T-Bao Tbook X8S Pro Review

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The T-Bao Tbook X8S Pro is an odd combination of an Apollo Lake Celeron J3455 (10W desktop-class low-end CPU) with a last gen Nvidia 920M dedicated GPU with 2GB of DDR3 RAM. Other specs include a 128GB 22 x 80 SATA3 SSD, USB 3.0 ports, 6GB of LPDDR3 RAM, Windows 10 Home and even an SD reader. On paper for the $299 paid it would seem this might be somewhat of an ideal low powered gaming laptop for older light titles like Counter Strike Global Offensive. It’s even advertised as a gaming laptop and has the unmistakable red accents on black giving it the look of one.

But sadly this laptop is far from a gaming laptop. Some issue my unit has meant the Nvidia 920M was limited in some way, its performance was marginally better than the Apollo Lake N3450’s integrated GPU with an unlimited power limit. Double and triple checking the Nvidia GPU was forced on and disabling the Intel graphics in the device manager warranted no change. A configuration of CPU and GPU that shouldn’t exist, it is either PCIE lane speed and bandwidth issues or CPU limiting causing the 920M to be only running at 50%. Maybe even power limited? Either way this laptop doesn’t come recommend at all. I was yet again the guinea pig on this one. At least I hope to save someone the disappointment this gaming laptop brings.

It’s not all doom and gloom, the IPS/PLS panel isn’t bad, nice slim bezels and the SSD is fast for a 128GB SATA3 one. The wireless card can also be upgraded and it won’t run into thermal throttling with dedicated fans for both the GPU and CPU.

Good

  • Slim bezels
  • SD reader
  • Fast 2280 M.2 SATA3 Drive
  • Replaceable Wifi card
  • Good thermals

Bad

  • Cheap plastics used
  • Bad touchpad
  • 920M GPU is performance limited
  • Weak speakers
  • Fans seem to be either 20% or 100% load
6.8

Fair

Performance - 6.5
Build Quality & Design - 6.5
Screen - 7.5
Sound - 7
Battery Life - 6.5

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