Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro GTX Review: Still A MacBook Clone, But With More Power

A few months after the first model, Xiaomi has launched in China a new high-end notebook, which is called the Mi Notebook Pro GTX. It is a product based on the body of the company’s first Gaming Laptop but updated with the latest Intel chip and NVIDIA cards. It is proposed in four different configurations depending on your needs. Xiaomi’s this 8th generation enhanced version follows the mold of the previous model and has not changed in appearance, but Xiaomi has upgraded in many invisible places.

In addition to the entire line upgrade to the 8th generation version of the Coffee Lake processor, the wireless network card upgraded to the dual-band dual-antenna Intel AC9560, the maximum speed up to 1733Mbps, more than doubled; built-in SSD upgraded from PM961 to latest Samsung PM981; memory upgrade to 2666MHz dual channel, while the entire system is a dual memory slot, support users to upgrade and replace; the control chip of the three-in-one card reader is also upgraded to UHS-I, can support 104M /s Read and write speed.

Entire Parameters of this 8th generation enhanced version are as follows:

This time, Xiaomi also released four models with different configurations. The model we received is G58725D6D/CN, which is the top version of Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro GTX, configured as the i7-8750H processor, dual channel 16GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM, graphics card GTX1060 6GB. The upgraded top version still maintains a price of 8999 yuan.

At present, the news of the NVIDIA GTX 11-series graphics card is surfing. Some user may have questions. Is it inappropriate for Xiaomi to launch the 10-series video game on the eve of the release of the 11-series video card? Based on the current information, the core improvement of the 11 Series is the use of GDDR6 memory and a more advanced 12nm process (in fact, TSMC 16nm process changed its name), and there will be no major changes in the architecture, expected performance will there is a 20% improvement.

However, given the yield and capacity issues of GDDR6’s initial mass production, the price will not look good. Whether it is GTX1160 or GTX1170, its price is much higher than the current product. Recently, NVIDIA is undergoing substantial price reduction promotion for existing products. At this stage, the game with GTX1060/70/80 graphics card is at a low price since the release, and it is worth starting.

Design and Appearance

The front of the box has the logo of Xiaomi. The background picture is the internal structure of the Laptop which looks outstanding.

A side is made of the matte metal material, no LOGO design, and the shape is low-key. The measurements are 364×265.2×20.9mm and the net weight is about 2.7kg.

A 15.6-inch IPS anti-glare screen with a resolution of 1920×1080, a brightness of 300 lumens, and a 72% NTSC color gamut.

At the top of the screen feature a 1MP camera and array microphone for everyday video and call needs.

A keyboard designed specifically for gaming, 30-key anti-collision design. The keyboard has a large button area and a keystroke of 1.8mm. The button feels comfortable.

Due to the narrow bezel design on the screen, the overall size of Mi Notebook Pro GTX is reduced and it is not possible to add a full-size numeric keypad. A 15.6-inch notebook without a keypad may make some user uncomfortable who like digital keys, but the advantage is that you can type in both hands. Below is a large-size touchpad that feels comfortable when touched in a full glass design.

The left row is designed with 6 buttons. The top one is the tornado button. When pressed, the notebook fan takes off with a button and the speed reaches 6000 RPM. The following are 5 programmable buttons, you can use the Xiaomi game box software to quickly set up shortcut keys, applications, etc. according to your needs. Due to the presence of this row of buttons, the keyboard area is generally right-handed, and it is not used at the first time.

The power button is in the upper right corner, and the resistance is obvious when pressed, which can prevent the accidental touch.

On the right side, there is a USB 3.0 interface and a 3-in-1 UHS-I 104MB/s card reader. The three holes near the top are the heat dissipation vents.

The left side near at the top an air outlet. There are two USB 3.0 ports on the side and a single 3.5mm headphone microphone connector.

The left and right sides of the top are air outlets, and the middle is arranged with RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet port, USB3.0 interface, HDMI2.0 interface, Type-C interface and power socket.

The large area of the D surface uses a stainless steel air intake grid to achieve an opening ratio of up to 46%, which greatly enhances the cooling effect of the notebook. There is a series of certification stickers in the middle, there are two 3W high-power speakers on the left and right sides, and the sound system has been certified by Hi-Res Audio.

