I’m not a gamer.
I don’t play games on my computers, and I don’t own any gaming consoles.
I was all in on video games when I was young, but once I started college, I left video games behind except for the occasional foray into a golf game on my iPad.
Well, I am hooked on the New York Times games pages, including Wordle, Spelling Bee and the mini crossword, but I digress.
I was asked to review a gaming laptop by a relatively new computer company called Geekom.
I’ve never heard of Geekom, but it released a mini PC last year. The laptop is called the Geekom BookFun 11 Gaming Laptop (geekompc.com).
You may have heard the term “gaming PC” or “gaming laptop” before. These are powerful computers with the fastest processors, high-end graphics chips and fast RAM and hard drives to play complex games.
Gaming computers are more feature-packed and expensive than computers designed for home or office work.
Most games are real power hogs and they can tax even the most robust graphics systems.
Gamers need the fastest processors and graphics processors so the games play smoothly.
Let’s dive into the BookFun 11 and see what’s inside.
Design
The Geekom BookFun 11 is a nondescript black laptop with no visible logos or stickers on the case.
There are a few ports on either side and along the back (more on the ports below).
What I did notice was a lot of venting along the sides and the bottom to help the cooling system keep things running as fast as it can.
Open the laptop and the plain design continues with a black backlit keyboard on a black top case and screen. Again, no logos or stickers
The Microsoft Precision Glasstrackpad is slightly off center to the left.
The full-size keyboard has a row of navigation keys along the right side (home, end, page up, page down). Typing is pleasant, and my hands had plenty of room.
The optical-mechanical keyboard has individual RGB backlighting for each key. There is a 2-millimeter travel when you press the keys, which is comfortable for my fingers.
Specs
The BookFun 11 is named after the speedy 11th generation Intel Core-i7 processor (11800H).
It is running an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 discrete graphics processor with 32 gigabytes of dual channel DDR4 RAM and a one terabyte solid-state Nvme hard drive.
The 15.6-inch IPS display has a resolution of 2,560 by 1,440 pixels and a 165 Hertz refresh rate. (Sorry, there’s no touch screen option.)
The BookFun 11 runs Windows 11 Pro.
Connectivity includes two USB-A ports and an SD card reader on the left side and one USB-A port and a headphone jack on the right side.
Around back, there’s an Ethernet jack, an HDMI 2.1 port and a Thunderbolt 4 Type-C port with DisplayPort 1.4 connectivity.
Networking includes Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1.
The laptop has a rather large 230-volt power supply, but it will fast charge the 94-watt-hour battery in about 90 minutes.
The BookFun 11 measures 14 by 9.25 by 0.85 inches, and it weighs 4.27 pounds.
Upgrade it yourself?
The RAM and storage are easily upgradable by the user.
The bottom of the laptop comes off easily with just a small Phillips screwdriver.
The laptop can handle 64 GB of RAM (two 32 GB chips) and there is a second Nvme SSD drive slot you can fill.
I had a spare 512 GB Nvme SSD, and I did install it successfully. The BookFun recognized the extra drive immediately when I started it up.
In use
The Geekom BookFun 11 acts just like you hope it will.
The case is tapered along the bottom edge, so it’s easy to pick up and move around. The lid is easy to open, and the hinge is solid.
It boots quickly.
I pressed the power button, and I was presented with the login screen in less than 24 seconds.
When you wake it from sleep, the laptop is up and ready by the time you finish opening the screen.
It does get a little warm in your lap (especially if you’re wearing shorts).
I was more than pleased with the speed of the entire experience.
I’ve used more than my share of slower laptops, and there’s nothing slow about the BookFun 11.
As I said earlier, I’m not a gamer, but I do work regularly in apps to edit photos and video. Complex edits didn’t seem to slow things down at all.
The bright screen is expansive and very clear.
It didn’t take long for the keyboard to feel familiar, and typing was comfortable.
I love the individual LEDs on each key, but even though I could choose any color of the rainbow, I chose boring but helpful white backlighting.
Pricing and availability
There is only one configuration of the BookFun 11, with 16 GB of RAM and a one terabyte hard drive.
At the time of this review, the Geekom BookFun 11 sells for $1,899, but you can save $100 and drop the price to $1,799 by using coupon code ENA100 when checking out on Geekom’s website. This is not an affiliate code, just a coupon passed along from Geekom.
Pros: Fast CPU and GPU; user upgradable RAM and SSD, Thunderbolt 4.
Cons: No touch screen option. Brand is not very well known.
Bottom line: I’ve enjoyed my testing of the BookFun 11. Good performance and solid design.
