Xiaomi Air 12 laptop with a 12.5" screen promotion deal is on bang good ends in 2 days. Laptop usually is upwards of £470 very good sleek and nice specs for the price! Comes with Chinese Windows 10 can be converted to English but fresh install offEnglish OS the better option.
Original Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air Windows 10 12.5 Inch Intel Core M3-6Y30 Dual Core 4GB RAM 128GB SATA SSD FHD 1920*1080 Bluetooth 4.1 Laptop
Top comments
hand1999 to ferrarian
11 Mar 1712#20
It's impossible to NOT buy anything from China. You'll be surprised how much you rely on Chinese imports.:wink:
All comments (49)
TheAVJunky
11 Mar 17#1
Need to be careful and be sure that have understood the wording, in relation to the OS supplied. Comes with Windows 10 Home Chinese. Can convert the language to English, but the software will not have a valid activation code.
mickab1994 to TheAVJunky
11 Mar 17#2
Cheers new enough to posting on HUKD just edited there now :smiley:
pez555
11 Mar 17#3
Anyone have one of these?
imty_ to pez555
14 Mar 17#40
I have had one for about 6 months and I cannot fault it for general usage. I haven't strained it too much but for email, Office, internet browsing and tasks of that sort, it's superb. At the time, I paid £490 and traded in my iPad Air 2 to cover the cost. Regarding the Core M in this thing, don't worry about slow performance because it is superb and very good with battery life.
I went back and forth between this and SP4 Core M version and settled on this because it offered more for the money. Only sticking point would be the Chinese Windows, I put up the extra cash and installed fresh Windows on it to solve that. If you don't want the extra work, get the SP4 Core M.
Dabstar
11 Mar 172#4
I have been looking at this.. Good solid reviews and the build quality is apparently very good. worth noting the customs charges though and if anything goes wrong I would imagine the warranty would be worthless.
mickab1994 to Dabstar
11 Mar 172#6
I have been buying Xiaomi products for 2 years and if I'm honest I don't imagine me jumping ship soon all their phones and little gadgets are very cheap and excellent quality! Can't say much about the laptops but I will be purchasing one soon
Dabstar
11 Mar 171#5
Heat btw :smiley:
GwanGy
11 Mar 17#7
Whats the weight? and is it upgradeable at all ? (I doubt it)
Looks like an ripoff of the Asus Tai Chi ?
Dabstar to GwanGy
11 Mar 17#9
I'm sure you can add another ssd but as for anything else I doubt it can be upgraded
repouk to GwanGy
11 Mar 17#18
1.07kg and it looks like the only thing you can do is to add an extra SDD.
Good spec, but quite hesitant to get it from China.. You can probably get a similar spec from the Dell Outlet, at least support / returns would be easier.
Not knocking Xiaomi quality though, they're pretty darn good!
woldranger
11 Mar 17#12
OP, could you add the seller to the title?
mickab1994 to woldranger
11 Mar 17#13
Seller is banggood mate
mgk
11 Mar 171#14
would like one of these but given warranty issue, potential customs and Chinese Windows (which I didnt realise was an issue until above) - find it hard to see past the Asus Zenbook - comes up about 550 for this spec from time to time
ferrarian
11 Mar 171#15
Cheap Chinese copy... Don't buy from criminals
hand1999 to ferrarian
11 Mar 1712#20
It's impossible to NOT buy anything from China. You'll be surprised how much you rely on Chinese imports.:wink:
miffyl
11 Mar 17#16
It's in the product spec on the webpage.
specialoffers
11 Mar 17#17
Don't buy if it has fault or broke down you have to send it in chine after 6 months you will pay postage cost. Pay 100 or more get something from here
prazakcz
11 Mar 171#19
too expensive, add >20% customs, consider return shipping when malfunctioning.. low end processor
Picard123
12 Mar 17#21
The BIG problem with this deal is that is come with the Chinese version of Windows 10.
