If you’ve been around for a while, you’d have noticed the tonnes of Z8300-powered tablet and laptop launches that have graced the GizChina homepage. Trust me, we don’t even report half of them!
Fast forward, we’ve just learnt about a new laptop from China (yes, it does look like the MacBook) that doesn’t run on the Intel Z8300. This time around, we’ve a slight variation, and it features the Intel i7 6500U chip. But natural, it isn’t $150 cheap but still not too bad at around the $580 mark.
Gizchina News of the week
Known as the SongQi F6C, the laptop runs on Microsoft’s Windows 10 OS and features a 13.3-inch 1920 x 1080p display (sorry, no retina display here). Other specs include 4GB of RAM (a downer for sure), 128GB SSD, a 2 mega-pixel front camera, and a 6000mAh battery (slightly disappointing again).
Interestingly, it’s charged by a 5V adapter — you might just be able to charge the SongQi F6C with a typical phone power bank! Interested parties can get one for $580 right now, with shipping scheduled to commence 31st October.
It’ll be interesting if someone could turn it into a Hackintosh system.
I would be interested in a comparison with Xiaomi ‘s notebooks đ And I agree : too many Z8300, not enough X7-Z8700…
it would be better if there were MORE CHEAP CHINESE laptops with 5th , 6th and 7th Generation i3s and i5s with POTENT GAMING GPUs !
Define cheap though. It would be a minimum $500 for an i5 and up if the manufacturer is to even make a penny off it.
im ok with $500 as long as there’s a discrete GPU in there
I don’t think that’s possible. It’s very rare in the U.S. to find a big company releasing a laptop with a discrete video card AND an intel i5 CPU for less than $500, and they get huge bulk order discounts as well. A small manufacturer like SongQi or even Xiaomi will have difficulty obtaining competitive pricing for something like that.
are you from china ?? can you tell me if they have a plan for this ?
look , they’re already a HELL lot better than samsung and sony and other big boys who sell crap for stupidly high prices.
if china CAN beat the western marketeers in the mobile market … WHY CANT THEY DO THE SAME IN PC ? i get it … laptops and Desktop PCs are bulky af… hard to import and carry around BUT i think china only stands to benefit from this. IF they can somehow cause some havoc in the market and stand up to dell , hp and the other big boys. we already have GPUs and CPUs being made in Taiwan … what if china can strike a deal with them ? or better yet , INVITE intel and amd and nvidia and others to set up foundries in china itself ! after all , it is an industrial nation !
ONCE china ‘subsidizes’ the prices of GPUs and CPUs , they can move on to RAM and then to other stuff … critical PC peripherals maybe. this could be a MASSIVE revolution in the PC market (which , btw ain’t any close to dying as most people keep blabbering !)
china has nothing to lose for trying their hand at the PC market… if ANYTHING , they can benefit from this. i was EXTREMELY elated when i came to know that Xiaomi had gone for a PC laptop ! i hope this sets a MASSIVE and PERMANENT precedent for chinese manufacturers to go for the PC market’s jugular !
Tl;dr at the bottom
I know what youâre saying, if China is already making incredible phones and low end tablets for way less than Samsung, Sony, Apple, why canât they do the same with laptops and computers? Now I would like to ask you the question, they have nothing to lose when they try making a laptop for cheap, so why havenât they done it? And there is a possible answer you didnât consider in your post, maybe they already tried and they canât.
This is a report from 2015 about computer shipments. The average profit big manufacturers like HP, ASUS, etc made from each laptop was about $15. Obviously that will vary and also does not include Apple, who makes about 20% profit on each computer they sell.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/09/pc-value-trap-windows-chrome-hp-dell-lenovo-asus-acer
Yes, Chinese manufacturers like Chuwi, Jumper, Cube all benefit from not having massive overhead, supply chain logistics, and huge advertising budgets, but they also donât benefit as much from volume discounts as well. What Iâm saying is that maybe Chinese manufacturers are already trying to make good laptops for cheap, but they just canât because of the high prices of CPU/GPU chipsets.
Take a look at the Xiaomi laptop. The Mi Book Air (Core M) has an MSRP of about $525, and that probably takes into account the fact that Xiaomi hasnât spent anything on advertising and much lower overheads compared to big manufacturers. Street retail price is closer to $650, and at that price you might as well buy the ASUS UX305 which can be had for $650 and has the same specs. So if Xiaomi, who is big enough to purchase large orders of parts but âsmallâ enough to not have to spend that much money on overhead can only make a laptop about $75 cheaper than ASUS, small manufacturers like Chuwi will have an extremely difficult time competing.
Letâs say Chuwi decides to make a high end laptop. They spend no money on advertising, just facebook posts and they use a Oneplus style invite system so they are always on demand instead of spending money for storage. All they can cut from the price of the laptop is advertising and overhead costs, and then the $15 profit big guys are making. Thatâs not that much money.
Oh and China and Taiwan donât like each other. Long story but China thinks Taiwan is part of China but Taiwan thinks they are a separate country. And yes, âPC is dyingâ has been the rhetoric for many years now.
