
Xiaomi’s first laptop is a Macbook Air rival - adalyz
https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/27/you-know-this-all-sounds-familiar/
======
klackerz
The best thing about Xiaomi is that they support their products very well.
Almost all of their phones get security updates each month. That is a rare
thing in Android nowadays especially with Motorola announcing that they will
stop updating their phones with the new security updates. [1]

[1] [http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/07/motorola-confirms-
tha...](http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/07/motorola-confirms-that-it-will-
not-commit-to-monthly-security-patches/)

~~~
maxerickson
How did you go from _However, because of the amount of testing and approvals
that are necessary to deploy them, it 's difficult to do this on a monthly
basis for all our devices. It is often most efficient for us to bundle
security updates in a scheduled Maintenance Release (MR) or OS upgrade._,
which is a quote from Motorola, to _Motorola announcing that they will stop
updating their phones with the new security updates._?

Keeping up with the monthly updates would likely be preferable, but batching
them is still a long way off from how you've characterized it.

~~~
post_break
Because anyone who has watched Motorola after their acquisition from Lenovo
knows they will stop updating phones very quickly. In under a year in some
cases.

~~~
cptskippy
While I agree with you, it's still just speculation.

------
leonroy
This quote from Jony Ive really made me feel for the guy:

“When you’re doing something for the first time, you don’t know it’s going to
work. You spend seven or eight years working on something, and then it’s
copied. I have to be honest, the first thing I can think, all those weekends
that I could have at home with my family but didn’t. I think it’s theft, and
it’s lazy.”

Xiaomi have done this to others. Their new air filter for example basically
clones a Japanese design and sells it for a fraction of the price:
[http://www.gizmochina.com/2014/12/09/xiaomis-air-
purifierbor...](http://www.gizmochina.com/2014/12/09/xiaomis-air-
purifierborrowing-design-balmuda-airengine/)

~~~
nullcipher
I don't know if he actually said that but isn't all innovation incremental? I
understand he put his heart and soul into it, but there has been tons of
people who have worked equally hard before him to get to where he got (Apple
itself copied it's UI from Xerox). Apple has also blatantly copied and
consumed many companies in the past.

There is so much code copied around these days. This is all just the way it is
and how we have decided to move ahead as a society. Making judgments on others
is uncalled for.

~~~
leonroy
> I don't know if he actually said that but isn't all innovation incremental?

He said exactly that: [http://www.vanityfair.com/news/tech/2014/10/jony-ive-
lessons...](http://www.vanityfair.com/news/tech/2014/10/jony-ive-lessons-from-
steve-jobs)

And yes innovation is incremental but this is Xiaomi not simply borrowing
design cues but literally cloning a design. See for yourself - here's their
take on Japanese company Balmuda's air purifier:
[https://www.balmuda.com/jp/airengine/](https://www.balmuda.com/jp/airengine/)

Xiaomi's version: [http://www.mi.com/en/air/](http://www.mi.com/en/air/)

~~~
WayneBro
We're talking about the Jony Ive who designs rectangles?

Meh. Him and Apple have stolen plenty! Isn't Steve Jobs famously quoted as
saying "great artists steal"?

Anyway, what's the fucking difference if you steal a few pieces here and there
or the whole thing? Nothing.

(EDIT: A piece of something is still a whole piece that you've stolen. And
Apple has also stolen entire apps, like Konfabulator. They get no sympathy
from me.)

~~~
astrodust
Apple literally redefined what a smart phone is. While he borrowed design cues
from history, Braun in particular, applying that to the phone space and coming
up with a design language that had durability was a big breakthrough.

Remember in 2006 Nokia, Motorola, RIM and others made literally everything
_but_ rectangular phones. They were covered in buttons and other crap.

Ive's vision of a virtually button free phone was strikingly different at the
time, a device even simpler than the Star Trek communicator pad.

>Anyway, what's the fucking difference if you steal a few pieces here and
there or the whole thing? Nothing.

It's very hard to strip something down to the essential components and
integrate those into a package that becomes _obvious_ in retrospect. The
steering wheel in a car, the magnetic seal on a refrigerator door, these are
all obvious now but at the time were huge breakthroughs.

If you can't see the difference between copying and working to reduce
something down to the fundamentals you're obviously unaware of how one is lazy
and the other is crazy hard.

