In a press event held today in Beijing, China, consumer electronics company Xiaomi announced its foray onto the laptop market. It unveiled the Mi Notebook Air, a Windows 10-powered laptop that seems to be touted as a competitor towards Apple"s Macbook Air.
The Mi Notebook Air comes in two sizes: a 13.3-inch version, and a more lightweight 12.5-inch variant. The 13.3-inch model is 14.88 mm thick, weighs about 1.28 kilograms, and has a Full HD display. The company boasts that while Apple and Xiaomi both feature a 13.3-inch laptop, their notebook is thinner than the Macbook Air by at least 13%, as well as a smaller body, coming in at 11% less.
For its specifications, which were recently leaked, it features a full metal body, with Type-C USB charging, as well as two USB slots and an HDMI port. It also has a full-sized keyboard sporting individually backlit keys. Under the hood, it runs on an Intel Core i5-6200U processor, which comes with an NVIDIA GeForce 940MX GPU (with 1GB GDDR5 RAM) for gaming purposes. You also get 8 GB of DDR4 RAM, including 256 GB PCIe SSD and a free SATA slot for expansion. Xiaomi claims that the notebook can last up to 9.5 hours on a single charge, and charge up to 50% in just half an hour, using its USB Type-C port.
As for the smaller 12.5-inch version of the Mi Notebook Air, it is only 12.9 mm thick, and weighs just 1.07 kilograms. It runs on an Intel Core M3 processor, has 4 GB of RAM, and 128 GB SSD for storage. Unlike the former, it has no dedicated GPU, and only has one USB 3.0 port together with HDMI.
The Mi Notebook Air is available in silver and gold. Unlike many devices out there, the notebook does not feature any branding on the lid, but Xiaomi allows owners to customize their device through stickers, which it will be selling. Furthermore, while the device"s branding is named after Xiaomi, the laptop is manufactured under its partner Tian Mi, according to a report from CNET.
The Mi Notebook Air"s 13.3-inch model will be sold for 4,999 yuan (around $750), while the smaller version will set you back 3,999 yuan ($599.69). Xiaomi"s new laptop will be available starting August 2 in China, but it is not yet known if it will be available in other markets outside the country.
Source: CNET