Xiaomi's MacBook Air clone is called, wait for it, Mi Notebook Air
Xiaomi never shied away from acknowledging Apple as its role model. The company puts emphasis on design, has a line of smartphones called the Mi Phone and, at events, regularly compares its gadgets to Apple's.
On Wednesday, Xiaomi took it a step further, announcing its first-ever laptop, a MacBook Air-like device that's called the Mi Notebook Air.
It's an ultra-thin laptop that comes in two sizes: 13.3-inches, and 12.5-inches, weighing 2.82 pounds and 2.36 pounds, respectively. The bigger variant has an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD for storage, and a dedicated graphics card, Nvidia's GeForce 940MX. Xiaomi claims its battery will last 9.5 hours on a single charge, and it charges to 50% in half an hour. The smaller variant has an Intel Core M3 processor with integrated graphics, 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD, and a battery that lasts even longer: 11.5 hours on one charge, according to Xiaomi. Both devices have a full HD display, and run on Windows 10.
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Luckily, Xiaomi's fascination with Apple did not extend to the Cupertino company's recent cutdown on ports; the Mi Notebook Air has a type-C USB port for charging, two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port and a 3.5mm audio port.
On the design front, Xiaomi opted for simple -- a uniform slab of metal in either silver or gold finish, with literally nothing on the lid. If it weren't for the keyboard, whose color matches the color of the device's body, it'd be a dead ringer for Apple's MacBook. And while neither Mi Notebook Air is as thin as HP's crazy-sleek Spectre, at 0.58 inches and 0.5 inches, respectively, they're both thinner than Apple's MacBook Air (0.68 inches at thickest point) and comparable to the MacBook, which measures 0.52 inches at its thickest point.
The pricing for these two is in line with Xiaomi's strategy of offering well-specced products at really low prices. The cheaper, smaller Mi Notebook Air costs RMB 3,499 ($525), while the bigger variant is priced at RMB 4,999 ($750).
The Mi Notebook Air will hit Xiaomi's Mi.com and Mi Home stores in China on August 2.
Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.