~~~
uola
The Sony Ericsson P800/P900/P910 had a removable keypad making them
effectively rectangular phones. The Neonode N1 had a touch driven interface,
including the slide to unlock feature. Then there were PDAs like Sony Clie
PEG-TH55. All this a couple of years before the iPhone.

The reason phones didn't look like rectangles wasn't because no one had the
idea, but because screens were expensive and touch technology (and other
technologies like data) wasn't mature yet. That's why you had something like
the LG Prada come out at the same time (or even slightly before) the iPhone.

Just because you are first to adopt something (e.g. because your customers
don't mind paying a premium and you've secretly developed it for years
including controlling the supply chain) doesn't mean you should have the sole
right to use a concept derived from evolution of components.

P910
[http://pdadb.net/img/sony_ericsson_p910.jpg](http://pdadb.net/img/sony_ericsson_p910.jpg)

Neonode N1
[http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/Neonode_N1_Sept_2004.jpg](http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/Neonode_N1_Sept_2004.jpg)

Sony Clie PEG-TH55
[https://cnet3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2010/08/03/b26d3392-67c...](https://cnet3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2010/08/03/b26d3392-67c5-11e3-a665-14feb5ca9861/thumbnail/770x433/7668c0c8969b4ad46849bf3676b17ea6/30733801-2-440-front-2.gif)

LG Prada [http://image.cellphones.ca/images/phones/74/767/lg-prada-
ful...](http://image.cellphones.ca/images/phones/74/767/lg-prada-full-1.jpg)

~~~
627467
This post should be marked as reference anytime some Apple-zealot brings the
"Apple invented everything under the sun" argument.

Don't get me wrong: Apple deservingly got tons of credits (literally, in their
bank accounts) for the combination of great hardware/software/ui
design/marketing of the past 10 years. They still do.

But their success means that just like Jony Ive got "inspired" by Braun, Apple
is not inspiring everybody else.

~~~
astrodust
I use air-quotes on inspired because while it's obvious in hind-sight the way
the Braun styling was adapted, distilling the design language of a blender or
a pocket calculator made in the 1960s into a cutting edge product launched in
the mid 2000s is not exactly a straight-forward exercise.

If you look at the mock-ups people made of the hypothetical and long-rumored
"iPod phone" that Apple was working on you'll see how many of the design
decisions Apple took were completely unexpected:
[https://www.engadget.com/2009/12/28/how-early-iphone-
predict...](https://www.engadget.com/2009/12/28/how-early-iphone-predictions-
fared-in-the-face-of-reality/)

Apple didn't invent everything under the sun, and they didn't even "invent"
everything they use. What they do is try hard to come up with a striking,
simple design that they know will differentiate their products. They also get
very upset when people steal their design without even _trying_ to make it
their own.

Notice how Apple's been quiet about the Microsoft Surface device, and even
though it directly competes with the iPad, they're still partnering with
Microsoft to build Office apps. I think they respect Microsoft here because
re-inventing the tablet and making a compelling notebook product of that sort
takes a lot of bold engineering.

Apple's appropriation of the keyboard cover
([http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/9/9297805/apple-ipad-pro-
micr...](http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/9/9297805/apple-ipad-pro-microsoft-
surface-comic-prediction)) is one of those things that's inevitable. I'm not
sure what else they could have done here, they were boxed in, so it ends up
being 'theft' by some definition of that term. Microsoft doesn't seem to have
raised this as an issue, so I'm sure there was some communication here between
the two parties to make sure it didn't poison the waters.

~~~
627467
It's stylistic exercise which may be (or not be) enabled by technological
advances but it's no different than when 80s cloths coming back now.
Understand that I'm not saying it's trivial to accomplish this exercise.
Specially to achieve global cultural icon status. But I'm arguing that part of
journey to achieve that status requires other's following your lead.

Xiaomi "thin, machine-metal" laptop looks as much like an Macbook as iPhone's
6 antenna lines look like HTC One M7.

Apple has been quiet about Microsoft (and vice-versa) because if Samsung v
Apple design patent wars taught us anything is that it's pointless and
expensive to engage in these fights.

------
puranjay
People shit on Xiaomi here but even imitation requires some level of artistry
and finesse. This looks like a good clone of Air, and I haven't seen
Acer/Lenovo/Dell manage to do that yet.

