In a global market choosing between products has become really hard so just imagine what a nightmare it is if someone had to buy a laptop. With hundreds of choices out there some newer models stand-out thanks to their excellent value/price ratio. Today, XIDU Tour Pro is our guest as we’ve had the chance to test it for a while and here’s our short review.
The Tour Pro is among the 3 new models that the Chinese manufacturer launched this year and it is for the most part business-oriented as it sports a 12.5″ display to be more portable but at the same time hosts a full-sized keyboard that is backlit and allows you to work in low-light conditions. The design is obviously affected by Apple’s design language while the 2K display is mostly found in more expensive models.
So, a beautiful design combined with a relatively powerful Intel Kaby Lake CPU live-up to the expectations of the company when they started planning the ideal portable workstation. For anyone looking for a go-anywhere, lightweight, beautiful ultraportable laptop that will take care of productivity tasks and even handle some gaming, the XIDU Tour Pro seems the perfect choice. Is it? Let’s see what our impressions were during the time we got our hands on it.
Design and Hardware
The device is made of metal and it’s pretty thin (0.62″) and light (3.5 pounds) despite the fact that it comes with a 180° hinge that allows the display to open all the way back on a table. Speaking of the display, it’s a 12.5″ one with 2K resolution and 10-point multitouch. The bezels around it are relatively thin and the screen/body ratio goes up to 88%. Also, XIDU managed to fit a full-sized backlit keyboard there too. The overall volume stays low and makes the laptop very portable.
Now, the Tour Pro might be called “a workstation” by the company but it doesn’t carry the power of the common workstations we know. It is not a performance beast but it balances between performance and cost featuring the Intel Kaby Lake R 3867U 1.8GHz CPU with a top clock speed of 4.0GHz. In order to make multitasking more comfortable, XIDU added 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 256GB SSD which can be expanded up to 512GB more via the SSD extra slot. What’s more, connectivity is decent as it sports more ports than a usual ultrabook like 1 x USB Type-C, 1 x USB 3.0, 1 x MicroSD reader, 1 x Headphone jack, and 1 x Charging Port. Obviously, the killer feature is the 2K resolution on such a small display as the usual resolution at this price range is HD or FHD.
Performance
Performance-wise, the XIDU Tour Pro is a perfect decision for expending media content (videos/music) and doing office work. The moderately powerful CPU backed by the 8GB of RAM and SSD (not eMMC) offers smooth performance and stable multitasking experience. No problems were reported during 2K video playback on YouTube while performing other tasks at the same time.
Speaking about the display of a laptop, the main problem most users face is the low brightness and/or contrast that makes it impossible to use outdoors on a sunny day. This proved a non-problem for the Tour Pro as the brightness is adequate for outdoor use. Let us add that the speakers perform well but take into account that we are talking about laptop speakers. In addition, the backlit keyboard is a surprise as the luminance is even without any dark or bright spots detected. We even tried some 2K video editing as well as some 2K gaming during the hands-on and although the performance was obviously lower than gaming or workstation machine, it was acceptable. Lastly, the one-touch power button that allows you to power on the device while performing the fingerprint authentication using the Windows Hello platform, worked well and you jump into the Desktop in just 3 seconds.
Having used the XIDU Tour Pro 12.5 consistently for seven days, the overall impressions we got were positive. It is well-built, lightweight, and the body feels sturdy. The hinge is well-calibrated to allow opening the lid with one hand and it is stiff enough when using the touch display. The lid bounce is practically non-existent while the touchpad doesn’t experience the ill effects of the sluggishness.
For a student that takes online courses, the 2K display is brilliant and the GPU capabilities are a surprise. We tested Skyrim and it run well, albeit at low graphics settings. Don’t forget that we are talking about a device without a dedicated video card. Also, we used Blender for 3D design and 3D printing and no serious problems were faced there either. Again, nothing runs blazing fast but everything runs without problems.
The personal favorite part of the device is how well proportioned the design is. The 88% screen/body ratio and the big touchpad show that smart design isn’t dead. And that is the real surprise here as even the design king -Apple- offers the MacBook that is obviously very well built but comes with lower screen/body ratio that outcomes in extra space around the keyboard and display. Everything is beyond organized better than a MacBook to me.
We must confess that our expectations were low prior to getting our hand on the real thing but XIDU really delivered with the Tour Pro, especially for a laptop that costs under $500. If you are in the same position and want a device with a 2K display and good overall performance, you should definitely add the Tour Pro to your list. They even have their own online store now and you can get it for $50 off using coupon Tour50. Also, you can find it on Amazon US for a total of $60 off using coupon V8E3G6RE ($30 off + another $30 off using page coupon). Lastly, it’s also available on Aliexpress while you can get coupons for more XIDU devices here.
