Cyberpower Fangbook Evo HX6-100 review

The Cyberpower Fangbook Evo HX6-100 is a performance laptop with distinctive design cues that make it stand out from its competition. It may be a bit much for some people; indeed, buyers looking for an understated laptop should look elsewhere, because the Fangbook Evo looks like a slightly unrefined Alienware laptop.

The lid of the MSI-designed chassis is covered in a honeycomb-effect black and silver sticker with silver lines surrounding a red Cyberpower logo sitting in the middle. There’s also a red plastic accent that runs around the edge of the laptop, dividing the palm rest and the bottom of the chassis. The palm rest, meanwhile, is made from a black brushed-metal and plastic composite that’s cool to the touch. It looks good, although it picks up dust and grease with relative ease. The Chiclet-style keyboard is backlit by red LEDs that match the laptop’s overall colour scheme and there are also red highlights behind the speaker grille below the screen. It’s a consistent look, but it’s a shame about the ugly sticker on the lid.

The usual complement of connection ports can be found around the edge of the chassis. The right side has a VGA port, USB2 port and DVD drive, while the left side has another three USB ports (two USB3), a full-size HDMI output and two 3.5mm audio jacks.

There’s plenty of room for media files and games on the laptop’s 1TB mechanical hard disk, although there’s no separate SSD or any SSD cache on this particular disk. You can upgrade using Cyberpower’s online system configuration tools, if you’re prepared to pay extra.

The keyboard is excellent. The keys are chunky and they offer plenty of travel and feedback. Our only minor gripe is that the layout is slightly unusual, with the Windows key located on the right of the spacebar rather than the left and the return key being a half-height button. There’s also a gap between the keyboard tray and the rest of the chassis that looks rough and cheap. The touchpad, which is an all-in-one affair with no separate physical buttons, is mostly responsive, although it felt a little flimsy with even light taps making it rattle. Multi fingered gestures work well, though.