~~~
aoloe
What are you misssing in a Dell XPS 13?

~~~
comboy
I have both air and xps 13 and to me they are not even comparable. Yes, thin
bezel looks cool at the first glance but that's about it. Instead of metal
under your hand you have this weird something, keyboard works much worse, they
did not even make reasonable handle to open the laptop like there is in
macbook air. Also the power supply is chunky and you cannot fold it nicely.

Don't get me wrong, it's a really good laptop and I've chosen it over so many
others on the market. I would probably still choose it for my linux laptop
(lenovo x1 is neat but I'm done with lenovo with all the stuff they've done
lately). It just looks poorly to me in a direct comparison.

------
im_dario
I don't trust their battery run-times. I was looking for a laptop and finally
settled down for a Lenovo Thinkpad 13.

Thinkpad's battery is 42 Wh with a wifi surfing run-time of almost 7 hours
[0], although it being sold as a 11 hours run-time. It hasn't a dedicated
graphics chip.

Xiaomi's battery is 40 Wh and it sports dedicated graphics. Macbook Air's
battery is 58 Wh and it has integrated graphics, lasting around 10 hours [1].

Assuming a similar consumption, Xiaomi's would last less than 7 hours for
surfing. But it has dedicated graphics (NVidia 940M) with a consumption (30W)
that doubles integrated options (Intel HD in Lenovo and Apple laptops). So,
probably it will last 5 or 6 hours of just wifi surfing, even less.

[0] [http://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-13-Ultrabook-
Re...](http://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-13-Ultrabook-
Review.166559.0.html)

[1] [http://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-
Air-13-2015-Noteb...](http://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-
Air-13-2015-Notebook-Review.144375.0.html)

~~~
rsynnott
The battery claim may be for the smaller model, which uses a Core M (similar
to the new Macbook). That wouldn't be comparable to the Thinkpad or Macbook
Air at all.

~~~
im_dario
9 hours is for the 13.3 inches model. The smaller model is claimed to last 11
hours.

------
dineshp2
I was hoping Xiaomi would also launch a version with Ubuntu as the default OS.
An i5, 8GB DDR4 Ram, 256GB SSD, backlit keyboard and 10 hours battery backup
at $750 sounds like a sweet deal.

I know Ubuntu can still be installed on the Windows version, but I expect it
to be a hacky path with installation issues, getting the hardware to play nice
and the backlit keyboard to work, and finally maybe even battery life issues.

An out of the box solution like the XPS 13 at a lower price point might work.

~~~
jimmies
There already is one. It is called the Dell Chromebook 13. I have posted about
it here
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11506203](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11506203)
.

------
anilgulecha
If the RAM is user-upgradable, this will make for an _excellent_ dev machine.
Given it's a chinese laptop, it will surely not be locked, so Ubuntu will run
well as well.

~~~
eloycoto
Ubuntu and batteries are not good friends :-( I tried few times and still
using apple

~~~
pgupta2596
Using tlp and powertop can significantly improve the battery life.

~~~
eloycoto
I didn't know powertop, I'll give a try. Thanks

------
Keyframe
I've been looking for a new laptop recently, but I can't seem to find a good.

My primary concerns are:

\- not to have open it up and clean from dust. That's what all of my laptops,
except Air, suffered from. They get dust inside and then get hot and loud. I
move around a lot and it's inevitable. I don't want noise and I want as little
heat as possible.

\- Multitouch Trackpad like on Macbook Air. It's wonderful!

\- Long battery life with moderate to high power cpu.

\- Great 13" monitor that you can see what's going on in direct sunlight.

\- As much as possible of internal fast storage.

\- Lots of RAM.

\- Great typing experience. I'm fine with chiklet on Air. It's just fine. I
write a lot, more than typical programmers - treatments, instructions,
screenplays on a daily basis.

Currently, only Air fits the bill, but it's getting old.

So, a high(er)-powered Air 13" with longer battery life and more RAM and disk
space and better screen with updated CPU and graphics would be great. I
haven't found one. I don't care which OS it runs. They're all the same these
days.

~~~
ksk
Why are you looking for a MB Air-replacement when you want a MB Air?

~~~
Keyframe
Because I have an Air, albeit an older model and I want to get a new laptop.
Buying a new Air doesn't make sense since it's outdated a bit and doesn't fit
most of what I want.

~~~
ksk
>Buying a new Air doesn't make sense since it's outdated a bit and doesn't fit
most of what I want.

Um, this is what _you_ said -- "Currently, only Air fits the bill, but it's
getting old."

