Price-friendly Mi NoteBooks in India, to begin laptop price war

New Delhi, June 11 (IANS): Xiaomi on Thursday brought Mi Notebook 14 and Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition to India that are set to disrupt the laptop segment owing to an aggressive pricing and solid internals.

The Mi Notebook 14 has an inaugural price of INR 41,999 for the 256GB variant while the 512GB variant is available for INR 44,999. The 512GB variant with Nvidia GE Force MX250 graphics card will cost INR 47,999.

The top-end Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Editioncomes for INR 54,999 for the Intel Core i5 model. The notebook also has an Intel Core i7 option that is available at INR 59,999.

Those who buys Mi Notebook 14 and Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition till July 16 using HDFC bank credit/debit card will get INR 2,000 cashback, the company said in a statement.

“The pricing is attractive, especially the Mi Notebook 14 (512GB) variant that is available for Rs 44,999, which is a good buy. The Mi NoteBook launch will drive market leaders like Dell, HP and Lenovo to spruce up their offerings in a fragmented laptop market that is waiting for new innovations,” Jaipal Singh, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India, told IANS.

“However, much depends on how Xiaomi would market these products in the country going forward, as it needs bigger retail space to showcase products like laptops than smartphones across the country for a wholesome immersive experience,” he added.

The notebooks will go on sale on June 17 on Mi.com, Amazon, Mi Home and Mi Studio.

The Mi Notebook 14, based on Windows 10 Home, carries a 14-inch full-HD (1,920 pixels x 1,080 pixels) display with 16:9 aspect ratio.

In terms of hardware, the Mi Notebook 14 will only be available with an Intel Core i5 10210U chip, coupled with 8GB of DDR4 RAM, up to 512GB of SATA 3 SSD storage, and an Nvidia GeForce MX250 GPU on the top-end variant. The other two variants will offer Intel UHD Graphics 620.

The Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition runs Windows 10 Home Edition and features a 14-inch full-HD (1,920×1,080 pixels) anti-glare IPS display with screen-to-body ratio of 91 percent, 60Hz refresh rate, and 178-degree viewing angles.

10th-generation Intel Core i5-10210U and Intel Core i7-10510U processor options, paired with onboard graphics or Nvidia GeForce MX350 GPU and 8GB of DDR4 RAM. The laptop also has up to 512GB of NVMe M.2 SSD with a bandwidth of 3,000MB/s.

In terms of I/O, the laptops feature 2 USB 3.1 Type-A ports, a USB 2.0 Type-A port, a USB Type-C port, headphone/microphone combo jack, and an HDMI 1.4 port. There is a 46Wh battery that is touted to deliver up to 10 hours of usage on a single charge.