Mi Notebook Ultra quick review: Most complete laptop from Xiaomi till now

Xiaomi has been dominating the Indian smartphone market for years now and with the sudden popularity of OTT platforms and Work From Home culture, the next logical step is to focus on the laptop market which desperately needs a refresh. Xiaomi had launched the Mi Notebook 14 last year and introduced the RedmiBook 15 line-up earlier this month. Both of these looked promising but, also left scope for a lot of improvement. That’s the issue Mi Notebook Ultra aims to resolve.

The recently launched Mi Notebook Ultra may do to the laptop market what the Redmi Note series did to the smartphone industry. It has a large 15.6-inch display with high refresh rate, Intel Core processors, decent battery life and a slim form factor. All of this costs you Rs 59,999 for the entry variant. I have been using the Mi Notebook Ultra for the last couple of days and here are my quick thoughts on it.

Mi Notebook Ultra quick review: Design

The Mi Notebook Ultra is not small laptop by any means. It has a big display. Yet, Xiaomi has kept the weight down to 1.7kgs which is pretty good for an everyday laptop. The thickness has also been kept at 17.9mm. The laptop is made of Series 6 Aluminium which is claimed to be 1.4 times stronger than the previous generation.

The laptop has been launched in only one colour variant Lustrous Gray. The lid doesn’t catch too many fingerprint smudges but, isn’t completely immune to them either. The full metal body gives the Mi Notebook Ultra a premium look and feel. The hinge feels solid and overall the build quality is quite good.

Xiaomi has doubled the power button as the fingerprint scanner. It is responsive, but the implementation could have been better. There is also a backlit scissor keyboard which has three levels of brightness, along with 1.5mm of travel. The trackpad is also claimed to be 62 per cent larger compared to the previous Mi Notebook model and supports Windows gestures. It’s good but, doesn’t give you the same experience as an Apple MacBook.

Mi Notebook Ultra quick review: Display

This is the department where the Mi Notebook Ultra gets the biggest update over the previous generation. The Mi Notebook Ultra comes with a large 15.6-inch 3,200x2,000 pixels Mi-Truelife+ display with 16:10 aspect ratio, 90Hz refresh rate, 300 nits peak brightness, 100 percent sRGB coverage, TUV Rheinland low blue light certification, and DC dimming.

It has an impressive screen-to-body ratio with thinner than usual bezels around. The top bezel houses a 720p webcam which was missing on last year’s Mi Notebook 14. The bottom of the screen has a Xiaomi branding.

I was really disappointed with the display quality of the RedmiBook Pro and Xiaomi has ensured that it doesn’t make the same mistake again. The Mi Notebook Ultra uses a decent quality screen which is sharp, has good viewing angles and impressive colour reproduction. The screen size is also ideal for playing games, streaming content and for office work

This also means that the Mi Notebook Ultra is not the most portable laptop. It’s not even pretending to but, you should factor that in if that’s your priority.

Mi Notebook Ultra quick review: Performance and audio

Xiaomi is giving plenty of configurations to choose from and that’s a welcome move. The Mi 11 Ultra comes in two 11th Gen Intel Core processors - Core i5-11300H and Core i7-11370H. The price starts at Rs 59,999 and this configuration includes the Core i5 processor and 8GB of RAM. You can also buy the Core i5 processor and 16GB of RAM variant at Rs 63,999, while the Intel Core i7 processor with 16GB of RAM model costs Rs 76,999.

I have the top-end variant of the laptop for review. I will run a few benchmark tests and play games to test the performance over the next few days. So, stay tuned for all full review on India Today Tech.

As of now, I haven’t faced any performance related issues. I have been using the laptop to browse the internet, watch videos, play music and do the usual office work. The performance has been satisfactory.

One thing I wish that could have been better though is the audio output. The Mi Notebook Ultra comes with two 2W speakers with DTS Audio processing. The setup is very similar to what Xiaomi had used on the RedmiBook 15 Pro. However, for some reason, the Redmi laptop was louder than the new Mi Notebook.

The Connectivity options on the Mi NoteBook Ultra include Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth v5.1, a Thunderbolt 4 port, HDMI port, USB Type-C port, two USB Type-A ports, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Mi Notebook Ultra quick review: Battery

The Mi Notebook Ultra packs a 70Whr battery and Xiaomi claims that it can last for around 12-hours. Based on my usage so far, that seems like bit of an exaggeration. The best it can deliver is about seven to eight on medium usage. Again, this is something I will monitor over the next few days. The laptop supports USB Type-C charging with a 65W charger that comes inside the box.

Mi Notebook Ultra: First impressions

The Mi Notebook Ultra seems like the most complete laptop from Xiaomi till now. It gets a lot of things right. The Mi Notebook Ultra feels premium, has a good display, consistent performance and offers a great value for your money. It will face tough competition from Realme Slim Book, Asus’ Vivobook series and more. But, if you have been looking to pay a new laptop, the Mi Notebook Ultra is a very promising option. More on it in our final review.