To get the English/UK version, you need a clean install together with a suitable licence key.
Nice laptop from a quality manufacturer but not worth the trouble IMO due to the OS hassles and logistics.
Putting a normal version of Windows is like a ten minute job. Aside from that, would this be a good investment? Any other cons to this?
kentris to Picard123
14 Mar 17#39
Correct me if I'm wrong but Windows 10 gives you the option to install other languages without needing a separate license. You just have to choose your desired language in the Language option in settings.
10 minutes? You must have a magic version of Windows. Even Microsoft can't do a full installation of Win10 in 10 minutes.
And where you are getting your full Win10 installation file from? Piratesoftware.com? And for how much?
mysticus
12 Mar 17#25
it is doable... ssd and a high speed usb source can make a difference... bare installation can be done in and under 10 mins easily, if you dont count installing drivers... which if done correctly can be done within mins...
also with a clone software, you can get that down to 5-6 mins marks... for bare windows install to your next machine...
trojanh
12 Mar 17#26
I don't know man... I think you just have trouble with tech. It's very simple, Microsoft has spent hundreds of man hours to get the Windows installer simple enough for even yourself. You realise it is a Samsung SSD? 500Mbps read write is not a joke.
I'm sure you can pick up Windows for £20, last I seen on HUKD.
All in all, using an auto installer for multiple software, the drivers and the actual windows can be done in 30 mins. When you consider the price your saving with this rig.
paulsmith288
13 Mar 17#27
Tempted but lack of support for 4k external monitor putting me off.
Think linux would run nicely on it
alcurtis93
13 Mar 17#28
fairly sure it can do 4k output
mrwhitelabel to alcurtis93
21 Mar 17#43
Apparently not
haritori
13 Mar 171#29
You can buy a copy of Windows 10 online for about £15-£20 if you know where to look, and you can legally download the installation files from Microsoft, they have been doing that for years..
Also the installation is about 10 mins on an SSD..
Sounds like the last time you installed windows it involved
c:/windows/run.exe
plewis00
13 Mar 17#30
Can I ask why you would buy this over a U.K.-sourced Asus Zenbook UX305, I believe they're in the same ballpark?
The Xiaomi looks nice but I can just imagine if it goes wrong all hell will break loose and you'll be without it for a month or so.
Rauss to plewis00
13 Mar 17#31
Hahaha "a month or so".. That would be the best case scenario!! I shudder just thinking about the return/warranty process with this. Read good reviews for the particular laptop though.
omgpleasespamme to plewis00
14 Mar 17#36
This is a fair amount smaller than the Asus which for a low power netbook type device it's the most important thing.
allowed to plewis00
14 Mar 17#38
I sort of agree with you, when this is available in the UK from a UK retailer at this sort of price it will kick ass
That's why it's a shame we don't get official Xiaomi resellers over here. I would jump at that. I can probably justify risking a phone but a laptop is a step too far without support. Of course, it shouldn't go wrong but I see Murphy's Law creeping in.
The_Hoff
13 Mar 171#33
Michael Owen, is that you?
"You know it's chinese when it says made in china"
amour3k
14 Mar 17#34
In all this, there no mention of the CPU that this Laptop is using?, or ..... :-)
Roph
14 Mar 17#35
Core M, absolute trash. It uses the "core" name but it's so slow it's a disgrace. It should be called Atom.
plewis00 to Roph
14 Mar 17#37
Sounds like you've never used one. It's perfectly fast enough, the burst mode and Core architecture gets things done quickly and then it races back to sleep for low power usage. It's the ideal processor architecture for most common workloads (productivity and browsing), just a shame Intel charges so much.
plewis00
15 Mar 17#42
Bargain. That machine any day of the week. The Asus Zenbook is a very nice machine and you can have it in 2-3 days.
mrwhitelabel
21 Mar 17#44
Licence is single language Chinese version so won't activate, needs full install
guitaristanime
22 Mar 17#45
Why would you be installing Windows from there?
haritori
22 Mar 17#46
Try again, 'involved' was the imperative word.
guitaristanime
22 Mar 17#47
So last time you installed Windows it involved a file that is already on the C: Partition of an existing Windows installation?
haritori
22 Mar 17#48
Did you ever used windows prior to 95?
