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MagyarTeclast F7 Air Laptop Review
Teclast is one of many Chinese manufacturers with a large selection of nice looking and cost-efficient laptops and tablets. The 14-inch F7 Air fits right into that description with a thin profile, a well-crafted aluminum body, and a premium style. However, like most inexpensive Chinese laptops, the F7 Air offers little in the way of raw performance.
If the F7 Air looks familiar, it is because it bears a striking resemblance to the slightly smaller 13.3-inch LarkBook CWI509 from Chuwi. The main difference between the two is the F7 Air's larger 14-inch display. The F7 Air also takes design cues from Apple's MacBook and MacBook Pro lines. We will see if the F7 Air can handle today's computing demands or if its beauty is only skin-deep.
The Teclast F7 Air competes against other compact, low-powered laptops like the aforementioned Chuwi LarkBook, the Chuwi AeroBook Pro, the Chuwi LapBook Pro, Acer's Swift 3 and Aspire 1, and the Medion Akoya E4253.
potential competitors in comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Best Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75.4 % | 02/2021 | Teclast F7 Air Celeron N4120, UHD Graphics 600 | 1.2 kg | 17 mm | 14.00" | 1920x1080 | |
| 76.9 % | 12/2020 | Chuwi LarkBook CWI509 Celeron N4120, UHD Graphics 600 | 1.1 kg | 12.3 mm | 13.30" | 1920x1080 | |
| 78.7 % | 08/2019 | Chuwi LapBook Pro Celeron N4100, UHD Graphics 600 | 1.4 kg | 13.4 mm | 14.00" | 1920x1080 | |
| 77.7 % | 06/2020 | Chuwi AeroBook Pro m3-8100Y, UHD Graphics 615 | 1.3 kg | 15.2 mm | 13.30" | 1920x1080 | |
| 72.5 % | 06/2019 | Acer Aspire 1 A114-32-P0K1 Pentium N5000, UHD Graphics 605 | 1.7 kg | 17.95 mm | 14.00" | 1920x1080 | |
| 85 % | 06/2020 | Acer Swift 3 SF314-42-R27B R3 4300U, Vega 5 | 1.2 kg | 16.55 mm | 14.00" | 1920x1080 | |
| 79.9 % | 08/2019 | Medion Akoya E4253-30025387 Pentium N5000, UHD Graphics 605 | 1.4 kg | 15 mm | 14.00" | 1920x1080 |
Case and Connectivity
The Teclast F7 Air punches well above its weight in terms of looks. The aluminum body looks and feels fantastic, and the gold color gives a nice pop of color. The brushed finish masks fingerprints well. The chassis is robust and solid. There is some flex along the keyboard deck, but it is not noticeable while typing. Despite its thin 5mm profile, the lid is sturdy and doesn't twist. The hinges are too stiff for one-handed opening, but they hold the display in place.
Our chief complaint lies with uneven gaps around the trackpad and the front edge of the bottom panel. These are minor nitpicks, though; the build quality and aesthetics are great. At first glance, the F7 Air looks more akin to laptops that cost US$1000 or more.
Connectivity is adequate. The two USB-A (one 3.1 Gen 1, the other 2.0) have small flaps that fold down to accommodate the laptop's thin profile. These feel poorly made, but they have held up to multiple plug-ins over two weeks. There is also a mini HDMI port, so some users may need an adapter. The USB-C 3.1 Gen 1 port can be used to charge the device and supports display out via DisplayPort 1.2 (4K @ 30 Hz, FHD @ 120 Hz).
Connectivity
| SD Card Reader | |
| average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs) | |
| Average of class Subnotebook (18.9 - 193.9, n=17, last 2 years) | |
| Acer Aspire 1 A114-32-P0K1 (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| Chuwi AeroBook Pro (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| Teclast F7 Air (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 UHS-II) | |
| Chuwi LarkBook CWI509 (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 32 GB UHS-II) | |
| maximum AS SSD Seq Read Test (1GB) | |
| Acer Aspire 1 A114-32-P0K1 (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| Average of class Subnotebook (23.6 - 239, n=17, last 2 years) | |
| Medion Akoya E4253-30025387 (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 microSDXC 64GB) | |
| Chuwi AeroBook Pro (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| Teclast F7 Air (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 UHS-II) | |
| Chuwi LarkBook CWI509 (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 32 GB UHS-II) | |
Maintenance
After removing 14 Phillips Heads screws, the bottom panel can be unclipped and removed. Users can upgrade the two M.2 2280 SATA drives only; all other components are soldered to the mainboard. Thankfully, there is a handy access panel to get to one of the SATA bays.
