Mi Notebook Air Review: MacBook Pro at the Price of a MacBook Air
Chinese giant Xiaomi launches a lot of products in its dwelling country, but a huge number of them never go far across to India. The company's series of laptops is 1 of those products. And then when we got the 2017 Mi Notebook Air (¥5999 in Cathay, $1,143 on GearBest)in our role, well I was really excited to check it out. Always since the Mi Gaming Laptop, I've been quite taken with Xiaomi's laptop offerings, and I was sure this laptop wouldn't let me down either. Later on having used information technology for quite some fourth dimension, this here is my review of the Mi Notebook Air (2017).
Mi Notebook Air Specs:
Showtime, let's go the specs out of the style for this laptop. For this review, I'1000 testing the high-terminate model of the Mi Notebook Air that comes with an 8th-gen Core i7, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, and 2GB of MX150 graphics. Hither'south all the hardware this laptop packs.
| Dimensions | 309.6mm x 210.9mm 10 fourteen.8mm |
| Processor | 8th-gen Intel Core i7-8550U |
| Memory | 8GB DDR4 |
| Storage | 256GB PCIe SSD |
| Display | thirteen.3" FullHD with 300 nits brightness |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce MX150 with 2GB GDDR5 |
| I/O | 1x USB Blazon-C, 2x USB Type-A, HDMI Out, 1x 3.5mm headphone jack |
| Networking | 802.xi b/chiliad/n/ac Dual Band WiFi, Bluetooth 4.1 |
| Battery | 39.2Whr |
| Weight | ane.3kg |
| Price | five,999 Yuan (~Rs. 61,616.96) |
Design and Build Quality
The starting time thought that came into my listen when I saw the Mi Notebook Air for the start time was that it looks like a MacBook Pro that Apple forgot to put their logo on. The laptop comes in a sleek metal body that looks really beautiful, plus Xiaomi doesn't put its logo anywhere on the outside of the chassis, opting to stick with a simple Mi branding on the bottom bezel instead, making the laptop expect exceedingly minimal and stealthy, peculiarly in the night space gray variant that we accept.
It's very lightweight every bit well, lighter than the MacBook Pro, and a little heavier than the MacBook Air, which I feel is pretty much a design feat because the hardware it'south packing.
The similarities in design with the MacBook Pro don't go away when you open the lid. There'due south a very like look and experience to the entire Mi Notebook Air. In fact, every time people came over to my desk, information technology took them a minute to effigy out which laptop was which. The Mi Notebook Air is that similar to the MacBook Pro. I hateful, certain, the corners are less curved hither, and the overall feel is a tad boxier than the MacBook Pro (I'm nevertheless to see a laptop that makes me go 'oooh' every bit much as the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro practise), but at a glance the Mi Notebook Air is remarkably like to Apple'south offer.
The bezels are thin all around the display, with only the bottom bezel beingness excessively big for some reason. That'southward 1 thing I love on my MacBook Pro — Apple has made the bezels thinner everywhere, merely comparing the MacBook Pro's bezels to the Mi Notebook Air feels a lot like nitpicking over what is otherwise a pretty impressive blueprint in a laptop.
I matter I did discover, and this is a weird one, is that the screen on the Mi Notebook Air has quite a chip of flex. It'south non nigh as bad every bit the plastic hat on the Asus TUF Gaming FX504 that I reviewed a while back, merely it'southward there and it shouldn't have been. Later on all, the Mi Notebook Air has a metal build, and the chapeau is quite a fleck thicker than the MacBook Pro, only information technology even so flexes quite easily, something that the MacBook Pro doesn't endure from.
Over all though, the Mi Notebook Air is built really well, and definitely looks like information technology tin handle bumps and scrapes, and probably even a drop (although, equally I mention every time, I didn't actually driblet information technology to test this theory out).
I/O Ports and Connectivity
In terms of I/O, the Mi Notebook Air is pretty much what you'd expect from a laptop that comes in a profile as sleek as this. The laptop doesn't feature an army of ports similar you'd observe on other, larger (generally gaming) laptops. It does, however, come up with 2 USB iii.0 ports, a USB-C port (charging, and information transfer), an HDMI out, and a headphone jack. There's no RJ-45 ethernet port here, but we don't actually utilise ethernet ports on laptops anymore; at least for the majority of use cases that I can think of.
In my usage of the laptop, I didn't find myself wanting for more ports on this thing, or having to look for a dongle (the way I take to every time the video team comes with an external hard disk loaded with renders that they want me to have a look at on my MacBook Pro). I'd call that a win, and it goes to show how much nosotros notwithstanding depend on standard USB-A ports… I'm still in back up for USB-C on everything, though, then I don't retrieve I'm gonna be thinking of switching from my MacBook to this (or any other laptop for that matter).