The power adapter supports 100~240V wide voltage input and 19.5V 9.23A output standard, and the maximum output power can reach 180W.

The most visually stunning after disassembling the D-face is the notebook’s heatsink system. The 3+2 copper tube heats, the large copper heat sink, and the two turbofans with metal S-shaped blades look very overbearing.

The left side is covered by 3 heat pipes is the GTX1060 6GB graphics card, and the right side is covered by 2 heat pipes is the i7-8750H processor.

The left center is the Intel AC9560 wireless network card, 2T2R dual channel dual antenna design. The frequency is 160MHz and the maximum rate is 1.73Gbps. The wireless network card also has a built-in Bluetooth 5.0 module and below the wireless card is a Samsung PM981 256GB SSD.

Below the CPU is Hynix DDR4-2666MHz 8GB memory, two pieces of dual channel total 16GB capacity, using a metal protective cover for protection.

A lithium polymer battery having a capacity of 55.14 Wh.

Provides 2 memory slots and supports up to 32GB of RAM. The memory model is Hynix DDR4 2666MHZ 8GB, and the two pieces form a dual channel with a total of 16GB. Users can upgrade to 2 single 16GB of memory to get 32GB capacity.

Samsung PM981 256GB SSD, production date March 2018. With the third generation of 64-layer stacked 3D V-NAND TLC particles, it can achieve 256GB capacity in a single package, and also integrates 512MB LPDDR4 as a cache. Support the NVMe protocol, the performance is about 3 times of SATA SSD.

Western Digital 1TB blue disk, 5400 rpm, integrated 128M DDR3 cache.

The rubber buffer strip for fixing the mechanical hard disk can reduce the damage caused by sudden vibration to the mechanical hard disk.

Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro GTX provides two M.2 interfaces, supports NVME protocol, and one of them can also connect SATA channel M.2 solid state drive. If you want to install two M.2 SSDs and one mechanical hard disk at the same time, you need to tear off the sponge strip at the mechanical hard disk data interface.

Performance Tests

1, CPU theoretical performance test

Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro GTX is based on Intel Coffee Lake i7-8750H processor, 6 core 12 threads, basic frequency 2.2GHz, maximum acceleration frequency 4.1GHz, TDP45W. Just in time, we have an MSI GS65 notebook that also uses the i7-8750H processor, and takes it out for a comparison test to see how the performance of the two notebook processors will be different.

FritzChess:

Up and down are the chess results of Mi Notebook Pro GTX and MSI GS65. From the results, although the same i7-8750H processor, but the Mi Notebook Pro GTX single thread results are 3% higher, multi-threaded performance is 15% higher.

CineBench R15

The results of CineBench R15 are similar to those of FritzChess. The single-threaded test is less stressful on the heatsink. The Mi Notebook Pro GTX is 5% stronger than the MSI GS65, and the multi-threaded test leads to 14%.

CPU-Z

On the left is the Mi Notebook Pro GTX, and on the right is the MSI GS65. In the single-thread test, the Xiaomi game is expected to lead 6%, and the multi-thread leader is 9%.

Compared with the 7700K on the desktop, the Mi Notebook Pro GTX is 2.5% behind in terms of a single thread, and the multithreading performance is 32% ahead.

2, disk performance test

Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro GTX is a piece of Samsung’s PM981 256GB SSD, which is Samsung’s SSD products for the high-end OEM market.

In the AS SSD Benchmark, the PM981 256GB has a total score of 349, sequential read and write of more than 2500MB/s, 1400MB/s, 4K random read 50MB/s, and random write of 123MB/s.

In the CrystalDiskMark test, the sequential read and write speeds reached 3256MB/s and 1512MB/s, respectively, which is very powerful.

3, game performance test

Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro GTX is equipped with a GTX 1060 6GB graphics card. The graphics card uses a 16nm process, a 1280 stream processor, and a bit width of 192bit. The parameters are the same as the desktop version of GTX1060 6GB, but the frequency is slightly lower.

We built a 7700K+DDR4 2400MHz 16GB + GTX1060 6GB (Standard version) test platform to compare the differences in graphics performance between the Mi Notebook Pro GTX and the desktop platform. The games that participated in the test were set to 1920×1080 resolution.

