Realme Book Slim Review – Best Laptop For Beginners in India

Realme Book Slim has a starting price of Rs. 46,999 in India. This features an Intel Core i3 CPU from the 11th generation and a 256GB SSD. If you want to go even higher, there’s a 59,999 variant with a Core i5 CPU with 512GB SSD.

You can also choose between two body colours: Real Blue and Real Grey. Realme Book Slim is available on Realme’s website, Flipkart as well as offline retail outlets.

Before we talk in detail about the Realme Book Slim, let’s see what the on-paper specs look like:

• Display: 14-inches 2K QHD, IPS LCD
• Processor: Intel Core i3-1115G4 (11th Gen)
• RAM & ROM: 8GB RAM 256GB SSD
• Software: Windows 10 Home
• Weight: 1.38 Kg
• Dimensions: 3072 x 2289 x 155 mm

Having previously used Realme’s smartphones, I was hoping for nothing but the best from the brand when I heard they were launching a laptop. And, to tell you the truth, they delivered. The Realme Book Slim is really gorgeous, and it’s definitely one of the best-looking budget laptops in this price range. Some may refer to it as a MacBook Air (review) clone, but I feel there’s nothing wrong with that. I’d rather get this remarkably thin and light design than a dozen other laptops whose design appears to be an afterthought.

It adds a modern touch to the laptop’s appearance, making it look premium at its best. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a laptop with such a unique blue colour and matte finish. Realme names it Real Blue, but it also comes in a Real Grey colour. The finish is consistent across the laptop, which creates a sense of uniformity. The laptop is noticeably taller than most of the other laptops on the marketplace at this price point.

It’s rare to be impressed by a laptop only on the basis of its appearance. Realme Book Slim would be that laptop. The design is silent but stylish, making it feel like a premium high-end laptop even though it isn’t. The use of aluminium alloy is one of the factors why the laptop looks so good. This also adds to the laptop’s durability. That’s a step up from normal laptops with a plastic body. Realme’s branding on the backside is also kept to a minimal. When light tends to fall on it, it creates a gleaming engraving. The lid and bottom base have little to no flex.

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The lid can be flipped 180 degrees backward, giving you a lot of flexibility in how you want to use the laptop. It does not feel hefty due to its 1.38kg lightweight, and its thin profile allows it to fit into a small place. The Realme Book Slim is only 15mm thick, making it very easy to carry with you. Its weight distribution isn’t perfect, which is why people can’t open the laptop lid with only one finger. It is hardly a deal-breaker at this price point. The hinge appears to be sturdy and reliable. I particularly appreciate the fact that Realme has included a fingerprint scanner in the power button. It also has a 720p webcam, making it better than many other laptops in the segment, including more expensive options.

Realme Book Slim receives extra points for having a 2K display with a 100% sRGB colour gamut within the 45,000 price bracket. It offers vivid colours and is suitable for binge-watching. Typically, manufacturers compromise the display quality to boost performance and other things in the budget category, but Realme did a good job here. And the ideal way to do so is with a high-resolution display, which is what Realme did. When using a laptop, the display is what you’ll notice and interact with the most, and this one is rather fantastic.

Most laptops in this price range feature the standard display aspect ratio of 16:10 or 16:9. Realme Book Slim, on the other hand, breaks tradition by featuring a 3:2 screen. When I tried to watch standard content on this screen, the video was cropped slightly. It’s not a major issue, but it is slightly annoying for some people. The 3:2 aspect ratio, on the other hand, helps to improve productivity by offering more vertical display space for reading documents and browsing.

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In terms of productivity, this is a great fit for a laptop screen, but when it comes down to watching shows or movies, I’m not so sure. The display is surrounded by very thin bezels on the upper lid, which is why it appears so big. However, Realme chose a glossy display with a highly reflecting screen, which might also irritate you if you work in a bright environment.

Realme offers the Book Slim in two configurations: one with an 11th Gen Intel Core i3 processor and another with an 11th Gen Intel Core i5. I’ve been using the former, and I don’t believe that individuals with desk jobs that don’t require them to perform tasks like video editing need more processing power than the Realme Book Slim can provide. The processor is an 11th Generation Intel Core i3-1115G4 from Intel’s Tiger Lake series. This laptop has 8GB of dual-channel LPDDR4X RAM which is what we find in most of the laptops in this price range and is a decent choice for a budget laptop. This variant offers 256GB of PCIe SSD storage, whereas the other offers 512GB. It’s good for productivity, and a typical user with basic requirements will not be disappointed. It will offer you quick day-to-day performance.

