ARM Mini 10.1 inch Android 12 Review
The $119 ARM Mini laptop is all compromise. It's tiny and cheap, but with only 2GB of RAM and painfully slow performance, it's barely usable.
Overview
This is the laptop you buy when you absolutely need a screen and a keyboard for under $120, and that's about it. The ARM Mini 10.1 is a tiny Android laptop that's basically a large tablet with a hinge. It's shockingly compact, but that's the only area where it doesn't rank dead last. For everything else, you're making serious, serious compromises.
Performance
Let's be real, performance is a struggle. That 2GB of RAM and the Allwinner A133 CPU land in the 0th and 2nd percentiles, respectively. Opening more than two apps at once is a recipe for frustration. The Mali-400 MP2 GPU is from another era, making even basic mobile games a choppy experience. It's fine for reading a PDF or watching a single YouTube video, but that's the ceiling.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Strong compact (100th percentile) 100th
Cons
- Below average ram (0th percentile)
- Below average cpu (2th percentile) 1th
- Below average reliability (3th percentile) 3th
- Below average screen (5th percentile) 8th
Specifications
Full Specifications
Processor
| CPU | Allwinner A133 |
| Cores | 4 |
| Frequency | 1.8 GHz |
Graphics
| GPU | Mali-400 MP2 |
| Type | integrated |
Memory & Storage
| RAM | 2 GB |
| RAM Generation | DDR4 |
| Storage | 64 GB |
| Storage Type | eMMC |
Display
| Size | 10.1" |
| Resolution | 1280 |
| Panel | IPS |
Physical
| Weight | 1.3 kg / 2.8 lbs |
| OS | Android |
Value & Pricing
It's cheap, but it's not a good value. You're paying for a form factor, not a functional computer. For just a bit more money, you could get a used Chromebook or tablet that would run circles around this thing in every single way.
Price History
vs Competition
Comparing this to a MacBook Pro or a Legion gaming laptop is laughable—they're in different universes. The real competition is the used market and other ultra-budget devices. A used iPad with a keyboard case, or any Chromebook from the last five years, will have a better screen, more storage, and vastly superior performance. Even a cheap Android tablet paired with a Bluetooth keyboard offers a more flexible and powerful experience than this locked-down laptop.
| Spec | ARM Mini 10.1 inch Android 12 | Apple MacBook Air Apple - Geek Squad Certified Refurbished MacBook | ASUS Vivobook ASUS - Vivobook 14 14" FHD Laptop - Intel Core 5 | Lenovo LOQ Lenovo LOQ 15.6" FHD 144Hz Gaming Laptop Intel | Microsoft Surface Laptop Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 13.5" Touch 8GB 128GB | HP HP - 15.6" Full HD Touch-Screen Laptop - Intel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Allwinner A133 | Intel 10th Generation Core i3 | Intel Core 5 120 | Intel Core i5 12450HX | AMD Ryzen 5 4680U | Intel Core i5 1334U |
| RAM (GB) | 2 | 8 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 16 |
| Storage (GB) | 64 | 256 | 256 | 512 | 128 | 512 |
| Screen | 10.1" 1280x800 | 13.3" 2560x1600 | 14" 1920x1080 | 15.6" 1920x1080 | 13.5" 2256x1504 | 15.6" 1920x1080 |
| GPU | ARM Mali-400 MP2 | Intel Plus | Intel Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 | AMD Graphics | Intel Graphics |
| OS | Android | macOS | Windows 11 Home in S Mode | Windows 11 Home | Windows 10 Home | Windows 11 Home |
| Weight (kg) | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 2.4 | - | 1.6 |
| Battery (Wh) | - | - | - | - | - | 41 |
| Compare | Compare | Compare | Compare | Compare |
| Product | Cpu | Gpu | Ram | Port | Screen | Compact | Storage | User Sentiment | Reliability | Social Proof |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARM Mini 10.1 inch Android 12 | 1.3 | 20.2 | 0.1 | 26.3 | 8.4 | 99.7 | 12 | 11.7 | 3.4 | 89.3 |
| Apple MacBook Air Geek Squad Certified Refurbished 13.3" Compare | 2.5 | 53.9 | 27.8 | 77.3 | 76.8 | 93.5 | 27.7 | 56.4 | 94.9 | 93.5 |
| ASUS Vivobook 14" Compare | 70.5 | 57.6 | 17.1 | 94.5 | 41.9 | 79.5 | 27.7 | 66.9 | 55 | 97.3 |
| Lenovo LOQ 15.6" Compare | 59.5 | 73.5 | 31.9 | 62.1 | 53.8 | 25.7 | 48.2 | 66.9 | 75.4 | 90.2 |
| Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 13.5" Touch Compare | 73.4 | 96 | 17.1 | 49 | 75 | 81.9 | 16.2 | 0 | 75.4 | 86.6 |
| HP 15.6" Full HD Touch-Screen Compare | 43.8 | 57.6 | 43.5 | 95.7 | 45.4 | 50.7 | 48.2 | 77.9 | 29.9 | 97.3 |
Verdict
I can't recommend this to anyone except as a novelty or a dedicated terminal for one single, simple task. It's too underpowered for students, too limited for business, and a non-starter for anything fun. If your budget is truly $119, save up another $80 and buy something that won't make you want to throw it against a wall after a week.