In terms of wireless connectivity, the Mi Notebook Air comes with Bluetooth four.ane, and a dual 2×ii receiver from Intel, giving it the ability to connect to both 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless networks, if that matters to y'all (it probably won't).
Display
The Mi Notebook Air comes with a 13.3-inch Full Hard disk drive IPS LCD display and if I was to sum information technology up in one give-and-take, I'd go with "stunning." That'southward because it really is a stunning display. It's Total HD, and then it's nowhere near the gorgeous 2560×1600 panel on my MacBook Pro, simply I didn't discover myself missing the MacBook Pro's display while using this thing.
Information technology is, quite simply, a beautiful looking display with great color reproduction, sharp text rendering, and excellent viewing angles. It is quite reflective though, and that hinders with sunlight visibility, only it's non similar you absolutely can't use it in sunlight. Still, personally, I don't really use my laptop exterior much so information technology'south not something that would exist a deal billow for me anyway. If you do use your laptop out in the sun a lot (why do y'all, though?) so yep, it may be a signal of concern for you lot in that instance.
Audio
Moving on to the sound, the Mi Notebook Air doesn't disappoint. It's plainly not as loud as some gaming laptops out there, simply information technology doesn't shy away from getting pretty damn loud nonetheless, and in my opinion it can easily suffice to make full a medium sized room without breaking a sweat.
The quality of sound from the Mi Notebook Air is however another thing that'south quite impressive. The highs are crystal clear, and the mids and lows sound pretty skilful also, specially if y'all factor in the bottom firing speakers on the Mi Notebook Air.
In that location's a headphone jack for times when you demand to put on a pair of cans, or connect an external speaker to the laptop. However, for casual Netflix and Prime Video streaming, the born speakers will prove to exist more than enough.
Keyboard
The keyboard on the Mi Notebook Air is basically the aforementioned as the ane yous'd observe on a MacBook Air, with some small differences. In that location'south ample travel, so typing is easy and feels good on the laptop. Notwithstanding, phone call me spoiled if you will, just I still prefer the keyboard on my MacBook Pro (I'm also probably the only person in the world other than Apple'south own engineers who does).
When I said minor differences from the keyboard on the MacBook Air, I was talking mostly about the feel and the key-press force that'due south required for the Mi Notebook Air. In my personal stance I found that the MacBook Air's keyboard feels a lot amend for some reason that I can't explain, and while the travel is similar, the Mi Notebook Air's keyboard feels similar it takes a tiny chip extra force to actuate a key than it does on the MacBook Air, and that ended upwards resulting in more fatigue while typing. It'due south nothing even shut to a deal billow of any sort, just it's there if tiny little differences like that affair to you, or if you're as finicky about your keyboards as I am.
Trackpad
Oh, the trackpad. I similar the trackpad on the Mi Notebook Air. Information technology's pretty large, and it'due south glass which gives it a really nice feel while using. At that place's a fingerprint reader on the summit-right corner of the trackpad, and information technology's the but biometric authentication available on the laptop.
In my usage, I institute the trackpad to exist big enough to easily use the various multi-tasking gestures that Windows offers. That said, I practise have two complaints with the trackpad here.
First, the tiny, nitpicky, the devil-is-in-the-details effect — the placement of the fingerprint reader in the top-right of the trackpad ends upwardly making the peak-correct corner of the trackpad ridiculously weird to utilize. I'd have preferred a placement similar to that on the HP Envy that Rupesh uses.
Second, is the fact that palm-rejection on the Mi Notebook Air just sucks. The trackpad kept registering palm-touches equally bodily finger movements and kept moving the cursor effectually while I was typing. Information technology gets actually abrasive, and I hate it with a burning passion.
Performance
In terms of performance the Mi Notebook Air packs in quite a fleck of a dial. There's an 8th-gen Core i7-8550U processor paired with 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. At that place'southward likewise an Nvidia MX150 GPU on lath to help with graphically intensive tasks.
Benchmarks
In terms of synthetic benchmarks, the Mi Notebook Air performs admirably well. The laptop scores 81.12 in Cinebench R15'south OpenGL test, and 3,682 in PCMark 10. The scores are quite impressive for a laptop of its form cistron, and even though I tend to not judge a laptop by its benchmark scores, this does put the Mi Notebook Air at a nice spot in my stance.
Gaming
When it comes to existent earth functioning though, the laptop doesn't disappoint at all. With an MX150, you tin can't expect it to run AAA titles on annihilation above depression to medium settings, but yous still can run them. I tried playing PUBG on low settings, and the laptop managed a frame rate around 30FPS at all times, which may not be the best but is definitely playable.
