Chuwi AeroBook Plus uses the same Core i5 CPU as the 2016 MacBook Pro 13, costs half the price

How many corners can you cut and still be able to get away with it?

Chuwi has made a name for itself by designing sleek metal Ultrabooks with very low starting prices. In order to meet such lofty goals, however, other aspects of the design have suffered. Weak hinges, creaky chassis, unreliable clickpads, small battery capacities, and the slow Celeron processors all lead to poor first impressions and questionable longevity of the Chuwi systems.

The latest laptop from the OEM is the inexpensive 15.6-inch AeroBook Plus which addresses one of our aforementioned concerns. The processor has been upgraded from a Celeron to a 28 W Skylake Core i5-6287U or Core i7-6567U. Though these 6th gen processors are almost 5 years old, they're still huge improvements in raw CPU and GPU horsepower over the Celeron series. The 4K UHD display is also of high quality especially at the ~$600 USD price range.

Unfortunately, the rest of the laptop is merely average at best. Build quality leaves a lot to be desired as our test unit would have unresponsive keys and a jumpy clickpad. The hinges would creak when adjusting the angle and the base isn't nearly as rigid as the Apple MacBook, Dell XPS, or HP Spectre that it's trying to imitate. If you want a nice looking laptop with a 4K display for super cheap, then expect to sacrifice a lot along the way.

See our full review on the Chuwi AeroBook Plus to learn more about the system and its official Indiegogo page here.