The Chuwi UniBook is a $449 Windows laptop intended to undercut Apple’s MacBook Neo, but The Verge concludes that its low price comes with major compromises. While it offers an aluminium chassis, generous port selection and respectable battery life, its poor display, trackpad, speakers and webcam make it difficult to recommend, particularly given concerns about Chuwi’s long-term support.

The 14-inch UniBook has Intel’s entry-level five-core Core 3 304 “Wildcat Lake” processor, 8GB of soldered memory and a replaceable 256GB SSD. Performance is limited to basic browsing, email and messaging: its Premiere Pro 4K export took more than an hour, compared with under ten minutes on the MacBook Neo, and benchmarks show Apple’s A18 Pro substantially ahead in processor and graphics performance. The reviewer gave it a 3/10, noting that the SSD is relatively quick but the metal chassis also feels cheap and flexible.