Input Devices
The keyboard is adequate. It looks and feels like a generic laptop keyboard. The alphanumeric keys are on the small side (~16 mm2). Travel distance is decent, but the pressure point is soft. As a result, the keys feel spongy. Clatter is noticeable but not obtrusive. Otherwise, there is nothing outstanding about the keyboard. The keyboard does not have a backlight.
The clickpad is fairly good. It offers a large surface (12.8 x 7.3 cm) with a sleek surface that offers smooth glide. Tracking is accurate, and the clicking mechanism causes no complaint. However, gestures feel sloppy; scrolling with two fingers sometimes results in zooming in or out of an open window, which is frustrating. As mentioned, there are some uneven gaps along the trackpad's edge, though these don't affect the experience.
Display
The display is a mixed bag. The 14-inch FHD panel is crisp and looks reasonably vibrant thanks to the glossy finish, but the backlight overall is rather dim (234 nits). Additionally, black levels are relatively poor (0.46), resulting in a low contrast ratio (512:1). The primary cause for this is the backlight's high minimum brightness; even at its lowest level, the backlight still shines at roughly 70 cd/m², which is a fair bit brighter than most laptops. As such, the F7 Air is not suitable for use in dark environments; the high minimum brightness can strain eyes.
Otherwise, the panel is good. It offers average response times for an IPS screen and has decently high PWM (1000 Hz), especially compared to other low-cost Chinese laptops.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 78 %
Center on Battery: 235.6 cd/m²
Contrast: 512:1 (Black: 0.46 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 9.43 | 0.5-29.43 Ø5, calibrated: 3.82
ΔE Greyscale 8.7 | 0.57-98 Ø5.3
69% sRGB (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
44% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
47.08% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
68.7% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
45.57% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 1.983
| Teclast F7 Air 1920x1080, 14.00 | Chuwi LarkBook CWI509 M133X56, , 1920x1080, 13.30 | Chuwi LapBook Pro BOE CQ HV140FHNM-N61, , 1920x1080, 14.00 | Chuwi AeroBook Pro BOE NV133FHM-N6A, , 1920x1080, 13.30 | Acer Aspire 1 A114-32-P0K1 Chi Mei N140HGE-EAA, , 1920x1080, 14.00 | Acer Swift 3 SF314-42-R27B AU Optronics B140HAN04.0, , 1920x1080, 14.00 | Medion Akoya E4253-30025387 Chi Mei N140HCA-EAB, , 1920x1080, 14.00 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display | 44% | 50% | 39% | -11% | -17% | -10% | |
| Display P3 Coverage | 45.57 | 69.9 53% | 73 60% | 68.7 51% | 40.35 -11% | 37.78 -17% | 40.96 -10% |
| sRGB Coverage | 68.7 | 92.7 35% | 96.1 40% | 88 28% | 60.3 -12% | 56.8 -17% | 61.1 -11% |
| AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 47.08 | 67.8 44% | 70.3 49% | 64.4 37% | 41.71 -11% | 39.03 -17% | 42.37 -10% |
| Response Times | -7% | -37% | -30% | -18% | -15% | 774% | |
| Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 32.4 ? | 32 ? 1% | 42 ? -30% | 31 ? 4% | 43 ? -33% | 42 ? -30% | 42 ? -30% |
| Response Time Black / White * | 28.4 ? | 34.4 ? -21% | 29 ? -2% | 32 ? -13% | 13 ? 54% | 28 ? 1% | 28 ? 1% |
| PWM Frequency | 1000 ? | 1000 ? 0% | 200 ? -80% | 201.6 ? -80% | 250 ? -75% | 24500 ? 2350% | |
| Screen | 20% | 18% | 21% | -18% | 24% | 10% | |
| Brightness middle | 235.6 | 235.3 0% | 297 26% | 242.3 3% | 208 -12% | 256 9% | 262 11% |
| Brightness | 234 | 223 -5% | 268 15% | 233 0% | 192 -18% | 237 1% | 242 3% |
| Brightness Distribution | 78 | 79 1% | 77 -1% | 88 13% | 85 9% | 81 4% | 87 12% |
| Black Level * | 0.46 | 0.24 48% | 0.625 -36% | 0.31 33% | 0.41 11% | 0.17 63% | 0.505 -10% |
| Contrast | 512 | 980 91% | 475 -7% | 782 53% | 507 -1% | 1506 194% | 519 1% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 9.43 | 8.37 11% | 5.23 45% | 6.72 29% | 10.1 -7% | 5.43 42% | 5.49 42% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 13.5 | 15.79 -17% | 9.53 29% | 11.67 14% | 28.85 -114% | 19.73 -46% | 10.63 21% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 3.82 | 2.64 31% | 3.95 -3% | 4.38 -15% | 4.8 -26% | ||
