9 ms·
People shit on Xiaomi here but even imitation requires some level of artistry and finesse. This looks like a good clone of Air, and I haven't seen Acer/Lenovo/D
by puranjay 10y ago
People shit on Xiaomi here but even imitation requires some level of artistry and finesse. This looks like a good clone of Air, and I haven't seen Acer/Lenovo/Dell manage to do that yet.
- chj 10y agoExactly. I have long wanted to switch back to windows, and this is the first one that makes me smile (I am price sensitive:-)
- aoloe 10y agoWhat are you misssing in a Dell XPS 13?
- joebergeron 10y agoA laptop that's pleasing to the eyes.
- zapu 10y agoIs this: http://spadkobiercy.nazwa.pl/XPS13/7.jpg http://spadkobiercy.nazwa.pl/XPS13/7.jpg seriously not pleasing?
- carlob 10y agoThe plastic/fake metal transition is really ugly
- JosephRedfern 10y agoIt's real metal, and carbon fibre (rather than plastic).
- danpalmer 10y agoNot particularly. There are still lots of "bits" to it - colours, materials, vents, contours, etc. So few companies actually get rid of them, but it looks so much better when they do.
- talideon 10y agoThere's no venting or contours, and just two materials: meta and carbon fibre. Personally, I find the carbon fibre much more pleasant to rest my wrists on than metal and it looks quite nice in person. The thing that looks like venting on the left edge is actually a battery indicator. I'd get rid of it, personally, but that's my only real complaint about its looks.
- calgoo 10y agoI dont like the shape of it :) That triangular body (or trapezoid in this case?) is not pleasing to my eyes. It could also be that its just something to get used to, but still.
- lorenzhs 10y agoI don't want to spoil your fun but the Macbook Air's shape is even more pointed: http://as-images.apple.com/is/image/AppleInc/aos/published/images/m/ac/macbook/air/macbook-air-gallery2-2014?wid=978 http://as-images.apple.com/is/image/AppleInc/aos/published/i...
- oldmanjay 10y agoDo you assume anyone who doesn't like the look of any Windows device must be an apple fan?
- lorenzhs 10y agoNot at all, but the submission's title is literally "Xiaomi’s first laptop is a Macbook Air rival" and this discussion started with the question what's wrong about the Dell XPS13 that makes it worse than the Macbook Air, so I think it's fair that to point out that the design characteristic in question is found in both devices. In any case, what does being a fan have to do with appreciating good design? I'm no fan of Apple either, but I appreciate their product design nonetheless. I'm not sure why your reaction was that sharp.
- joebergeron 10y agoThere are a few things here I could nitpick about. I'm never really a fan of the textured look of the material surrounding the keyboard - I don't know why so many people who design laptops opt for this. Would much prefer just a solid matte black, no texture. Also I don't understand why the bottom of the laptop and lid are one color and the inside is another - why? I think a single color across the entire laptop would look way better. Sure, it's a lot sleeker than most laptops (not made by Apple), but its design leaves me asking a ton of "why did they choose that?" kind of questions.
- Shorel 10y agoIt looks very nice to me. The question is how it looks after six months of use.
- NhanH 10y ago$$$ mostly. XPS13 is as pricey as Macbook Air
- yla92 10y agoI can second that. I am using XPS 15 and dual booted Ubuntu along side Windows 10. On Windows, some apps icons and texts are pixelated because of the 4k display (it reminds me of the time when the very first Retina Macbook Pro came out). Aside from that, pretty solid and fast laptop, given the size and the spec (can go up to 32 GB RAM + i7 CPU).
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- digestives 10y agoI have a Samsung Series 9 15" from 2011 - well built, stylish, decent specs and still serving me well! https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&q=samsung+series+9+2011+15+inch https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&q=samsung+serie...
- comboy 10y agoI have both air and xps 13 and to me they are not even comparable. Yes, thin bezel looks cool at the first glance but that's about it. Instead of metal under your hand you have this weird something, keyboard works much worse, they did not even make reasonable handle to open the laptop like there is in macbook air. Also the power supply is chunky and you cannot fold it nicely. Don't get me wrong, it's a really good laptop and I've chosen it over so many others on the market. I would probably still choose it for my linux laptop (lenovo x1 is neat but I'm done with lenovo with all the stuff they've done lately). It just looks poorly to me in a direct comparison.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- CalRobert 10y agoNot sure, but maybe I say that because I'm a happy Sputnik (xps 13 w/Ubuntu) owner. Though to be honest there is a small issue with coil whine in very quiet settings. I hear Dell has addressed this in newer models.
- josteink 10y ago> This looks like a good clone of Air, and I haven't seen Acer/Lenovo/Dell manage to do that yet. Clearly it's not a cheap product, but the Lenovo Thinkpad Carbon X1 is razor thin, high powered, well built, and very good looking. Maybe I'm missing something?
- Trundle 10y agoAn Air clone to me would have a metal body as that's a pretty defining characteristic.
- vacri 10y agoCarbon Fibre isn't a good enough 'tech wank' material?
- Trundle 10y agoCould even be better. I didn't say anything about the value of the laptop, just whether or not I consider it a macbook air clone.
