
Xiaomi Mi Air 13.3in Notebook Review - yread
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Xiaomi-Mi-Air-13-3-inch-Notebook-Review.180561.0.html
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mrmondo
Reading this on mine right now!

The good:

\- Cheap as anything!

\- Internal build quality seems decent.

\- Decent screen for the money.

\- Keyboard is nice.

\- Touchpad is better than most Dell, HP etc... laptops I've tried, not as
nice as a Macbook though.

\- Runs well, very snappy, I boot to to my linux (Solus) desktop in about 2.5
seconds on average with full disk encryption (excluding me entering the
password).

\- Very standard hardware, Intel everything pretty much except the additional
nvidia graphics card I'm yet to get working in Linux

The bad:

\- The aluminium used compared to say the base model Macbook is crap, the
slightest thing and it scratches / gets dirty.

\- You cant upgrade the RAM.

\- It's heavy, it's a lot thicker than the Macbook.

\- Two annoying linux problems (regardless of distro, kernel):

1\. Switching between integrated intel graphics to nvidia is a pain in the
ass, even with bumblebee it's awful.

2\. Wifi, looks like it doesn't work, but it does! Just keep enabling it in
network-manager it'll take like 5-10 times and then it'll be on and fine.

Otherwise everything in linux such as sound, nvme, trim, etc... all works
perfectly.

~~~
kleiba
_2\. Wifi, looks like it doesn 't work, but it does! Just keep enabling it in
network-manager it'll take like 5-10 times and then it'll be on and fine._

I would say that's a show stopper, especially since the machine does not come
with an ethernet port.

~~~
mrmondo
not really, you just click the button 5 or so times after first boot and it
works.

usb-c hubs and ethernet adapters are everywhere and all 3 of mine work
perfectly.

If anything, the annoying as !@#$$ nvidia optimus switching that I still
haven't got working on ANY distro is a show stopper / waste.

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Jugurtha
Looks interesting. I have a Dell Latitude E6320 (my second one because they're
great). Here are the features that are cool in my opinion:

* SIM card slot for 3G (remove battery to place and forget).

* Magnesium & aluminum.

* Very good plastics for keyboard (short travel for digits, springy, dense, slightly concave).

* 180° opening (you can set it flat, _very_ practical).

* HDD removable without opening the case. 4 small screws and the HDD is free, you just have to pull it to disconnect. Very useful. You just plug it back and screw.

* DVD drive removable without screws. You just press a mechanism and pull the drive from the laptop.

* SD reader.

* Ability to pop out the keyboard without opening the case, for cleaning.

* Hardware switch to kill wireless card (because turning it off and back on again is just one of those things you'll still have in flying cars).

* Can install a 'double battery' instead of the normal one.

* It's 13.3". This size is _great_. It's not a 12", which I find small and it's not a 14" which I find big (my laptop goes with me everywhere in all positions).

I find these features _very_ desirable, hence my reluctance to buy other
laptops (can't use Lenovo / Dell Inspiron / HP Pavillion to save my life.). I
haven't checked their XPS series yet.

~~~
vinay427
I find the business machines in today's market far above any consumer devices
including the MacBook (Pro) in durability, reliability, expandability, etc.

I have a ThinkPad and haven't found the need to switch to something with a
poor quality hinge (e.g. MBP), poor quality keyboard (in my opinion almost
everything except a ThinkPad), poor expandability (again almost every non-
business machine), etc.

~~~
Jugurtha
People who work in auto shops love the ThinkPad to the point it's probably the
only model they buy. It's the AK-47 of laptops.

It apears there's little dogfooding in products, whether laptops or cars.
Design flaws that just nag you right from the first use that make you wonder
if people who work at laptop or car manufacturers use laptops and drive cars.

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a012
Curiously, can I run Linux/*nix on it?

~~~
StavrosK
That's what I want to know as well. It's kind of a non-starter for me if it
doesn't run Ubuntu.

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dilemma
In China, this about half the price of a Macbook Air and a third the price of
a Macbook Pro (or something like that - correct me.) Definitely a good deal.

