At the end of last year, we saw a major shift in the world of personal and portable computing. We saw Apple launching their new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air with a confusing architecture style. They brought out the new notebooks that comes packing a processor that seems to be made for a smartphone. They call it their M1 chip. Whatever it is, it runs a full class Operating System made for modern day PCs.
A little later after that, Qualcomm also announced that they are going to delve into the mobile computing platform. They are going to get their Qualcomm 800 series System on a Chip (SoC) platforms into a notebook PC in 2021. Today, that dream is made a reality with JOI.
Welcome to the Qualcomm PC experience with the JOI Book SK3000. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 SoC. We admit, it is not the most updated SoC in Qualcomm’s books. We also admit, it is not a 5G supporting chipset. But it is still a reasonably powerful chipset.
You still get 4G connectivity out of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 850. In this day and age, where 5G is still not available, you are going to get the best connectivity experience with 4G still. It supports any of Malaysia’s network too, so you can get away with just about any data plan. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 is also more powerful than the entry level Processors from both AMD and Intel. In that case, it makes plenty of sense in a notebook.
Unlike the older generation Qualcomm based PCs, the JOI Book SK3000 is not running on some toned-down version of Windows though. It runs on Windows 10 Pro with Bitlocker tools. It is the real deal.
The small caveat here is that the JOI Book SK3000 only packs 4GB of RAM. We know that Windows can be a little memory hungry at times too, especially if you rely on Google Chrome as your browser. The new Microsoft Edge is a good Chromium based browser though, that does not require a large amount of RAM to work with. Still, we would have loved to see an 8GB RAM size.
It also comes with a 128GB internal SSD which can be expanded via MicroSD card that is hidden with the SIM card tray. We are not entirely sure if you can upgrade the SSD or the RAM at all at this point. We do know that the JOI Book SK3000 is a full aluminium notebook PC though. In that regards, you can expect some nice heft and a high build quality to it.
Still, it is not all that hefty at 1.05kg though. Within that 1.05kg is a 12.5-inch Full HD IPS display. Within the 1.05kg package is also a 4,500mAh battery that with a quoted 10 hours of battery life. Not quite all-day battery life at this point, but 10 hours is still plenty. Obviously because it is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 850, it stays on standby when you do not use it to continue receiving emails and other notifications when it is sleeping. In that mode, the battery should last you much longer.
The JOI Book SK3000 is now available on JOI and GLOO Official stores on Shopee and Lazada. You can also get your pre-order done on GLOO Official website. Of course, you can get your hands on one via SNS Network stores and authorised resellers across Malaysia. The JOI Book will be priced at MYR 2,199 and comes with a 30-day free trial of Microsoft Office.
