Chuwi MiniBook crowdfunding campaign surpasses US$260,000 in two days

The Chuwi MiniBook crowdfunding campaign has reached US$267,613 in two days. (Image source: Chuwi)

The crowdfunding campaign for the Chuwi MiniBook has exceeded all expectations, having achieved over 1,000% of its funding goal. This would be an impressive feat in a full campaign period, let alone 2 days. The Chuwi MiniBook is an 8.0-inch ultra-mobile convertible laptop that starts at US$430 for the Celeron N4100 model and US$530 for the Core m3-8100Y model on Indiegogo. The MiniBook will ship worldwide in September.

by Alex Alderson, 2019/06/21

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We doubt even Chuwi saw this coming. The Shenzhen based company launched its latest crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo earlier this week, and it has already proven a hit with fans. The campaign is the company's sixth on the crowdfunding website since 2017, from which it has previously raised over US$2.7 million.

As we previously reported, Chuwi has brought two versions of the MiniBook to Indiegogo, the cheapest of which starts at US$430. Both versions feature an 8-inch IPS touchscreen, which operates natively at 1,920 x 1,200. Chuwi claims that the display should reach a maximum brightness of 250 cd/m² lumens, which seems rather dim. The company will equip both models with a 26.6 Wh (7.6 V) battery, Windows 10 Home 64-bit and a 2.4 GHz/5 GHz Wi-Fi modem that supports up to the IEEE 802.11 n standard.

The MiniBook weighs 0.66 kg (~1.46 lbs) and measures 201 x 128.6 x 19.3 mm. Chuwi has incorporated a USB Type-C port, two USB Type-A ports, a headphone jack, a mini HDMI port, a microSD card reader and a fingerprint scanner integrated within the power button. Both models will come with 128 GB of eMMC flash storage too. Please see below for the differences between the two models:

Model	Deluxe	Entry-Level
CPU	Core m3-8100Y	Celeron N4100
RAM	8 GB LPDDR3	8 GB LPDRR4
Other	Spare M.2 PCIe SSD slot	Spare M.2 SATA SSD slot
Indiegogo price	US$530	US$430
Full price	US$670	US$540 or higher

Chuwi is positioning the MiniBook as a competitor to the MacBook Air and Surface Go, although we would not compare an ultra-mobile PC (UPMC) with no trackpad against an ultrabook and a detachable 2-in-1. At any rate, it would still make a more portable alternative to a conventional laptop while maintaining much of the same functionality. The MiniBook campaign will end on August 19, with Chuwi estimating that it will ship to backers in September.