JioBook – A Budget laptop, Missed opportunity by JIO

Jio recently launched a laptop in the budget segment to attract students. With its first laptop, the JioBook 4G, available for the astonishingly low price of just Rs 15,818.JioBook offers a Full HD 11.6-inch display and some unheard-of features. If you’re planning to buy a cheap laptop, here we have this in-depth review of the JioBook.

JioBook – A Made in India Budget Laptop

The JioBook is made in collaboration with Qualcomm. Jio created it’s first laptop using a small, simple design language. The build is made of plastic body which does not seem premium. Laptop is held together by iron hinges, same as you see on other budget laptops in the market.

The Jio logo is displayed over the surface’s smooth, rubberized, matte finish. The cover is flat with rounded edges.

JioBook – A Closer Look

The left side houses a proprietary charging port, a USB Type-A socket, and one full-sized HDMI port. At the right spine, you’ll find a microSD card slot, one more USB Type-A port, and a 3.5mm audio port. The laptop rests on four rubber pads and has two cutouts for better ventilation inside the system.

JioBook has 11.6-inch 1366×768 pixels resolution HD screen with chunky bezels around the display. With an 2MP webcam on the top, and Jio Book branding at the bottom.

Under the hinge, there’s a slew of indicators: Power, Capslock on/off, Number lock, and dual Microphone (Right – Left).

It has a full-sized keyboard without the number keys, good spacing between the keys, and no backlighting. The first row has a power button on the right, function keys in the middle, and an Esc key on the left.

JioBook – Specifications

You would see “Jio key” instead of a Windows key, that we are used to see. The laptop operates on Jio’s proprietary operating system, Jio labels are much more than required. You get a decent-sized trackpad, positioned in the middle. But has visible input lag.

It offers Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, and 4G capability for communication. Jio Cloud PC software, Microsoft Office, Outlook, the YouTube app, and a Microsoft Ad browser are already installed in the laptop.

The Jio Book’s internal hardware consists of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 chipset, while an Adreno 610 GPU handles graphic requirements. The lights can stay on for up to eight hours on a single charge using a 55.1 to 60 AH battery.
It has 32GB of extendable eMMC storage and 2GB of LPDDR4x RAM.

As there are no fans on the laptop’s sides or back and as Jio OS is built on Android. The JioBook include a SIM Card slot, giving consumers quick access to the internet by utilizing a SIM that is already given by Reliance.
However, you will be unable to use any other SIM card from other than Jio in the laptop.

JioBook – Should you buy it ?

Well, now the question arises should you go with the JioBook. In 2023, a laptop costing around 15,000 to 18,000 must have a better RAM. RAM provided in the laptop is 2GB RAM which is very low, and not atoll future proof. A 32GB storage is not worth it, you can get 64GB storage around the same price range. The design and build quality is not that great either, It has JioOS so you’d most likely have to compromise on using features and app.

To make it short, there are ChormeBooks available in the market that would make a great fit for this budget.