Cube’s latest Core M3 tablet, is an upgraded i7 Stylus. Now called the i7 Book (Due to its new keyboard) it’s powered by an Intel 6th Gen Skylake Core M3-6Y30 with a max turbo of 2.20 Ghz. It has a 64GB Forsee SSD, 4GB of 1866Mhz RAM (Dual Channel) and Intel wireless AC 3165 with two antennas. The battery is made up of two 4300 mAh cells (3.7 volts 2 x 4300 mAh cells 31.8Wh) Windows & Battery Bar only seems to report one of the cells.
I also got the keyboard dock, stylus and unboxed them in the video. For artists out there and writers, the i7 Book retains the best feature of the i7 Stylus. The Wacom enabled 1080p screen, it’s the old Surface Pro 2 screen. Unboxing, hands-on and first impressions below.
The i7 Book is also on sale now on Gearbest for $359 here with coupon I7BOOKGB : http://www.gearbest.com/tablet-pcs/pp_366651.html Which is only about $60 US more than it’s predecessor.
First impressions:
Tablet:
- Core M3 is super quick and snappy. Outclasses an Atom in every way. (For any serious work Core M is the way to go)
- The Samsung LTL106HL01-001 IPS screen is bright and on 0% very dull, good for late night use.
- The screen is the old Microsoft Surface Pro 2 screen.
- 1080p isn’t the sharpest at 10.6 inches but still looks great with good colors, blacks and contrast.
- Great build quality for the price.
- Very similar to the Cube i7 Stylus as expected.
- All USB ports power external HDDs and SSD’s
- Stylus is very fast and fluid with palm rejection in apps that support it (OneNote for example)
- Type-C USB 3.1 works correctly, proper USB 3.1. Display out works
- Can charge via the type-c port at 14 to 15 watts using my iVoler 75W Type-C charger
- MicroSD card slot reads my Samsung 128GB Pro+ just fine. Need more time to test all my MicroSD cards.
- Speakers are very poor, some distortion at 100% and they lack volume and are very tinny sounding.
- 3.5mm jack offers loud and clear output, just as well since the speakers are so poor!
- The Intel Wireless AC dual band 3165 chipset works great. Great range and speeds. No BT lag when using BT mice, keyboard and wifi at the same time.
- Forsee 64GB 2242 M.2 SSD offers ~500 MB/s reads and ~170 MB/s writes.
- The RAM is correctly clocked to 1866Mhz and not 1600Mhz like the Teclast X3 Pro.
- Battery looks good for around 5 hours. (Like all other Core M’s reviewed)
Keyboard & Trackpad:
- Really like this keyboard, one of the best transformer style docks
- Works in presentation mode, due to having 10 pogo pins and not 5.
- Very nice build, metal top with matte textured rubber paint finish on the rear.
- 120-degree angle, sadly no more than this or it would risk tipping
- USB 2.0 ports work fine and can power external hard drives.
- Nowhere to store the stylus, unlike the i7 Stylus fixed keyboard (personally I prefer an extra USB port rather than stylus holder)
- Closing the tablet when docked puts it to sleep.
- Can’t be opened with on hand.
- Keyboard has PrintSreen, page up/down, home, end ekys via Fn.
- Supports Windows gestures, no way to disable it.
- Trackpad apart from the gestures is useable.
- Goodtyping experience once you adjust to the smaller 10.6″ size.
- Good key travel and no flex or bounce.
So far in my early testing period of the updated i7, I’m enjoying it. If the Cube i9 is too big for you and you want something more portable with stylus support. I think this could be it. The only downside so far, is the speakers aren’t very good at all.
Benchmarks, thermals, and further tests required. This will all be covered in my full review due soon.
Cube i7 Book & Keyboard Images:
David
Hi Chris,
One if the biggest annoyances of the Cube i7 Stylus is the lack of ability to disable Tap to Click on the track pad. I wasn’t interested in upgrading, but if that is an ability for the Cube i7 Book, but that’s one feature that makes it worth it.
I really like the Cube i7 Stylus, especially since I can use the iPega PG-9023 with it (you just need to stretch the 9023 a bit to get it to attach). I got it as a portable email device, so I can still work on emails while out running errands. It also fits in most standard 10″ tablet cases. The issue is that when I am writing emails, I need to disable the touch pad, or I hit it too often causing the cursor to jump and my email has half sentences in other sentences. It can be a mess, and I sometimes forget to disable the pad. I emailed the company, and they said they were working on a fix, but I’ve never seen one posted. I think it may never come for the i7 Stylus.
I have a 15″ Macbook Pro, but that is a bit big to lug around. I’ve also a Surface Book, but it cost almost $3000, so I use it mostly for traveling. The Cube i7 Stylus was $400, so its easier to replace if something happens to it, and the smaller size make it easier to tote around. I am not seeing a big need to to upgrade just for the upgraded specs, but the ability to disable the tap, and the bigger track pad would make it worthwhile.
