REVIEW: Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air 13, 3 ″ - a gaming competitor to the MacBook

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The announcement of the first Xiaomi ultrabook made a splash: style, power and functionality are in harmony with an affordable price and excellent quality. Expectations were justified - a new hit is waiting for you in the review.

In the spring and summer of 2016, many manufacturers presented their own vision of a compact version of the MacBook. Xiaomi announced two copies at once: Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air 12.5 ″ and Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air 13.3 ″.

The first device is intended to replace Apple's 12-inch laptop and is more of a typewriter. We got our hands on the flagship 13, 3-inch version - a full-fledged working machine with a top-end processor and a discrete graphics card. Even cooler than the MacBook Pro 13 ″.

Specifications

Body materials	Aluminum, glass, plastic
Operating system	Windows 10 Home
CPU	Intel Core i5 6200U, 2 × up to 2.7 GHz
Graphics Accelerator	NVIDIA GeForce GTX940MX (1GB DDR5)
RAM	8 GB DDR4 (2,133 MHz)
Persistent memory	256GB SSD and optional M.2 SSD / HDD slot
Screen	IPS LCD, diagonal - 13.3 inches, 1,920 × 1,080 (166 ppi)
Wireless interfaces	Wi-Fi (ac / b / g / n), Bluetooth 4.1
Wired interfaces	USB Type-C, two USB 3.0, HDMI, 3.5 mm
Front-camera	1 megapixel
Audio	Realtek ALC255 codec, AKG speakers
Additionally	Backlit keyboard, fast charging (50% charge in half an hour)
Battery	40 Wh (8,000 mAh @ 5 V)
Dimensions (edit)	309.6 × 210.9 × 14.8mm
The weight	1.28 kg

Design

What should be a clone? Similar to the original product and slightly better in several ways. In this case, Xiaomi decided to focus on reducing the size. The main weapon was the thickness of the device: it is only 14.8 mm. MacBook Air is 17mm thin. Thus, the Xiaomi laptop is 13% thinner than the Apple solution.

Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air 13, 3 ″ seems to be hewn out of a piece of aluminum. Strict lines, extremely small gaps. But at a certain angle, it can be easily confused with a MacBook: there is even a finger recess in place, making it easier to lift the screen. The absence of a logo on the lid is only beneficial. If you wish, you can glue the bitten apple - hardly anyone will be able to guess the origin of the laptop.

The assembly is solid. A set of magnets is hidden in the upper part of the lid that secures the halves. The hinges do not play or creak. The opening is very gentle. The screen can be positioned at any angle up to 130 degrees.

The display bezel is noticeably smaller than popular Apple laptops up to 13 inches. By the way, this is where the MI branded badge is hidden, which is noticeable during normal operation.

The only non-metallic part of the case is the inner side of the lid: the display and the frame are covered with protective glass. As a result, the screen is glossy, which means it will shine.

The keyboard is almost identical to the familiar layout and design of the MacBook, right down to the placement of the power button. The key travel is soft. There is a backlight, but no brightness control.

One of the most important features of the entire MacBook line is the touchpad. It is almost impossible to find more convenient - all analogs lose. Xiaomi is no exception. The responsiveness is very good, and clicks and touches work very well. But the MacBook cannot be compared.

Display

For ultrabooks with a diagonal of 13.3 inches, the resolution of 1,920 × 1,080 pixels is not the most modern choice. Many manufacturers are equipping laptops with Retina screens. Anticipating possible questions, let's make a reservation right away: Full HD is smarter in terms of performance and battery life. Larger resolutions allow interfaces to scale more efficiently.

Xiaomi has made a reasonable compromise that can hardly be seen with the naked eye. The type of matrix used is IPS, the screen is glossy. This means there is no distortion in color reproduction, contrast or narrow dynamic range. And excellent viewing angles. The brightness level is quite high, especially when compared to other notebooks in this price range.

Performance

An Intel Core i5-6200U with a clock speed of up to 2.7 GHz was chosen as the platform for Mi Notebook Air 13.3 ″. Why not the newest Kaby Lake? The seventh generation of Intel processors is not yet available to most manufacturers, and the cost is too high. And she has not so many advantages over Skylake. The performance gain in processor tests for Kaby Lake is no more than 5-10%. Another advantage of the platform - an updated video accelerator - is offset by the use of a discrete NVIDIA GeForce 940MX video card with 1 GB of memory.

One might argue that this choice is not the right one, especially for an ultrabook, where there is more than enough integrated graphics. The fact is that the GeForce 940MX outperforms most integrated solutions, including the latest Intel Iris models. The option to disable the discrete graphics card should appear with the December driver update. If it is superfluous, you can use the integrated Intel HD chip.

Thus, Mi Notebook Air 13.3 ″ can be recommended as an efficient workstation. The available 384 pipelines of the discrete card allow you to play, draw, and even calculate something. Speaking of games, Dota 2 shows about 50 fps.

The power of the device is such that the engineers equipped the laptop with a full-fledged cooling system with coolers. The design is successful - the noise of the rotating fans is minimal. In this case, the processor heats up to no more than 45 degrees.

But not everything is so rosy. On sale there is only a modification with 8 GB of RAM. There is no additional memory slot, so you shouldn't count on expansion. And this despite the fact that the company's engineers have foreseen the need to expand the permanent memory: in addition to the standard 256 GB SSD, you can add another hard drive.

All interfaces comply with specifications. So, the installed USB-C works on a USB 3.0 controller and can be used both to charge a laptop and to synchronize other devices. Full-format classic USB also work according to the new standard and support high transfer rates. There is no official information about the HDMI type, but support for broadcasting 4K video is present.

Wireless interfaces are represented by a dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1 module. Full compatibility with most devices is provided, even with wireless acoustics there are no problems.

Multimedia

In describing the appearance, one important point was deliberately missed: the location of the speakers. Meanwhile, Xiaomi is luring the buyer with the AKG sticker. Indeed, a proprietary speaker system is present. But you won't be able to enjoy high quality sound.

The fact is that the speaker grilles are located on the back cover, and they themselves are directed downward. Any soft surface dampens sound. Even when the laptop is on its knees, distortion begins.

When the laptop is stable, the sound is loud and clear. Low frequencies are poorly expressed, they are not enough. But the mids and highs are enough for both watching movies and listening to music. In addition, the technology of sound that surrounds the user has been implemented. And, oddly enough for a portable device, it really works.

Battery life

For a device with a discrete graphics card, the battery capacity of 40 Wh is not a record figure. It is more suitable for true ultrabooks with low power consumption and embedded video.

Despite this, with a low display brightness in airplane mode, you can work with office documents for nine hours. Watching Full HD video over Wi-Fi burns energy in six hours. With capacious calculations using all the hardware capabilities, the laptop will not last more than two hours.

The not too happy situation with the battery is compensated by fast charging via the fancy USB Type-C. It only takes 30 minutes to replenish the battery by 50%.

Comparison with competitors

Xiaomi's pricing policy forces buyers to close their eyes to most of the possible problems. The closest competitors in offline stores in Russia cost more than 80 thousand rubles. Asus, Acer, Dell - all of them are significantly more expensive and do not always offer balanced models. In particular, Dell XPS13 with similar parameters will cost the buyer more than 100 thousand. MacBook Air 13 costs from 80 thousand (and with Intel sixth generation processors - over a hundred).

In such conditions, the cost of Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air 13, 3 ″ looks much nicer. It will be enough to install the Russian version of Windows 10 Home or Ubuntu, and you will have an excellent competitive device with high performance and pleasant design.