Xiaomi’s first gaming laptop looks like a winner
The Mi Gaming Laptop 15.6” is big and powerful and has a supercharged cooling system
I won’t lie -- I was skeptical at first. Xiaomi seemingly wants to make every tech product on Earth, from televisions to air purifiers. There’s no way the Mi Gaming Laptop 15.6” (to use its full name) can compete with Alienware, Razer or Asus right?
But when I had the chance to try it, I was impressed. Xiaomi have packed some serious specs into a sturdy package here.
Powered by an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU, the laptop should let you play most AAA titles smoothly. It also has 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD for storage.
As the name suggests, the laptop’s screen size sits right between the 14-inch Razer Blade and the Alienware 17. That’s small enough to fit in most backpacks or messenger bags.
But if you’re planning to bring it to work without attracting attention -- as Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun suggested -- think twice.
It might not have a logo on the back -- but it looks quite bulky and weighs almost 6 pounds. That’s still much lighter than the 7.7-lbs Alienware 15, but noticeably heavier than both the Razer Blade and the ASUS ROG Strix GL502.
And don’t forget -- it also has a colorful backlit keyboard, which can do effects like “waves” and “breathing”. If that doesn’t scream gaming laptop, I don’t know what does.
Cooling systems aren’t something you normally notice on a laptop, but it’s hard not to here. The Mi Gaming Laptop has plenty of vents all around the device, and there’s even a special button on the keyboard you can press to supercharge the two fans -- which then become very loud. I don’t know how much power that draws and whether it has any impact on performance, but it should certainly help to keep the laptop from getting too hot.
Alongside the vents are plenty of ports, including one USB-C and four USB 3.0, an HDMI port and an audio jack.
Just don’t try to sneak it into the office.
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