The Martian A8 is a 3.1 pound notebook with a 13.3 inch full HD IPS display that’s been available in one form or another for at least a few months. But while earlier versions feature 4th-gen Intel Core “Haswell” chips, now it looks like a model with a 7th-gen Intel Core i7 “Kaby Lake” processor is coming.
Gearbest is taking pre-orders for a new Martian A8 notebook with a C0re i7-7500U processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of solid state storage for $640.
That seems like a great price for a notebook with those specs, but there are a few things to keep in mind. Gearbest is a company that sells Chinese products globally… so don’t expect the same kind of support for the Martian A8 that you’d get with a Lenovo, Dell, or HP notebook.
Second, the notebook ships with Windows and Android dual OS software, which tends to mean that there’s a special BIOS/firmware setup that could make it difficult to change the software.
In fact, the Gearbest product page says flashing a custom ROM or making other firmware changes could void the Martian A8’s warranty.
And a third important thing to keep in mind about this laptop? It has a relatively small 2,520 mAh battery that’s only expected to offer up to 6 hours of battery life.