We finally have a large 15.6″ Gemini Lake laptop. And quality one from Tecalst, fully laminated OGS screen 1080p IPS screen, a backlit full-size keyboard including a number pad. For a 15.6″ laptop it’s slim because it’s not actively cooled but passively so no loud fan or having to worry about blocking any fans and later them filling up with dust.
Teclast F15 Hands-on Video index:
00:55 – Unboxing
01:52 – Design & build
04:21 – Screen
05:00 – unlocked bios
08:00 – Keyboard & touchpad
09:35 – Hinge Vs rear ports
10:55 – Audio & sample
11:44 – Battery estimate
12:15 – First look performance
13:12 – Rear ports part 2
13:54 – First impressions
14:15 – Pros & Cons (So far)
The chipset powering the Teclast F15 the now in short supply Celeron N4100, with Intel’s 14nm shortage due to production issues pricing has only been going up. Some like Chuwi resorting to using old Atom’s and 6th gen Core M3’s it’s that bad. 8GB of DDR4 2133Mhz RAM running in dual channel and a Teclast branded M.2 SATA3 2280 SATA3 SSD. Selling current for $419 (with coupon GBNBTCF15) you can see Intel’s 14nm chip shortage at work, expensive considering the low-end CPU.
The screen is an IPS 1920 x 1080 fully laminated panel. Blacks look deep and so far color seems good at first glance but I will measure the sRGB and Adobe RGB values in the full review. For the average consumer, it looks absolutely fine. Top and side bezels are slim giving the F15 a more modern look.
The Teclast F15 has slim top and side bezels. And the IPS panel is fully laminated.
The keyboard is backlit as mentioned, two levels of brightness with decent space and good key travel. Shortcuts for everything and the number pad that is more often than not left out nowadays. The touchpad is just huge, the biggest I’ve seen on a sub $500 laptop. It’s using Windows precision drivers, accuracy is good and so far a joy to use. Not complaints at all. The palm rest like the build of the laptop is made of alloy. No real keyboard flex under normal typing pressure it’s very solid.
The build overall is excellent, well finished with a premium look and feel to it. Somewhat heavy however at 1.89 kilos and 16mm thick.
Other specs include rear-mounted USB 3.0 x 2 ports, MicroSD slot and HDMI 2.0A (4k60hz) and D/C charging. The battery Teclast claim to be 45Wh, but HWinfo and Battery Bar Pro both report about 43Wh. Which is looking to be good for around 7 maybe 8 hours so far in my early testing. As seen in my hands-on video the SSD speeds are fine, the Geekbench 4.0 score is great for the chipset and overall performance seems quick for light office type work, video, and web browsing.
The final review will feature full battery specs, some light games like LoL and CS:GO, plus a quick Linux support test. So check back for that in a weeks time.
Pros:
Solid premium build quality and finish
Bright OGS screen, slim bezels, deep blacks
8GB DDR4 2133Mhz dual channel RAM
256GB SSD, with 2242 & 2260 size support
Super large accurate touchpad
Great backlit keyboard with number pad
Almost no keyboard flex and good key travel
Clean 3.5mm audio output no static
Full sized HDMI 2.0A spec (4k 60hz)
Completely unlocked bios
Cons:
Expensive for the spec. (Love to see Core M3-8100Y version)
A bit heavy, around 460 grams heavier than the F7 Plus
Matte screen or touch support would be more practical
Weak speakers should be louder
Ports at the rear, no type-c
Chris
I bought the Teclast F15 laptop from bang good.
The laptop arrived with the hinge broken and bent. I paid extra for bang good insurance and yet Bang good have only offered me £10 LOLOL.
I am disgusted!! Terrible company. Total jokers! Why do they have a insurance option?
makis
I bought it from Gearbest…..It came without any problem at all(almost a month to come to Greece)…Packaging was very-very good.
The laptop…rocks..!!!!! i am veeeery happy.
At around 400$ is at best quality and features..!!!
•
Sorry to read that you just won the Chinese lottery. File a dispute with PayPal.
Chris
Yeah I’ve filed a dispute with PayPal. Banggood recently emailed me to say:
“The item still works, we are sorry that we cannot make a full refund or resend a new item.”
Nothing good about banggood. Avoid!!
Joel
I think when you pay with PayPal for items NOT from eBay, PayPal only covers non-delivery. A payment with a credit card through PayPal, though may cover this. What happened with Banggood.?
