Cheapest ever dual screen laptop appears online and looks a lot like a Lenovo Yoga – shame it uses an underpowered CPU and cut-down internal storage
If, like us, you're a fan of Lenovo's dual-screen Yoga Book 9i laptop but find the $2,000 price tag a bit steep, then Chinese company SZBOX has an alternative for you.
The SZBOX DS135D is a much more affordable copy of the Yoga Book 9i, priced from just $699. This Chinese laptop comes with dual 13.5-inch displays, 16 GB of LPDDR4 RAM, and a 128 GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD. There are also upgrade options for the SSD, so if you need more storage space, you can choose from 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB or 2 TB. The top tier SSD bumps the price to just $809.
The laptop features two USB Type-C ports, a headphone jack and a DC input, but where the DS135D differs from traditional laptops, as you can see from the photos, is in its dual-screen setup. The bottom screen can serve as a virtual keyboard, using touch or pen input, or simply be used as extra screen space.
Inevitable compromises
Given the price difference between the two laptops, there have inevitably been some compromises in the SZBox version. The SZBOX DS135D replaces the powerful Intel Raptor Lake-U processor from the Yoga Book 9i with an Intel Alder Lake-N100 quad-core processor with lower specifications.
From the photos and video we've seen, the SZBOX model only has a 180-degree hinge, and not a 360-degree hinge, which allows the screens to fold back to back.
The starting price of Lenovo's laptop also includes a Bluetooth keyboard and digital pen, while this is not the case with the DS135D. You also won't receive the same level of customer support or service as you would with Lenovo.
Currently, the DS135D is only available for purchase through AliExpress, where it is offered by several sellers.