Over the years I've reviewed several Chinese laptops. Most of the reviews were about 30 days into using them. I thought I'd do a quick post on the 3 I've purchased and how they actually worked out.
I should probably start this post with the fact that I am absolutely brutal with my laptops. They get bounced around in my backpacks. Travel around with me on my motorcycle from time to time. I'm harsh on any keyboard, laptop, desktop, or otherwise. Here's how the last 3 laptops fared. Let's start at the beginning of this journey. All 3 were purchased on Amazon for under $300.
The Jumper EZbook X4
As you can see from the above image I purchased this back in May of 2019. Amazon no longer had the price of this item listed in my orders. I'm pretty sure this was around $250 US at the time of purchase. I'll start by saying, I absolutely loved this laptop.
I should mention, the first one Amazon shipped had issues playing video. Tech support tried walking me through several fixes, when nothing worked they sent out another laptop. The new one they sent worked fine.
The jumper EZbook X4 had a 14 inch screen, aluminum case, and backlit keyboard. It shipped with Windows 10. I believe this replaced my Dell, that I spilled a cup of coffee on. You'll come to discover this is a recurring theme in my life. 🤣 As usual, it happened at the worst time possible and I needed a cheap laptop to replace it immediately. A $250 laptop was about my budget at the time. For that price, I couldn't believe all the features this laptop had.
The Jumper EZbook totally exceeded my expectations. For someone that just needs to check email, maybe make a couple crypto trades, write an occasional blog post, and do basic daily computing tasks, this thing was perfect. I expected to get no more than a year out of it, and honestly I still have it. It was used daily for 3 years. Now it just sits by my bed and I use it as an MP3 player and watch the occasional movie.
I did have two issues with it. The battery stopped holding a charge after a year. I'll soon discover this is a common issue with cheap Chinese laptops. I was able to find a cheap replacement on eBay and install it myself. Then about a year after that, I started having keyboard issues. I was able to fix that too. I still had to be gentle with it though. Finally it couldn't handle a Windows 11 upgrade. It was time for a new laptop.
Lifespan of daily use: About 3 years. Issues: Battery and keyboard.
Still in use as a multi-media player in the bedroom.
For some reason, I was planning on installing Ubuntu on it, and I could never get the bios to load from USB. IDK, this happened with all 3 laptops. For whatever reason, the Chinese manufacturers do something that makes it really difficult to load a new OS from a boot USB. Anyway, I lived with Windows 10 through all this.
The Chuwi GemiBook
To my surprise the Jumper had lasted a little over 3 years and still worked fine after I retired it. When it was time for a new laptop I decided on getting another Chinese model. This time, I'd spend a little more. I came across this Chuwi GemiBook in September of 2022. I decided to spend a little more money this time. This laptop was purchased for $291.
Honestly, this was my favorite of the 3. It was worth the extra money IMHO. This one had a hard plastic case with backlit keyboard. I got 1 year of trouble free use out of it. The keyboard was of much better quality than its predecessor, the Jumper X4. It was powerful enough for my needs. It also had a gorgeous display. I loved everything about this laptop. Again, I'm simply using it for answering email, social media, a little web design, and trading shitcoins. The thing worked great. A little over a year after I got it, I spilled coffee on the keyboard. Apparently, I rarely learn from my mistakes. As with most laptops, the coffee killed it!
The Ecohero
One year after buying the Chuwi, I bricked it with a morning cup of coffee. As usual, this happened at the worst time. I had about $200 for a laptop and ended up finding this gem for $219. Again it worked great. The keyboard seemed cheaply made like the Jumper so I was much gentler with this one. I still have it, and use it a few times a week. It's a little over 2 years old now.
As with the Jumper, the battery stopped holding a decent charge after about 18 months of use. I stepped on it, not once but twice. It's currently in a fragile state, but does work. I'm really harsh on my laptops. If these laptops can survive me, they're fairly durable.
I'm currently using this laptop to check shitcoin prices while watching tv. I also use it for video guitar lessons on Youtube, and playing backing tracks for music. This has become the living room laptop because it's really not portable without a proper battery. It's definitely time to start laptop shopping.
Final Thoughts On Cheap Chinese Laptops
OK my biggest gripe was that I couldn't get Linux to install on any of them. Each time I researched it, apparently it has something to do with the Chinese BIOS. I kept seeing solutions to overwrite the bios, but really didn't want to attempt that on a brand new computer. For that reason, I stuck with Windows. Windows worked fine for the most part. It really is a hassle free OS.
The other issue that seemed to keep arising were cheaply built keyboards, and batteries that lasted a little over a year. None of them ever left me stuck though. I was always able to access my data. I never had a fatal hard drive crash. Networking always worked well for me, but I have heard rumors that a lot of these laptops have networking issues. Besides that, I loved all 3 of these machines. For the price you can't go wrong.
I think you have to step into this arrangement with the knowledge that your going to upgrade every couple years. The good news is, you get a new laptop every couple years. The bad news is, after about 2 years they've exceeded their expiration date and it's probably time for a new one. The batteries will die, keyboards start to wear. You'll probably want something new before something fails.
Laptop Shopping Again
So I'm laptop shopping again. I'd like to get something a little better this time. I definitely want a Linux laptop. I may or may not order another Chinese model. I'm going to really shop around. Before these cheap Chinese laptops, I usually used Dell laptops and I'd get about 5 years out of them. That's if I didn't step on them or spill coffee on them. 🤣
In many ways, if you're as harsh with your laptops as I am. The cheap Chinese laptops are a great way to go. When they break, you really don't feel bad about it. Frag the hard drive and into the trash it goes. They do just about everything you need. You're probably not going to be able to do any serious gaming or mining crypto currency. However, to fulfill basic computing needs, multi-media, web design, light graphics work, social media, email.... Well then, these laptops are perfect.
Credits: Screenshots by me. Coffee graphic created using Perchance AI.