip originally intended for use with embedded applications such as digital displays, retail terminals and IoT devices. The component is three years old, so I assume that Chuwi picked up a job lot at a good price to tide it over Intel’s current Gemini Lake supply woes.
Audio, Ports, and Accessibility
Audio quality is not the best one in the world, but it is more than adequate to accompany you in daily digital entertainment. To watch YouTube videos, or listen to music, you won’t be disappointed with the audio quality, especially at this laptop’s price range. These days, you can always utilize the external Bluetooth audio speakers, as this laptop also has the built-in Bluetooth feature.
This Chuwi laptop model does not have a USB-C type nor RJ45 ethernet port. But it is packed with so many ports already despite the compact form factor. The M.2 Port Extended enables you to upgrade the SSD until 512GB if you are comfortable doing it yourself. If you want to upgrade you will need to take out the manufacturer’s 256 SSD and replace it with yours. It is a SATA SSD and accepts the 2280 and 2242 SSDs.
The other 6 ports are located on the left and on the right side of the device. In the right are 1x USB 2.0, 3.5mm headphone, and a MicroSD card slot. Then on the left side, you will find 1x USB 3.0, DC port for charging, and a mini-HDMI port.
CHUWI HeroBook Pro laptop 14.1 Ultrabook Intel Gemini Lake n4000 Performance review
The left-hand side of the laptop became warmer under load, which isn’t surprising given that plastic (which the chassis is made of) was never a good heat dissipater.
The matte IPS display was reasonably bright without overdoing it. The colors weren’t as punchy as you’d experience on a premium model, and the fact that an HD+ display – rather than Full HD – is used might have been a step too far in the cost-cutting process.
The biggest disappointment, though, is with the keyboard. It feels mushy, has a lot of flex, and touch typing on it sounds like you’re hitting an empty metal drum at times. It lacks the substance and the character of keyboards found on more expensive notebooks. The adage “you get what you pay for” sadly holds true here.
This is a shame as Chuwi struck the right balance by making judicious use of the large real-estate available – the keys are larger than usual, with dedicated home/end/page up/page down keys present, which are very welcome.
BENCHMARKS
Here’s how the Chuwi Herobook performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
- Passmark: 745
- Passmark CPU: 1687
- CPU-Z: 69 (single-thread); 280 (multi-thread)
- Geekbench: 922 (single-core); 2075 (multi-core); 4039 (compute)
- Cinebench CPU: 150
- CrystalDiskMark: 140MBps (read); 74MBps (write)
- Novabench: 405
- Atto: 158MBps (read, 256mb); 112MBps (write, 256mb)
- Windows Experience Index: 4.6
As for the performance, the Herobook sits somewhere between the Z8350 and the N3350 processors. It posted some of the lowest scores we’ve seen to date across our wide range of tests, but that was expected. What really counts, however, is that this is one of the cheapest laptops on the market, and despite these benchmark numbers, it is usable.
One last note – the battery life of the Herobook was better than expected at 5 hours 15 minutes.
The UHD built-in Graphics 600 is a powerful GPU for image processing, decoding 4k videos, as well as graphic, multitasking and office works.
This is not built for gaming. You will be able to play computer games with low settings. For more intensive gaming, you will want to look for one of those gaming powerhouses which can be bulkier than this lightweight laptop.
Battery Life
On the 100% charge, the battery life will last more than 6 hours, thanks to fanless structure, it is so much energy efficient. The battery itself is removable and is a 38Wh polymer lithium-ion battery. This battery combined with being fanless will be able to give you over 9 hours battery life.
The 8GB DDR4 SDRAM combined with 256 GB M.2 SSD makes multitasking, booting time, or other computer works blazing fast.Note: SSD has a 3x speed of the non-SSD hard disk. The 8GB RAM increase performance of 100% than the 4GB RAM-powered laptops (CHUWI HeroBook Pro 2020 review).
This HeroBook model comes with 64-bit Windows 10 full version OS. Currently, some budget laptops are sold with Windows S mode, but this is not.
Alternate of CHUWI HeroBook Pro laptop 14.1 Ultrabook Intel Gemini Lake n4000
One might think that competition at the lowest end of the market might be non-existent, but that is far from the case.
There is actually another laptop that costs $199.99 and that’s the Aiwo i4, a slower X5-Z8350 device, but with twice the storage of the Herobook and a Full HD display. So corners have been cut by Chuwi.
The Acer Laptop TravelMate B1 costs $189.99 at Newegg on sale. It runs with a Celeron N3060 processor, a smaller display, and Windows 10 Pro, the latter being a clue to its intended target audience.
The Lenovo 100e is also powered by Windows 10 Pro and retails at the even cheaper price of $187 at Provantage new. It is equipped with the Celeron N3350 CPU, though, and is a rugged device aimed at the education market.