Xiaomi takes aim at Apple with the Mi Notebook Pro

   

Xiaomi locked horns with Apple last summer with its Mi Notebook Air , a direct competitor to the trendy MacBook Air. This year, The Chinese electronics maker is targeting Apple’s MacBook Pro with the new Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro .

Xiaomi’s Mi Notebook Pro features a 15.6-inch display (1,920 x 1,080 pixels, 142 PPI) coated in Corning’s Gorilla Glass. Systems can be equipped with up to an eighth-gen Intel Core i7-8550U processor, 16GB of DDR4 RAM and a 256GB PCIe solid-state drive.

Nvidia GeForce MX 150 graphics come standard, as do the two USB Type-C ports, two full-size USB 3.0 ports, full-size HDMI port, a 3-in-1 SD card reader and 3.5mm audio jack. There’s also a full-size, backlit keyboard with 1.5mm key travel, a sizable glass touchpad with built-in fingerprint sensor, dual Harman Infinity speakers, dual-band 802.11 ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1.

The system’s 60Wh battery is reportedly good for up to nine hours (local video playback) and thanks to quick charge technology, can receive a 50 percent charge in just 35 minutes.

The Mi Notebook Pro measures 360.7 mm x 243.6 mm x 15.9 mm (14.2 inches x 9.6 inches x 0.625 inches) at a weight of 1.95 kg (4.29 pounds).

Pricing starts at 5,599 Chinese Yuan (around $858) for the base model Mi Notebook Pro and tops out at 6,999 Yuan ($1,073). Systems go on sale September 15.