The Chuwi AeroBook Review: One Small Step For Chuwi

Wireless

One area where Chuwi clearly focused on their price target was the wireless. We don’t often see a 1x1 solution anymore, but the AeroBook features just a single stream for Wi-Fi. Luckily that wireless card is an Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165, and with Intel’s track record on network cards, at least some solace can be found in the connecting being rock solid.

As expected, the performance of just a single 5 GHz AC stream is much lower than what you’d get in any 2x2 wireless offering, which is the standard for most notebooks. But the connection was as solid as expected, with zero dropouts or reboots required to establish a Wi-Fi connection, which tends to be the case with Intel wireless adapters. The transfer rate is generally enough for most internet access, but if you want to copy files over the network, you’d likely be better off using USB.

Audio

The Chuwi AeroBook contains speakers. We could pretty much wrap it up there. Most notebooks don’t offer much in the way of dynamic range on their incredibly small speakers, but the AeroBook offers almost no bass at all. The speakers get reasonably loud, with around 80 dB(A) measured one inch over the trackpad, but there was little in the way of stereo separation and the speakers sound very poor. Luckily the 3.5 mm jack seemed to function well.

Thermals

One of the benefits of sticking with a low TDP processor is that Chuwi can continue to offer a completely fanless device. With only a 4.5-Watt TDP, the Core m3 is even a bit less TDP than a Gemini Lake Atom, which has a 6-Watt TDP, although the scenario design power is closer at 4.8 Watts.

To see how the AeroBook handles load, it was run at 100% CPU while monitoring the temperatures and power draw.

The AeroBook had no issues maintaining maximum performance. It quickly jumped to the 2.2 GHz maximum, drawing 7.56 Watts in the process, and then once its PL1 was exhausted it moved into a steady PL2 draw averaging about 6.8 Watts, and maintaining almost a 2.0 GHz frequency for the duration of the run.

The maximum CPU temperature was 85°C, but averaged closer to 75°C in steady state, and the notebook itself got warm on the bottom but never hot to the touch. Chuwi have had issues in the past with cooling, but it looks like they’ve got them sorted out on the AeroBook.

Software

Chuwi offers no additional software over the base install of Windows 10, which is something they’ve been consistent at, and a welcome change over many of the manufacturers who bundle in unwanted applications and bloat. That’s not to say that Windows 10 doesn’t offer bloat itself – because it does – but Chuwi at least isn’t adding on to that.

For some reason the company tends to put shortcuts on the desktop for This PC, Network, Control Panel, and your user profile, which gives the look a bit of an XP-era feel, and if a guess had to be made, it would be because XP was so popular in their native China. Luckily they can be deleted off the desktop if you like a clean desktop.