3DMark

As a classic test software, 3DMark FireStrike test results can reflect the performance of the CPU and graphics card.

In the FSE test, the physical score of Mi Notebook Pro GTX is 16729, the GPU score is 5474, and the physical performance of CPU is 18% stronger than that of MSI GS65.

In terms of GPU graphics performance, it is about 10% worse than the desktop version of the GTX 1060.

Assassin’s Creed: Origin

“Assassin’s Creed: Origin” is the largest in the history of the “Assassin’s Creed” series produced and distributed by Ubisoft. This game uses the open map sandbox game, the game almost presents the entire ancient Egyptian kingdom, the quality and scenery of no one can be right. The test screen is set to 1920×1080+ of extremely high quality.

Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro GTX has a total score of 6205, which is rated as stable, and the average number of frames is 52fps.

Compared with the desktop version of GTX1060 6GB, there is a gap of 6 frames.

Singularity Ashes

“Singularity Ashes” As an old PC test project, the requirements for processors and graphics cards are very high. The picture is set to 1080P Crazy+DX12.

Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro GTX ran out of the average frame number of 34.7, the number of CPU frames reached 61.8.

Compared to the desktop version GTX1060 6GB only 3 frames gap.

Resident Evil 7

“Resident Evil 7” is the 8th part of the digital phoenix series of the survival horror game “Resident Evil” produced by Capcom. It has a new horror survival experience and the player’s visual switching to a more awkward virtual reality “Isolation. The visual mode enhances the sense of realism to a whole new level. The test screen is set to 1920×1080 FXAA+ very high quality.

The game does not provide a test program. The game is tested from the start of the departure to the church door and records the number of frames in 20 seconds.

Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro GTX ran out of 74 frames, and the desktop version GTX1060 6GB is 5.6 frames.

Tomb Raider 10

Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro GTX ran 66.76 frames in very high quality.

Compared to the desktop version GTX1060 6GB only 6.1 frame gap.

Witcher 3

“Witcher 3” is the 3rd part of the “Witcher” series of game works, and is the finale of Gerald’s adventure. The winners of the 33rd Golden Rocker Awards, the best visual design, the best game moments, and the IGN 2015 Best Games.

Since “Witcher 3” does not provide a test program, the game test method is to turn back between the room balcony and the leaf method for 20 seconds after the start and record the number of frames with fraps.

Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro GTX ran out of 52 frames in the highest quality, and the desktop version GTX1060 6GB difference of 4 frames.

Jesus Survival

“Jesus Survival” is currently the hottest PC game. Since the game did not provide a test program, our test method was to start from the plane and the number of frames was recorded when the parachute was automatically opened for 20 seconds. The picture is set to the highest quality of 1920×1080.

The Mi Notebook Pro GTX ran 57 frames in the highest quality, and the difference between the desktop public version GTX1060 6GB is 4 frames.

4. Conclusion

All test results are summarized as follows:

Although the Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro GTX and the MSI GS65 also use the i7-8750H processor, but in terms of overall CPU performance, it is 13.8% stronger than the GS65. This result is due to the fact that the more powerful cooling system of the Xiaomi allows the processor to keep running at high frequencies for a long time.

As for disk performance, the Samsung PM981 used in the Mi Notebook Pro GTX is a mid-to-high-end product in the SSD field. It is very good in both sequential and random read and writes capabilities.

Under the suppression of a powerful cooling system, the performance of the desktop version of the GTX1060 and the laptop version of Mi Notebook Pro GTX is only 8% difference, which is better than most games. At present, the mainstream version of the game uses the laptop version of the GTX1060, and the performance difference between the 3D performance and the desktop version is between 10 and 15%.

Temperature & endurance test and others

Players who know smartphones should know the importance of cooling for its performance. In order for a flagship phone to run high scores, a manufacturer puts the phone directly into the refrigerator for running test.

For the notebook, the same reason, and then the powerful hardware configuration, if there is no corresponding cooling capacity to suppress, will cause the CPU, graphics card due to overheating and greatly reduce the frequency, seriously reducing the performance of the whole device. Operating in a high-temperature environment for a long time will also accelerate the aging of electronic components so that the notebook can not reach the design life and be scrapped in advance.

The Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro GTX has 3 sides on the side, and the D-side large-area stainless steel grid enters the wind to form a perfect internal air duct; the built-in 3+2 large-diameter thick heat pipe and the enclosed layout can quickly heat the processor and the graphics card. Passed to the fan area; the S-shaped turbine metal blades are directly driven to the outside of the fuselage by a 12V motor.

1. Processor stable frequency test

We first use CineBench R15 to test the stable running frequency of Mi Notebook Pro GTX i7-8750H processor.

I7-8750H processor has a rated TDP of 45W, but it can maintain a power consumption of 90W for a short time (tested to last for 30 seconds), such as CPU-Z, FritzChess test software, 30 seconds time is enough to complete the test, Intel’s intention should be to hope that the I7-8750H can run a decent score in such tests.

In fact, it is true!

In the first 30 seconds of running the CineBench R15 test, the I7-8750H’s power consumption fluctuated around 86W, and the full-core frequency reached 3.9GHz, while the processor temperature reached 93 degrees. Although we can run high scores, we can’t use them.

Cycling the CineBench R15 test, the power consumption of the i7-8750H is finally stabilized at the standard 45W, the frequency is kept at 3.2GHz for the whole core, and the temperature is only 67 degrees. This state is the stable running frequency of Mi Notebook Pro GTX.

In our previous gamebook, if you want to make the i7-8750H processor stable at 45W for a long time, either the temperature will exceed 90 degrees, or you can only reduce the frequency. Some models of notebook processor frequency Will drop below 2.0GHz.

2, double baking test

We use FurMark and AIDA64 to fully load the GPU and CPU at the same time to view the temperature of the various parts of Mi Notebook Pro GTX. We use the latest 5.97.4068 Beta, the FPU baking machine in this version is as good as the Prime95 28.5.

After 5 minutes of testing, the temperature of the CPU and graphics card is basically stable. The CPU temperature is maintained at 82 degrees and the frequency is 2.8 GHz. The graphics card temperature is 69 degrees. Looking at the power meter, the power consumption of the whole machine reached 160W.

Throughout the baking process, the built-in GTX1060 graphics card frequency has been maintained at a high water level of 1620MHz, which is one of the reasons for the strong 3D performance of Mi Notebook Pro GTX. In the same test, the MSI GS65 has a GTX1070 (Max-Q) frequency that has dropped below 800MHz.

For the notebook surface temperature test, we read the temperature of each part of the C surface with a warm gun after the CPU and the graphics card are fully loaded for 10 minutes:

The upper left CPU has the highest heat dissipation air outlet temperature of 49 degrees, the upper right is the CPU air outlet, the temperature is 46 degrees, the WASD area temperature is 40 degrees, slightly higher than the hand temperature, the right side of the keyboard is 35 degrees, and the touchpad temperature is 29 degrees. The temperature of the keyboard and the touchpad is not much different from the hand temperature, and there is no discomfort when inputting.

3, The endurance test

The Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro GTX has a built-in lithium polymer battery with a total capacity of 55.14Wh. This capacity is not very large. We use PCMark8 for endurance testing. All other processes are closed during the test and the screen brightness is adjusted to 50%.

In the Work2.0 mode of PCmark8, the battery life of 4 hours and 20 minutes was measured. In the actual working environment, the daily use of text input, browsing the web, and processing pictures should be able to support 6 in daily use environment ~7 hours. If you play a large 3D game, it is better to have an external power supply.

4, weight & Xiaomi Game Box

Although the official claim that Xiaomi game is a notebook that can be taken to work, but its net weight of 2.7kg plus 0.65kg charger, 3.4kg travel weight will feel very sour when it is carried for a long time.

Xiaomi game box is the game assistant software that comes with Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro GTX. It can monitor the running status of the system, set the macro button function and manage the keyboard RGB light effect.

Users who like RGB lighting effects can customize the color of the lights and dynamic effects on the keyboard.

Conclusion

As a new game brand, the completion of Xiaomi’s game book is generally satisfactory, the work level is worthy of recognition, the details of the mold are in place, and the configuration is also keeping up with the mainstream of the market, such as SSD, wireless network card, and other accessories. High-end models like the PM981 and Intel AC9560 are also used.

