Xiaomi Mi Book Air hands on and first impressions


xiaomi mi book air hands on

I just received the all new Xiaomi Mi Book Air laptop at my home and simply cannot wait to show this little laptop off. Check the Mi Book Air hands on and first impressions below.

Xiaomi launched their Mi Book Air, their first laptop, only a few weeks ago and just last week they released the smaller of the two laptops in silver in a limited run. Luckily for us shop.gizchina.com have their ear to the ground when it comes to the latest tech and they have been quick to snatch the device up and get one to me.

The Mi Book Air I have is the 12.5-inch version with integrated graphics which costs 3499 Yuan in China. I have this version simply because it’s the only one available, but the compact laptop will make a great travel device for work.

xiaomi mi book air

The 12.5-inch Mi Book Air offers a larger display over the smallest Apple Macbook Air, but physically they are very similar in size. This is due to the much narrower bezels around the 12.5-inch Xiaomi panel.

xiaomi mi book air

Build is also different to the Macbook Air, rather than being CNC machined from a single piece of alloy, but rather made in two pieces. This doesn’t detract from the looks of the Mi Book Air, but it does give a less sturdy, lower quality feel.

xiaomi mi book air

The differences continue in the ports on offer with the Xioami getting a full size HDMI plug, USB type C, standard USB and 3.5mm headphone jack. The lack of SD port is a real shame for me, but as most modern cameras offer a WIFI connection I’m sure it’s something we can learn to live without.

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xiaomi mi book air

Opened up the Xiaomi Mi Book Air has a near full size keyboard with bright backlighting. There is only an option to turn the backlight on or offer, rather than varying the degree of brightness, but it’s a lovely feature to have.

xiaomi mi book air

On the hardware front, the Xiaomi Mi Book Air has AKG audio and a very high quality set of speakers on the underside. Compared to my wife’s Macbook Air (which is an older model) the Xiaomi has way better audio. The 1920 x 1080 display is also much brighter and offers a crisper visual experience.

On the performance side of things the 12.5-inch Xiaomi Mi Book Air has 4GB RAM, 128GB memory, and Intel Core M3 chipset with integrated GPU. This isn’t going to be a gamers laptop, but for someone like me who wants to blog, browse the web and edit photos, the Mi Book Air offers plenty of grunt.

Xiaomi Mi Book Air 12.5-inch Gallery

As already mentioned, shop.gizchina.com is the store to get the Mi Book Air from, but remember at the time of writing only this smaller (lower spec) version is available.

I’ll be using the Xiaomi Mi Book Air from today onwards, which means I’ll not only be using a new laptop but also learning to use Windows 10… but keep posted for updates over the next few weeks.

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74 Comments

  1. Conrad Aquilina
    August 10, 2016

    Enjoy the new giz 🙂

  2. Conrad Aquilina
    August 10, 2016

    Enjoy the new giz 🙂

  3. Wolvie
    August 10, 2016

    For the small 128 GB SSD, is it replaceable or soldered in with the motherboard ?

    For working ,128 GB is really small.

    • mr201
      August 10, 2016

      It use m.2 ssd which ia replaceable. Im not sure if this have dual slot as the more powerful mibook.

      • Hakim Farouk
        August 10, 2016

        I think the dual slot is for the mid ranger model with the i5

        • Beloved Chairman Lei Jun
          August 11, 2016

          No small one also has 2 slots

    • Natsumi
      August 12, 2016

      I wonder if you can expand the ram and the disc.

  4. Guest
    August 11, 2016

    For the small 128 GB SSD, is it replaceable or soldered in with the motherboard ?

    For working ,128 GB is really small.

    • mr201
      August 11, 2016

      It use m.2 ssd which ia replaceable. Im not sure if this have dual slot as the more powerful mibook.

    • Hakim Farouk
      August 11, 2016

      I think the dual slot is for the mid ranger model with the i5

    • Beloved Chairman Lei Jun
      August 11, 2016

      No small one also has 2 slots

    • Natsumi
      August 12, 2016

      I wonder if you can expand the ram and the disc.

  5. Beloved Chairman Lei Jun
    August 11, 2016

    dear andi
    i hope u like our product so far. we have made possible for as many ppl as possible to get hands on this new beloved product, i hope u can appreciate it. thank you and welcome to support beloved brand millet.

    • Muhammad Yasir
      August 11, 2016

      plz keep designing moar high perf laptop … esp for cheap gaming !

      think 4GB AMD RX480m GPU and rest of the specs same , with addition of a fingerprint scanner !