Lighter games like CS: Go and Rocket League work similar a charm on this laptop. On max settings in CS: GO the laptop constantly churned out a frame rate over 100FPS, and also pushed out around 60FPS in Rocket League with max settings. Fifty-fifty though this isn't a gaming laptop by any means, it can easily see the needs of casual gamers on the go.
Thermals
The Mi Notebook Air features a dual-fan cooling fix upwardly to handle the thermals. In normal usage, the laptop doesn't rut upwards at all, and I was pretty impressed by the way the Mi Notebook Air handles thermals, ensuring that the laptop remained cool even if y'all were using information technology on your lap. It does get a little warm when multitasking but that's more often than not true for any laptop out there.
In gaming however, the laptop fails to go along things under check. I noticed this while I was playing CS: Go on the laptop that the keyboard gets really hot to affect. Then hot, in fact, that it starts to cross the indicate where it's just 'uncomfortable' to use it and reach the bespeak where it's almost impossible to use it without wincing. That can be chalked up to the fact that the Mi Notebook Air, due to its thin form factor opts to place the cooling vents on the hinge, similar to the MacBook Pro, and even the intake vents on the bottom of this laptop are quite small to effectively suck in air to absurd things downwardly.
Battery
The 32.9Whr battery on the Mi Notebook Air is not a promising battery size by any means, and while Xiaomi claims a battery life of 7.5 hours, they do that under lab testing. In existent world usage, the laptop doesn't come up anywhere close to that.
In best performance way, with the brightness set to 50%, the Mi Notebook Air lasted me for effectually 4.5 hours nether a very casual work load which included at most three to 4 Chrome tabs open. That's pretty disappointing, only and then again, I told myself it's probably because I set the laptop to best performance mode. I honestly expected a battery life closer to Xiaomi'due south claimed battery life of 7.five hours but with all-time battery life manner selected and the effulgence set to 50%, the laptop lasted me (drumroll, please) 4 hours. Yeah, on that same workload of a couple of Chrome tabs open on the Mi Notebook Air, it lasted me for just 4 hours.
It'southward weird that the laptop lasts longer on ameliorate operation mode than it does on better bombardment life but that's probably just a bug. The more important point is that the laptop comes nowhere nigh the claimed 7.v hours of battery backup that Xiaomi claims.
Pros and Cons:
And then, the Mi Notebook Air offers a lot of amazing stuff at a pretty amazing price, but as it is with everything, there are two sides to the proverbial coin. So here are the pros and cons of the Mi Notebook Air:
Pros:
- Excellent build and design
- Cute brandish
- Impressive performance
- There's a fingerprint reader (yay!)
Cons:
- The fingerprint reader is in the trackpad (nay!)
- Palm rejection is terrible
- Underwhelming battery life
Mi Notebook Air Review: An Astonishing Laptop at An Astonishing Price
The Mi Notebook Air is definitely one of the all-time laptops of its form cistron that I've used in quite a while, and it's also a pretty decent laptop for some light gaming. Basically, Xiaomi has managed to brand a super-powered MacBook Air, load it up with Windows 10, and stuffed it inside a MacBook Pros body. All while adding a bunch of useful ports to information technology. The only real disappointment I have with this laptop is the fact that information technology'due south not available in India, else information technology'd be perfect.
It's priced at ¥5999 (~Rs. 62,000) and at that price, this is ane of the best laptops out there. It'southward great for everything whether it be media consumption, coincidental gaming, or anything else. If your center is assault the Mi Notebook Air though, you lot can get it from Chinese retailers. That is, if you're okay with paying import duties and whatnot, and losing the warranty likewise. The laptop is available through sellers similar GearBest for $ane,143.
Purchase the Mi Notebook Air from GearBest ($i,143)
| REVIEW OVERVIEW | |
| Design and Build Quality nine | |
| I/O and Connectivity 8 | |
| Display viii | |
| Audio 8.5 | |
| Keyboard viii | |
| Trackpad 8.v | |
| Performance 9 | |
| Thermals 7 | |
| Battery Life 7 | |
| SUMMARY The Mi Notebook Air is a laptop that, at its price is nigh unbeatable. It brings amazing specs packed inside a torso so sleek it can requite the MacBook Pro a run for its money. The Mi Notebook Air is perfect for anyone looking for a laptop light enough to carry around on the go, with enough ability to handle demanding tasks likewise without breaking a sweat. | 8.i OVERALL SCORE |
Source: https://beebom.com/mi-notebook-air-review/
Posted by: powerhinglew.blogspot.com
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