So Tl;dr, companies like HP/ASUS make $15 profit from each computer, smaller Chinese companies canât lower the prices much more.
k den
I would be interested in a comparison with Xiaomi ‘s notebooks đ And I agree : too many Z8300, not enough X7-Z8700…
it would be better if there were MORE CHEAP CHINESE laptops with 5th , 6th and 7th Generation i3s and i5s with POTENT GAMING GPUs !
Define cheap though. It would be a minimum $500 for an i5 and up if the manufacturer is to even make a penny off it.
im ok with $500 as long as there’s a discrete GPU in there
I don’t think that’s possible. It’s very rare in the U.S. to find a big company releasing a laptop with a discrete video card AND an intel i5 CPU for less than $500, and they get huge bulk order discounts as well. A small manufacturer like SongQi or even Xiaomi will have difficulty obtaining competitive pricing for something like that.
are you from china ?? can you tell me if they have a plan for this ?
look , they’re already a HELL lot better than samsung and sony and other big boys who sell crap for stupidly high prices.
if china CAN beat the western marketeers in the mobile market … WHY CANT THEY DO THE SAME IN PC ? i get it … laptops and Desktop PCs are bulky af… hard to import and carry around BUT i think china only stands to benefit from this. IF they can somehow cause some havoc in the market and stand up to dell , hp and the other big boys. we already have GPUs and CPUs being made in Taiwan … what if china can strike a deal with them ? or better yet , INVITE intel and amd and nvidia and others to set up foundries in china itself ! after all , it is an industrial nation !
ONCE china ‘subsidizes’ the prices of GPUs and CPUs , they can move on to RAM and then to other stuff … critical PC peripherals maybe. this could be a MASSIVE revolution in the PC market (which , btw ain’t any close to dying as most people keep blabbering !)
china has nothing to lose for trying their hand at the PC market… if ANYTHING , they can benefit from this. i was EXTREMELY elated when i came to know that Xiaomi had gone for a PC laptop ! i hope this sets a MASSIVE and PERMANENT precedent for chinese manufacturers to go for the PC market’s jugular !
Tl;dr at the bottom
I know what youâre saying, if China is already making incredible phones and low end tablets for way less than Samsung, Sony, Apple, why canât they do the same with laptops and computers? Now I would like to ask you the question, they have nothing to lose when they try making a laptop for cheap, so why havenât they done it? And there is a possible answer you didnât consider in your post, maybe they already tried and they canât.
This is a report from 2015 about computer shipments. The average profit big manufacturers like HP, ASUS, etc made from each laptop was about $15. Obviously that will vary and also does not include Apple, who makes about 20% profit on each computer they sell.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/09/pc-value-trap-windows-chrome-hp-dell-lenovo-asus-acer
Yes, Chinese manufacturers like Chuwi, Jumper, Cube all benefit from not having massive overhead, supply chain logistics, and huge advertising budgets, but they also donât benefit as much from volume discounts as well. What Iâm saying is that maybe Chinese manufacturers are already trying to make good laptops for cheap, but they just canât because of the high prices of CPU/GPU chipsets.
Take a look at the Xiaomi laptop. The Mi Book Air (Core M) has an MSRP of about $525, and that probably takes into account the fact that Xiaomi hasnât spent anything on advertising and much lower overheads compared to big manufacturers. Street retail price is closer to $650, and at that price you might as well buy the ASUS UX305 which can be had for $650 and has the same specs. So if Xiaomi, who is big enough to purchase large orders of parts but âsmallâ enough to not have to spend that much money on overhead can only make a laptop about $75 cheaper than ASUS, small manufacturers like Chuwi will have an extremely difficult time competing.
Letâs say Chuwi decides to make a high end laptop. They spend no money on advertising, just facebook posts and they use a Oneplus style invite system so they are always on demand instead of spending money for storage. All they can cut from the price of the laptop is advertising and overhead costs, and then the $15 profit big guys are making. Thatâs not that much money.
Oh and China and Taiwan donât like each other. Long story but China thinks Taiwan is part of China but Taiwan thinks they are a separate country. And yes, âPC is dyingâ has been the rhetoric for many years now.
So Tl;dr, companies like HP/ASUS make $15 profit from each computer, smaller Chinese companies canât lower the prices much more.
k den
no discrete GPUS ?!
HOW WILL ANYONE PLAY GAMES ON THIS ?!
Just buy Mi Book Air already
need money. please donate
can u even afford redmi 3
no discrete GPUS ?!
HOW WILL ANYONE PLAY GAMES ON THIS ?!
Just buy Mi Book Air already
need money. please donate
can u even afford redmi 3
This is more comparable with Xiaomi and the Lenovo Air variants and in that regard one would be better off with one of those.
This is more comparable with Xiaomi and the Lenovo Air variants and in that regard one would be better off with one of those.
SongQi ? Are they reliable or what ?
Who the hell is stupid enough to give $600 to SongQi without any information on this brand or specific product except a spec sheet anyone can found on the web ?
SongQi ? Are they reliable or what ?
Who the hell is stupid enough to give $600 to SongQi without any information on this brand or specific product except a spec sheet anyone can found on the web ?