In just a few years, Realme has managed to establish its smartphones across different price points and has also ramped up offerings in other segments. The company has now entered the laptop market in India with the new Realme Book Slim. If you look at the specifications sheet, you might think that the laptop has an impressive set of features, but the real question is how does the Realme Book Slim fare in daily use? We reviewed it to find out.
Realme Book Slim review: Design, display, build
The Realme Book Slim resembles MacBook and has good build quality. With the lid and deck made of aluminium alloy, the device feels quite solid and premium. Unlike some of the laptops (under the Rs 50,000 price range) that offer a plastic build, Realme Book Slim doesn’t feel fragile. It is thinner than Macbook Air and is quite lightweight. One can carry it easily. The lid can be tilted 180 degrees backward, so you get good flexibility in what position to use the laptop.
The lid of the Realme Book Slim can be tilted 180 degrees backward. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
The variant that we got for review is “Real Blue,” which makes it look unique and attractive as you don’t often get to see this colour other than black. The trackpad also has a shimmery coating. Realme has kept the branding minimal to offer users a subtle look, which is nice. There is little to no flex on the lid and lower base. The Core i3 variant of the Realme Book Slim comes with a limited set of ports. It doesn’t have Thunderbolt 4, but is equipped with a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, a USB-A 3.1 Gen 1 port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
The Realme Book Slim earns some brownie points for offering a 2K display with 100 percent sRGB colour gamut in the 45,000 price range. It renders vibrant colours and is good for binge-watching. Though, it has a 3:2 aspect ratio, so one will see black bars on the top and bottom, which isn’t the case with laptops that have the standard 16:10 aspect ratio. But, the 3:2 aspect ratio does help offer a better experience in terms of productivity as you get increased vertical screen space for viewing documents, and browsing.
Realme Book Slim has a 3:2 aspect ratio, so one will see black bars on the top and bottom while watching movies. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
But Realme opted for a glossy display and the screen is highly reflective, so you might get annoyed while working in a very bright environment. It is a tad difficult to see the display when harsh light hits the panel. The Realme Book Slim offers an almost edge-to-edge display, which is nice. You will rarely notice laptops with slim bezels in the Rs 45,000 range. Besides, it also becomes a bit difficult to work in dim light as the laptop’s low brightness levels feel a bit too harsh.
Realme Book Slim review: Keyboard and touchpad
While it doesn’t have the Ergo lift design found on some of the Asus laptops, the typing experience on this laptop was still good. The keys are spaced out well and there is enough room on either side of the keyboard for your palms. The power button also acts as a fingerprint scanner to unlock the laptop and it seems to be much faster than the phones offered by Realme.
The Realme Book Slim a two-stage backlit feature. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
The trackpad is large and quite responsive too. Additionally, the keyboard also has a two-stage backlit feature, which comes in handy when working late at night in dim light.
Realme Book Slim review: General performance, battery life, software
The Realme Book Slim is powered by up to 11th Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7 CPU, coupled with Intel Iris Xe graphics, up to 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM, and up to 512GB of PCIe SSD storage. I got the Core i3 variant for review, which comes with256GB SSD storage. It is good enough for productivity and an average user with basic needs won’t get disappointed. It will offer you snappy day-to-day performance.
However, the laptop didn’t respond when I tried to delete more than four high-resolution photos at a time. This happened when Chrome was open in the background with more than 34 tabs. This laptop is not meant for video editing, but you can surely do photo editing. I didn’t notice much of a lag while navigating, opening programs, or multi-tasking. The laptop didn’t get warm even after using it for hours or while charging.
The fan was always silent even when everything was working in the background, files getting transferred, 30 tabs open on Chrome, music playing, photo editing, and more.
The The variant that we got for review is “Real Blue.” (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
During my usage period, I got around five hours of battery life with moderate usage. I used the laptop to write stories, editing photos, and binge-watching. The usage also involved web browsing with more than 35 tabs, and audio playback in the background. The brightness levels were mostly set to 60 percent. But, in your case, the results will vary based on your usage pattern.
While I got average battery life, the bundled 65W fast charger took less time to top up the battery. The charger takes close to one hour and 25 minutes to fill up the battery from zero to 100 percent. It is worth pointing out that the charger supports 30W Dart Charge tech, so users will be able to quickly charge their Realme phone or any other compatible device.
Realme Book Slim ships with Windows 10 out of the box and the company has confirmed that this device will get Windows 11 later this year. There are not a lot of optimisation options. There is one PC connect app, which one can use to transfer files to your phone and vice versa. It can also be used for screen mirroring, and checking the phone’s notifications. However, this feature is only available on the Realme GT series.
Camera, speakers
The Realme Book Slim has a 720p HD webcam, which is good enough for video calls or for attending your office meetings. Even in slightly dim light, it can offer usable photos or decent quality for videos.
There are two Harman speakers that Realme claims can offer an immersive surround sound effect. Well, I had a lot of fun listening to music on Spotify and watching intense movies. The speakers will offer enough depth, but don’t expect very great quality. For that, you can definitely connect a separate speaker.
The Realme Book Slim has a slim profile. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
Realme Book Slim review: Should you buy it?
Currently, the Realme Book Slim is selling for Rs 40,999 on Flipkart due to the ongoing Big Billion Days sale. It was originally launched for Rs 46,999, which means you are getting this laptop at a much lower price. This is a good deal for those who want to buy a laptop for writing, web browsing, and basic office work with a premium design.
You also get a great 2K display, build quality, and good enough performance – all in a slim package. However, do note that the Core i3 variant only comes with 256GB SSD storage, which might not be enough for those who don’t store data on cloud storage.
The Realme Book Slim is priced at Rs 40,999 in India. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image) 
The lid of the Realme Book Slim can be tilted 180 degrees backward. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
Realme Book Slim has a 3:2 aspect ratio, so one will see black bars on the top and bottom while watching movies. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
The Realme Book Slim a two-stage backlit feature. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
The The variant that we got for review is “Real Blue.” (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
The Realme Book Slim has a slim profile. (Image credit: Ankita Garg/ Express image)
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