- josteink 10y agoFor me the important aspect of an "Air laptop" would be that it is lightweight. And Carbon Fibre is certainly more lightweight than aluminium, and may be stronger as well. As such, the Carbon X1 certainly qualifies.
- scotu 10y agoI cannot trust Lenovo being competent at what they do after superfish, I wonder how can any of the readers of hacker news still think of buying from them... (this doesn't mean that competitors are competent or anything, but being caught like they were undermines my basic trust threshold)
- MichaelGG 10y agoUnfortunately, nothing comes close to ThinkPads. I dislike Lenovo a lot and would ditch them at first chance. No vendor wants to be that chance though. (Proper keyboard, 3-physical-button pad/point, not too hot, etc.) I'm not too concerned about Superfish - that was only the consumer junk, right? The BIOS-Windows-auto-install stuff was more concerning. But hey, little choices. Lenovo is certainly incompetent - look at the X240/T440 with the terrible pad design they backtracked on (obvious). Or the Carbon keyboards they ended up ditching.
- Fuxy 10y agoAcer/Lenovo/Dell can't risk getting sued by Apple. Xiaomi is a Chinese company they don't care since if they ever do get sued the Chinese court will always side with the Chinese company. The again if the clone works just as well as the original I don't really care but this would have been a really good chance to copy and improve.
- sievebrain 10y agoLenovo is also a Chinese company, no? And Acer is Taiwanese.
- adamlett 10y agoThe difference is that Lenovo and Acer sell to US market whereas Xiaomi does not. This means that they have something to loose. Xiaomi will be in big trouble if they ever try to break into a market outside of China (and other places with weak IP laws).
- jmknoll 10y agoTaiwan isn't China. Completely different legal structure. And Lenovo is a Chinese company, but I guess they've made the cost-benefit analysis that they have more to lose getting sued by Apple in the US for copying their products than they have to gain by selling a cheap Macbook knockoff in an already very competitive Chinese market.
- umanwizard 10y agoChina and Taiwan are two different countries in practice (despite claims China makes to the contrary). Taiwan has robust rule of law, unlike china.
- drzaiusapelord 10y agoLenovo inherited its entire design style from the IBM sale. A modern thinkpad isn't that different from one from 2003. Lenovo doesn't need to copy anyone. Its designs are already considered classic and unique to their brand. Xiaomi is the new kid on the block and just copies Apple designs. Some examples: http://www.iphonehacks.com/2014/07/xiaomi-copying-apple.html http://www.iphonehacks.com/2014/07/xiaomi-copying-apple.html Also they have no legitimate sales channel in the US/EU, so there's a jurisdiction issue with a lawsuit. Apple knows it can't just march into China and win a lawsuit. Acer and Lenovo sell in the US/EU, so they have to play ball with our IP laws.
- guilamu 10y agoXPS 13?
- soylentcola 10y agoI don't typically buy ultra-think notebooks (or really many notebooks in general) but I've had good experiences with Asus if you want that "85% of a MacBook quality for 50% of the price" thing. Last laptop I bought was due to needing something for occasional DJ and projection graphics projects. Since it needed to be mobile, even a small form factor desktop build was not really feasible so I went looking for the best thing I could grab at Microcenter for under a grand. Now this was a few years ago so the specs aren't top notch anymore but for just under $1000 I got an Asus that's not quite all metal (bottom half of the shell is plastic but the rest is aluminum), 1920x1080 screen (but worse viewing angles than a premium display), an i7 processor, 16GB RAM, and the mobile variant of the then-current class of nVidia GPUs (because I needed something that could handle all of the OpenGL stuff I was messing with). The only other sucky part was it came with a HDD instead of a SSD but at some point I'll upgrade the SSD in my desktop and hand that one down to the laptop. The nearest competing Apple notebook at the time (at least 1920x1080, i7, 16GB RAM, and discrete graphics) would've run me about $2500. Build would've been better, display would've been a bit better, and if it had a SSD or one of those hybrid drives, that obviously beats spinning platters. But none of those things (or all of them together) was worth spending more than double. If it was going to be my only machine for everything I'd have probably paid the premium for an Apple or another higher-end notebook with nicer display and SSD but for a secondary computer at around $950-ish it is still running perfectly when I need to take something on the road.
- zdkl 10y agoOn some of the models you're describing the motherboard is soldered to the chassis, that makes changing the HDD a bit perileous. Apart from that point I echo the sentiment. These are (were?) great little laptops for the price point/form factor
- dpark 10y ago> On some of the models you're describing the motherboard is soldered to the chassis Ew. What purpose does that serve?
- 10y ago
- zghst 10y agoAt the very least, Lenovo and Dell are innovating and making attractive, eye popping products that don't copy Apple at all. Copying is a poor strategy that in the end run gets you nowhere, you end up not being able to differentiate yourself other than being a copycat that's one step behind.
- spyder 10y agoASUS ZenBook 3: https://www.asus.com/Notebooks/ASUS-ZenBook-3-UX390UA/ https://www.asus.com/Notebooks/ASUS-ZenBook-3-UX390UA/