Xiaomi just revealed a new addition to its Macbook Air-inspired laptop range last month, the 13.3-inch Mi Notebook Air. Now they’re back with a slightly smaller model.

The newest Mi Notebook Air sports a 12.5-inch display and is on sale now with the same RMB 3,999 (about $580) price tag as the 13.3-incher. If you’re willing to trade that .8 inch of screen real estate you can score some pretty solid upgrades under the hood.

Instead of a Core i3 processor, the 12.5-inch Mi Notebook Air ships with a seventh-gen Core i5-7Y54 which tops out at 3.2GHz in turbo mode. The smaller model also doubles up on internal storage with a 256GB SSD. RAM also gets a bump, up to 8GB.

The 12.5-inch model’s footprint is just about identical to Xiaomi’s 2016 version. It still measures around .5 inch thick, but Xiaomi managed to reduce its weight by almost a full ounce. That’s not always easy to do when a laptop weighed under two and half pounds to start.

Despite upgrading from a Core m3 to a Core i5 processor, Xiaomi has managed to keep the battery life of the 2018 model in line with its predecessor. You can expect up to 11.5 hours of “normal use.” Xiaomi offers more conservative numbers for watching video: 9.5 hours for streaming and 7.5 hours of higher-definition offline viewing between charges.

Speaking of charging, that’s still done through a USB Type-C port. The included fast charger takes the laptop from 0 to 50% charged in just half an hour.

Unlike some laptop manufacturers, Xiaomi doesn’t stop with a single USB-C port. The new Mi Notebook AIr 12.5 also features two USB 3.0 Type A ports, an HDMI port, and a headphone jack.

One other thing to like about the Mi Notebook Air over some laptops in this category: its 1MP webcam is top-mounted. No awkward up-the-nose video calls with the Mi Notebook Air!

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Lee Mathews

Computer tech, blogger, husband, father, and avid MSI U100 user.

6 replies on “Xiaomi launches new 12.5-inch Mi Notebook Air for under $600”

  1. Now, why would you want to buy Chinese products when we have our better products? Just Chinese only can buy their own products are enough for them to make profits. So why do we, westerner bother??? Chinese are always busy copying and stealing western (including Korea and Japan) products…

    1. Yeah, I only saw the four gigabyte memory option as well. Too bad! That’s not enough RAM these days…

  2. I thought they were done with the 12 inch line. Phew! I’m glad they’re still making small-ish computers. I only just bought a 13 inch laptop earlier this year but it’s good to know there are options.

    1. Agreed, pretty good quality hardware and overall package… and cheaper than alternatives.

      The grey market (middle salesman) however kill the price/value if you’re remotely outside USA.

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