This configuration is ideal for people who spend a lot of time at the office. This includes using basic Microsoft applications to compile reports or browse the internet. In terms of real-world performance, the laptop wakes up from sleep in less than a second, and applications and file explorers load instantly. During my time with it, it didn’t face any freeze or lag, and I used it mainly for work and watching movies.

I could have a dozen tabs open in Google Chrome and Realme Book Slim would still be snappy. This is due to the excellent single-core performance. When I opened the Task Manager to see how much RAM was left on the laptop, I was surprised to see that it was practically full. However, the laptop handled everything well. In that regard, the Realme Book Slim maintains a fairly cool temperature. It’s totally fine to work and use it over your lap, and the keyboard never gets too hot to touch.

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The Intel UHD integrated graphics is definitely not the best hardware, thus your gaming performance will be severely limited, to say the least. You can play some games like Valorant and Dota 2 at low resolution and low graphics settings, but don’t expect anything exceptional. It’s not a gaming laptop, so there’s totally no point in pushing it to its limits. I would advise gamers and creative professionals to look somewhere else. I don’t believe 8GB of RAM will be sufficient for gaming and editing. Even choosing the Core i5 variant won’t address the problem because it also comes with 8GB of RAM. The Core i5 variant will undoubtedly be more powerful, but it will still be insufficient for hardcore gaming.

One of the best aspects of the Realme Book Slim is its keyboard. Thanks to its 1.3mm key travel, typing on it is a breeze, plus the clicky sound adds to the overall experience. If you appreciate typing on the keyboard of MacBooks, you’ll love this one. The experience is nearly identical, and I personally enjoy it. The backlighting of the keyboard is controlled by a button adjacent to the function keys. The lighted keyboard has three settings: off, dim, and full. The backlighting is not as bright, so there is just enough light to view the letters on the keyboard while working at night. The power button also serves as a fingerprint reader for unlocking the laptop, which appears to be significantly faster than the Realme smartphones. There’s hardly any flex on the keyboard while pressing down hard on it.

It has a big touchpad, about the same size as a MacBook. Microsoft’s precision touch technology makes the touchpad responsive and allows for multiple touches. By default, the left-click operation can be performed by tapping or clicking the trackpad with one finger. The touchpad is only clickable on the bottom half, but it functions nicely and does not feel cheap.

Realme Book Slim’s keyboard and trackpad are so good that they even leave behind some high-end laptops.

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Budget laptops have a history of having a low battery lifespan. Despite different companies claiming, laptop batteries only last approximately 4-5 hours at most. Realme Book Slim isn’t a game-changer, but it’s still a better laptop than some others. Realme claims that the 56Whr battery would last 11 hours of video playback, however, that isn’t a realistic estimate. On a single charge, you’re looking at a maximum of 5 hours of active use, which is still impressive. That’ll give you enough time to use the laptop for your online classes or office work.

I’d expect the Core i5 variant to last a bit less because it’s a more capable processor, which means it’ll generate more heat that has to be dissipated through the fans. A 65W USB-C power adapter may be used to charge the Realme Book Slim’s battery. The included 65W charger is nearly as small as the company’s smartphone Dart Chargers, making it even more portable. You can juice up the battery from 0 to 50 per cent in about 30 minutes.

Realme Book Slim comes with Harman Kardon loudspeakers which makes it ideal for watching tv shows and movies. It’s loud enough to hear even with the ceiling fan turned on, and it sounds wonderful, with great stereo separation and no distortion. Well, I had a great time watching Marvel movies and playing music on Spotify. You won’t need headsets to listen to the music or watch videos on this one.

With appropriate light, Realme Book Slim’s 720p webcam is usable for video calls. For better video quality, I would have preferred a 1080p webcam. It would have also been ideal if this camera included a shutter, given how important privacy is to most users nowadays. Even in low light, it can deliver usable photos and videos of decent quality.

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Realme Book Slim’s Core i3 model has a limited number of ports. It lacks Thunderbolt 4, however, it does have USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, USB-A 3.1 Gen 1 ports, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Pros

• Premium look and feel
• Slim and lightweight
• Wonderful display
• Nice speakers
• Value for money
• Good battery backup

Cons

• Just one USB slot
• Gets hot while charging