A manufacturer with a unique name in Poland, CHUWI, shows how manufacturers of cheap Windows laptops are trying to respond to the cheapest MacBook from Apple. It won’t attack Apple either with its system or brand… so it attacks with price, ports and battery.
In March 2026, Apple attacked the market of cheap Windows laptops: it showed a really interesting MacBook Neo for only $599. This is equipment presenting the concept of “the basis of all basics”, based on the A18 Pro smartphone system. The very fact that Apple entered the lower price segment changed the reference point for the entire category. Intel responded with the Core Series 3 family, previously known as Wildcat Lake, aimed at cheaper notebooks and low-power devices. CHUWI UniBook is one of the first examples of a new offensive on the Windows-centric sideand.
CHUWI UniBook doesn’t pretend to be anything
Anyone looking for fireworks will be disappointed: but there are a few surprises. CHUWI focuses on a set of features that are clear and transparent in the budget segment “poked by Apple”: and they include: low price, interesting and new processor, large battery for the class of device and many connectors. According to information provided by, among others, manufacturer, the laptop will cost about $449, which is $150 less than the basic MacBook Neo. But is it worth spending about 6 hundred to get a device with Windows on board and more ports?
The basic configuration is almost a copy of the MacBook Neo: 8 GB of memory and 256 GB of data space. And this is where the dog is buried: 8 GB of RAM with Windows 11 is asking for a cavalcade of all sorts of insults towards the equipment within a year of purchase. Moreover, CHUWI uses LPDDR5X memory and PCIe Gen 3 media, which sounds quite conservative in 2026 (Apple is better in the latter respect). But: in office work, in the browser, instant messaging and simple multimedia, this does not necessarily mean a disaster. However, don’t prepare for anything more than the simplest activities. This is not a laptop for someone who wants to edit video, process large RAW files or keep half of their browser tabs open. There have to be compromises and it’s worth being prepared for them, if you want to buy this CHUWI at all.
Intel Core 3 304: this is how the Windows world wants to rebuild the cheap laptop sector
The heart of UniBook is the Intel Core 3 304, one of the new Core Series 3 systems. Intel has allocated 6 MB of cache memory for this processor and added a clock speed of up to 4.30 GHz, and the entire Wildcat Lake family has been prepared for equipment cheaper than Core Ultra series laptops. Materials about this platform promise long battery life, low power consumption and reasonable responsiveness in everyday use. This is exactly where cheap laptops have been lagging for years: buying anything under PLN 3,000 usually means that you will hate this equipment in the very near future. Please also take into account the fact that I have been using more advanced designs for years: previously, it was mainly well-equipped Ultrabooks with Windows, and now it is a MacBook Air M5, which literally flies through work and at this particular moment: with several dozen browser tabs and several programs running, it reports a temperature of 40 degrees on the processor. So I may be a bit “contaminated” by the uncompromising performance of more expensive machines.
And speaking of temperatures, then CHUWI has chosen active cooling, although Wildcat Lake processors can also be used in fanless designs. This is a very good choice if the manufacturer wants to maintain more stable clock speeds under longer loads and prevent the machine from throttling quickly. But also: the fan means noise and dust in the ventilation holes. On paper, UniBook is supposed to work for up to 20 hours on a single charge, but what will happen… will be revealed in more extensive tests. I don’t expect anything more than 14 hours, and that’s in ideal conditions for this equipment.
Ports versus ecosystem
Unlike the Macbook Neo, which is very poor in this respect, UniBook from CHUWI has a set of ports. It offers as many as three USB-A, two USB-C, a microSD reader, a 3.5 mm headphone jack and an RJ45 connector for Ethernet. You don’t have to buy a hub, adapter or docking station right away. In a cheap laptop for school, office work, a warehouse or a small company, such a set is often more important than beauty and the apple on the back, or macOS itself.
But to be fair: MacBook Neo has an advantage where it is Apple’s natural advantage: in the already mentioned system, integration with iPhone, trackpad quality, work culture and predictability of work comfort. Therefore, UniBook will be an interesting alternative only for those for whom macOS is not an argument or is even an obstacle: because not everyone likes it and this is completely normal. CHUWI has no reason to compete with Apple in this type of things: it is enough for it to be significantly cheaper and good enough. But what about the quality of construction, hinges, battery life after a year and updates from the manufacturer? This will be a very strong test for CHUWI: whether, in addition to releasing a very simple, budget laptop, it also took care of the usability: from the quality of the casing to support.
A cheap laptop doesn’t have to be a stupid idea. But…
Listen, outside the bubble of technology freaks, people also buy laptops, use them, and I don’t hear every now and then that someone threw their PC out the window. In this part of the “technosphere”, the user mainly wants a new and inexpensive laptop, Windows 11, a reasonable processor, a large number of ports and… ordinary work on it, without the extravagance and acrobatics typical of power users. CHUWI can do great here: and it will do it with a deposit, as long as the battery performance “on paper” largely corresponds to what users report. What is disturbing is the modest 8 GB of RAM paired with Windows 11, very controversial, remembering the previous SSD era and the fact that the CHUWI brand focuses primarily on the price, and not any particularly long, meticulous support after purchase. For $150 more, we get a device that is well-assembled, works surprisingly well, macOS, full compatibility with the ecosystem and support for updates for at least 6-7 years. What will it be like here? Well, we don’t know.
Read also: Has Chuwi deceived users? They were supposed to get a more powerful one, but they have a weaker processor
The thing with CHUWI UniBook is that it is better to look at it as a test of the new strategy of Intel and the manufacturers of cheaper PCs. Wildcat Lake is supposed to give budget laptops more performance and better working time, and CHUWI shows that it can be packaged in a device that is clearly cheaper than Apple’s proposal: although this does not surprise me. Independent tests will show whether UniBook is really a successful computer for everyday work, or just news material: such as this one. Cool. My dears, it’s cold. Let’s wait, let’s observe, and if we can: let’s take it in our hands, let’s play with it and evaluate it. Currently, the most important thing for me is that the MacBook Neo has caused an incredible popular uproar: Microsoft is fixing Windows 11, Intel is furious like our current prime minister, and manufacturers of cheap computers are on the offensive like Hussars.
