Overview Xiaomi Air 12: 12 balanced analogue MacBook for 580 dollars

Characteristics

Appearance

While Xiaomi promised to release an almost complete copy of the MacBook, the device integrates except metal casing and screen size.

Mi Air housing 12 has a substantially uniform thickness throughout the body and right angles. You should not thoughtlessly throwing in soft backpack - can tear. About ergonomics can be forgotten. But overall dimensions less than the MacBook 12.

Of all the proprietary features of laptops Apple Xiaomi engineers have implemented a few: the cutout on the bottom and a successful loop with uniform force.

This combination makes it possible to lift the lid lying on the table Xiaomi Air 12 with one hand, keeping the bottom of the notebook on the table. The maximum angle - about 120 degrees, the cover can be locked in any position.

The only mention of Chinese origin is at the bottom and do not draw attention to themselves. Logo on the lid there. Do you want to - glue brand hare Mi, you want - bitten apple.

A set of external interfaces is rich enough. Especially in comparison with the new MacBook models. On the right side are placed USB Type-C and full-size USB 3.0. On the left - HDMI and 3.5mm audio output.

Laptop stands on five plastic legs. Contact with the solid surface is provided by sufficiently dense. On lap whole body will lie.

Between the legs is AKG sticker and two speakers. Their location is chosen very badly: any soft surface muffles the sound.

Xiaomi Air touchpad 12, slightly less than the MacBook. Sensitivity to altitude, multitouch support and work with Windows 10 gestures. Unfortunately, as is the case with most Windows-laptops, working with touchpad want to give up as soon as possible and to use the mouse.

Keyboard island type, with a deep course (by the standards of notebook keyboards). Shift and Enter wide. Ctrl is in its accustomed place. A number of F1 - F12 combines system and multimedia functions (default - multimedia, to switch a combination Fn + Esc).

The keyboard has a one-level white backlighting that can be switched off automatically when idle. In the keyboard does not cause discomfort, providing greater convenience than most Chinese laptops. The only drawback - the proximity of the power button, and the Delete key. However, the power button is pressed with a force, so turn off the laptop accidental contact is almost impossible.

Display

The Xiaomi Air 12 uses IPS-screen with a resolution of Full HD. On top of the screen is protected by a glass-like Gorilla Glass, completely covers the front part. Around the glass - a thin metal frame. Unfortunately, black display frame are present. But their width on the sides - only 5,71 mm.

Varnish improves color display, however, leads to glare under difficult lighting. At the same time, due to the high brightness of the screen, the glare will not interfere with the operation of the laptop. High contrast, viewing angles are close to the maximum for this type of matrices.

Above the screen is a webcam with a resolution of 1 megapixel and a pair of microphones. The quality is quite sufficient for talking on Skype and other video calls, but no more.

Performance

Platform this portable notebook selected dual-core chipset with Intel Core m3-6Y30 graphics Intel HD Graphics accelerator 515. Selecting the explanation is very simple: it is sufficiently powerful, energy-efficient, requiring only passive cooling - and is set in the MacBook 12.

Processor frequency - 900 MHz in normal mode and 2.2 GHz in Turbo Boost mode. Supported Hyper Threading Technology: thus, the number of simultaneously processed reaches four streams. Heat (TDP) - only 4.5 W, active cooling is used.

Performance LPDDR3-1866 supporting 4GB main memory (expansion possible) and SSD-disc 128 GB. Winchester set to a standard SATA-connection and it can be replaced if necessary. Besides, in addition to it, you can install a second hard drive M.2 format.

The selected platform is designed for maximum mobile devices, just superior typewriter power. performance reserve small: edit a photo or work with 3D-model, pokodit or connect to a remote server.

If desired, one can work effectively in most graphics editors (up to Lightroom, Photoshop or 3D Max). Of course, with a caveat: it is necessary to abandon rendering. Or to tolerate a long process.

Standard office tasks and surfing the Internet are not a problem. Movies are decoded in hardware using the integrated graphics core and CPU load.

On the wired interfaces mentioned above. However it is necessary to clarify that the HDMI port supports 4K stream (corresponding revision 2.0), as well as used USB-C, because the controller that supports USB 3.1 connector with the transmission protocol video stream. Wireless interfaces are Wi-Fi 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.1.

operating system

It uses the standard Windows 10 Home. The choice of a laptop can be supplied with a non-activated or activated, the English system of Chinese.

On the review turned out to be a variant of the English system. Of course, in this case it is easier to get started because they do not need to deal with characters and google how to find the language settings.

On the other hand, the Chinese system is excellent Russified standard means (as the experience of the use of tablets from China).

autonomy

The Xiaomi Air 12 is mounted on a battery 5000 mAh. A little in comparison with compact MacBook. Runtimes respectively less. With an average brightness of the display while surfing in Chrome does not exceed 7-8 hours. At maximum load, and maximum brightness laptop lives slightly less than 3.5 hours.

conclusions

Xiaomi Air 12 turned out good laptop. Among its strengths:

• balanced and the possibility of filling the second reservoir;
• noiseless cooling;
• comfortable keyboard and a successful design;
• bright display Full HD;
• protective glass over the screen;
• stylish appearance.

But not without critical flaws. Many of them are forced to pay attention to other notebook models. Among the most significant:

• impossibility of increasing RAM;
• low autonomy;
• glossy coating of the screen;
• unfortunate location of the speakers.

Weighing the "pros" and "cons", it is worth remembering Xiaomi Air 12 price - 580 dollars. The closest competitors to offline stores are about 900-1 000 dollars. If you do not consider the purchase of previously used device, competitors Xiaomi Air 12 will not be able to find.