~~~
dexterdog
Where did you see that. The only price I saw was 867 euro which is much more
than I was expecting for something like this. Aren't Macbook Airs about 800
euro?

~~~
50CNT
It's 4999RMB on JD and Taobao, which is 737USD or 677EUR.

~~~
petra
What about warranty , where is a good place to buy with a reliable warranty ,
for someone out of china?

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jasonkester
I was just thinking this morning how my ideal laptop would be an exact replica
of my Macbook Pro 13, but with a sensible keyboard and Windows 10.

This gets so close. It even has a real honest to jeebus Delete key. But then
it punts on pageup/pagedn/home/end, leaving them as the terrible modified
arrow keys that ruin Macs for me.

Fix that (and give it 32gb ram and a 1TB hard drive like a real computer) and
I want one.

~~~
imron
The ctrl key also seems in a bad place if you're the kind of person who uses
keyboard shortcuts a lot e.g. ctrl-c, ctrl-x and ctrl-v will all involve
significant hand movements to achieve.

~~~
crishoj
Remapping CAPS LOCK as CTRL is the first thing I do when setting up a new
laptop.

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criddell
ME TOO. CAPS LOCK IS THE KIND OF KEY YOU REALLY ONLY NEED TO HIT ONCE EVERY
TIME YOU RESTART. THE CONTROL KEY IS USED MUCH MORE FREQUENTLY.

~~~
pritambaral
Why do you need to hit the CapsLock key when you restart?

~~~
criddell
YOU'RE RIGHT. I SHOULD SCRIPT THAT.

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rocky1138
Is anyone else irrationally worried about Chinese backdoors in this product?

~~~
shimon_e
You'd never know what the Chinese government is up to until we get a major
Chinese wikileaks dump.

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mtw
8GB only is a dealbreaker. Also would have loved a Thunderbolt. Hope they sell
a lot of this and release a pro version or similar

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gnipgnip
As an aside, do folk run Linux on a Mac ?

~~~
rocky1138
Writing this reply from Kubuntu on a MBP.

~~~
gonzoflip
Do you have any issues with battery life compared to OSX?

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rocky1138
Yes. Battery life is about 1/4 as good as on OSX.

It also has issues waking up from sleep.

It also has issues going to sleep. I've pulled a hot laptop out of my backpack
many times.

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StavrosK
Given how satisfied I am by my other Xiaomi products, I think I will replace
my Macbook Air with this.

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elcct
Low res screen and only 8GB of RAM, kind of a deal breaker for me.

~~~
bryanlarsen
165 PPI is low resolution? That's almost the same as a 4K screen @ 27 inches.
Would you call that low resolution? That's "retina" at a 21 inch (53 cm)
viewing distance.

Once you hit "retina", increasing the resolution provides rapidly decreasing
benefits.

[http://isthisretina.com/](http://isthisretina.com/)

~~~
criddell
Would you use a laser printer that prints at 165 PPI?

Edit: Rather than vote the question down, what's a reasonable answer? I work
with text all day and would love for my display to produce text as sharp as my
laser printer does.

~~~
bryanlarsen
DPI & PPI aren't directly comparable. Displays have three display elements per
pixel, and printers have a considerable amount of random variation.

~~~
criddell
They aren't directly comparable, but they are comparable. A 500 DPI printer is
going to produce better text on an A4 page than a 1 PPI A4 sized display,
right?

Do you think text on your 165 PPI display is as sharp as even a low end laser
printer?

~~~
bryanlarsen
My 175 PPI screen is sharper than a 300 DPI laser printer, and way sharper
than 300 DPI ink jet printer.

~~~
criddell
The display I'm looking at now 163 PPI and I wish it were sharper.

My phone is 424 PPI and that feels about right to me.

