China’s Xiaomi is becoming a recognisable name around the world for its wallet-friendly Android smartphones, but its revenues were flat last year. So it makes sense that the firm has now unveiled its first notebook PC.
The computer has a familiar-sounding name: Mi Notebook Air. And indeed, it looks rather like something from Apple’s (AAPL) MacBook line (Xiaomi is also eyeing an Apple-esque retail strategy).
There’s a 12.5-inch version that weighs 2.36 pounds and has a claimed battery life of 11.5 hours. The larger 13.3-inch version weighs in at 2.82 pounds and has a battery life that’s two hours shorter, but it packs quite a punch in the graphics department.
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Unusually for an ultraportable, the larger Mi Notebook Air has a discrete Nvidia GeForce 940MX graphics card, rather than relying on the graphics muscle that comes with the Intel processor. This means it should be able to handle reasonably resource-intensive modern games.
According to CNET, Xiaomi has turned to a partner called Tian Mi to manufacture the Mi Notebook Air. The laptop is currently only slated for release in China—it will cost around $525 or $750, depending on the size.
Of course, the PC market is not exactly a sure bet. It’s steadily contracting around the world—and even more so in China, according to an IDC analyst quoted by CNET.
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But that said, the release of the Mi Notebook Air does show that Xiaomi is diversifying its line-up. As Coins2Day recently reported, this is a company that wants to develop an ecosystem ranging from phones to rice cookers, so getting some laptops out there makes a degree of sense.