The perfect pocket-friendly notebook for school students Firstpost

Pros:
– Compact and lightweight
– Easy-to-navigate user interface
– Sound battery life
– Android on a laptop
– Fast USB-C charging
– Pretty affordable
– Pretty decent display for the price
– MS Office included in the package

Cons:
– Android on laptop needs some getting used to
– Trackpad could do with some optimisation
– PrimeOS-based on Android 11. No info on future updates
– Not good at multitasking
– Apps can be slow to launch

Price: Rs 14,490
Rating: 4/5

Finding a budget laptop in today’s market can be challenging. Laptop shoppers are faced with fewer options and higher prices, making it particularly tough to find a good budget notebook. Despite the surge in PC demand during the pandemic, the availability of fully loaded budget laptops hasn’t improved. However, an Indian startup has recently stepped into the spotlight, claiming to have cracked the code for offering a notebook priced under Rs 20,000. Meet the Primebook.

When it comes to laptops, we’re accustomed to the familiar landscape: Windows, macOS, and occasionally Linux. We expect to connect via Ethernet or Wi-Fi and anticipate that the specifications will align with the price. But what if there was a laptop that defied these conventions? The Primebook 4G does just that, capturing attention from the moment it was announced. What sets it apart? It runs on Android, which is unusual for laptops. It also features a dedicated SIM card slot, much like a smartphone. And perhaps most notably, it’s incredibly affordable.

This innovative Indian startup offers a well-rounded solution tailored for learning and productivity. With features like an 11.6-inch HD IPS display and a versatile selection of ports, the Primebook 4G is designed to meet the needs of modern students and casual users. Let’s take a closer look at how the Primebook 4G stands out as an affordable and efficient tool in today’s market.

Primebook 4G (2024) Laptop Review: Design and Build Quality
The Primebook stands out for its compact design, making it an ideal choice for those who are always on the go. This 11-inch laptop is incredibly lightweight, weighing just over a kilogram, which makes it perfect for carrying around campus or slipping into a backpack without any hassle. The sleek all-black matte finish not only adds a touch of elegance but also helps keep fingerprints and smudges at bay, though you might need to wipe it clean occasionally.

The laptop is made of matte plastic, which, while prone to some smudging, can easily be cleaned with a cloth. The rubber grips on the bottom ensure it stays put on different surfaces, and the fanless design keeps it running quietly without any visible air vents, adding to its neat appearance.

When it comes to connectivity, the Primebook offers a variety of ports that make it versatile for everyday use. You’ll find two USB-A ports, one USB-C, a micro HDMI port, a microSD slot, a SIM card slot, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. These options allow you to connect multiple devices and accessories, making it a flexible tool for various tasks. While the inclusion of a mini HDMI port is handy, some might miss having a full-sized HDMI slot for easier connections.

The Primebook 4G is a budget-friendly laptop that doesn’t compromise on style or functionality. Its minimalist design and soft-touch plastic body give it a more upscale feel than you might expect for its price. The clean, simple design is appealing, though the matte finish does show fingerprints more easily, especially due to the dark colour.

Primebook 4G (2024) Laptop review: Display
The Primebook features an 11.6-inch HD IPS LCD display with a 16:9 aspect ratio, offering decent brightness levels that make it comfortable to use in various lighting conditions. You get pretty thick bezels around the display, which makes the laptop feel old.

The anti-glare coating is a nice touch though, as it helps in reducing reflections and making the screen easier to view when you’re outside or in a brightly lit room. The colours on the display are lively and vivid, making content consumption quite enjoyable, especially if you can overlook the 720p resolution limitation. Having said that, it does struggle in particularly poorly-lit scenes. On the plus side though, for its size, it offers good sharpness and clarity for everyday tasks.

The 720p HD resolution is standard for laptops in this price range, and while it’s not groundbreaking, it’s more than adequate for indoor use. The display could do with some colour tuning for that extra vibrancy.

Primebook 4G (2024) Laptop Review: Keyboard and Trackpad
The Primebook comes with a full-size QWERTY keyboard. Despite the laptop’s compact size, is surprisingly well-designed. The keys are generously sized and spaced out properly, making typing comfortable and accurate. Most users should be able to get up to their usual typing speed within about half an hour. The keys also feature ample key travel, which provides a satisfying tactile response that makes typing feel natural. Even after extended use, the keyboard remains comfortable, with no major issues in terms of usability.

However, the touchpad is a bit of a letdown. The PrimeOS interface feels like it would be better suited to a touchscreen, but instead, you’re left with a trackpad that doesn’t quite measure up.

The trackpad’s small size isn’t the problem; the real issue is its performance. It sometimes struggles with accurate tracking and occasionally loses its position entirely. There were even moments when the mouse pointer would disappear, which seems to be a flaw in how PrimeOS is optimised. Given these issues, using a separate mouse is highly recommended for a smoother experience.

