iRULU Walknbook 2Pro 11.6" notebook

Rating 5/5

Review:
A very good notebook

I was kindly sent this Windows 10 notebook for my objective review. I think it is very good.

The packaging is a nice, sturdy cardboard box in which you get the tablet itself, the keyboard/cover, a mains charger, and a micro-USB lead. There's also a manual which is OK as a quickstart guide to Windows 10 but no use at all as a guide to the notebook itself. Fortunately, most things are pretty intuitive but I could have done with more help in finding things like the keyboard switch (of which more later).

The notebook itself is very good. It is robustly made, elegant (although the top is rather cluttered with logos) and I find it very good to use. The screen is very nice to my eyes: it's bright with good, true colours and has a good tolerance of viewing angle. It has Bluetooth (which is very solid), 2 USB ports (and handles a hub fine) and 3.5mm jack output. Set-up was simple (after a bit of a wait for Widows to update itself), wi-fi connection was easy and remains solid, and syncing with my accounts was quick and trouble-free.

In use, I find it excellent. It boots pretty quickly and programs run without any delays. Bear in mind that I am in late middle age and I don't game or use social media, but for all my usage it's excellent. Word processing, spreadsheets and so on (using LibreOffice), web browsing, TV and video streaming, email and music are all excellent.

I very much like the 360-degree hinge, which means that you can use it like a tablet and stand, with the keyboard as a rear-facing base. There is a little switch by the volume and power buttons which turns the keyboard on and off, so you can have it on your lap without a lot of spurious typing appearing. Obviously, you can use it as a touch-screen tablet like this.

Some specs are a little basic and in particular the cameras aren't great (0.3mp front and 2mp rear), but the tablet performs very well for what I need. 2GB RAM is fine, and it's pretty quick. The memory is only 32GB, but I've added a 32GB card which works fine and is adequate for my needs. (It will take up to 128GB.) Battery life is around 5 hours with my usage which is enough for me. The speakers are pretty good for a tablet (which isn't saying much, I know) and through headphones or an external speaker the sound is excellent, both wired and via Bluetooth.

Overall, I think this is a very good tablet/notebook. It's robust and well made and it works very well for me. I can't comment on very high-use multitasking or gaming, for example, and it won't take the most brilliant photos, but for normal everyday use I can warmly recommend this notebook. It's a good product which I enjoy using.