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 8.7 | 9.8 -13% | 6.72 23% | 6 31% | 10.96 -26% | 3.29 62% | 4.84 44% |
| Gamma | 1.983 111% | 2.16 102% | 2.38 92% | 2.18 101% | 2.24 98% | 2.52 87% | 2.3 96% |
| CCT | 8137 80% | 7557 86% | 7015 93% | 7159 91% | 11669 56% | 6840 95% | 6347 102% |
| Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 44 | 60.1 37% | 63 43% | 57.5 31% | 38 -14% | 36 -18% | 39 -11% |
| Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 69 | 92.4 34% | 96 39% | 87.7 27% | 59 -14% | 57 -17% | 61 -12% |
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | 19% /
19% | 10% /
13% | 10% /
15% | -16% /
-17% | -3% /
12% | 258% /
149% |
* ... smaller is better
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 28.4 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 16 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 12.4 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows relatively slow response rates in our tests and may be too slow for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 72 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (21.5 ms). | ||
| ↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
| 32.4 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 14.8 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 17.6 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.2 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 38 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is similar to the average of all tested devices (33.7 ms). | ||
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
| Screen flickering / PWM detected | 1000 Hz | ≤ 99 % brightness setting |  |
The display backlight flickers at 1000 Hz (worst case, e.g., utilizing PWM) Flickering detected at a brightness setting of 99 % and below. There should be no flickering or PWM above this brightness setting. The frequency of 1000 Hz is quite high, so most users sensitive to PWM should not notice any flickering. In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 17900 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured. | |||
Out of the box, the F7 Air struggles with color accuracy. Considering its relatively high DeltaE2000 for colors and greyscale (9.43 and 8.7, respectively), the F7 Air is not well-suited for colorwork (DeltaE2000 < 3 recommended). The color temperature is also very cool (8137 K) and significantly far from the ideal of 6500 K. Color coverage is lackluster at 69% and 44% of the sRGB and AdobeRGB color spaces, respectively.
Calibration vastly improves the picture; average deltas for colors and greys fall to 3.82 and 2, respectively. The color temperature also normalizes to 6577 K when calibrated. Out of the box, the F7 Air falls behind laptops from Chuwi but competes well when calibrated.
Viewing angles are in line with expectations from an IPS panel. There is noticeable backlight bleed in the upper left corner that can be seen in dark scenes. Reflections present a problem; due to the panel's glossy finish and the overall weak backlight, using the F7 Air in sunlight or under bright lights is not feasible.
Performance
The Teclast F7 Air has a slow Intel Celeron CPU. While the machine can handle light office work and browse websites without much fuss, more demanding work will frustrate users.
Processor
The Intel Celeron N4120 is a low-powered, quad-core chip typically found in budget-oriented devices. The Gemini Lake SoC features a 1.1 GHz base clock with a single-core boost up to 2.6 GHz.
The name of the game here is efficiency rather than power. While the Celeron N4120 can handle light work (word processing, light web browsing), heavier tasks prove too much. Considering the N4120's low cost and low TDP (6 Watts), this is to be expected.
Compared to other notebooks in its class, the F7 Air falls near the bottom of the pile. The Acer Aspire 1 and Medion Akoya are slightly faster thanks to their Pentium Silver N5000 CPUs. Stepping up into the territory of the AMD Ryzen 3 4300U (Acer Swift 3) and the 10th and 11th Gen Intel Core i3 chips (Dell Latitude 3510 and Dell Inspiron 15, respectively), we see over double the CPU performance in Cinebench.
