It’s been a few months now since we tested a Teclast product. Over the past two years, the brand has become one of the regulars in our test labs, and generally speaking has delivered some solid performances.
We’ve had the Tbook 10S, the X98 Plus II, the Tbook 16, the X3 Plus and the X5 Pro. All of these were consistently well received, so credit is due to the team of engineers who design Teclast products.
The latest Teclast offering to come through our door is a bit different. This is the first laptop from the company we’ve reviewed, and also the first product that sheds its budget label, focusing on the more lucrative mainstream market. So, without further ado, meet the Teclast F6 Pro, a 2-in-1 convertible Ultrabook.
Design
The Teclast F6 Pro is a seriously attractive piece of hardware that wouldn’t be out of place in the flagship range of Dell or Lenovo. It sports an all-metal chassis, likely to be aluminum rather than a magnesium alloy, with the sort of design you’d expect on a mainstream Ultrabook.
That means a brushed metal finish, along with a tapered profile with chamfered edges running along the sides. There are two hinges supporting a touch display that rotates 360 degrees, plus there’s a solid chassis that doesn’t wobble or flex.
The power button, for once, is not located on the keyboard, but on the side of the device, half an inch away from a microSD card slot, which itself is next to a USB 3.0 port, an audio socket and the power connector.
On the other side, you’ll find a USB Type-C connector, another USB 3.0 port and a micro-HDMI port, a rarity on laptops. If there’s one negative point to raise, it’s the sharp edges around the USB ports that could potentially draw blood.
Teclast engineers have built this laptop without any active fans – there are air vents between the hinges to help with cooling, and the base of the laptop is raised thanks to four rubber feet.
There’s even a spare M.2 slot with an easy-to-remove cover located on the underside of the device. The entire base can be exposed by undoing a few screws – but don’t expect a fully serviceable laptop.
At 208 x 315 x 16mm with a weight of 1.38kg, the F6 Pro is a little heavier than we’d expect.
Specifications
Very few corners have been cut on the spec front. Teclast means business here with a fingerprint reader embedded in the touchpad, a 7th-generation Intel CPU (Core m3-7Y30), an IPS display (13.3-inch Full HD touchscreen) and dual-channel system memory (two banks of 4GB DDR3 RAM).
Note that Teclast uses its own SSD, the NS550-2242, which is a 128GB model. Teclast has also incorporated a pair of dual microphones with noise reduction capabilities to deliver better performance when working with Cortana.
The rest of the configuration includes a 48.37Whr battery, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2 (courtesy of the Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165 adaptor) plus a monoblock power supply unit similar to the Xiaomi Mi Air (or the MacBook Air). Nice!
Usage and performance
The display is a non-laminated screen, which is not a deal breaker, especially at this price. It’s still sufficiently bright and boasts vibrant, well-defined colors even when viewed outdoors in the sunshine. As this is an IPS panel, you get excellent viewing angles, and we found the touchscreen to be really responsive.
The keyboard was one of the best we’ve tested so far on laptops in this price range. It has surprisingly good travel with excellent feedback and generously proportioned keys, but alas, it is not backlit. Touch typing was a joy.
All that said, we have our reservations regarding the touchpad which is smaller than we’d ideally want on a laptop of this size/price, especially as part of its surface area is occupied by a fingerprint reader.
Note that there’s an optional active stylus pen available for about £20 (around $25) for those who want to make the most out of the laptop’s tablet mode. As for the battery life, the F6 Pro comfortably hit 5 hours 20 minutes, one of the best times we’ve clocked – and that’s almost certainly down to the Core M CPU.
Competition
The F6 Pro is easily in the top 5% of the most expensive laptops from non-top-tier vendors, and that’s a big risk Teclast has taken, given that not many of us are ready to spend nearly £600 (after VAT is included) on a little-known vendor.
The Voyo Vbook V3 comes with a more powerful Core i5 CPU with 8GB of system RAM and a 256GB SSD for just under £600 ($840), while the Xiaomi Air 12 has half the RAM and no touch display, but is an elegant alternative at less than £420 ($590).
Its biggest Chinese-sourced rival, though, remains the Alldocube Thinker notebook which has a display with a much higher resolution, a lower price tag, and twice the amount of storage. Not everyone will like the display ratio or the fact that it is a non-touch display, though.
For those looking for the peace of mind that comes from buying in the UK, then both the HP Pavilion x360 14 and the Dell Inspiron 13 5000 deliver an 8th-generation Core i5 CPU with twice the storage (256GB SSD) and a rock bottom price (less than £650 – that’s around $910), all without the inherent risks associated with buying abroad.
Final verdict
Businesses will love the integrated fingerprint reader and the overall design of the Teclast F6 Pro. Unfortunately, other than that there’s little that will sway the average buyer away from the top laptop manufacturers, especially given the near price parity once local taxes are accounted for.
Even so, the F6 Pro isn’t lacking in ambition, and it has the hardware clout to make its performance levels shine. The keyboard and the display were both on par with rivals in the same price range, and the battery life was nothing short of exceptional. The smart overall design doesn’t hurt, either.
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from TechRadar: Technology reviews http://ift.tt/2u2IHqp
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