Primebook 4G (2024) Laptop Review: Webcam and Speakers
The Primebook is equipped with a basic 2MP camera, which just about manages to handle video calls and online classes. Unfortunately, the quality is far from impressive. The images and videos captured by the webcam are murky and lack detail, comparable to what you might expect from a very basic feature phone camera.

On the other hand, the speakers are a solid part of the Primebook’s setup. The dual speakers are located at the bottom near the front, and while this placement can cause a slight reverb during music playback, the overall sound quality is decent. The speakers deliver adequate volume and clarity for general use, making them suitable for a variety of settings, whether you’re watching videos or listening to music.

Primebook 4G (2024) Laptop Review: Performance
The Primebook 4G is equipped with a MediaTek MT8788 chip and 4GB RAM, making it a capable device for basic daily tasks like working on Google Docs, streaming videos, and browsing the web. While app launches might not be instantaneous, they are generally quick enough to meet most users’ needs.

For Storage, the base variant comes with 64GB of eMMC memory. At the top end, we are looking at 512GB. However, you do get the option to expand the storage using a microSD card.

The Primebook 4G model takes things a step further with the power-efficient MediaTek MT8788 processor, allowing users to handle various tasks without much delay. This processor includes an octa-core CPU, featuring a combination of four ARM Cortex-A73 cores and four ARM Cortex-A53 cores, clocked at 2.0 GHz.

This setup helps the laptop manage basic activities smoothly while keeping energy consumption low. However, the laptop does struggle a bit with multitasking. When multiple browser tabs are open, you might notice that apps take longer to launch and that the device becomes less responsive overall.

One standout feature of the Primebook is its ability to make and receive calls, thanks to the MediaTek MT8788 processor. The call quality is decent, although the speakers could be better, but it’s still a useful feature that distinguishes this laptop from others in its price range.

The Primebook operates on PrimeOS, an Android-based system optimized for mouse and keyboard use. It comes with its own app store, rather than the Google Play Store, so you can download apps and games directly or sideload APKs from the web. Having said that, you practically have the entire Android app ecosystem at your tips, if you know where to look and how to tinker around with some settings. You also get access to MS Office with the purchase of the laptop.

However, apps like Google Docs and YouTube may behave differently from what you’re used to on Android or Windows, which might take some getting used to.

Coming to safety, there are options to create alternative profiles to disable voice calls and SMS features, which can be useful for parents, although we didn’t find any dedicated applications or safeguards in place to block mature content on the device.

Websites and services may take a bit of time to load at first, but once they do, they generally run smoothly. The laptop also supports a 5GHz Wi-Fi network for faster internet speeds and includes Bluetooth connectivity. It handles home Wi-Fi and SIM card internet access without any issues, making it versatile for different connectivity needs.

That said, it’s important to remember that the PrimeOS-powered Primebook feels more like a tablet with a keyboard and trackpad than a traditional laptop. Unlike budget laptops running ChromeOS, the interface and functionality of the Primebook lean more toward a tablet-like experience.

The laptop runs on PrimeOS, which is based on Android 11, and there’s no information about future software updates. The performance is acceptable as long as you use one app or service at a time. However, if you rely on multitasking, this laptop might not be the best choice, as it tends to become sluggish even with basic tasks when multiple apps are open.

Primebook 4G (2024) Laptop Review: Battery
The Primebook comes with a 4000mAh battery and boasts a fast-charging feature, claiming to go from 10% to 100% in about an hour. It comes with a USB-C port for charging, and during testing, it was able to reach about 70% charge within that time frame.

In terms of battery life, we were getting about 5 hours of screen time. This is due to a combination of a low-resolution screen and an Android-based OS. This makes the Primebook a pretty solid option for extended use throughout the day assuming that battery life is a top priority.

Primebook 4G (2024) Laptop Review: Verdict
The Primebook 4G offer good value for the money that you spend. Although the Chromebook is listed for Rs 16,000, there are days when you can pick them up for as little as Rs 10,999.

This makes them an excellent choice for students, casual users, and anyone in need of a basic laptop for everyday tasks, despite some of limitations, These laptops are ideal if your primary needs revolve around browsing the web, checking emails, handling light productivity tasks, and requiring a portable device.

They deliver on all these fronts, providing a reliable and affordable option for users who don’t need the power of a high-end machine.

The Primebook 4G is mainly designed for school students, who have to work with tight budgets. Their lightweight and portable design makes them perfect for taking notes, working on some research projects, and completing assignments. These laptops provide just what students need to manage their academic workload without stretching their finances too thin.

Moreover, it is a solid entry-level laptop that doesn’t compromise on the essentials. It’s an excellent starting point for users who need a dependable device for day-to-day tasks like web browsing and light productivity, all without requiring a significant financial investment.

By filling a crucial gap in the market, Primebook laptops offer a practical and budget-friendly choice for those who need a simple, reliable device.