Cinebench R15: CPU Single 64Bit | CPU Multi 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 -mmt1 | 7z b 4
Geekbench 5.5: Single-Core | Multi-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
| Cinebench R20 / CPU (Single Core) | |
| Average of class Subnotebook (216 - 738, n=64, last 2 years) | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5502 | |
| Acer Swift 3 SF314-42-R27B | |
| Dell Latitude 15 3510 NK2MC | |
| Asus Vivobook 15 F512DA-SH31 | |
| Chuwi AeroBook Pro | |
| Medion Akoya E4253-30025387 | |
| Acer Aspire 1 A114-32-P0K1 | |
| Teclast F7 Air | |
| Average Intel Celeron N4120 (159 - 166, n=3) | |
| Chuwi LapBook Pro | |
| Cinebench R20 / CPU (Multi Core) | |
| Average of class Subnotebook (810 - 6314, n=64, last 2 years) | |
| Acer Swift 3 SF314-42-R27B | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5502 | |
| Dell Latitude 15 3510 NK2MC | |
| Asus Vivobook 15 F512DA-SH31 | |
| Chuwi LapBook Pro | |
| Teclast F7 Air | |
| Medion Akoya E4253-30025387 | |
| Average Intel Celeron N4120 (376 - 516, n=3) | |
| Acer Aspire 1 A114-32-P0K1 | |
| Chuwi AeroBook Pro | |
| Cinebench R15 / CPU Single 64Bit | |
| Average of class Subnotebook (91.8 - 280, n=62, last 2 years) | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5502 | |
| Acer Swift 3 SF314-42-R27B | |
| Dell Latitude 15 3510 NK2MC | |
| Asus Vivobook 15 F512DA-SH31 | |
| Chuwi AeroBook Pro | |
| Acer Aspire 1 A114-32-P0K1 | |
| Medion Akoya E4253-30025387 | |
| Average Intel Celeron N4120 (73 - 74.5, n=3) | |
| Teclast F7 Air | |
| Chuwi LapBook Pro | |
| Cinebench R15 / CPU Multi 64Bit | |
| Average of class Subnotebook (514 - 2581, n=70, last 2 years) | |
| Acer Swift 3 SF314-42-R27B | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5502 | |
| Asus Vivobook 15 F512DA-SH31 | |
| Dell Latitude 15 3510 NK2MC | |
| Chuwi LapBook Pro | |
| Medion Akoya E4253-30025387 | |
| Average Intel Celeron N4120 (223 - 234, n=3) | |
| Teclast F7 Air | |
| Acer Aspire 1 A114-32-P0K1 | |
| Chuwi AeroBook Pro | |
| Blender / v2.79 BMW27 CPU | |
| Average Intel Celeron N4120 (2558 - 2583, n=2) | |
| Teclast F7 Air | |
| Chuwi AeroBook Pro | |
| Chuwi LapBook Pro | |
| Asus Vivobook 15 F512DA-SH31 | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5502 | |
| Dell Latitude 15 3510 NK2MC | |
| Acer Swift 3 SF314-42-R27B | |
| Average of class Subnotebook (201 - 1600, n=66, last 2 years) | |
| 7-Zip 18.03 / 7z b 4 -mmt1 | |
| Average of class Subnotebook (2197 - 6403, n=58, last 2 years) | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5502 | |
| Dell Latitude 15 3510 NK2MC | |
| Acer Swift 3 SF314-42-R27B | |
| Asus Vivobook 15 F512DA-SH31 | |
| Chuwi AeroBook Pro | |
| Average Intel Celeron N4120 (2145 - 2412, n=3) | |
| Chuwi LapBook Pro | |
| Teclast F7 Air | |
| 7-Zip 18.03 / 7z b 4 | |
| Average of class Subnotebook (16223 - 67444, n=57, last 2 years) | |
| Acer Swift 3 SF314-42-R27B | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5502 | |
| Dell Latitude 15 3510 NK2MC | |
| Asus Vivobook 15 F512DA-SH31 | |
| Chuwi LapBook Pro | |
| Average Intel Celeron N4120 (5832 - 7436, n=3) | |
| Teclast F7 Air | |
| Chuwi AeroBook Pro | |
| Geekbench 5.5 / Single-Core | |
| Average of class Subnotebook (672 - 2350, n=65, last 2 years) | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5502 | |
| Acer Swift 3 SF314-42-R27B | |
| Dell Latitude 15 3510 NK2MC | |
| Asus Vivobook 15 F512DA-SH31 | |
| Chuwi AeroBook Pro | |
| Average Intel Celeron N4120 (438 - 449, n=3) | |
| Teclast F7 Air | |
| Geekbench 5.5 / Multi-Core | |
| Average of class Subnotebook (4274 - 12580, n=65, last 2 years) | |