Sorry, I still have no idea why are you're looking for a MB air replacement
instead of upgrading to a newer model.

~~~
Keyframe
'Newer model' was last updated year and a half ago.

~~~
ksk
Ah okay, that makes sense now! You're on a much shorter upgrade cycle than
what I imagined.

~~~
Keyframe
Nah, I tend to upgrade every two or three cycles. It seems this last one is
unusually long though.

------
xbeta
After using few Xiaomi products, no thanks.

If I want a Linux dev box, there are other options too.

~~~
aembleton
What's wrong with them?

I'm very happy with my Xiaomi piston earbuds, good sound quality, survived 1
year of use so far and only ~£10.

I've had one of their phones a few years ago and found it to work well. Just
annoying that they'd skinned Android rather than providing stock.

~~~
xbeta
I have the MiBand, and it drops hundreds of times. I had eventually lost it.
Sure, it's only $10, but it doesn't make sense to buy anything just because
it's cheap.

And I have the earbuds too. Sure another $10, but the sound is very mediocre
compare to the stock headphones I got.

I also have one of their TVBox, bought it mainly for my Chinese parents. None
of the channels work anymore oversea.

Sure, $10 who cares. But I would rather spend bit more on something that last
longer than a manufacturer producing more electronic junk to this already-
polluted planet.

~~~
aembleton
What stock headphones do you have that are better than the Xiaomi Piston 3? I
didn't specify 3 in the last post, but they're the model that I have.

------
z92
There are laptops which are thinner, faster or has better graphics than
MacBooks. But as much as I have checked, every one of them falls flat on
battery run time comparison.

If there was anything that comes close to Macbook's 12 hours run time, I would
have seriously considered switching.

------
FuNe
Why windows? Won't that add to the price? Why not a linux "version" for 100$
less?

~~~
nailer
Linux (as in Linux/glibc/X/whatever) doesn't have a lot of native apps.

Android though would rock.

~~~
hcal
Is that a troll? Linux has tons of native applications in just about every
category. It is absolutely packed with alternatives. I don't use Linux daily
anymore, but I almost never had an issue finding programs for what ever task I
wanted to accomplish. More often then not the problem was a glut of choices.

~~~
clmckinley
Yes lots of alternatives, you can argue that there is an alternative for
virtually everything that is available if you are willing and know how to find
it.

This is the same argument that Windows Phone (ironically) make, but most
people want the same programs that all of their friends run. Computers and
most other electronics are appliances to most people they just want them to
work without any thought.

~~~
hcal
It is fair to say that certain software doesn't run (or run well) on Linux. It
is also fair to say that most people don't want to learn how to use new
software especially when they already know something else that works.

I think however, it is misleading at best to say that it doesn't have many
native apps.

~~~
nailer
>I think however, it is misleading at best to say that it doesn't have many
native apps.

'well known' is implied by basic logic: users don't want apps they haven't
heard of before.

------
JustSomeNobody
Macbook Air is more than just hardware. It's hardware and software working
together to make the experience.

I doubt a $540 machine running Windows will match it.

I very much dislike Windows, but I realize that's just me. Linux on this
machine would be awesome.

~~~
andrepd
I dislike Windows but I dislike OSX even more, so software is indifferent for
me, seeing as I will be installing Linux anyway. I suspect there are many
people who think like me.

~~~
JustSomeNobody
OS X nudges past Linux for me because it is much more efficient (this is what
I was alluding to in my statement about hardware and software working
together). If Linux could work out some way of being just as efficient with
the battery as OS X, I would put Linux on my laptop instead of keeping it only
on my server.

~~~
andrepd
I don't know of any objective benchmarks on that regard, but I do know that
Linux is famously erratic in conserving power, with results often varying a
lot depending on the specific hardware.

------
fit2rule
If it gets full Linux support, i.e. I can blow away Windows and use Ubuntu,
then I'm in. This'll be my last macbook ..

~~~
chj
Installed Ubuntu once, I can't help to notice that it tries too much to be
macosx. I would rather keep using macbook, or use plain debian instead if
installing wifi driver weren't a pain in the ass.

~~~
deno
Give KDE a try!

[https://neon.kde.org/](https://neon.kde.org/)

~~~
cocotino
Plasma is as brittle as always. Years in and still is half finished. Like the
developer rushed to implement the mockup so it looks good in screenshots, but
then polished absolutely nothing about it.

