It’s been a whirlwind three years for Realme. You may well not have heard of the company, but since being established in 2018, the Chinese brand has sold 100 million phones and currently offers a dizzying array of handsets to choose between.
It has also expanded into other areas, offering a range of earbuds, smartwatches and even smart home tech.
Making its own-brand laptop seems like the logical next step, so it was no surprise to see the Realme Book teased at the end of the Realme GT event in June. Company CEO Madhav Sheth confirmed its launch date was ‘just around the corner’ in the latest episode of the Ask Madhav YouTube series, but revealed no specs or features.
However, Indian tech site GizNext has posted what look a lot like official renders of the device, in collaboration with prolific leaker OnLeaks. If this turns out to be the final version, the Realme Book’s build will be something we’ve seen many times before: a silver aluminium finish, rounded corner and a large trackpad, with ports sacrificed in favour of a thin and light design.
Sound familiar? That’s been the blueprint for Apple’s MacBook Air for many years, and Realme is far from the first manufacturer to introduce a Windows equivalent. The likes of Huawei (and former sub-brand Honor), HP and Acer could all be accused of cloning the MacBook in recent years, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. This tried-and-tested look and feel is clearly a hit with consumers, so it’s no surprise Realme wanted to play it safe for its laptop debut.
Image: GizNext/OnLeaks
Of course, the key difference between all these devices and MacBooks is software. macOS isn’t an option, so most opt for Windows instead. Indeed, the launch of the Realme Book may be timed to coincide with the release of Windows 11 (expected this October), but the GizNext report says it’ll run Windows 10 out of the box.
It will also supposedly use Intel’s latest 11th-gen CPUs (i3 or i5) to power a 14in Full HD LCD display, with slim bezels and a 3:2 aspect ratio. GizNext suggests it’ll be extremely competitively priced, with the Rs 40,000 RRP in India translating to under £400. These direct conversions are rarely correct – it’s always worth adding 20% for VAT – but we’d still expect it to be a contender for our best budget laptop chart.
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