The word ‘privilege’ mostly refers to wealth. Tell you what, in 2021 having a laptop that doesn’t make too many compromises is also a privilege for the work-from-home crowd. And Xiaomi has scored a boundary with its Mi NoteBook Ultra, updating it greatly over last year’s Mi Notebook 14 Horizon as well as packing in enough features. It’s meant to last.
When the WFH phase started in 2019, my idea was to sideline the laptop and hop over to the desktop for a full keyboard experience, a big monitor, excellent camera and a mouse that I could thump each time a meeting turned sour. Within a few weeks I realised that the vacuum cleaner made the same old noise, forcing me to move from one room to the other, and so did the sounds of an ageing neighbour. But where is that Windows laptop on which I manage everything? Seventeen months into WFH routine, the NoteBook Ultra turns up for review.
A touch of grey and glitz
Out of the box, the Lustrous Grey version almost looks like a taller brother of the MacBook but that’s not a jibe. It actually looks fantastic. Only 17.9mm thick and weighing 1.79 kg, complete with aircraft-grade Series 6 aluminium, there is little to complain. On the lid is the word Xiaomi instead of Mi and inside is a 15.6-inch display. Yes, that’s big, especially for someone who is used to working on 14-inch displays.
Right from the screen, the word ‘winner’ is splashed on this machine. The Mi TrueLife+ display is among the biggest upgrades from last year. Technically, it’s an IPS screen but absolutely top-end for the price: this is 3200 x 2000 resolution or 3.2K with a comfortable 16:10 aspect ratio, calibrated for full sRGB coverage and, importantly, there is 90Hz refresh rate. Even though you can switch between 90Hz and 60Hz via Fn+S shortcut but who wants to do that?! In the few days I had with the laptop, a part of the day was kept aside for watching a few music films, like the 2019 Homecoming. The two 2W speakers are just about okay and there is clarity.
Handles everyday tasks well
Going deeper, powering the machine we had for review is 11th Gen Intel Core i5-11300H with max clock speed of 4.4GHz and Intel Iris Xe graphics. Xiaomi is not marketing this is as a gaming laptop, which it is not. But if you are into light gaming, there will be no hang-ups and games run absolutely smoothly. Helping performance is the 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD, which is fast, and the device will get the Windows 11 upgrade when it arrives later this year.
The thermal on this machine was quite stable. Besides the zillion tabs that remained open on the Chrome browser, there was some light gaming, video editing on Adobe Premiere Pro, Photoshop work, Slack and the MS Office suite. There is a thick 6mm diameter heat pipe and a large diameter fan on the underside to keeps things under check. Even while switching between quiet and balanced modes using Fn+K, the fan didn’t get loud.
All this brings us to the full-sized keyboard which comes with, well, full-sized arrow keys and 1.5mm key travel. It’s an absolute pleasure typing on this keyboard, which has two levels of backlight, something that was missing last year. It’s good that the company has thrown in a macro key which can be programmed to call up an app instantaneously. There is also a respectable 720p webcam.
Even the battery lives up to one’s expectation, going from zero to 50 per cent in around 45 minutes (65W USB C charger in the box) while delivering eight to nine hours of screen time (though the company says 12 hours), and that’s quite a lot.
Should you buy it?
The screen alone seals the deal; for its price, this is a sheer delight. The only quibbles can be the tiny speaker and the missing SD card slot. That laptops can be inexpensive, largely free of compromises and packed with enough specs to last a few years, is where the company wins the game. Xiaomi’s Mi NoteBook Ultra will give you a hassle-free experience while making rivals break into a sweat.
At a glance
Mi NoteBook Ultra comes with a fingerprint sensor integrated in the power key as well as a programmable macro key The Telegraph
Device: Mi NoteBook Ultra
Price: Rs 63,999 (16GB RAM + 512GB NVMe SSD, i5 11th Gen + Iris Xe Graphics). There is also an i7 11th Gen version.
High notes
• Sturdy design
• Has one of the best displays in its category, with 90Hz screen refresh rate
• Full-size keyboard with backlighting and macro key
• Good thermal
• Should hold you in good stead for a few years
Muffled notes
• Speakers could have been louder
