Powerful and stylish Xiaomi Mi Notebook 15.6 lite: advantages and disadvantages

We would like to present to your attention Xiaomi Mi Notebook 15.6 lite, released by Xiaomi in September 2018, which is a simplified version of the Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro laptop and is positioned as a budget option.

This device can safely boast of both external and internal indicators. In our review, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the new laptop, show the differences between Xiaomi Mi Notebook 15.6 lite and Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro.

Design

Looking at this laptop, the first thing that catches your eye is an elegant and sophisticated design, the subtlety of its execution. This can be judged by the rounded corners, which are no longer a novelty, but at the same time they look quite solid.

The thickness of the case is only 19 mm, and the weight is 2.18 kg.With a diagonal of 15.6 inches, this gadget is very light and compact. There are also several color options, namely black and white.

The case is equipped with an all-metal coating made of aluminum. This coating can protect the surface from accidental scratches and dents caused by minor bruises.

Screen

Opening the device, we see a 15.6-inch Full HD screen with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels.

The display is of the LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) type, or, as the people say, LCD (liquid crystal display). The advantages of this type of screens include good focusing, excellent brightness and image clarity.

Also, the screen is equipped with a matrix with IPS technology, which allows you to increase the viewing angle (without color loss, fading or distortion) up to 178 degrees and provides excellent color reproduction.

By "excellent color reproduction" is meant the ability of the matrix to transmit colors in such a way that they are as close to natural as possible. It speaks for itself, really deep blacks and pure whites, colors.

Watching movies, photos on such a screen turns into a real pleasure.

To prevent damage, the display has a protective glass Edge to edge. It completely repeats the shape of the display, but at the same time, it does not affect the color and quality of the monitor. It will easily protect your laptop screen from scratches and other damage of a similar nature. Also, this glass protector has an anti-reflective and oleophobic coating.

Keyboard

The device is equipped with a full-size keyboard with a built-in numeric keypad, just like desktop keyboards. The distance between the keys is 1.5 mm, which provides a very convenient, and if necessary, fast, work on it.

There is also a built-in, fairly large, 5.9-inch touchpad. Handles multi-touch actions (pressing with two or three fingers at the same time) very well.

Main technical characteristics

CPU

One of the main differences between Xiaomi Mi Notebook 15.6 lite and Xiaomi Mi Notebook 15.6 Pro is the processor. Instead of the intel Core i7 that is built into Xiaomi Mi Notebook 15.6 Pro, Xiaomi Mi Notebook 15.6 lite is equipped with an Intel Core i5 processor, which is slightly inferior in its capabilities to its predecessor. But you shouldn't be upset, because this is a simplified version, which means less performance, but also a more affordable price.

Since Xiaomi Mi Notebook 15.6 lite is a device that is designed to occupy a budget niche in the market, Xiaomi provided us with several gadget bundles with different processors, not very different from each other in performance, but quite different in price. And to be more specific:

• Intel Core i5 8250U-4 Gb-128 SSD-1 TB-MX 110, price - $610;
• Intel Core i5 8250U-8 Gb-128 SSD-1 TB-MX 110, price - $655;
• Intel Core i7 8550U-8 Gb-128 SSD-1 TB-MX 110, price - $727.

Albeit small, but the variety will allow everyone to choose something for themselves. Xiaomi has been seriously focused on making this device as budget-friendly as possible.

In the CIS countries, it is rare to find Xiaomi Mi Notebook 15.6 lite with an Intel Core i7 8550U processor, so most often you will meet models with an Intel Core i5 8250U.

In short, this processor performed very well in various tests, characterized by:

• Architecture - Kaby Lake R;
• Number of cores and threads - 4-8;
• Base frequency - 1.6 GHz;
• Turbo Boost - 3.4 GHz;
• Power consumption - 15-25 w;
• Integrated GPU - Intel UHD Graphics

The cooling system, which consists of a pair of powerful coolers and two heat pipes, cannot but rejoice. Such a cooling system will easily save your hardware from overheating.

video card

With regards to a discrete graphics card, there are slightly fewer options than in the case of a processor. All have the same one installed, namely NVIDIA GeForce MX110, 2 Gb. DDR5. Less common is the Xiaomi Mi Notebook 15.6 lite with NVIDIA GeForce MX110, 8 Gb. DDR5.