~~~
deno
They’ve been through two technology changes, rebuilding basically from scratch
every time. This (Plasma 5 and KDE Frameworks 5) feels like the final
evolution stage.

It’s gaining polish with every point release. Desktop search is finally quick.
The UI stack (QML) is nimble and powerful. Breeze is the best looking flat
design, both beautiful and clean. Even the default desktop wallpapers are
gorgeous.

The only thing remaining is the Akonadi legacy, which is being replaced. The
rest is details. KDE is the best desktop Linux has to offer now, and it’s the
best platform to build upon in the future.

~~~
prewett
If two technology changes is an excuse for unimplemented features, that sounds
like some pretty unusable software to me. "The rest is details" was exactly
the problem the parent was referring to. "Desktop search is finally quick"\--I
think most users would want it to be quick first, and then the devs can do
whatever "technology changes" they want.

I tried to like KDE, but every time I tried it, one of the first apps I tried
would immediately crash. Plus it's default looked like a bad copy of Windows
XP, which was a bad copy of the Mac, so it looked really bad. (That was a long
time ago.) Unfortunately, GNOME looked nice, but had no features, so I just
gave up and went to a bare window manager and realized I have no need for
anything a DE offers. Then the problem became that sawfish became unsupported,
and nothing else had the same customizability.

~~~
deno
Actually it was always quick, just the indexing sometimes would be a little
resource intensive.

I’m not going to claim KDE didn’t deserve that reputation in the past. The
architectural changes are to blame, but they weren’t frivolous. You can’t
build on shaky foundation.

I also think it’s not fair to criticize it based on some snapshot from the
past. You’ve seen the beta. It’s really good now!

------
kas0
Every competitor for Apple is a good thing :)

~~~
DigitalJack
As a full-time Apple user for the last 7 years or so (not counting my //e days
as a kid), I completely agree with this sentiment.

When you have a captive audience and no competition, it is easy to become
complacent.

If Linux had a compelling desktop UI alternative and a compelling seamless
device integration, I'd be very happy to switch.

I realize there is a lot of subjectivity to what is pretty, but Apple has
opened the door for competitors to come out with a more self-consistent UX and
address the shortcomings that Apple has introduced in their UX. Such as
reduced discoverability, the loss of at-a-glance comprehension.

~~~
zxexz
Off topic, but have you tried Gnome 3? I personally can't stand it, but a lot
of my friends who use macOS love it, to the point of saying it's on par with
the macOS desktop environment.

~~~
DigitalJack
I'll give it a whirl. Last desktop I used was whatever Ubuntu has... Unity I
think or something like that.

A lot of glitz, but also very glitchy. I'd be happy with plain, consistent,
discoverable, comprehisble. The animation eye candy is nice, but it's low on
my priority list.

------
d_j_b
When Windows Subsystem for Linux can run nginx, rails etc reliably, will
seriously consider leaving behind MacBook Pro for something like this

~~~
unixhero
Why not run Linux on the metal?

~~~
d_j_b
Because the power management never quite works as it should

~~~
Razengan
Neither does Windows' power management come close to the hours/work you can
squeeze out of OS X on a Mac.

~~~
cptskippy
Windows power management is no where near as good as OSX, but that's always
going to be an issue with horizontally integrated systems. However Windows PM
is light years ahead of Linux.

~~~
digi_owl
In large part because the Linux devs have to keep patching around Windows-isms
(useless ACPI tables for example), and outright bugs that the OEMs paper over
with their drivers for Windows.

Frankly PC hardware is going through a drawn out second system period. First
there was ACPI replacing APM, and now we have UEFI replacing the BIOS. In both
case we have simple and straight forward systems that can hardly be
implemented wrong being replaced with complex and convoluted systems where
each implementation have its own quirks and gotchas.

