Xiaomi's first laptop is the $750 Mi Notebook Air

Xiaomi  has officially taken the wraps off its long-rumored laptop: the Mi Notebook Air. Naming and design similarities to Apple’s laptops notwithstanding, the Mi Notebook Air represents a major shift in strategy for Xiaomi and runs Windows 10 Home. Here’s everything you need to know about Xiaomi’s first laptop offering.

There are two sizes: 12.5 inch and 13.3 inch

Xiaomi unveiled two sizes for its Mi Notebook Air: 12.5-inch and 13.3-inch. While neither of these fits the typical size for a workhorse laptop, they definitely fulfill the ultra-portable demands of a highly mobile lifestyle. The 13.3 model is both thinner and lighter than Apple’s 13-inch Macbook Air and the 12.5-inch is thinner but a little bit heavier than Apple’s 11-inch Air.

Both have Full HD displays

Both sizes of the Mi Notebook Air feature Full HD displays (1,920 x 1,080 pixels). That equates to a pixel density of 176 pixels per inch (ppi) on the 12.5-inch model and 165 ppi on the 13.3-inch model. Compare this to 130 ppi on the 13-inch Macbook Air and 142 ppi on the 11-inch model and you’re getting a more pixel dense display. We can’t comment on the quality of the Xiaomi panel just yet though.

Prices start at $520 and $750

This is where Xiaomi always wins: price. The price for the 13.3-inch Mi Notebook Air is 4,999 Yuan (~$750) and you’ll pay as little as 3,499 yuan (~$520) for the 12.5-inch model. While there are some less impressive internals in the smaller laptop, you do get an additional two hours of battery life in the 12.5-inch model. These are pretty impressive prices and are roughly two-thirds the cost of Apple’s offerings.

13.3-inch specs

The 13.3-inch Mi Notebook Air comes with an Intel Core i5-6200U processor (up to 2.7GHz) with the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX GPU (with 1GB GDDR5 RAM). There’s 8 GB of DDR4 RAM, 256 GB of SSD via PCIe and one empty SATA slot for Xiaomi-serviced memory expansion.

There’s a 40Wh battery that can reportedly charge to 50% in just half an hour via USB Type-C. Xiaomi is claiming it’s good for 9.5 hours of use. You’ll also get a backlit keyboard, dual AKG speakers, two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI port, a 1 MP webcam and a stylish metal construction with no pesky logo to put a sticker over. It weighs 1.28 kg.

12.5-inch specs

The smaller model comes with some lighter specs, including an Intel Core M3 CPU (with no dedicated GPU), 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB SSD via SATA (again, with one free PCIe slot). There’s only one USB 3.0 port on the smaller model but you still get HDMI and dual AKG speakers. This model is reportedly good for 11.5 hours of battery life. It weighs 1.07 kg.

You can unlock them with a Mi Band 2

Both Mi Notebook Air sizes will be available in silver or gold and both can be unlocked via Bluetooth by the Mi Band 2. There are official sticker accessories to personalize the plain metallic shell and you can buy into a bunch of other sleeves and cases in leather, PU leather or microfiber. Mi Cloud Sync ties both laptops into the Mi software ecosystem so you can easily sync contacts, messages, calendars and more.

Availability

The Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air will be available on August 2 in China but no release date plans have been announced for global markets. What do you think of Xiaomi’s first laptop? Would you consider buying one?