Not to say that this video card is super-productive. She will hardly be able to "drag" the games of 2016.At best, they will run at minimum settings, at worst, they will not start at all.

If you use Xiaomi Mi Notebook 15.6 lite for office work, watching movies, listening to music, chatting in instant messengers, social networks. networks, etc., then such a disadvantage will not be felt.

The technical characteristics of the video card are as follows:

• Architecture - Maxwell;
• Clock frequency - 965-993 MGz;
• Memory type (on this device) - DDR5;
• Memory speed - 1800 MHz;
• DirectX - DirectX 12.

Memory

Xiaomi Mi Notebook 15.6 lite has a hard drive with up to 1TB of memory.

There is also a 128GB SSD drive.

This amount of memory can not but rejoice, because not every "simplified version" of various laptops can boast of such an amount of memory on the hard drive and the presence of an SSD.

Another difference between Xiaomi Mi Notebook 15.6 lite and Xiaomi Mi Notebook 15.6 Pro is that there are no free slots in it, with which one could increase the RAM on this device.

Ports and Connectors

Typical laptop range of ports and connectors. Xiaomi Mi Notebook 15.6 lite has everything the average user needs:

• 2 USB 3.0 Type A ports;
• 1 USB port 0;
• Regular 3.5 headphone port:
• Port for fast gigabit Ethernet;
• Connector for reading SD memory cards;
• HDMI port for outputting the display to TV screens or other devices (also with HDMI ports).

The device also has wireless connectivity.

• Bluetooth 4.1;
• WiFi 802.11ac.

But, unfortunately, there is no 3G and 4G LTE, which, in fact, is a small loss.

Sound

Built-in 3W speakers are responsible for sound reproduction.In principle, such speaker power can be attributed to advantages, because it is comparable in power to a good portable speaker.

A pair of speakers with support for Dolby Audio technology, which in turn makes the sound not only better, but also more spacious.

With this sound quality, watching movies, series or videos, as well as listening to music, will definitely appeal to you.

Battery

The device has a 40 Wh battery. As Xiaomi stated at the presentation, such a battery is able to withstand about 8 hours of continuous operation.

In fact, 8 hours of charge is enough if the laptop is constantly in sleep mode. For when watching movies or spending time playing games, at best, if it lasts for 4-5 hours.

Operating system

Licensed Windows 10 is installed on this Device. Which, in turn, has a lot of advantages, and to be more precise, then:

• Free upgrade to new versions;
• 24/7 support from Microsoft;
• Licensed software;
• Fewer bugs and stability.

Advantages and disadvantages

• Light;
• Comfortable;
• Compact;
• Pleasant to the touch;
• Easily and smoothly opens with one hand;
• Excellent build quality, no squeaks, crunches and backlash;
• Excellent screen (clearness and brightness of the picture);
• Convenient full-size numeric keypad with numeric keypad;
• Large touchpad;
• Large amount of hard disk and SSD storage;
• High-quality and surround sound;
• Excellent cooling system.

• Weak processor;
• Discrete video card, sharpened only for office work;
• Unreasonably high cost;
• Difficulties with the official purchase of the device in the CIS;
• Let the coating be all-metal, but the base is plastic;
• Not the best quality plastic we get when buying a laptop at this price;
• The lid flexes a little;
• Lack of upgrade options;
• Lack of Russian layout on the keyboard.

Results

In the end, we can say that Xiaomi Mi Notebook 15.6 lite, with all its merits and laudatory reviews, is still a little overrated. The price-quality ratio of this device is not very adequate, because under a beautiful cover, a rather modest hardware is hidden. You can find a huge number of analogues that will surpass Xiaomi Mi Notebook 15.6 lite in their performance, and at a lower price.

Frustrating and lack of opportunity for an upgrade. In this device, due to the design features, it is impossible to change or add anything.

To purchase this device in the CIS, you will have to search thoroughly in local stores, and it’s far from a fact that you won’t waste your time in vain. Or order from China or Amazon, which is easier, but you have to say goodbye to the guarantee.

The processor here is not bad, however, you still can’t play games on it because of an unsuccessful video card. However, if you use this gadget for office work or for other tasks that do not require a high load on the processor, then Xiaomi Mi Notebook 15.6 lite will do just fine.

But what is really pleasing is that Xiaomi technology has begun to acquire its own style, moving away from trying to copy popular devices, which, of course, is a big plus.