Likoum
The trackpad is not bad at all once I have pushed up de the speed, but indeed gesture are annoying : I have a tendancy to reduce everything to the taskbar because the trackpad is not tall enough. But there is a light recess for the trackpad so I do not click it by mistake (my fingers and hands do not go on it as I feel where it is).
I do not know how it is on the Stylus, but on the Book, there is a key to disable the trackpad right next to it. So it’s very easy to shut it on and off with the push of a button.
Chris G
I have the same issue, always reducing everything to the taskbar. I’ve disabled now for my own use, loving the tablet so far. Very quick, feels like one of the fastest. @Likoum how are you temps? My GPU hits 97 degrees when gaming and benchmarking.
Likoum
I have installed Intel Extreme Tuning Utility, have set the battery profile to “high performance” in windows and ran the benchmark from IETU. I have reached 91°C. I have reverted back the setting to normal performances, waited for the tablet to cool down a bit and ran the benchmark again. The tablet has bone up to ~80°C.
I am now running 3Mark11 on high performance power mode, I can’t see the temps during the benchmark, but the device is quite hot to the touch : I can hold it but it’s not comfortable but indeed it seems that they have pushed the power enveloppe of the CPU and GPU a little too high to my taste. It’s probably why you feel like it is fast.
I think that I will have to take a look at how to reduce a little the thermal envelope of the CPU and GPU. I don’t know how to do that yet but I will find 🙂
Do you have issues with palm rejection and network on your side ?
Likoum
I have just installed on my Cube i7 book a small utility, ultra light weight, which disable the trackpad while typing : the trackpad is not active for a few milliseconds after each stroke on a keyboard key. Since the installation I have had absolutely no issue with the trackpad. It’s called TouchFreeze.
Muhammad Akbar
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the video, i didn’t notice that it is not a dual boot tablet.
Can i still then install Android myself to this tablet?
Yeon Park
My cube i7 book can not almost use palm rejection than cube i7 stylus.
Why can’t I use palm rejection? this problem occur from drivers?, every Mechanical defects? or just my device Mechanical defects?
Likoum
It should occur when it detects the stylus near the screen
Chris G
No palm rejection in an application like OneNote? It should work,
Likoum
Do you have palm rejection in One Note, Chris ?
Likoum
Indeed the palm rejection does not seem to behave correctly at the moment : it works only when the stylus is touching the screen, not when the stylus is hovering … quite weird !
Chris G
Yes I wrote a little in it and my palm didn’t leave any scribble. Just a quick test, I will check out hover.
Chris G
No, it’s working how it should, palm rejection. My finger does not draw, only move the page and that’s with hover. My SP4 does the same, due to the rubber tip on the Ntrig stylus on my Surface it feels better to write with, but the are just as fast and fluid as each other.
Likoum
Sorry I have not seen this comment and ask again and again the same question.
I will do a video of the issue I have this evening and upload it to see if anybody has a clue on how to solve it. The matter is not easy to explain with my limited english vocabulary, but the palm rejection works fine on almost all the screen, and not in one part of the screen …
Chris G
Palm rejection works fine for me.
Sven Fischer
Hi Chris. Is the new keyboard compatible with the old I7 stylus? Would love to buy the new dock for my I7 stylus. Thank you in advance.
Hotcooler
No, it’s a 10 pin connector.
Hotcooler
Chris, you mentioned photos of the internals of it? Care to share them? I’ve searched a bit but had no luck.
Chris G
Sure here: http://techtablets.com/forum/topic/cube-i7-book-internals-intel-3165-wireless-ac-dual-antennas-copper/
Hotcooler
BTW if you decide to mod the cooling on it, I have a bit of an odd request. Can you take a bit of time out of your life to do a high res scan (on a scanner if you have one) of the cooling plate (and may be do a measurement of one side or some hole for reference), it would be really cool to laser cut one out of copper by the time mine comes.
Nyxx
Does it have PWM flickering like an old Cube i7 (saw it on this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teho2r2XKYA)? Is PWM used to control brightness at all and if yes on what frequency? And generally speaking, is this new Cube i7 Book tablet eye-comfortable?
Important for me, cause the tablet like Teclast x80 Power (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDBXf3RBI2A) will burn my eyes in few seconds.
Much appreciate all answers.
Chris G
I haven’t detected any yet. For now I would say its good. Only the second day with the i7 Book.
ScutMonkey
This looks like the same keyboard as the iwork 10. Is it? Or is it a tad larger to compensate for the larger screen?
Chris G
It’s very similar, but slightly larger with some minor key changes.
Andreas Stennert
interesting, how long did it take for it to get to you?
Probably going to bombard you with questions later, where would you prefer to have them (youtube, forums or here in the comments)?
Chris G
4 Days with DHL, got one extra fast just for review purposes. Here or in the forum is fine.
Daniel
Hi Chris,
4 days is pretty good shipping. Did you order this from Aliexpress or Gearbest?