There may be players who will say that the Mi Notebook Pro GTX is not equipped with GTX1070! Currently on the market with the i7-8750H + GTX1070 gamebook, the price is more than 13000 yuan (even if the stupid big three called Shenzhou also 11,000 yuan). In the case that the power consumption and temperature are not well solved, the GTX1070 can only increase the number of game frames by about 30%, but the price is 4000. Compared with the GTX1050TI version, the game performance of the GTX1060 is more than 50%, and the price is only 1300 yuan more. So the GTX1060 is a good balance between performance, price and power consumption.

After upgrading the i7-8750H processor, the theoretical performance of the CPU has increased by more than 50% compared to the previous generation flagship i7-7700HQ. There is no obvious shortboard in the configuration of Xiaomi game.

For those who insist on waiting for the GTX11 series of graphics cards. From the performance of the Titan XV, we can see that the voltaic frame is basically not much different from the Pascal. The only one that can be upgraded is the GDDR6. Based on the various news collected so far, the initial yield and capacity problems of GDDR6 will cause the price of GTX1160 to be very touching, even higher than the current GTX1070. Under the premise of not upgrading the process technology, the energy consumption ratio is very limited. Perhaps the 7nm Turing (perhaps Ampere) is the product that really deserves to be expected.

Heat dissipation has always been an important factor limiting game performance. Although many games have piled up seemingly top-level configurations, they are very ferocious when running, and can scare many people, but when they are running for a long time, they will be exposed, and the CPU and GPU will be downgraded to the grandmother’s house.

The cooling system of Mi Notebook Pro GTX consists of 5 pure copper heat pipes, 2 metal turbofans and a large area of a pure copper heatsink. Through the test, we also experienced the powerful cooling ability of the Xiaomi 8th generation standard game. At high load operation, the Mi Notebook Pro GTX CPU can maintain the high frequency of 3.2GHz and above, and the GPU can still maintain high-frequency operation above 1600MHz; at the same time, the CPU and GPU temperature is suppressed at more than 60 degrees. Can do these 2 points, not to mention the thin and light, even the clunky game is also very rare.

The cooling capacity of Xiaomi’s game book is at the leading level in the industry, and it truly achieves high performance and low temperature. The thickness of the whole machine is also controlled within 21mm, which reflects the strong design and R&D strength of Xiaomi.

In terms of game performance, we tested several mainstream single-machine masterpieces. In addition to the demanding metamorphosis of “Singularity Ashes”, other games can run at a speed of more than 50 frames in the highest quality of 1080P resolution. This performance is far stronger than this kind of game, even if it is not much worse than the desktop version.

In addition to ensuring the performance of Mi Notebook Pro GTX, good heat dissipation gives the player a relatively comfortable keyboard input environment. Under the extreme grilling environment of CPU and GPU double load, the temperature of the keyboard area of Mi Notebook Pro GTX does not exceed 40 degrees, and the input operation for a long time will not cause discomfort.

In terms of external interfaces, Mi Notebook Pro GTX can be described as “grand slam”. Four USB 3.0, one USB-C, 104M/s 3-in-1 card reader, earphone, microphone, HDMI 2.0, RJ45 Gigabit Lan port, covering most common interfaces. Even with more peripheral products, there is no need to worry about the choice of peripheral access. In addition to high-speed data transmission, USB-type C interface can also be used as a video output interface, with HDMI2.0 interface, Mi Notebook Pro GTX can be extended to two external monitors, and the playability is extremely high.

The price of Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro GTX top version is 8999 yuan which is not more expensive than the desktop PC with the same performance, not to mention the portability that the desktop does not have. Such a low temperature, high performance, and the powerful gaming laptop is a good choice to replace the desktop.

At present, Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro GTX can make new appointments at Xiaomi Mall and Xiaomi JD’s official flagship store. The first batch of stocks will be officially launched on the morning of August 16. There is no need to worry about after-sales, and JD and Xiaomi Mall provide online after-sales service. Consumers can also carry out offline after-sales maintenance in more than 400 Xiaomi homes across the country. By the way, here is coupon code: GKB045T at only $1079.99.

Update on Nov.11, 2018