CHUWI AeroBook Pro: Notebook with 4K display for $599

After last year’s somewhat quieter times around CHUWI, the company has already introduced several new products such as the CHUWI HeroBox in a short time. Now, with the CHUWI AeroBook Pro, a real “Macbook Pro-Killer” is released, at least according to CHUWI. The datasheet is actually quite convincing.

• CHUWI AeroBook Pro
  • at CHUWI (25% on Indiegogo)

Notebook with 4K display

A “killer” of a product has to be recognized directly as such, thinks the manufacturer. It can’t be denied that the CHUWI AeroBook Pro is based on current MacBook generations. Interestingly, the Pro version of the AreoBook even uses a 15.6 inch display. This is equipped with a 4K resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels! Especially in comparison to a current MacBook, this is a very high resolution, but this only says something about the panel quality to a limited extent. After all, the manufacturer promises 100% color fidelity in the sRGB color space and “brilliant colors” – just wait and see.

But also the Space Grey look of the laptop strongly reminds of Apple. The dark grey housing is made of metal and is with 15.9 mm minimally thinner than the current 16″ MacBook Pro. Of course, or rather fortunately, CHUWI does without the touchbar, despite the claim of a Mac alternative. Instead there is a classic keyboard with QWERTY layout. Below it is the relatively large trackpad.

On the left side there is a power input for a hollow connector (no USB-C :/), a USB-A port, a mini-HDMI port and a USB-C port. On the opposite side there is a microSD slot, another USB-A port and a 3.5 mm jack connector integrated.

Really with MacBook CPU?

That the comparison to Apple is a bit limping, you notice when you look inside. The CHUWI AeroBook Pro relies on the Intel i5 6287U processor, which is probably also found in the MacBook. So far this is true, but in the MacBook Pro Late 2016 and not in a current model. The CPU was even released in 2015 and consists of two cores that offer up to 3.5 GHz clock speed. The 14 nm chip relies on the Iris Graphics 550 as the onboard graphics card. Even if the CPU is old, in the MacBook you still have to pay over $1,000 for it. Nevertheless: 5 years old and then still such a high price for CHUWI? Then why not get a new AMD chip, or what do you think?

With the memory, CHUWI is relatively generous and delivers the AeroBook Pro with 8 GB DDR4 Dual Channel memory. Additionally, there is a 256 GB SSD for internal memory. You can actually expand the memory if you want to use the integrated M.2 PCIe SSD slot. CHUWI implements a 60Wh battery here, which should probably last about eight hours of video playback. Whether this specification refers to the full 4K resolution, we unfortunately can’t tell from the information available so far.

On the CHUWI AeroBook Pro, Windows 10 is of course pre-installed, but you can of course also install an alternative operating system on the upgradeable SSD.

Assessment

CHUWI finally dares to enter the slightly higher price segment and with the Pro version of the CHUWI AeroBook, CHUWI delivers the currently most powerful notebook in its own range. Accordingly, their advertising claims are lurid, which we don’t want to support. That such an old CPU is used here is actually the biggest thorn in our side. The comparison with Apple is of course a bit misleading, whereby it must be said that a MacBook Pro 2016 is up to many, even more complex, tasks. Do you think that the AeroBook Pro can do it?

We won’t know until the notebook is available for $599 on the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo. On the CHUWI website the countdown to the campaign on March 25th is running, but there you can get a 25% voucher for Indiegogo. However, we are waiting for a test copy first. Would you trust CHUWI with such a high quality notebook?