Current Qualcomm based Windows 10 laptops are mostly interesting for people wanting all-day battery life and/or being always connected over 4G LTE, as they are still pretty expensive, and performance somewhat underwhelming, although Snapdragon 8cx processor should change that.
Chinese-based PiPo, known for their tablets, mini PCs and Arm Android laptops, is working on solving affordability of Arm Windows 10 laptop with their Snapdragon 850 2-in-1 laptop, heavily inspired by Huawei MateBook E 2019, and expected to sell for half the price or around $400.
PiPo 2-in-1 laptop preliminary specifications:
- SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 octa-core Kryo 385 Arm cores clocked @ up to 2.96 GHz with Adreno 630 Visual Processing Subsystem, Hexagon 685 DSP
- Systmem Memory – 8GB RAM
- Storage – 256GB flash storage
- Display – 12.3″ IPS display with 3000×2000 resolution, 10-point touch
- Audio – 3.5mm audio jack,
- Connectivity – WiFi 5 802.11ac/b/g/n + 4G LTE
- Camera – 5.0MP front-facing camera. 13MP rear camera
- USB – 1x USB type-C port for power, data, and DisplayPort Alt. mode
- Misc – Power and volume buttons
- Battery – 7.6V 5,000mAh battery
PiPo’s laptop runs Windows 10 Pro 64-bit Arm, but if you’re interested in an Arm Linux laptop that’s more powerful than PineBook Pro, there may be hope via aarch64-laptops project that’s supposed to support both Snapdragon 835 & 850 laptops. The project has not had much activity in recent months however.
I found out about this laptop in a Charbax video where the 2-in-1 laptop is showcased, and we are told the reference price will be less than $400.
Manufacturers often provide MOQ price (factory price) for their product, but in this case, I believe $400 is the expected retail price, as he mentions it will be much cheaper than to Huawei MateBook E that’s listed for around $565 (3,999 RMB).
The video also shows clamshell 13.3″, 14.1″ or 15.4″ versions, but they don’t appear to have designed Snapdragon 850 laptops based on those yet, and it will depend on demand. MOQ price (1,000 units) is expected to start around $250 for the 13.3″ model with WiFi only.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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