Xiaomi Air 12 review: a balanced counterpart to the $ 580 MacBook 12

Specifications

Screen	IPS, 12.5 inches, Full HD (1,920 × 1,080, 176 ppi)
CPU	Dual core Intel Core m3-6Y30, 0.9-2.2 GHz
Graphics Accelerator	Intel HD Graphics 515
RAM	4 GB
Built-in memory	128 GB SSD (SATA 3.0)
Wireless interfaces	Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac, Bluetooth 4.1
Battery	5000 mAh (37 Wh), non-removable
Dimensions (edit)	292 × 202 × 12.9 mm
Operating system	Windows 10 Home
The weight	1,075 g

Appearance

Although Xiaomi promised to release an almost complete copy of the MacBook, the devices are united only by the metal case and the screen diagonal.

The body of the Mi Air 12 has almost the same thickness throughout the body and right angles. Throwing thoughtlessly into a soft backpack is not worth it - it can tear. You can forget about ergonomics. But the overall dimensions are smaller than the MacBook 12.

Of all the proprietary features of Apple laptops, Xiaomi engineers have implemented a little: a cutout in the lower part of the case and a successful hinge with even force.

This combination allows you to lift the lid of the Xiaomi Air 12 lying on the table with one hand, without lifting the bottom of the laptop from the table. The maximum angle is about 120 degrees, the lid can be fixed in any position.

The only mention of Chinese origin is at the bottom and does not draw attention to itself. There is no logo on the lid. If you want - glue of the branded Mi hare, if you want - a bitten apple.

The set of external interfaces is quite rich. Especially when compared to newer MacBooks. On the right side are USB Type-C and full-size USB 3.0. On the left is HDMI and 3.5mm audio output.

The laptop stands on five plastic legs. The contact with a hard surface is sufficiently tight. The whole body will lie on its knees.

There is an AKG sticker and two speakers between the legs. Their location was chosen very poorly: any soft surface drowns out the sound.

The touchpad of the Xiaomi Air 12 is slightly smaller than that of the MacBook. The sensitivity is excellent, multitouch and Windows 10 gestures are supported. Unfortunately, as is the case with most Windows laptops, you want to give up working with the touchpad as soon as possible and use a mouse.

Island-style keyboard with deep travel (by the standards of laptop keyboards). The Shift and Enter keys are wide. Ctrl is in its usual place. Row F1 - F12 combines system and multimedia functions (by default - multimedia, the combination Fn + Esc is used to switch).

The keyboard has a single-level white backlight, which can automatically turn off when idle. In operation, the keyboard does not cause discomfort, providing more convenience than most Chinese laptops. The only drawback is the close location of the power button and the Delete key. However, the power button is pressed with force, so it is almost impossible to turn off the laptop by accidentally touching it.

Display

The Xiaomi Air 12 uses a Full HD IPS screen. The top of the screen is protected by glass, similar to Gorilla Glass, which completely covers the front part. Around the glass is a thin metal frame. Unfortunately, black display bezels are present. But their width on the sides is only 5, 71 mm.

The glossy finish of the display improves color rendering, but results in glare under difficult lighting conditions. At the same time, thanks to the high brightness of the screen, glare will not interfere with the work of the laptop. The contrast is high, the viewing angles are close to the maximum for this type of matrix.

Above the screen is a 1 megapixel webcam and a pair of microphones. The quality is quite sufficient for Skype conversations and other video calls, but no more.

Performance

For the platform of this portable laptop, a dual-core Intel Core m3-6Y30 chipset with an Intel HD Graphics 515 graphics accelerator was chosen. The choice is very simple: it is powerful enough, energy efficient, requires only passive cooling, and is installed in the MacBook 12.

The processor frequency is 900 MHz in normal mode and 2.2 GHz in Turbo Boost mode. Supports Hyper Threading technology: thus, the number of simultaneously processed threads reaches four. Heat dissipation (TDP) - only 4.5 W, active cooling is not used.

Performance is supported by 4 GB of LPDDR3-1866 RAM (cannot be expanded) and a 128 GB SSD. The hard drive is installed in a standard SATA connector and can be replaced if necessary. In addition, in addition to it, you can install a second hard disk in M.2 format.

The chosen platform is designed for maximum mobile devices, slightly superior in power to a typewriter. The performance margin is small: edit a photo or work with a 3D model, code or connect to a remote server.

If desired, you can work effectively in most graphic editors (up to Lightroom, Photoshop or 3D Max). Of course, with a caveat: rendering should be abandoned. Or endure long-term processing.

Standard office tasks and surfing the Internet do not cause problems. Movies are decoded in hardware using the built-in graphics core and do not load the processor.

Wired interfaces have been discussed above. However, it is worth clarifying that the HDMI port supports the transmission of a 4K stream (corresponds to revision 2.0), like the used USB-C, since the controller of this connector supports the USB 3.1 protocol with video stream transmission. Wireless interfaces are Wi-Fi 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.1.

Operating system

Standard Windows 10 Home is used. Optionally, the laptop can be delivered with non-activated English system or activated Chinese.

The review turned out to be a variant with the English system. Of course, in this case it is easier to get started, since you do not need to deal with hieroglyphs and google how to find language settings.

On the other hand, the Chinese system is excellently Russified by standard means (as the experience of using tablets from the Middle Kingdom shows).

Autonomy

The Xiaomi Air 12 has a 5000 mAh battery. Not much compared to compact MacBooks. The battery life is correspondingly less. With an average display brightness, surfing time in Chrome does not exceed 7-8 hours. At maximum load and maximum brightness, the laptop lives a little less than 3.5 hours.

conclusions

Xiaomi Air 12 turned out to be a successful laptop. Among his strong qualities:

balanced filling and the ability to install a second drive;
silent cooling;
comfortable keyboard and good design;
bright Full HD display;
protective glass over the screen;
stylish appearance.

However, it was not without critical flaws. Many of them will make you pay attention to other laptop models. Among the most significant:

the impossibility of increasing the RAM;
low autonomy;
glossy screen coating;
poor speaker placement.

Weighing all the pros and cons, it is worth remembering the price of Xiaomi Air 12 - $ 580. The closest competitors in offline stores cost about $ 900-1,000. If you do not consider buying a used device, you will not be able to find competitors for the Xiaomi Air 12.