Xiaomi’s been selling budget smartphones under its Redmi sub-brand for a few years. Now the company is expanding the Redmi brand to include budget notebooks.
The RedmiBook 14 is a 3.3 pound laptop with a full HD display, slim top and side bezels, and an Intel Whiskey Lake processor plus NVIDIA GeForce MX250 graphics.
It’ll be available in China starting in early June for 3999 RMB (~$580) and up. There’s no word on if or when this model will be sold internationally.
Xiaomi will offer the RedmiBook 14 at several prices/configurations at launch:
- Intel Core i5-8265U/8GB/256GB for $580 (3999 RMB)
- Intel Core i5-8265U/8GB/512GB for $620 (4299 RMB)
- Intel Core i7-8565U/8GB/512GB for $725 (4999 RMB)
What’s interesting/surprising is that even the cheapest configuration features NVIDIA graphics.
This is still a budget notebook though. It lacks Thunderbolt 3, or even USB Type-C ports. There’s no touchscreen display. And while it has a solid state drive, it uses a SATA SSD rather than faster PCIe NVMe storage.
Still, it doesn’t look half bad for the price.
Other features including support for charging (from 0 to 50 percent in about 35 minutes), and a fast unlock feature that lets you login to the PC in 1.2 seconds simply by wearing a Xiaomi Mi Band 3 activity tracker while you’re near the PC.
The RedmiBook 14 also supports 802.11ac WiFi, and sports HDMI 1.4, USB 3.0 and USB 2.0, ports plus a 3.5mm headphone jack. It has stereo 1.5 watt speakers with DTS audio, and the system is powered by a 46 Wh battery.
Xiaomi says the laptop measures 12.7″ x 9″ x 0.7″ and features a metal and plastic design and a lid that can open to a 140 degree angle.
via Windows Central and Android Authority
There really ought to be USB-C charging even on entry-level notebooks at this point.
“Other features including support for charging”
That’s great news. I still remember those old laptops where you had to buy a new battery every day. I was both expensive and inconvenient. 😊