    • Wiz Calista
      August 13, 2016

      Please make it available for Europe now! We want to order so bad :D!!!

  6. Jay
    August 11, 2016

    I see a shiny new Axon 7 🙂 Is that now your daily driver?

  7. NextHype
    August 11, 2016

    Andi, could you run some bench and in app tests on CPU and GPU to give us points of comparison ?

    3DMark / PCMark / Geekbench
    7-zip
    FPS on a few games (DoTA, CoD)

    + SDD read/write and WiFi speed test ?

    (you may find test protocols on a laptop dedicated website to speed up the process)

    • Muhammad Yasir
      August 11, 2016

      Games should be Witcher 3 and a few other AAA exclusives !

  8. sdasda
    August 11, 2016

    When will the laptop be in your store? Will it be in EU Warehouse ?

    • Natsumi
      August 12, 2016

      EU warehouse with no european keyboard XD

  9. Chandan Mitra
    August 11, 2016

    Unfortunately I have bought HP notebook 1 month ago :'(

  10. EXPLORER
    August 11, 2016

    Wow! impressive at this price 🙂

  11. Beloved Chairman Lei Jun
    August 11, 2016

    dear andi
    i hope u like our product so far. we have made possible for as many ppl as possible to get hands on this new beloved product, i hope u can appreciate it. thank you and welcome to support beloved brand millet.

    • Guest
      August 11, 2016

      plz keep designing moar high perf laptop … esp for cheap gaming !

      think 4GB AMD RX480m GPU and rest of the specs same , with addition of a fingerprint scanner !

    • Wiz Calista
      August 13, 2016

      Please make it available for Europe now! We want to order so bad :D!!!

  12. Jay
    August 11, 2016

    I see a shiny new Axon 7 🙂 Is that now your daily driver?

  13. NextHype
    August 11, 2016

    Andi, could you run some bench and in app tests on CPU and GPU to give us points of comparison ?

    3DMark / PCMark / Geekbench
    7-zip
    FPS on a few games (DoTA, CoD)

    + SDD read/write and WiFi speed test ?

    (you may find test protocols on a laptop dedicated website to speed up the process)

    • Guest
      August 11, 2016

      Games should be Witcher 3 and a few other AAA exclusives !

  14. Guest
    August 11, 2016

    When will the laptop be in your store? Will it be in EU Warehouse ?

    • Natsumi
      August 12, 2016

      EU warehouse with no european keyboard XD

  15. Muhammad Yasir
    August 11, 2016

    “This isn’t going to be a gamers laptop”

    LIES !

    Andi bloke , you better test this Laptop for 2016 AAA games … or else

    i’ll NEVER buy anything from your shop :p !

    • balcobomber25
      August 16, 2016

      Core M3 and integrated graphics 2016 AAA games might play on very low settings with everything disabled. Even then some games might struggle.

      • Muhammad Yasir
        August 17, 2016

        exactly

        • Prodox
          August 19, 2016

          there is a higher end version with a discrete graphics card. You should be able to play 2016 AAA games with that (albeit, if you want good FPS, medium quality is all you are likely to get)

          • Muhammad Yasir
            August 19, 2016

            yeah … 940mx looks weak and only 1GB Vram aint gonna cut it

            • Faisal Shaharyar
              August 23, 2016

              it does not have 940.
              13 inch version has nvidia 940

            • Muhammad Yasir
              August 24, 2016

              im talking about the 13 inch version

            • Faisal Shaharyar
              August 24, 2016

              940 on 13 inch will be a very good option for slightly above casual gaming.
              the gpu performance will be very similar to the AMD APU that is used on desktop

  16. Muhammad Yasir
    August 11, 2016

    wait … Andi , have you NEVER used windows before ??

    Linux user ?

    • MaxPower
      August 11, 2016

      There’s a picture showing the MacBook, so I assume he is a Mac user

      • Muhammad Yasir
        August 11, 2016

        oh … wat life without PC games , esp when you can afford to be a might member of the MASTERRACE !

        im surprised andi hadn’t used windows before this .. all the good games are on windows :p

        • Muhammad Yasir Snr
          August 12, 2016

          what*
          hadn’t been* using* or havn’t used**

      • Natsumi
        August 12, 2016

        I want The Witcher for Linux Q____Q

  17. Chandan Mitra
    August 11, 2016

    Unfortunately I have bought HP notebook 1 month ago :'(

  18. EXPLORER
    August 11, 2016

    Wow! impressive at this price 🙂

  19. Guest
    August 11, 2016

    “This isn’t going to be a gamers laptop”

    LIES !