On top of this we have the issue of most OEMs barely testing for Windows, and
Microsoft is anything but good at getting their implementations right
(Embrace, Extend, Extinguish anyone?).

~~~
cptskippy
So Linux PM sucks because OEMs implemented unnecessary and inferior
replacements for perfectly functional standards because Microsoft?

Your argument ignores a number of truths.

Much of the original BIOS was being replaced with proprietary extensions by
vendors to overcome it's limitations and it was in dire need a replacement. At
one point Western Digital was shipping what was basically a boot sector virus
to overcome the Hard Drive size limitations imposed by the BIOS.

ACPI doesn't just replace APM, but also PnP and MPS. None of which support
newer buses or interfaces and would have to be patched or extended to do so.

Microsoft has no love for ACPI and even went so far as to disable ACPI by
default and only enable it for a small whitelist of machines with earlier
OSes. Vista was the first OS from Microsoft to actually require ACPI, that
means it took them over a decade to come to terms with it.

UEFI was meant to replace both ACPI and the BIOS but hasn't replaced either.
Unfortunately vendors have been using UEFI to just load BIOS and ACPI
implementations. This isn't at all how it was intended.

You can't blame Microsoft for these standards because PnP and APM are the only
ones they had a hand in implementing. It also sounds like they're the ones you
actually prefer which is funny. If there's anyone you should be blaming then
it's Intel because they championed all of them.

The whole setup is a house of cards and no one seems to like it. Why you
choose to blame Microsoft for it is beyond me.

------
teekert
To me, Xiaomi means quality, I have a Xiaomi battery pack, it's very solid and
feels high quality. So does my OnePlus3, it seems like Chinese (designed) is
no longer synonymous with cheap _and_ low quality. They are ready to take
over. They are removing the usp of western (designed) products. Admittedly
they do it partly via copying. What is the next frontier for western
companies? Responsible design? Environmentally friendly design/manufacturing?
The robotic revolution can certainly bring parts of the manufacturing back
here without increasing the prices. I'm curious to see how I.E. Apple responds
to this trend.

~~~
kccqzy
Interesting. I also had a Xiaomi battery pack but after a few months of
(irregular) use the outer shell started discolouring and the adhesives
gradually became weaker, so much so that you can peel off the plastic at the
bottom and top.

Yes they are ready to take over large segments of the market but not yet the
high end segment.

~~~
kyriakos
There is actually counterfeit xiaomi battery packs. There's a great chance you
got one of those. The one I have took a lot of abuse and travel and still
looks new

~~~
ethanbond
That still qualifies as a hit against the statement "Xiaomi means quality."
Brand protection is hard, but also really important. It'll probably become
more evident over the next few years why Apple has always been so vicious
about it.

~~~
kyriakos
At the same time its proof that xiaomi as a brand is good.. i.e. its a brand
worth copying.

------
blisterpeanuts
The Techcrunch article reads more like a blog or opinion piece. For example:
"...it’ll be interesting to see how many units Xiaomi ships."

Also, no mention of battery life, which is the _sine qua non_ of laptops.
Unless I missed it, and I read the article twice to be sure.

I'm always sorry when I click on a TC link.

Here's Engadget's take, and they do mention the 9.5 hour battery:
[https://www.engadget.com/2016/07/27/xiaomi-mi-notebook-
air-l...](https://www.engadget.com/2016/07/27/xiaomi-mi-notebook-air-laptop-
china/)

------
ForFreedom
I dont understand why everyone is comparing their products to the Mac/iPhone
and then they say "cheap" as $xxx.

You cant compare a KIA to Bugatti and say cheap as $xxx.

The point is create a product people speak about and has a value

~~~
cptskippy
If we're going to be using the car analogy, Vertu is the Bugatti of consumer
electronics and Apple is more like BMW although they desperately want to be
Mercedes.

Regardless, KIA's reliability and repair-ability ratings trump all three of
them. So I'll let your original comparison stand.