| Acer Swift 3 SF314-42-R27B | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5502 | |
| Dell Latitude 15 3510 NK2MC | |
| Asus Vivobook 15 F512DA-SH31 | |
| Average Intel Celeron N4120 (1505 - 1561, n=3) | |
| Teclast F7 Air | |
| Chuwi AeroBook Pro | |
| HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2 / 4k Preset | |
| Average of class Subnotebook (1.5 - 19.4, n=56, last 2 years) | |
| Acer Swift 3 SF314-42-R27B | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5502 | |
| Dell Latitude 15 3510 NK2MC | |
| Asus Vivobook 15 F512DA-SH31 | |
| Chuwi LapBook Pro | |
| Chuwi AeroBook Pro | |
| Teclast F7 Air | |
| Average Intel Celeron N4120 (1.02 - 1.38, n=3) | |
| LibreOffice / 20 Documents To PDF | |
| Average Intel Celeron N4120 (131 - 157, n=3) | |
| Teclast F7 Air | |
| Chuwi AeroBook Pro | |
| Asus Vivobook 15 F512DA-SH31 | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5502 | |
| Acer Swift 3 SF314-42-R27B | |
| Average of class Subnotebook (40.1 - 120.5, n=57, last 2 years) | |
| Dell Latitude 15 3510 NK2MC | |
| R Benchmark 2.5 / Overall mean | |
| Teclast F7 Air | |
| Average Intel Celeron N4120 (1.642 - 1.649, n=3) | |
| Chuwi AeroBook Pro | |
| Asus Vivobook 15 F512DA-SH31 | |
| Dell Latitude 15 3510 NK2MC | |
| Acer Swift 3 SF314-42-R27B | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5502 | |
| Average of class Subnotebook (0.4397 - 1.236, n=57, last 2 years) | |
* ... smaller is better
System Performance
Overall system performance is adequate for general office work, social media, and some media streaming. The Teclast F7 Air is in line with other low-cost Chinese laptops as well as budget machines like the Acer Aspire 1. However, the F7 Air pales in comparison to even the lowest-end Ryzen chip, like the one found in the Acer Swift 3. Still, the F7 Air should be good enough for most people.
| PCMark 10 Score | 1801 points | |
Help | ||
DPC Latency
The Teclast F7 Air experiences high DPC latencies, per out standardized LatencyMon test. As such, it should not be used for the real-time processing of video or audio files.
| DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
| Teclast F7 Air | |
* ... smaller is better
Storage Devices
The Teclast F7 Air has dual M.2 slots that operate at SATA 3 speeds. Drive read and write speeds are decent for SATA SSDs and are significantly faster than the eMMC storage found in other budget laptops.
| Teclast F7 Air faspeed K7N8-256G | Chuwi LarkBook CWI509 Kingston RBUSNS8180DS3256GJ | Chuwi AeroBook Pro Netac SSD 256GB | Acer Aspire 1 A114-32-P0K1 64 GB eMMC Flash | Acer Swift 3 SF314-42-R27B SK hynix BC511 HFM256GDJTNI-82A0 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CrystalDiskMark 5.2 / 6 | 4% | 44% | -70% | 159% | |
| Write 4K | 75 | 63.9 -15% | 113.1 51% | 24.08 -68% | 96.3 28% |
| Read 4K | 27.31 | 34.38 26% | 30.21 11% | 11.48 -58% | 35.06 28% |
| Write Seq | 373.9 | 439.8 | 149.7 | 1001 | |
| Read Seq | 411.7 | 536 | 271.2 | 1072 | |
| Write 4K Q32T1 | 120.1 | 124.1 3% | 279.1 132% | 23.87 -80% | 423.9 253% |
| Read 4K Q32T1 | 135.2 | 139.5 3% | 227.3 68% | 30.76 -77% | 464.7 244% |
| Write Seq Q32T1 | 469.2 | 500 7% | 469.7 0% | 137.2 -71% | 967 106% |
| Read Seq Q32T1 | 555 | 537 -3% | 555 0% | 205.1 -63% | 2179 293% |
| Write 4K Q8T8 | 264.6 | ||||
| Read 4K Q8T8 | 135.6 | ||||
| AS SSD | 109% | 26% | 180% | ||
| Seq Read | 430.2 | 425.6 -1% | 445.4 4% | 1682 291% | |
| Seq Write | 412.3 | 417.1 1% | 418.9 2% | 931 126% | |
| 4K Read | 13.21 | 28.45 115% | 22.81 73% | 41.53 214% | |
| 4K Write | 50.1 | 48.14 -4% | 83.3 66% | 109.1 118% | |
