Xiaomi's First Laptop : Mi Notebook Air

Xiaomi on Wednesday announced its long rumoured entry into the PC category, with its first laptop - the Mi Notebook Air - featuring an all metal body. The company is evidently targeting the MacBook Air, showcasing comparisons to the venerable Apple ultraportable laptop. The company at the event also launched the Xiaomi Redmi Pro.

The Chinese company launched two models, a 12.5-inch display variant priced at CNY 3,499 (roughly Rs. 35,300), and a 13.3-inch variant priced at CNY 4,999 (roughly Rs. 51,400).

The Mi Notebook Air with a 13.3-inch display bears a full-HD resolution, with a 5.59mm-thick bezel.Xiaomi says despite the same display size, the Mi Notebook Air bears an 11-percent smaller body than the MacBook Air, and the laptop is 14.8mm thick compared to the MacBook Air's 17mm thickness.

The Windows 10 Home laptop also weighs less, at 1.28kg compared to the 13-inch MacBook Air's 1.35kg weight. The Mi Notebook Air's full dimensions are 309.6x210.9x148.8mm.

The 13.3-inch Mi Notebook Air is powered by a sixth generation Intel Core i5 processor,
coupled with Nvidia GeForce 940MX GPU with 1GB of GDDR5 VRAM, 8GB of DDR4 RAM,
and a 256GB PCIe SSD. A second slot for an SSD drive is provided. Xiaomi is claiming
a 9.5 hour battery life, with the battery said to charge 50 percent in 30 mins.

As for the 12.5-inch Mi Notebook Air, it's said to be 12.9mm thin, and weigh in at 1.07kg,
which is thinner than the 12-inch MacBook's 13.1mm thickness, but heavier than the Apple
laptop's 0.92kg weight - albeit, the MacBook does sport a smaller 12-inch display. Bearing
a full-HD display, it is powered by an Intel Core M3 processor with 4GB of RAM, and a
128GB SATA SSD alongside a second SSD slot. An 11.5-hour battery life is claimed.

Xiaomi is also touting the laminated display to reduce glare, and edge-to-edge glass
protection, apart from a full-sized keyboard with backlit keys and a 1.3mm stroke depth;
AKG dual speakers, and Dolby Digital surround sound. Both Mi Notebook Air models
also feature Mi Cloud Sync, letting users sync their phone contacts, messages, gallery,
notes, and other data. Both also sport a HDMI port, two USB 3.0 ports, a USB Type-C port,
and a 3.5mm headphone jack - no Ethernet port or optical drive.

Another feature Xiaomi is boasting of is unlock support via the Mi Band 2, enabled by
the laptops Bluetooth v4.1 connectivity. The laptops will be available in Silver and Gold
colour variants. Users can also personalise their Mi Notebook Air laptops with official
sticker accessories for the hood. Accessories include a Leather Sleeve (CNY 299 or
roughly Rs. 3,000), PU Leather Sleeve (CNY 99 or roughly Rs. 1,000), Microfiber
Sleeve (CNY 69 or roughly Rs. 700).

Competing the world : Lenovo Air Pro Launches In Competition Witha New Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air

Xiaomi's Mi Notebook Air announcement on Wednesday created quite a buzz because
of the specifications it is offering at the price. Quite expectedly, fellow laptop-makers
were not going to sit back and watch. Lenovo has now announced its Air 13 Pro laptop
which features specifications that are quite similar to the Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air.

Lenovo's Air 13 Pro laptop comes with a 13.3-inch IPS display and packs an Intel i5-6200U
processor inside. The laptop weighs 1.29kg compared with 1.28kg on Mi Notebook Air.
The laptop has 256GB of SSD storage and has 4GB of RAM. Lenovo's laptop is 1.48cm
thin and features powerful 2GB NVIDIA GT940MX graphics card.

One feature that distinguishes Lenovo's laptop from that of Xiaomi is fingerprint recognition.
Fingerprint recognition is a useful feature and its absence on Mi Notebook Air can
possibly tilt the tide in Lenovo's favour.

Lenovo's Air 13 Pro is already available for pre-registration and currently carries a price
tag of CNY 4,999 (roughly Rs. 51,400), which is exactly the same as the price tag on
13.3-inch Mi Notebook Air. However, the selling price for Lenovo's laptop will reportedly
shoot up to CNY 5,499 (Rs. 55,400) after the pre-sale period ends.

Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air might not have the fingerprint recognition feature but the laptop does have the ability to unlock via the Mi Band 2, enabled by the laptop's Bluetooth v4.1 connectivity. In terms of competition, it would be fair to say that both these laptops offer really good features for a price that is quite lucrative.

Micromax enters the laptop world with Ignite LPQ61

Micromax on Monday announced the launch of two new laptop series in India, the
Micromax Ignite and Micromax Alpha. The company alongside launched the first
laptop in the Micromax Ignite series - the Micromax Ignite LPQ61 - priced at Rs. 18,990.
The budget laptop isavailable exclusively via Flipkart starting Monday.

The company says the Micromax Ignite series is geared towards power users, while
the Micromax Alpha series is targeted at first-time laptop users. Micromax in an emailed
statement said the launch follows an  "overwhelming response" for its entry-level Lapbook
laptops and Laptab 2-in-1s. The company says the new series have been launched
in collaboration with Intel and Microsoft.

The Micromax Ignite series will come bundled with Windows 10, and run on Intel
Pentium processors. It is aimed at increasing "domestic technology adoption and
offer superior productivity specifications and premium feel at competitive price points,"
the company said.

The Micromax Ignite LPQ61 features a 14-inch HD (1366x768 pixel) IPS LED-backlit
display, and the highlight of the laptop at this price point is the presence of a 1TB HDD.
It is powered by an Intel Pentium N3700 (4 cores, 4 threads, 1.6GHz base clock, 2.4GHz
Burst clock, 2MB L2 Cache) that's coupled with Intel HD Graphics and 4GB of DDR3 RAM.

Connectivity options on the Micromax Ignite LPQ61 include 2xUSB 3.0 ports,
1xMicro-HDMI port, microSD card reader, Ethernet, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.0,
and a 3.5m audio jack. It sports a HD webcam, stereo speakers, and will only
be available in a Black colour variant.

Commenting on the launch, Shubhajit Sen, Chief Marketing Officer, Micromax Informatics Limited, said, "The decision to foray in to newer categories is solely basis the understanding of consumer demand and need and matching it with our strong credentials in the Indian market. While the laptop category is not growing very rapidly today, we believe the key barrier is to give a high performance, well designed product at an accessible price. We have always strived to close the gap between consumer needs and available devices by bringing alive the best technology innovations and we believe we have done it with Ignite."