Larra
Should I buy it for 323 dollar 288 euro or take for 400 dollar a maibenben Jinmai 6A? I mean for 323 dollar it’s a good buy or still too much for the specs? I think maibenben it’s better build and speakers bur the n4000 profesor mmmm it’s the teclast f15 screen good quality more than 200 lux lumen? My chuwi lapbook air needs more bright, I really value your opinion
Franco
It depends on how many hours you use it, I use the notebook all day for work and in my opinion, you can’t compare a 15.6 inch notebook with a 13.3 inch … there is a significant difference. Personally I noticed an annoying difference to go from a 15.6 to a 14.1. Between 15.6 inches and 13.3 there are 2.3 inches of difference … an abyss.
Grou
Where did you find Teclast 15 for 323 dollar – 288 euro?
•
Maybe she/he got confused with the F7 Plus. Anyway, right now, the best offer is on GBuying Germany store.
Franco
Once again a glossy screen (for me, in order of priority, the matte screen is very important, then IPS, and finally the FHD). Is there something like Jumper 3L with IPS with N3450 (which I had) or a major but a 15.6-inch matte or 14-inch screen but with a 3:2 ratio at a reasonable price? I have a Hp 250 G6 i3 matte screen (Hd not IPS) paid 270 euros + 80 euros upgrade (250 SSD + 4 GB ram dd4) 350 euros in total but I have a two year warranty against one year China (the Chinese is practically not existent), a processor with integrated graphics card more powerful, never go in throttling for hours and hours with CPU at best and remains cold, has 3 USB ports, a large HDMI, VGA output, CD / DVD player, also use widows 7, the sound of a disco and all this weighing 1.95 KG, which is identical to Teclast F15. My opinion is that beyond the aesthetics and the screen that are not discussed, the aluminum fanless notebook should weigh much less than those lousy in the platic because they have fewer components but if they can not manage to disperse the heat go into throttling and you have to manually applying thermopad ….. the advantage does not seem to exist
John Marrett
As always ,a very good review!
There is a new China laptop brand : XIDU.
Possible to get hold of their MAX model and do a review?
http://www.xidu-e.com/show-39-18-1.html
Thank
Brad
Celeron J3355. Not worth the time. Old and weak CPU. Also, prob poor battery life.
Suo Eno 1357
Wait? 1.89kg? Isn’t it as heavy as a Thinkpad X1 Extreme sans the discrete gfx (ergo some more heft + cooling bits) that the X1E is packing? Is it the batt pack?
Chris G
Metal build the hinge and glass ads weight also. I think it’s not. The Mi Notebook Pro, for example, is 2 kilos but has GPU and fans with cooling fins and pipes etc. So yes a bit on the heavy side.
A
Hi Chris great video as always, looking forward to the full review!
I’m quite sensitive to screen flicker so I had a couple of questions about that:
At low brightness, could you see flicker yourself, or does it just show on camera?
How low can you set the brightness before flicker appears on camera?
Thanks!
Chris G
Just on camera the flicker, I’ve tried looking at it at an angle, in the side of my sight and I can’t see flickering. I also find the lowest brightness again a little too high like the Teclast F7. Max brightness is about 200 lux which should be better (I prefer at least 250 lux) But really finding it okay, so far it’s a great laptop. Just wish it was a bit cheaper. Review video next week I hope before I head to China.
Brad
Looks like they are banking on the quality build and ergonomics versus performance – premium screen, keyboard, and touchpad. Plus the normally good battery life of the N4100.
Brad
Oh, and 15mm thickness. That is important to many people and often pay a premium for thin-ness as it often increases build cost.
Brad
and backlit kb
Chris G
Yes it has a lot going for it, seems a shame they also don’t offer it with something like the Core M3-8100Y I tested in the Netbook One Mix 2S. But N4100 is generally good on the battery as you know. Especially at the 6W TDP setting, it’s running.
ice
What about the Teclast X6 pro
is the keyboard backlit?
touch pad quality?
Chris G
I’m still waiting for it!!!!! Been order and canceled on BG, my order on GB stands for now. I’m not canceling it after such a wait because so many are asking for it, the screen I’ve tested in the Voyo with a 7200U and it’s really nice.
ice
I guess if they won’t mess with the keyboard-cover, the I/O ports or the embedded battery…it should be really nice (given the screen, the cpu and the quality of Teclast’s cases are acknowledged)
finger crossed