If so then you would realise that your computer booted into MS-DOS and from there you would run Windows.
you would do so by doing the following, command lines
going into the main drive which was usually c:/
c:\cd windows [return]
c:\windows\
then its been a while it was either run.exe or windows.exe
so c:\windows\run.exe...
hence my bit of fun statement the last time the person used windows it involved run.exe and to answer your above question, yes it did involve a file that is already on the c: partition of an existing windows installation.
hence to run install windows prior to 95 you would have to use that command... but if you want to be completely pedantic, then i suppose we coudl go back even further in the installation process and use
a:\
a:\install.exe
and you could auto boot into windows, if we edited the config.sys to do so.
do you need me to explain anything else?
guitaristanime
29 Mar 17#49
WOW thanks, that's a pretty high horse you're on! No I don't need you to explain anything to me. Yes I've used Windows for a very long time.
By the way the file to launch the GUI in Windows 3.x was called "win.exe".
Wasn't trying to have a banter but thanks for turning it into one.
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Opening post
Original Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air Windows 10 12.5 Inch Intel Core M3-6Y30 Dual Core 4GB RAM 128GB SATA SSD FHD 1920*1080 Bluetooth 4.1 Laptop
Top comments
All comments (49)
I went back and forth between this and SP4 Core M version and settled on this because it offered more for the money. Only sticking point would be the Chinese Windows, I put up the extra cash and installed fresh Windows on it to solve that. If you don't want the extra work, get the SP4 Core M.
Looks like an ripoff of the Asus Tai Chi ?
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/laptops-portable-pcs/laptops-and-netbooks/xiaomi-air-12-1328494/review
Not knocking Xiaomi quality though, they're pretty darn good!
To get the English/UK version, you need a clean install together with a suitable licence key.
Nice laptop from a quality manufacturer but not worth the trouble IMO due to the OS hassles and logistics.
https://techtablets.com/2016/12/xiaomi-mi-notebook-air-12-re-review-4-months/
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/14236/language-packs
And where you are getting your full Win10 installation file from? Piratesoftware.com? And for how much?
also with a clone software, you can get that down to 5-6 mins marks... for bare windows install to your next machine...
I'm sure you can pick up Windows for £20, last I seen on HUKD.
All in all, using an auto installer for multiple software, the drivers and the actual windows can be done in 30 mins. When you consider the price your saving with this rig.
Think linux would run nicely on it
Also the installation is about 10 mins on an SSD..
Sounds like the last time you installed windows it involved
c:/windows/run.exe
The Xiaomi looks nice but I can just imagine if it goes wrong all hell will break loose and you'll be without it for a month or so.
Cheaper than this, though it is a Refurb.
"You know it's chinese when it says made in china"
If so then you would realise that your computer booted into MS-DOS and from there you would run Windows.
you would do so by doing the following, command lines
going into the main drive which was usually c:/
c:\cd windows [return]
c:\windows\
then its been a while it was either run.exe or windows.exe
so c:\windows\run.exe...
hence my bit of fun statement the last time the person used windows it involved run.exe and to answer your above question, yes it did involve a file that is already on the c: partition of an existing windows installation.
hence to run install windows prior to 95 you would have to use that command... but if you want to be completely pedantic, then i suppose we coudl go back even further in the installation process and use
a:\
a:\install.exe
and you could auto boot into windows, if we edited the config.sys to do so.
do you need me to explain anything else?
By the way the file to launch the GUI in Windows 3.x was called "win.exe".
Wasn't trying to have a banter but thanks for turning it into one.