Reliance JioBook goes on sale in India: Here’s why this budget laptop is different
Reliance, after entering the mobile phone market, expanded its presence further making its debut in another product category. The Mukesh Ambani-owned company launched its first laptop in India last week in the sub-Rs 20,000 segment. This isn’t your usual Windows laptop though, or even a Chromebook, because it runs a custom flavour of Android called JioOS designed specifically for laptops.
Here’s everything you need to know about the JioBook.
JioBook: Specifications, features
The JioBook comes with an 11.6-inch display, giving it a very compact-sized body. That display has an HD resolution of 1366×768 pixels and supports a standard 60Hz refresh rate. Reliance has yet to provide any information about the screen’s brightness levels, though.
At the top of the display is a 2MP webcam housed within the top bezel to handle the video calling needs, while the audio is handled dual 1.0W speakers. There’s also a SIM card slot on board and peripherals include two USB ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Connection options include Bluetooth 5.0, HDMI mini, and Wi-Fi.
The JioBook is an affordable notebook. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)
Under the hood, there’s the mid-range, ARM-based Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 SoC backed Adreno 610 GPU. Launched in 2019, the chip is based on an 11nm process and usually scores 170,000+ on AnTuTu. The processor is assed just 2GB of RAM and it remains to be seen if that will bottleneck the performance, especially if there are a lot of apps installed. Meanwhile, the storage is 32GB and is expandable up to 128GB. The battery is sized 5,000mAh, with Jio claiming that it can last for up to 8 hours on a single full charge. Heat generation is handled passive cooling.
Jio also says it has partnered with Microsoft to optimise support for some Microsoft apps, and as such, the laptop comes with built-in Microsoft 365 services. The JioBook also supports multiple local languages right out of the box.
JioBook: Pricing, variants
The JioBook was first led on an online government marketplace a few weeks back for Rs 19,500. While that seemed reasonable enough, the company has slashed the price several rupees with the retail version, bringing it down to just Rs 15,799. That price tag is for the lone 2GB RAM and 32GB internal storage variant and there seems no indication of any other options right now — so hopefully, in the future. If you want to pick up one of these for yourself you can do so through the Reliance Digital online and offline stores, where you can bring the price down further with some really attractive offers.
Should you buy it?
Given the super-aggressive pricing and the kind of features it packs, there’s no doubt that the JioBook has carved a niche of its own. There are not a lot of Android laptops on the market right now, so convincing users to get with the programme will be quite the task for Jio. As for if it’s worth investing in…the laptop will make a great buy if your daily tasks involve a lot of browsing or watching videos. But if you’re looking for something to game on, you’ll be better off with a tablet or a smartphone for that price.
