I'm looking for a new laptop for work and personal use. Having a dedicated GPU sounds nice, and I really really like the aesthetic of the Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air. I almost bought one a few months ago, but the GTX 940M was really keeping me at bay.
The refresh is available from some Chinese resellers, ~$800 for the i5-7200U and ~$1000 for the i7-7500U. Each with 8GB of RAM. I'm taking for granted that this refresh, like the old model, will have two M.2 slots.
Do you have any input on whether or not I should go for the i5 or the i7?
As a fun project for the future: Do you think it would be possible to run Linux on the integrated GPU and run a Windows "Gaming" VM with the dedicated GPU? I feel like 8GB of RAM might be a little bare for that particular use.
I've never heard of that brand before, but just from looking at a few pictures I cannot imagine how this laptop would possibly have enough cooling ability for any decent GPU. If you really want a capable GPU I'd look at other models. The best chip is worthless when all it does is throttle.
I don't see any reason to assume that the thermals are poor, having read reviews of the previous model no one has made any mention of the GPU throttling.
I don't see these intakes/exhausts being capable of dissipating much heat, especially with those tiny standoffs.
The thermals may be fine with a 940m, but my point is that with that notebook you'll either get poor graphics or overheating (and thus poor graphics). Just wanted to point that out, as you expressed interest in graphics capabilities.
Personally I'm not sure I'd want to get a discrete GPU which sits and drains battery, unless it provides a significant improvement over the integrated graphics.
It's your money at the end of the day, of you want to experiment, go ahead. If you want reliability, maybe get a mainstream brand I'd go with the i5 assuming you don't need the extra features from the i7
I'm not looking for graphics that will blow me away, though I'll admit it would be nice. From the little bit of looking I've done, the MX150 is ('supposed to be') a lot better than the 940M in the older model. The main thing is, if I want to play something like League of Legends I don't want to have to live with jaggies or low FPS. Intel HD 620 does a 'good enough' job from what I can tell, but I'd rather hit 'enjoyable' if I can.
I definitely don't expect to run new AAA titles in 1080p 60fps on this thing. That said, this is probably the best looking device (imo, of course) and that counts for a lot since I'm going to be handling the laptop a lot and using it in front of customers and just generally in public.