| 4K-64 Read | 122.9 | 928 655% | 180.6 47% | 603 391% | |
| 4K-64 Write | 215.6 | 328.5 52% | 281.5 31% | 713 231% | |
| Access Time Read * | 0.151 | 0.175 -16% | 0.113 25% | ||
| Access Time Write * | 0.17 | 0.189 -11% | 0.161 5% | 0.035 79% | |
| Score Read | 179 | 999 458% | 248 39% | 813 354% | |
| Score Write | 307 | 418 36% | 408 33% | 915 198% | |
| Score Total | 581 | 1931 232% | 789 36% | 2118 265% | |
| Copy ISO MB/s | 440.8 | 473.6 7% | 410.8 -7% | 692 57% | |
| Copy Program MB/s | 193.4 | 198.6 3% | 204.4 6% | 226.5 17% | |
| Copy Game MB/s | 396.8 | 415.3 5% | 435.5 10% | 391.5 -1% | |
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | 57% /
78% | 35% /
32% | -70% /
-70% | 170% /
173% |
* ... smaller is better
GPU Performance
The Intel UHD Graphics 600 iGPU supports modern video codecs (H.265/HEVC, VP9) for media playback. The GPU also supports up to 4K 60 Hz through the mini HDMI 2.0a port and up to two external FHD displays via the mini HDMI and USB-C ports.
4K streaming is possible, but the laptop occasionally drops frames. The result is a bit jittery. If streaming video is adequately cached, playback is fairly smooth.
The Teclast F7 Air fits snugly amongst other budget laptops with low-powered GPUs. The Intel UHD Graphics 620, which is commonly seen in Intel notebooks, is about twice as powerful as the UHD Graphics 600 in 3DMark. More powerful iGPUs like AMD's Vega 5 or Intel's new Iris Xe Graphics are roughly 5-6 times more powerful.
UPDATE 2/10/2021: Shortly after this review, we updated the driver for the Intel UHD Graphics 600 to the latest version (27.20.100.9168). The updated driver has no noticeable effect on the GPU's performance; 4K video playback is similar (some dropped frames while the video buffers, smooth playback after sufficient time for buffering/caching has elapsed). Benchmark results are also similar.
| 3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 3361 points | |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Score | 434 points | |
| 3DMark Time Spy Score | 133 points | |
Help | ||
Gaming Performance
The Teclast F7 Air can handle only light and Indie titles. Games with simple 2D graphics like Stardew Valley and Papers, Please run without much issue. However, modern 3D titles are not playable. Even older games like Bioshock Infinite struggle to hit 30 fps on the lowest settings.
| low | med. | high | ultra | |
| BioShock Infinite (2013) | 28 | |||
| Dota 2 Reborn (2015) | 38.5 | 17.2 | 8.2 | 7.4 |
| Final Fantasy XV Benchmark (2018) | 4.8 | |||
| X-Plane 11.11 (2018) | 8.57 | 5.64 | 4.91 |
Emissions & Power
System Noise
The Teclast F7 Air is fanless and is thus completely silent. There is no coil whine.
Temperature
Despite having no fan, the F7 Air remains relatively cool. Under full synthetic load, most of the bottom panel stays under 40° C. There is a hot spot directly over the SoC and copper heat shield that reaches 43.8° C. Otherwise, external heat is not an issue.
This is primarily due to the efficient CPU. Under synthetic stress, we notice some throttling: after running Priime95 for a few minutes, the CPU pulls back to 1.7-1.8 GHz to keep temperatures in check. During an hour-long run of Prime95, the system keeps CPU temperatures between 73-78° C.
Stressing the GPU with FurMark sees the SoC settle in around 70° C while the GPU manages to boost to 700 MHz with occasional dips down to 350 MHz. Stressing both the CPU and GPU causes the processor to throttle further back to 1.5 GHz. The GPU particularly suffers during this test, averaging a mere 150-165 MHz. However, this load is not indicative of real-world use.
