Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air 13 with MX150, it is Good Value?

[dlink377]

I am interested to the new Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air 13 with the new NVIDIA MX150 graphics chip inside. The one I am planning to get is with i5-7200U, 8GB DDR4 RAM and 256GB NVME SSD (around USD 800, I am visiting China soon).

 

The only bad things I noticed so far:

• There is only one USB Type-C (for charging, data, and power), although it has another two USB type-A and HDMI. There are also no thunderbolt.
• The case gets too hot when gaming. Outer top case nearly 45C and palm rest area is 42C.
• RAM is soldered. I am stuck with 8GB.
• Battery life is only 5-6 hours on basic Internet usage (39Wh battery)
• There are fast charging mechanism (BC 1.2), 50% in 30 mins, full in 70 mins. I am worried this will affect the battery life in the future.

This are the review in Chinese if anyone interested. You can just see the picture, especially on page 3 to 5.

 

Any other laptop with better value than this one?

[iM8Pizza]

well, from my own opinion
1. I think you should go for it considering there aren't that many thing that utilize thunderbolt nor usb type-c nowadays

2. I doubt many other laptop handle gaming well in terms of temperature and not to mention this Notebook Air 13 is from metal I suppose (aluminium?)
3. I haven't found myself go over 8gb and I do gaming and also editing (and some 3d modelling). The one time I got kicked to windows home because of lack of memory was when I'm playing arma with bunch of mods

4. damn, 5-6 is long

5. Agreed, but I believe at this time (when the battery gets fucked) the laptop itself would be 4 years old or something

[Nicnac]

I thought about getting one for uni eventually. it is a productivity machine so you should not expect it to game well. just like any macbook. as such it won't likely need more than 8gigs in the future.  The price is super compelling and the fact that it has af full size usb port (when you wanna print stuff at the library etc....). 5-6h of battery are okay at that price point I'd say.

[dlink377]

26 minutes ago, iM8Pizza said:

well, from my own opinion
1. I think you should go for it considering there aren't that many thing that utilize thunderbolt nor usb type-c nowadays

2. I doubt many other laptop handle gaming well in terms of temperature and not to mention this Notebook Air 13 is from metal I suppose (aluminium?)
3. I haven't found myself go over 8gb and I do gaming and also editing (and some 3d modelling). The one time I got kicked to windows home because of lack of memory was when I'm playing arma with bunch of mods

4. damn, 5-6 is long

5. Agreed, but I believe at this time (when the battery gets fucked) the laptop itself would be 4 years old or something

After doing some research about thunderbolt, seems it is not so useful for me. External GPU is useless since it is so expensive, I better buy another PC for gaming if I really want to use GTX 1070 or 1080 power.

 

Yes, as all Chinese brands are trying hard to imitate Apple product in a way. It is full aluminum build.

 

I am just worried on next 3-4 years 8GB will not be a standard anymore. Even my PC currently struggling with 8GB using Google Chrome. I plan to use this laptop for 5-6 years. I am even still using my nearly 8 years Core 2 Duo Macbook (it is slow, but still usable with 8GB RAM upgrade and SSD).

 

Average laptop battery life nowadays is 8-9 hours. That's why 5-6 hours battery life is kinda half of the average.

Just now, Nicnac said:

I thought about getting one for uni eventually. it is a productivity machine so you should not expect it to game well. just like any macbook. as such it won't likely need more than 8gigs in the future.  The price is super compelling and the fact that it has af full size usb port (when you wanna print stuff at the library etc....). 5-6h of battery are okay at that price point I'd say.

Yes, this is strictly for productivity use. I only plan to play light games at most, such as Minecraft, LOL, or CS GO, which most can be played using Intel iGPU just fine.

 

Well, considering most laptop now can easily reach 8 - 9 hours easily (which is laptop average battery life now).

 

 

 

I am just wondering is there better options at similar price point than this laptop. Battery life kinda important for me, although 6 hours is actually fine with me, also considering it has fast charging to charge 50% 30 mins and small charger. I probably even can buy external battery bank??.

[iM8Pizza]

1 minute ago, dlink377 said:

After doing some research about thunderbolt, seems it is not so useful for me. External GPU is useless since it is so expensive, I better buy another PC for gaming if I really want to use GTX 1070 or 1080 power.

 

Yes, as all Chinese brands are trying hard to imitate Apple product in a way. It is full aluminum build.

