Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air Rip down Review

Last month we saw Xiaomi unveil its first Laptop ever, Notebook to be precise; the Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air. It was launched in 2 versions with distinctive screen sizes and hardware. Today we have got some pictures of the 12.5 inch Notebook Air as it gets dismantled piece by piece. But before that lets recall some things about the notebook.

it was launched in 2 versions. One with a 12.5 inch and other with the 13.3 inch version. Inspired by Macbook the Notebook Air looks relatively similar to it in terms of looks and specs. But Xiaomi’s own customizations make its even better than the Macbook and that too at just half its price. The base version costs RMB 3499 while the 13.3 inch version costs RMB 4999.

The gorgeous Eagle logo on the back is something new we have never seen with top brands. The 12.5 inch version comes with 4 gigs of RAM, an Intel core M3 CPU and 128GB SSD. A gorgeous 1080P HD screen provides stunning visuals.

R I P P I N G   A P A R T

So lets rip apart this sexy beast. Removing the bottom screws seperates the base from the body and reveals the battery and the main board.

The RAM and the processor seems to be fused up, with a liquid coolant that sits between them. They are covered by a heat sink. The liquid coolant is sure to boost the performance during heavy usage. The keyboard, display, battery, trackpad and the speakers are connected by the ribbon connectors. On the left we got a HDMI port and the Usb port on the right. As the Mi Notebook Air has a SSD expansion slot, the SSD can be connected via the M.2 slot.

There are 2 custom made stereo speakers from AGK on the front which is something outstanding as laptops usually have a single speaker. The thing that fuels the Notebook Air is a 4866 mAh battery from LG Chemicals. It has a pretty awkward shape compared to our normal laptops. Looks like a way to occupy less space as possible.

Clearing the motherboard off the body shows the display and its connector, the keyboard kit and the trackpad. The built looks pretty sturdy and the hardware is top notch. Currently the Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air is only available in China and will be available worldwide pretty soon. let us know your questions and perspective down below.

Xiaomi released Xiaomi Mi notebook Air on July 27, now we got Xiaomi mi notebook Air 12.5inch version. We care about Type C function, so power adapter and notebook charging specs become the priority that we pay attention to. The power adapter shows 5V/2A,12V/2A,9V/2A,15V/3A,20V/2.25A, and largest power rate  45W, but in fact, communication protocol in PDO database, 20V is 2.20A ,not 2.25A. The notebook claims 20V 2.25A Max input. When we connect power adapter and notebook, the test result shows 20V, 2.0A, 40W power in 69% electricity. These are the  charging and discharging functions of Xiaomi mi notebook air. Let’s analyze its features.

Xiaomi mi notebook Air input specs

Xiaomi notebook original adapter charging specs by LDR-PD01 test 

First, Output is the fixed cable and Type C port.

The main difference from apple, Letv in power adapter is that Xiaomi notebook power adapter doesn’t come with Type C itself, but use the cable to connect Type C like Google.

For a customer, we really hope Xiaomi mi notebook air can be designed like Apple Macbook, because there is an extra C-C cable to use, not only charging, but also connect phone with type C, mobile hard-disk, etc.

For a manufacturer, a fixed cable and Type C port will be much cheaper way.

Second, the output gear is special.

Xiaomi notebook power adapter has 5 levels which are one of the most USB PD power adapters.The highlight is that the first three level voltage has the corresponding current like 2A,  15V, 3A,  20V, 2.20A.

In general, the first three gears can all support 2A, but taking cable damage into consideration, it can reduce the cost of cables. But the fourth gear can support 3A, which means the cable prepares for 3A current.

So the first three gears can also support 3A.

Third, PDO transmits in different ways.

Xiaomi notebook adapter doesn’t send 5 level PDO, but send a PDO of 5V/2.0A. But let others work first, then recognize the equipment by VDM to provide the corresponding output power option.

For example, if it met Apple Macbook, it sent 15V/2A PDO.  If not, it sent 5 gear PDO.

To be strict, this kind of way is not recommended by USB PD.

Xiaomi original power adapter agreement analysis result by LDR-PD01 and LDR-PD02

Above all are the main features of Xiaomi power adapter, so let’s move to Xiaomi mi notebook air Charging compatibility.

Test result about Apple 30W, Google 60W, Huawei 24W, Microsoft 15W four adapters for Xiaomi mi notebook air charging.

Notebook compatibility test

According to the test sheet, Xiaomi mi notebook air power up to 40W, is higher than Macbook and Matebook, considering battery capacity and charging power. In these products, Xiaomi shows the fastest charging speed.

In terms of charging compatibility, Macbook and Chromebook shows best,  they can charge from 5V to 20V freely, then Matebook can charge from 12V to 20V freely, Xiaomi mi notebook air ranks the last one, it can charge only over 20V/12A.

In theory, Macbook and Chromebook are the leading products, they have wide range Buck-Boost in Power supply path management, which can be very good adaptive to power in adapter. Matebook only has Buck no Boost. So it can not be compatible with low voltage charging.

The reason that Xiaomi mi notebook Air shows worse compatibility is that it only has 4 series battery, full voltage is 16.8V, and it only has buck no boost, so it can only use 20V charging. Namely, in order to improve the charging speed, they has reduced the cost and compatibility.

The test power adapter is LDR6021 60W which adopts COOLMOS technology, compact size. So we can see small size, high power, high compatible Type C power adapter will be the key to win.

In fact, LDR6021 and LDR6022 as key power adapter can not only output the fixed five gears, 5V/9V/12V/15V/20V, but also pass Get_Sink_cap order, obtaining the dynamic power supply requirements of electrical appliances,construct the same PDO, achieve 5 v ~ 20 v / 0.1 A ~ 3 A arbitrary constant voltage or constant current output,  realize intelligent power supply based on USB PD.

Xiaomi 45W Adapter (Left)  LDR6021 60W Adapter (Right)

According to the analysis, we can know Xiaomi Mi notebook Air takes priority to charging speed, and requires the power adapter up to 20V/2A, we believe they will provide more solution about charging speed and compatibility.