💻 chuwi minibook x
created 2025/05/04 modified 2025/11/17 category hardware views 203
a very neat little 10" laptop that will fit in a purse or tiny girly bag with fantastic linux support, plus the hinge rotates 360° to tablet mode!
i have convinced at least 3 people to buy this device, and you should as well :3
| specifications | |
| -------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| 💻 cpu + ram | intel N150 (previously N100 and N1000)
16gb lpddr5 **soldered** (previously 12gb) |
| 🔋 battery | 28.88wh (3800mah @ 7.6v) lasting ~8 hours |
| 🔌 charging | 12v @ 3a (usb c, pd 3.0 available[^1]) |
| 💾 storage | 512gb M.2 SSD (upgradable to 1tb) |
| 🖥️ display | 10.5" 16:10 IPS @ 1200p (touchscreen) |
| 🛜 wireless | wifi 6, bluetooth 5.2 |
| 🔌 i/o | 2x usb c, 3.5mm headphone jack |
| 📏 dimensions | 244mm x 167mm x 17mm |
apparently you can find a secret pink version of the N100 on american ebay
^ this japanese market version appears to have an additional usb (albeit 2.0) type-c port! as well as letting you order it directly from chuwi in pink
(just a heads up, chuwi is a small company, and their qc is not flawless. considering that the quality of the hardware is lowkey amazing)
[^1]: the charger it comes with has a disclaimer it is only for use with chuwi products, this is because it outputs 12v @ 3a, im glad i heeded this warning and checked this *before* i used it to charge my phone
linux
the difference between `powerprofilesctl` powerprofiles is actually astonishing, compiling my website from scratch on the power-saver/balanced/performance profiles takes about 5.5s/4.5/1.5s respectively
this device uses a portrait display panel which means you have to rotate it[^2]
this device supports the use of the latest "xe" intel graphics drivers[^3] which you can enable by adding these kernel parameters:
i915.force_probe=!46d1 xe.force_probe=46d1
TODO: don't ask me how to detect the hinge position or even device orientation, i'm yet to figure that out, also still need to write a script to disable the keyboard on i3 at least manually
[^2]: [this guide](https://github.com/sonnyp/linux-minibook-x) recommends the `video=DSI-1:panel_orientation=right_side_up` kernel parameter but i have not tested this yet. it might even fix touchscreen input on its own
[^3]: (regarding x11 specifically) pro: you'll be able to use `TearFree`!! con: you'll need to build and install `xorg-server-git` and `xf86-input-libinput-git`
audio
the speakers sound really tinny out-of-the-box, but it is not the end of the world at all for there are two solutions to this problem. it is *possible* do do both but it'll require extra effort
the microphone is (i've been told on a jitsi call) terrible (and i should switch to my phone immediately (to which i oblidged as to not be a bother)) but im not sure there's much you could do other than replacing the entire mic, whatever formfactor it is in
speaker tuning
diamond has recorded some impulse responses for the minibook which let it derive an EQ profile that makes the speakers sound surprisingly good. this is probably the easiest option, as you can just apply it using [easyeffects](https://github.com/wwmm/easyeffects). worth noting it has an N100 so the impulse may be different to the N150, haven't tested it yet, thankfully it's been such a good pet that it even included steps to recreate this EQ profile as well!
speaker modification
apparently the minibook (N100, haven't looked inside my N150 yet) is missing foam behind the speakers, which is something that most laptops have. this is likely incompatible with the EQ as it would probably change the impulse response
0. take the battery out (you dont need to *unplug* it, just flip it out the way)
1. simply just take the speakers out
2. put some foam[^4] near the screw ports of the speakers
[^4]: op used small pieces of a thicker foam that came from a psu box