Editor’s rating: 3.8/5 Xiaomi came to India in 2014, when it sold its smartphone Mi 3 which created ripples in the Indian market, due to its low price and great features but when the company launched its first laptops under Mi branding last year the market reaction was mixed back. But now the second set of Mi laptops are here with the launch of the Mi Notebook Pro and Mi Notebook Ultra series and these have tried to overcome quite a few drawbacks that the Mi Notebook 14 had. Today, I will be reviewing Mi Notebook Ultra with an i7 processor that is priced at Rs. 76,990 in India. Let us have a look at some of its important features to decide whether it is value for money or not. Thermal Keyboard, Trackpad Design Battery life Navigate this review: Specification | Performance | Thermals | Display | Keyboard, Trackpad, & IO | Design, & Build Quality | Battery life | Verdict |
Mi Notebook Ultra i7 (11370H) Specs
Mi Notebook Ultra that I have is powered by an i7-11370H CPU, which is a high-end quad-core CPU found in thin and light laptops made for gaming. This CPU has made the Mi Notebook Ultra more powerful and fast. The processor has 4 Willow Cove cores and 8 threads with support for Hyperthreading. The H series chip inside this laptop is configured at 35W TDP with a base clock of 3.30GHz. All cores hit a maximum frequency of 4.3GHz which makes its performance superior to i7-1185G7. In Cinebench R23, the Mi Notebook Ultra managed to score 5539 in the multi-core test and 1527 in the single-core test. It also managed to score 5034 in PCMark 10, which is higher than many other laptops in the same range. If we talk about its functionality in daily life, Mi Notebook Ultra was a good companion to meet my daily needs. Even when I was working with around 20 tabs open at the same time, it didn’t slow down or give me any sort of trouble. Apps like Gaana and Spotify ran smoothly in the background, which has been made possible by the SoC in the device. On paper, the device not having a discrete GPU might seem to be a problem for some, but the Iris Xe Graphics with 96EU does its job well too. I could play multiple 3D games and had a decent experience due to its 90Hz refresh panel. E-sporting title games like Shadowverse, Hearthstone, and Call of duty and AAA games like Far Cry 6 and Back 4 Blood could be played at low settings. I used the Notebook Ultra for Photo and Video editing and was satisfied with the results. 16:10 panel helped with creative workload and Adobe Lightroom was able to export our test files without any issues. Cinebench’s R23’s multi-core test pushes the device to its limits by hitting a frequency of 4.8GHz. The core clocks settle at around 3.3GHz throughout the test. A maximum temperature of 97 degrees Celsius before it settled down at around 80 degrees Celsius. Throughout the test, the temperature never went past 85 degrees Celsius, which is ok. As long as the temperature is maintained, there are no issues with running anything on the Mi Notebook Ultra and avoid thermal issues too. It might throttle occasionally, but that’s quite common and can be ignored. The Mi Notebook Ultra has one of the best displays I have ever seen on a laptop. Its 15.6-inch 3.2K panel with a larger aspect ratio (16:10) spoilt me rotten. This is because I did not like working on a 16:9 aspect ratio panel after using this one. It has a 90Hz refresh rate with QHD+IPS LCD technology that did not disappoint. The display is bright and sharp and colors seem boosted. The display has matte finish so I could avoid reflections while working outdoors. Visibility is decent too and thus the display is one of the strongest selling points of the Mi Notebook Ultra. The keyboard of the device is a very important factor for me while buying it. Since my job involves typing, I need a laptop that helps me type comfortably for longer durations. The butterfly keyboard of the Notebook Ultra is traditional in looks with a good space between its keys. Xiaomi has claimed to use the scissor mechanism for the keys and the keys are very comfortable to type on with 1.5mm deep key travel. The keyboard is backlight, which helped me work efficiently in low-light areas too. The actuation pressure was also suitable for me. The trackpad is bigger as compared to the predecessor of the Notebook Ultra and it is better than the earlier Notebooks in the series. The trackpad is sturdy and its smooth finish helps with gestures and tracking. It is fast, reliable, and accurate but the only issue was that clicking of the bottom half of the trackpad feels a little awkward. DPI is fine, but it can be improved. The device has a wide variety of ports to offer. It has a Type-C USB port, a Thunderbolt 4 for charging, 2 USB Type-A ports out of which one is a 3.2 Gen 1 whereas the other is USB 2.0. The device also has an HDMI port and a 3.5mm combo jack. The Mi Notebook Ultra looks just like a Macbook Pro from a distance and that gives it a +1 in the design and build department because the Macbook is one of the most good-looking laptops in the market. The chassis is grey and made of Aluminium with black bezels around the screen. The chassis feels solid in hand and there is a bit of vertical flex in the center of the lid and back. The keyboard area is solid though. It is not ultra-slim or ultra-light but that doesn’t make it look less attractive. Xiaomi branding on the lid gives it a premium look, making it stand out in this price segment. One additional feature that makes its use more convenient is the in-built fingerprint scanner that doubles up as the power button. Its performance is great as it picks up fingerprints swiftly and accurately. Webcam is available on the top which was missing in the earlier models. The device has dual 2W stereo speakers with support for DTS audio processing app. Speaker quality is one of the weak points of the device as the audio from them is just enough for a small room, not a slightly larger one. The lid can be opened with one finger, which is great. Opening the lid reveals the beautiful display with bells and whistles. Mi Notebook Ultra packs a 70Whr battery which is good. The company claims it can last for 12 hours of usage. During daily usage with the workload including typing, browsing the internet, and watching videos, the device gave me a battery life of about 10 hours. Heavy workload like editing of videos made the device last for 8 hours. When I had set its brightness to 100%, the laptop lasted for 7.5 hours. This device can last for the entire day, depending on your usage. The laptop comes with a 65W Type-C adapter, which recharges it in about 3 hours. Xiaomi has launched the range of Mi Notebooks Ultra series at a starting price of Rs. 59,999 in India. The model I have reviewed costs Rs. 76,990 and is the highest one in the range. For this price, the laptop managed to impress me. It gives a good performance, decent battery life, and beautiful display. Speaker quality and LCD being used in the display are its minus points, but that can be ignored if you want premium features in this price range. So, if you are looking to own a laptop for your everyday use within the 80k price, range Mi Notebook Ultra with an i7 processor could be your go-to device.
Reasons to buy
Good displaySharp and bright screenHigh refresh rateFast performanceReliable fingerprint scanner
Reasons to not buy
Below average speaker qualityGets hot under stress Soldered RAM
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