 

I am just worried on next 3-4 years 8GB will not be a standard anymore. Even my PC currently struggling with 8GB using Google Chrome. I plan to use this laptop for 5-6 years. I am even still using my nearly 8 years Core 2 Duo Macbook (it is slow, but still usable with 8GB RAM upgrade and SSD).

 

Average laptop battery life nowadays is 8-9 hours. That's why 5-6 hours battery life is kinda half of the average.

Yes, this is strictly for productivity use. I only plan to play light games at most, such as Minecraft, LOL, or CS GO, which most can be played using Intel iGPU just fine.

 

Well, considering most laptop now can easily reach 8 - 9 hours easily (which is laptop average battery life now).

 

 

 

I am just wondering is there better options at similar price point than this laptop. Battery life kinda important for me, although 6 hours is actually fine with me, also considering it has fast charging to charge 50% 30 mins and small charger. I probably even can buy external battery bank??.

I believe as long as that power bank has a USB Type C to connect to the laptop then it should work (considering that the Mi Air use the Type C to charge it)

My laptop barely make it into 5-6 hours territory so when I see one that's capable of doing so I think of it as "it's more than sufficient, come on", but of course, different people have different standards. How about the Dell Inspiron lineup? Pretty sure linus has a video of it talking how good it is at it's price (or Dave Lee's video, I really like his simplicity in Laptop Reviews)

[Andrew Ke]

Hello, I am a current owner of the older 940mx Mi Notebook. One troubling issue is the possibility of fan failure. The fan buzzes and sounds as if it is grinding against something. Here is the video I shot: 

I have tried and failed to find a replacement fan (even in Chinese e-retailing sites), and after inquiring with a Xiaomi representative, it appears that Xiaomi does not allow notebook parts to be sold individually. This means that any potential issues MUST be resolved by sending the laptop back to China, which is a pain in the ass for someone living outside China like you and I. 

 

The lack of ability to be repaired is really problematic, so I would caution against buying this laptop. The Lenovo ideapad 710s Pro, or 小新air13Pro features almost identical specs but with an older 940mx, at a similar price. If given another choice, I would probably buy that model, or hold out until the mx150 version of the same laptop is released. I have checked and it is much easier to find replacement parts (albeit in China, which requires shipping).

[dlink377]

21 hours ago, iM8Pizza said:

I believe as long as that power bank has a USB Type C to connect to the laptop then it should work (considering that the Mi Air use the Type C to charge it)

My laptop barely make it into 5-6 hours territory so when I see one that's capable of doing so I think of it as "it's more than sufficient, come on", but of course, different people have different standards. How about the Dell Inspiron lineup? Pretty sure linus has a video of it talking how good it is at it's price (or Dave Lee's video, I really like his simplicity in Laptop Reviews)

Yes. The laptops does exclusively use Type-C to charge. However, since every Type-C charger and port is different, I really doubt it will works just fine using USB Type-A to Type-C cable connected to power banks.

 

I does check the Dell Inspiron line up, seems have similar price range with worse specification and the body is still plastic. I will probably will wait until MX150 available on other brands before buying this laptop.

 

17 hours ago, Andrew Ke said:

Hello, I am a current owner of the older 940mx Mi Notebook. One troubling issue is the possibility of fan failure. The fan buzzes and sounds as if it is grinding against something. Here is the video I shot: 

 

I have tried and failed to find a replacement fan (even in Chinese e-retailing sites), and after inquiring with a Xiaomi representative, it appears that Xiaomi does not allow notebook parts to be sold individually. This means that any potential issues MUST be resolved by sending the laptop back to China, which is a pain in the ass for someone living outside China like you and I. 

 

The lack of ability to be repaired is really problematic, so I would caution against buying this laptop. The Lenovo ideapad 710s Pro, or 小新air13Pro features almost identical specs but with an older 940mx, at a similar price. If given another choice, I would probably buy that model, or hold out until the mx150 version of the same laptop is released. I have checked and it is much easier to find replacement parts (albeit in China, which requires shipping).

Thank you for your reply. After doing short google search and looking around Xiaomi english and chinese forums, seems many users have a bad fans after few month. How long does your laptop fan fails after purchasing? Any other problems?

 

Seems the spare part for this laptop is so hard to get, even in Taobao, which is unreasonable since this is Chinese brand and also quite popular. I do visit China few times a year, but not having parts available after the warranty ends is quite unsettling.

 

This morning I was trying to get the sale at 8AM local China timie on Taobao, but it goes out of stock in few secs. Seems I will not get this laptop anytime soon, since I practically needs to have better internet speed than Chinese buyer.

