Mi Notebook 14 Best Review

Mi Notebook 14 Best Review: Stylish and cheap, but are there some hidden drawbacks?

Xiaomi is just one of very few new manufacturers in the notebook area, but its massive footprint over the Indian smartphone and TV markets means it isn't a brand new name.

Brand recognition and confidence are important if spending considerable quantities of money. Obviously, the Chinese giant is famous for offering exceptional value from the entry area, and it's going to be interesting to see how that contrasts to notebooks.

We have reviewed the top Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition version, and today it is time to have a peek at the way that Xiaomi is catering to more budget-conscious laptop buyers.

The vanilla Mi Notebook 14 loses a few of the identifying design elements and attributes of its Horizon Edition counterpart, but it is still a slender and light notebook.

It stakes its own claim in an extremely competitive section, and might need to fend off important players like Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer, and Asus. Let us see exactly what the Mi Notebook 14 must offer you.

Whilst not as slick as its sibling, the Horizon Edition, the normal Mi Notebook 14 remains quite modern and appealing.

It's a metallic frame with an anodised sandblasted outside, and the exact same logo-free lid which we enjoyed on the pricier version. The general appearance is rather minimalist and unassuming.

There is nothing to watch on the outside besides the vents on the left and right along with a little indentation that will assist you left the lid. Intake vents are located on the floor and warm air is exhausted through the rear of the hinge.

Unlike using the Horizon Edition however, you are going to need to hold down the base with one hand while lifting the lid with another.

The entire weight is 1.5kg and depth is merely under 18mm so that this notebook ought to be simple enough to carry around and sail with each day.

Flipping the lid available, you will observe a comparatively thick brow under the display and a few blank space all about it. This is only one of the main differentiators between the normal Mi Notebook along with the Horizon Edition, which includes borders that are slim.

Though there's enough space on the top to get a webcam, this particular version does not have one built in.

Xiaomi states this is a conscious choice made throughout the design process, but because folks now are suddenly more reliant on video conferencing for remote learning and work, an external USB webcam is going to be included with each Mi Notebook.

The computer keyboard is also metal, using an underwater tray for your island-style computer keys. The arrow keys have been crammed into one row and there is no backlighting, however there are not any significant problems with design.

In reality you will find added Fn row keys compared to the Horizon Edition's computer keyboard, to ensure PrtScrn and Insert do not need to be secondary purposes. The wrist rest areas are ample enough, along with the trackpad size and positioning are rather standard.

There is just slight bend to the lid, and the display does not twist when pressure is put on. In general, Xiaomi appears to have done a fantastic job with layout -- that the Mi Notebook 14 does not feel cheap and plasticky, which gives it an edge in its price segment.

There are 3 variations of this normal Mi Notebook, all which utilize the identical quad core 10th Gen'Comet Lake' Intel Core i5-10210U chip. All three variations include 8GB of DDR4-2666 RAM that's soldered and not upgradable.

The foundation version was started at Rs. 41,999 and includes a 256GB SSD. Stepping up to the middle grade doubles the SSD capability to 512GB, which sounds like excellent value as it is priced at Rs. 43,999. This is the only I have for inspection.

Contrary to the top-end Horizon Edition, there is no option of CPU. Xiaomi has additionally used SATA M.two SSDs for this version it is possible to swap yours outside for an update, but there is no blank slot for an extra one. Additionally, it is not clear if you're able to swap at a quicker NVMe SSD.

The interface collection can also be a little limited, when compared with Horizon Edition. Most significantly, you do not have a USB Type-C interface in any way. An SD card slot could have been fine.

A non-reflective display is generally better to get work, particularly under indoor light. The battery includes a 46Wh capacity that Xiaomi says equates to ten hours of use.

Both in-house programs which we found on the Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition make appearances here Mi Blaze Unlock enables you to automatically sign into Windows if you are sporting a harmonious Mi Band, whereas Mi Smart Chat is for moving files to and from telephones running the identical program.

Initial installation went smoothly, and the Mi Notebook 14 was prepared to be used after following the normal Windows installation procedure. This notebook is suitable to use in a variety of scenarios, although reclining.

Resuming from sleep occasionally took 10-15 minutes, however generally speaking, use wasn't any problem in any way. I managed to multitask with more than a dozen browser tabs available, streaming movie concurrently.

The display is not very lively and colors are muted. Xiaomi's claim about seeing angles isn't overstated, however, the display's brightness might need to be pumped up rather significant.

I did enjoy the anti-reflective finish. The speakers are not very loud, and noise is regrettably scratchy and tinny. Typing is very comfy.

The keys are only a bit stiff, but that is easy enough to get used to. On the flip side, the trackpad was not necessarily as eloquent or responsive as I'd have liked, and the click activity is a little sticky.

Coming to standard evaluations, it's simple to observe the flaws and strengths of this Mi Notebook 14. SSD rate is restricted by the SATA interface, and thus that the Crystal Disk Mark test revealed sequential writes and reads capped at 500.6MBps and 383.3MBps respectively, together with arbitrary reads and reads forthcoming at 300.2MBps and 269MBps.

In real world task evaluations, the Mi Notebook 14 took 5 minutes, 6 minutes to compress a 3.24GB folder of various files with 7zip, and one minute, 34 minutes to transcode a 1.3GB AVI file to H.265.

PCMark 10 posted dozens of 3,542 and 3,371 in its own regular and protracted runs, respectively. Cinebench R20 attained 361 and 1,604 points in its own - and - multi-core tests. POVRay completed its standard run in two minutes, 52 minutes.

As for graphics functionality, the Nvidia GeForce MX250 GPU is not intended for serious gambling or anything outside entry-level functionality.

Taking down the resolution to 1280x720 and penalizing AA entirely led to a jittery but playable 41fps average.

This usually means the Mi Notebook 14 is capable of conducting older and much less demanding games. But it did get quite hot, and sadly the place across the WASD keys, in addition to the left wrist break, did eventually become uncomfortable after only a couple of minutes of gambling.

The ideal side of this keyboard remained cool but I really could feel air being squeezed from between the keys from the cooling system. Speaking of this enthusiast, it did turn into perceptible while gambling, but not into a distracting level.

I discovered that using casual usage, which entailed streaming a picture and multitasking largely within an internet browser, I got a max of eight hoursbut generally more like six hours a full charge.

The extreme Battery Eater Pro evaluation lasted 1 hour, 23 minutes that is lower than typical. Luckily, this notebook does charge fast -- I moved from zero to 55% in 30 minutes using the notebook turned away.

Verdict

You should not expect to have the ability to play modern games, and films will not appear or sound their best, but standard productivity ought to be OK. Pupils and office employees, in addition to home users with reasonable expectations are going to be pleased with this notebook.

Building quality is great, and I really do like the minimalist appearance with this logo-free lid. Not a great deal of people are commuting nowadays, but when or if you need to maneuver around, you are going to enjoy what Xiaomi is supplying.

The bottom version does not make much sense as it's possible to double your SSD capacity for only a couple of million Rupees more.

On the other hand, the mid-tier alternative appears to strike a sweet place and is very aggressive, considering it's priced under Rs. 45,000.

I'd definitely have enjoyed at least one USB Type-C jack, an SD card slot, a much quicker NVMe SSD, along with a keyboard, but that I believe that the package is pretty well balanced complete.

The Horizon Edition (Core i7 version) is obviously faster and sleeker, but it is more costly by approximately 33 percent, making the normal Mi Notebook 14 worth contemplating.

Great

Great value for money
Mobile and Fashionable
Good general functionality

Bad

No incorporated webcam
Seems hot when stressed

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