Chuwi Minibook X: the netbook we deserve

Quick specs

Much like the netbooks of yore, the Minibook is a budget machine. But
it’s 2026, so even budget machines pack more oomph than I need from a
utility laptop.

• CPU 4-core/4-thread 3.6GHz Intel N150 Twin Lake
• 16 GB RAM – LPDDR5-6400 – soldered 😿
• 512GB NVMe – upgradable
• 10.51” IPS 2K 16:10 screen
• 28.88Wh Li-Ion battery
• Weight: 911g
• Ports: 2×USB-C (1×PD charging)
• Cost: $350

One oddity is that the Minibook comes bundled with a 12V/2A USB-C
charger. I chucked the charger; I worried I’d fry some 5V SoC someday.
The Minibook works fine with a PD charger.

I’d assume the 12V charger was a cost-saving choice, but it also
creates some weird possibilities for DC/off-grid setups.

Linux and weirdness: sideways panels and kernel parameters

The fediverse told me that Minibook runs Linux “boringly well,” which
was almost true.

I tried Debian, then jumped to NixOS for kicks.

What works:

• Camera/Microphone/Speakers
• Touchscreen
• Sleep/Suspend
• Hibernate
• Keyboard backlight
• USB-C HDMI
• Bluetooth (non-free blobs – Intel)
• Wi-Fi 6 (non-free blobs – Intel)

But on first boot, the screen orientation is 270° clockwise:

The Chuwi’s screen is a panel from a cheap tablet; the screen
rotation issue is a hardware problem (the screen is mounted sideways).
To fix the screen’s rotation, I had to tweak screen orientation at every
software layer. Fixing this problem was a journey:

1. Bootloader – Switched from systemd-boot to
   grub, carrying some unmerged
   GRUB rotation patches on top.
2. Initrd – Tell the Intel display driver about the panel orientation
   via a kernel parameter, and force the Intel driver to load in the
   initramfs. On NixOS:
   boot.kernelParams = ["video=DSI-1:panel_orientation=right_side_up"];
   and boot.initrd.kernelModules = ["i915"]; (see Kernel docs
   for modedb default
   video mode support)
3. Desktop environment – For X11, good ole
   xrandr --output DSI-1 --rotate right. Wayland picked this
   up from the DRM connector. This one was easy.
4. Framebuffer – Ensure all TTYs have the proper orientation by adding
   fbcon=rotate:1 to kernel parameters
   boot.kernelParams = ["fbcon=rotate:1"]; (see Kernel docs
   for framebuffer
   console boot options)

Behold, the final result in all its glory:

Size, weight, and build

This computer is mind-bogglingly small. The build is sturdy and
totable; it’ll hold up to a backpack jostling.

The laptop’s case is MacBook-esque: aluminum and good-looking. The
MacBook Air’s dimensions dwarf the Chuwi’s, but the two laptops are
about the same thickness.

A notebook that weighs more than a kilo is simply not a good
thing

– Linus
Torvalds

The Minibook weighs in just shy of a kilo at 912 grams.

Perf, thermals, and power

tl;dr: you get what you pay for. But battery life and cooling are
better than I’d have guessed.

The Minibook X was never going to compile the Linux kernel in record
time. But the performance matches the specs, it stays cool, and it has
enough battery life to run a movie marathon.

Numbers:

• Geekbench6 (a fun side-quest to get running on NixOS), better than I
  expected.
  • Single-core: 1295
  • Multi-core: 3332
• Wi-Fi 6 speed: 424 Mbps, more than enough to stream a 4K movie.
• Power
  • Idle: 3.8W
  • During benchmark: ~15W

Battery: When I left the 1995 classic film “Hackers” looping in VLC,
the battery lasted about 6 hours.

Heat: Running stress-ng for 10 minutes, the hottest part
of the laptop chassis remained below 90°F (32°C):

What I dislike

There’s so much to dislike about this laptop:

• Screen is terrible – 2K? 50Hz refresh rate? Why!?
• Keyboard is terrible – it only registers keystrokes when you hit the
  exact center of each key.
• Touchpad is terrible – It’s a diving board-style, without physical
  buttons.
• Sound is meh – I can hear the tinny laptop speaker fine, but it’s
  underwhelming. I’ve never tried tweaking it in Pipewire, though; it’s
  possible it could be better.

But “terrible” is in comparison to the nicest modern laptops in
existence. Everything I listed here works fine. I’m honestly blown away
when I tune my expectations to the sub-$400 laptop range.

Verdict

In The
Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs wrote,
“new ideas require old buildings”: cheap spaces let people try risky
ideas.

The Chuwi Minibook X is an old building.

I can brick the Minibook and have a normal Monday on my serious work
laptop. Nothing has to work, which makes it perfect to try out new Linux
desktop stuff:

• NixOS – I’ve been using Debian for 15 years+, figured I’d try
  joining the NixOS cult for a while.
• RiverWM – I’m on a quest to find the Wayland version of XMonad; River is pretty close.
• KDE Plasma – I’ve used a tiling window manager for over a decade.
  What’s it like to use a desktop that Just Works™?
• Steam – Never been much into games, but I decided to give Steam a
  try since, well, why not?

Cheap, weird computers like the Chuwi make it safe to play. And
playing with computers is still fun.