BEIJING: Xiaomi has announced two firsts for its brand come August: the introduction of the Mi Notebook Air, marking the brand's first entry into the laptop market, and the Redmi Pro, which is the first smartphone from the brand to feature dual rear cameras.
The ultra-slim Mi Notebook Air comes in two sizes — 13.3 inches and 12.5 inches — priced at RMB4,999 (RM3,059) and RMB3,499 (RM2,142), respectively.
Manufactured by Inventec and Wistron, the 13.3-inch Mi Notebook Air comes with a NVIDIA GeForce 940MX, intending to cater to the gaming crowd. In terms of storage the laptop has a 256GB PCIe solid-state drive (SSD) and one free SSD slot for expansion purposes.
The smaller 12.5-inch variant that weighs at 1.07kg and has a longer battery life of 11.5 hours on a single charge.
Both variants come with Mi Cloud Sync, a feature that allows MIUI users to access their contacts, text messages, photos and notes stored in Mi Cloud directly on the Mi Notebook Air.
Both will be available on Mi.com and Mi Home stores in China starting August 2.
Key features of Mi Notebook Air (13.3-inch)
• NVIDIA GeForce 940MX dedicated graphics card
• Intel Core i5 processor
• 256GB PCIe SSD, with expandable SATA SSD slot
• 8GB DDR4 RAM
• 802.11ac Wi-Fi
• Windows 10
• Lasts 9.5 hours on a single charge, charges 50% in 30 minutes
• Weighs 1.28kg / Measures 309.6 x 210.9 x 14.8mm
• Type-C USB for charging, 2 x USB 3.0, 1 x HDMI, 3.5mm audio port
• Comes in gold and silver
Key features of Mi Notebook Air (12.5-inch)
• Intel Core M3 processor with integrated graphics
• 4GB RAM + 128GB expandable SSD
• 802.11ac Wi-Fi
• Windows 10
• Lasts 11.5 hours on a single charge
• Weighs 1.07kg / Measures 292 x 202 x 12.9mm
• Comes in gold and silver
Introduced as part of the high-end range of the Redmi series, the dual rear camera Redmi Pro has a 13-megapixel Sony IMX258 sensor for its primary rear camera while its secondary rear camera uses a 5-megapixel Samsung sensor. The phone features an OLED display and is equipped with a flagship-grade Helio X25 processor, all encased within the phone's brushed metal body.
The Mali-T880 GPU found in the Helio X25 processor is said to offer improved graphics performance that is 180 per cent more powerful than the previous generation, with a corresponding 40 per cent drop in power consumption.
Other key features of Redmi Pro:
• Brushed metal unibody design
• 2.5D curved glass
• 4050mAh battery
• Type-C USB• Up to 4GB RAM and 128GB ROM
• Front fingerprint sensor
• Hybrid dual SIM slot
• Comes in gold, grey and silver
• 151.5 x 76.2 x 8.15mm / 174g
The Redmi Pro will be available in China on Mi.com and at Mi Home stores starting August 6. The 3GB RAM+32GB ROM version will sell for RMB 1,499 (RM 916), 3GB RAM+64GB ROM for RMB 1,699 (RM 1,040) and 4GB RAM+128GB ROM for RMB 1,999 (RM 1,223).
For the time being, Xiaomi has said there are no confirmed plans for the Mi Notebook Air or the Redmi Pro to launch outside China, though we can be a bit more hopeful that the Redmi Pro (or the phone's dual camera tech for that matter) will eventually make its way into the local market in one form or another.
The Mi Notebook Air on the other hand is a little less lightly due mainly to the upgradable SSD slot amongst other services. While buyers can do their own installation, Xiaomi has advised that it be done at the brand's designated service centres which for now is only available in China.