    Andi bloke , you better test this Laptop for 2016 AAA games … or else

    i’ll NEVER buy anything from your shop :p !

    • balcobomber25
      August 17, 2016

      Core M3 and integrated graphics 2016 AAA games might play on very low settings with everything disabled. Even then some games might struggle.

    • Guest
      August 17, 2016

      damn

    • Prodox
      August 20, 2016

      there is a higher end version with a discrete graphics card. You should be able to play 2016 AAA games with that (albeit, if you want good FPS, medium quality is all you are likely to get)

    • Guest
      August 20, 2016

      yeah … 940mx looks weak and only 1GB Vram aint gonna cut it

    • Faisal Shaharyar
      August 23, 2016

      it does not have 940.
      13 inch version has nvidia 940

    • Guest
      August 24, 2016

      im talking about the 13 inch version

    • Faisal Shaharyar
      August 24, 2016

      940 on 13 inch will be a very good option for slightly above casual gaming.
      the gpu performance will be very similar to the AMD APU that is used on desktop

  20. Guest
    August 11, 2016

    wait … Andi , have you NEVER used windows before ??

    Linux user ?

    • MaxPower
      August 11, 2016

      There’s a picture showing the MacBook, so I assume he is a Mac user

    • Guest
      August 11, 2016

      oh … wat life without PC games , esp when you can afford to be a might member of the MASTERRACE !

      im surprised andi hadn’t used windows before this .. all the good games are on windows :p

    • Muhammad Yasir Snr
      August 12, 2016

      what*
      hadn’t been* using* or havn’t used**

    • Natsumi
      August 12, 2016

      I want The Witcher for Linux Q____Q

  21. Lawrence Rodgers
    August 13, 2016

    How much does Xiaomi charge for the optional sticker or the laser engraving?

  22. Lawrence Rodgers
    August 13, 2016

    How much does Xiaomi charge for the optional sticker or the laser engraving?

  23. Wiz Calista
    August 13, 2016

    I don’t find it on the website? I really want to purchase it from Europe

  24. Wiz Calista
    August 13, 2016

    I don’t find it on the website? I really want to purchase it from Europe

  25. trapchan
    August 14, 2016

    Is it available to purchase in China?

  26. Allanitomwesh
    August 14, 2016

    Hey Andi, could you test the linux support on your Mi Notebook Air? You dont actually have to install it, just make a Live Debian Gnu/Linux flash drive and boot from it.

    https://www.debian.org/CD/live/ and here is how to make the flash drive http://www.pendrivelinux.com/debian-live-flash-drive-install-from-windows/ no need to set up persistence.

  27. trapchan
    August 14, 2016

    Is it available to purchase in China?

  28. Allanitomwesh
    August 14, 2016

    Hey Andi, could you test the linux support on your Mi Notebook Air? You dont actually have to install it, just make a Live Debian Gnu/Linux flash drive and boot from it.

    https://www.debian.org/CD/live/ and here is how to make the flash drive http://www.pendrivelinux.com/debian-live-flash-drive-install-from-windows/ no need to set up persistence.

  29. Bernard Loth
    August 17, 2016

    Dear Andi, I would like to know if the OS has different languages since this PC is for Chinese market.
    Did you format and install English OS ????
    Thank you for your reply.
    A french MI Fan

    • balcobomber25
      August 17, 2016

      The OS is Windows 10 which has support for hundreds of languages. Some might require you to install a separate language pack tho.

      • Bernard Loth
        August 18, 2016

        Thank you for the information. Previous version of windows 2000 Chinese language was only for chinese

        • NextHype
          August 18, 2016

          Beware Win 10 chinese version has many untranslated menu entries, even if you download and install language packs. It can be really annoying since menu entries like “Stop / Reboot / etc…” are still in Chinese.

          To have a fully translated Win 10 you have to install international version.

  30. Bernard Loth
    August 17, 2016

    Dear Andi, I would like to know if the OS has different languages since this PC is for Chinese market.
    Did you format and install English OS ????
    Thank you for your reply.
    A french MI Fan

    • balcobomber25
      August 17, 2016

      The OS is Windows 10 which has support for hundreds of languages. Some might require you to install a separate language pack tho.

    • Bernard Loth
      August 18, 2016

      Thank you for the information. Previous version of windows 2000 Chinese language was only for chinese

    • NextHype
      August 18, 2016

      Beware Win 10 chinese version has many untranslated menu entries, even if you download and install language packs. It can be really annoying since menu entries like “Stop / Reboot / etc…” are still in Chinese.

      To have a fully translated Win 10 you have to install international version.