------
vegasje
What's the recommended way for US users to get Xiaomi devices?

~~~
dstryr
I've purchased a Redmi Note 3 Pro and a Mi Max from Aliexpress without issue
using resellers with lots of international feedback.

------
kctess5
I am very tempted to try to acquire one. Seems like it would be a great
portable development machine.

For robotics work I always end up wanting a small but decent computer to run
my ROS visualizations/algorithms and to make small code edits. This has a
decent c/gpu, good battery, small form factor, ssd slot, and isn't ungodly
expensive. I usually end up running a VM on my primary development laptop but
that is very annoying, a dedicated and less valuable machine would be better.

------
aguki
There has been a Macbook Air clone （13.3", i3-5005u, 4GB, 128GB) floating
around on Taobao for 2400 CNY / 360 USD:

[https://world.taobao.com/item/528554912918.htm#detail](https://world.taobao.com/item/528554912918.htm#detail)

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jimrandomh
When looking at laptop specs, the first thing I look at (almost the only
thing) is the screen resolution. This is yet another 1920x1080 laptop, which
puts it somewhere between "undifferentiated and uninteresting" and "outright
disqualified".

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ptx
> boy does it look familiar to products belonging to a company that begins
> with the letter ‘A’

Hm? "Sony" doesn't begin with "A".

The colors, the squarish shape and the keyboard (Sony used that style before
Apple) look much more like a Sony Vaio than any Apple laptop.

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dudelemmethink
This laptop takes a lot of inspiration from Dell XPS' small bezels plus a lot
of (what seems like) other similar ID inspirations... I love my XPS, but this
is more affordable. Would love to give this a test run. Is this laptop running
Windows?

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dxxvi
Does it have virus in the firmware that works in both Windows and Linux?

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mnkmnk
Will there be heating issues? Such a small form factor with an i5 and
dedicated graphics card ought to have thermal throttling issues and with a
metal body, become uncomfortable to hold.

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toni
Aren't those arrow keys a bit weird? Left and right keys are implemented as
standard size keys, while up and down keys are so small and tiny. How do you
work like that?

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cisstrd
It's less uncommon than you think, for example I know the HP Probooks do have
that (and most likely many more)

[http://www.notebookcheck.net/fileadmin/_processed_/csm_Probo...](http://www.notebookcheck.net/fileadmin/_processed_/csm_Probook650_Tastatur_19d7e070bf.jpg)

That being said I have no experience with such a keyboard, so I can't say

Friend of mine has one, he is happy with it, never particularly mentioned the
arrow keys as a negative

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mrmondo
Good on them, the more competition in the market the better both for the top
and bottom end alternatives regardless of manufacturer or OS.

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blkhawk
looking at it I wonder how good the track pad is.

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izzydata
Why does it need to be so thin? I don't really understand this fad of making
every so thin that battery life suffers.

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robotresearcher
Go back and use an old slab of a ThinkPad and you'll notice how bad the
ergonomics were and how much volume it takes up in a bag. Also battery life is
better than ever now. Because of the gradual change it's hard to appreciate
how much better computers have become.

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Ezhik
Looks really nice. Reminds me of the Surface Book (minus the tablet stuff).
Can't wait for the rumored i7 model.

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mark_l_watson
I would buy one if avaliable through Microsoft's online store as a crapware
free signature edition.

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alpeb
Looks awesome, but the OS... There really is a huge market gap for a third,
non-tech-savvy friendly OS.

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pritambaral
Android?

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alpeb
Yeah, hopefully their desktop story will improve with time.

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sergiotapia
A bit expensive, considering you can get an $800 13-inch macbook air (the real
deal).

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reimertz
It seems, spec-wise that the "real deal" sucks in comparison.

If you can run Hackintosh on it, I don't see why I wouldn't go with it instead
of paying $2500 on Apple computer with similar specs.

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Giorgi
Way to expensive for that graphics card. Would expect better prices from
Xiaomi

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orky56
Good artists copy, great artists steal.

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ungzd
Making it thin does not make it closer to Macbook. I'm sure it even has
standard bricky laptop charger and crappy display.

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tuananh
How can Xiaomi is not sued yet?

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forwhat
for what should be sued? Squares with lightly round edges? Oh, using "Air" in
a notebook's name to suggest that it's very light :).

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biot
Macbook Air... Notebook Air... I can definitely see that consumers might find
the similarity confusing given that they're in the same category of goods and
services.

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babuskov
Given how strong and prominent Apple logo is on their laptops, I don't think
anyone would get confused about that.

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biot
If Burger King introduced a new burger called the "Large Mac", how prominent
the "golden arches" logo is for McDonald's doesn't factor at all into whether
or not this is trademark infringement. Same goes for this: is there the
possibility of confusion between "Macbook Air" and "Netbook Air"? Let's say
Joe Consumer heard a radio/podcast advertisement for the new "Netbook Air"
(obviously there is zero chance of seeing a logo for such audio media) -- is
there the possibility Joe would associate that product with Apple? That's the
kind of thing a jury would need to decide.

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jebernier
Ya, but it runs Windows....YUK

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hathym
xiaomi will destroy apple in just few years.

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cocotino
By copying them? That's hardly a good long term strategy.

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xufi
Exactly, this moment reminds me of the same time they did that with the first
"Miphone" as they branded it. If I remember correctly, Didn't Apple try to sue
them for that?

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tychuz
It does not run macOS, it's literally oranges to apples.

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jumasheff
Hackintosh, please.

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hochchristoph
Dear TC: The word's "knockoff" not "rival".