(±) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 41.2 °C / 106 F, compared to the average of 35.9 °C / 97 F, ranging from 21.4 to 59 °C for the class Subnotebook.
(±) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 43.8 °C / 111 F, compared to the average of 39.4 °C / 103 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 29.7 °C / 85 F, compared to the device average of 30.7 °C / 87 F.
(+) The palmrests and touchpad are cooler than skin temperature with a maximum of 30.6 °C / 87.1 F and are therefore cool to the touch.
(-) The average temperature of the palmrest area of similar devices was 28.3 °C / 82.9 F (-2.3 °C / -4.2 F).
Speakers
The speakers get relatively loud, particularly considering the machine's size and price. However, music and media are heavily distorted at more than 80% volume with unpleasant pops and crackles. Under 80% volume, the speakers are decent. Bass is almost entirely absent, but mids and highs and loud and clear. Overall, the speakers are fine for media consumption, but headphones are recommended for clarity and a fuller sound profile.
Teclast F7 Air audio analysis
(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (88.4 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 20.6% lower than median
(+) | bass is linear (6.6% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | higher mids - on average 6.3% higher than median
(+) | mids are linear (6.4% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 2.8% away from median
(+) | highs are linear (4.4% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (15.5% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 29% of all tested devices in this class were better, 5% similar, 66% worse
» The best had a delta of 5%, average was 19%, worst was 53%
Compared to all devices tested
» 19% of all tested devices were better, 4% similar, 78% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Chuwi AeroBook Pro audio analysis
(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (82.8 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 24.7% lower than median
(+) | bass is linear (4.8% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | reduced mids - on average 7.2% lower than median
(±) | linearity of mids is average (10.8% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(±) | higher highs - on average 9.4% higher than median
(±) | linearity of highs is average (12% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(-) | overall sound is not linear (37.3% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 97% of all tested devices in this class were better, 2% similar, 1% worse
» The best had a delta of 5%, average was 19%, worst was 53%
Compared to all devices tested
» 93% of all tested devices were better, 1% similar, 6% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Power Consumption
Since the F7 Air uses low-powered components (e.g, the CPU's TDP is rated at 6 Watts), overall power consumption is very low. Under full synthetic load, the system pulls only 20 Watts. The power adapter is rated at 24 Watts, which can easily supply enough juice for any workload.
| Off / Standby |   0.45 / 0.46 Watt |
| Idle |  6.7 / 9.6 / 9.9 Watt |
| Load |
19.1 / 27.1 Watt |
    
| |
Battery Life
Despite its low power usage, the F7 Air manages to last just over four hours in our WiFi v1.3 battery test (screen set to 150 nits, balanced power profile, opening a new webpage every 30-40 seconds). This is primarily due to the tiny 32.7 Wh battery. Since the device is so thin, battery size must be constrained. Runtimes suffer as a result. However, the F7 Air can be charged via the USB-C port, which is a nice plus.
Pros
Cons
Verdict
The Teclast F7 Air is a prime example of form over function. The laptop is well-designed and looks stunning, especially considering its price (US $399.99). Most laptops in this price range look like cheap hunks of plastic, but the F7 Air looks more akin to the 12-inch MacBook.
However, its beauty is only skin deep. The low-powered Intel Celeron N4120 is too weak and too slow for anything other than simple office work, email, and some light web browsing. The machine can handle some media streaming, including 4K video, but this requires patience and is far from perfect.
Add to that poor battery life, a chintzy keyboard, and a lackluster display (prior to calibration), and the compromises become glaringly obvious. There are some good things here, primarily aesthetics and build quality. However, there are too many other shortcomings for us to recommend the laptop.
Ultimately, the Teclast F7 Air suffers the same fate as other low-powered budget laptops. It is not powerful enough for all but the simplest tasks. If you want a beautiful laptop and don't care about or need powerful hardware, the Teclast F7 Air may be a good value for you. However, a simple and similarly-priced machine with an Intel Core i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 CPU will blow the F7 Air out of the water.
Price and availability
The Teclast F7 Air sells for US$399.99. It is available from select retailers like Gearbest and AliExpress.
Teclast F7 Air
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02/07/2021 v7
Sam Medley
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