 

So, I think I will hold out until another laptop shows up with MX150 chip. The 小新Air 13 Pro seems a good laptop, with parts readily available on Taobao, similar specification, just different in ports. Any other alternative?

[KuJoe]

Here's a good video review from a reviewer I trust: 

 

 

[Andrew Ke]

4 hours ago, dlink377 said:

Yes. The laptops does exclusively use Type-C to charge. However, since every Type-C charger and port is different, I really doubt it will works just fine using USB Type-A to Type-C cable connected to power banks.

 

I does check the Dell Inspiron line up, seems have similar price range with worse specification and the body is still plastic. I will probably will wait until MX150 available on other brands before buying this laptop.

 

Thank you for your reply. After doing short google search and looking around Xiaomi english and chinese forums, seems many users have a bad fans after few month. How long does your laptop fan fails after purchasing? Any other problems?

 

Seems the spare part for this laptop is so hard to get, even in Taobao, which is unreasonable since this is Chinese brand and also quite popular. I do visit China few times a year, but not having parts available after the warranty ends is quite unsettling.

 

This morning I was trying to get the sale at 8AM local China timie on Taobao, but it goes out of stock in few secs. Seems I will not get this laptop anytime soon, since I practically needs to have better internet speed than Chinese buyer.

 

So, I think I will hold out until another laptop shows up with MX150 chip. The 小新Air 13 Pro seems a good laptop, with parts readily available on Taobao, similar specification, just different in ports. Any other alternative?

The fans failed after about 3 months. Another issue I have encountered is battery wear. Just after six months of usage, battery wear as reported by HWMonitor is at 25%, possibly due to Xiaomi's fast charging which is detrimental to battery health.

[dlink377]

5 minutes ago, Andrew Ke said:

The fans failed after about 3 months. Another issue I have encountered is battery wear. Just after six months of usage, battery wear as reported by HWMonitor is at 25%, possibly due to Xiaomi's fast charging which is detrimental to battery health.

Wow. It seems I will just pass on this laptop. Having good battery life is very important for me, and I am not shelling around CNY 150 for another battery at Taobao every year.

 

How do you think about XPS 13? Seems I can get China CR version for the same price, although without any discrete graphics card and half the disk.

[Andrew Ke]

24 minutes ago, dlink377 said:

Wow. It seems I will just pass on this laptop. Having good battery life is very important for me, and I am not shelling around CNY 150 for another battery at Taobao every year.

 

How do you think about XPS 13? Seems I can get China CR version for the same price, although without any discrete graphics card and half the disk.

Seems to be a pretty good deal, where did you find it? Personally I think the lenovo ideapad 710s Plus gives more value, with its additional discrete card, storage and fingerprint scanner.

[dlink377]

7 hours ago, Andrew Ke said:

Seems to be a pretty good deal, where did you find it? Personally I think the lenovo ideapad 710s Plus gives more value, with its additional discrete card, storage and fingerprint scanner.

Here is the shop on Taobao. The XPS 13 9360 i5-7200 8G 128G SSD with QHD Touchscreen is very tempting though.

 

However, after doing some research on XPS 13, it also has problem such as the infamous coil whine, shitty thermal, and dead pixel. I do really love the 12 hrs battery life of that laptop.

 

I think I will just wait MX150 on Lenovo 小新。I am not buying problem infested product for nearly $800 to $900.

 

Edit: I just noticed a very beautiful HP laptop, however I can't find any review on it, only product showcase on some computer Expo on youtube. Similar price with Mi laptop, just minus the graphic card and fingerprint scanner.

[dlink377]

Just providing updates to this post. I settled for Dell XPS 13 9360 i5-7200U 8GB RAM 128GB SSD FHD (certified refurbished, not a new laptop).

 

Found a decent price for it (USD 800, keep in mind that I am not at US, I am buying this on China, literally on of the most expensive place to buy a laptop), so I decided to get it since the Xiaomi laptop is hard to get when new and I need XPS 13 battery life more.

 

The laptop itself is fine, however, being a CR unit, it clearly have scratch in few areas indicating it is being used. There are big laser engraved text  of "CERTIFIED REFURBISHED" on the bottom panel, but it is fine for me since I kinda expect it and they send me sticker to cover it. Not much coil whine on my unit, and there are no dead pixels. If anyone interested and I can provide short review on the problems of this laptop.

 

Thank you anyone helping me deciding what laptop to buy.