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Xiaomi is embarking on PCs

Pawan Fangaria

New member
Wanna check on a Xiaomi's notebook? Just wait until 1st quarter next year. It's expected to have Samsung's memory chips and displays. I do not know about CPUs and other stuff yet, may be anyone knows then let us know.

View attachment 15276
Xiaomi
is known for its disruption strategy in prices. Apple, HP, Lenovo, Dell beware. In an already struggling segment of laptops, this will create further profit margin erosion. According to IDC forecast PC segment is expected to decline by 8.7% in 2015 and continue like that for another two years or so. So, what do we foresee?

There is a marketing theory that in maturing markets new players emerge to take control and existing players either decline and close or get into Niche market. Time will tell us what happens!
 
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Xiaomi has a wide product lineup, so notebooks make complete sense:

  • Smart Phones
  • Tablet
  • OS
  • Network Router
  • Smart TVs
  • Set top box
  • Cloud storage
  • Messaging service
  • External battery
  • Smart Home: blood pressure monitor, air purifier, lightbulb, webcam, camera, scale, power strip, home kit
 
Yup, you listed the whole laundry. So, what do we call it in such a case? Definitely, not Apple. Apple doesn't have such large portfolio I guess. But Xiaomi's smartphone can be called as "Chinese Apple". I just bought one for my wife :) It looks good, works well, let's see for some more time.

Another, learning I got from my home episode is why people are going for second Smartphone. It can be one feature phone an another Smartphone. My expectation was that after buying that Xiaomi, my wife will give up the older phone. But no, she is not giving up, now she has two phones and two numbers :D

So, the thing I read is - now there will be a wave of second phone with everyone. And there low-priced phones with reasonably good quality can dominate.
 
Interesting about two phones per person, because I have one phone with two numbers, thanks to Google Voice, and it's free to add the 2nd phone number.

I did meet a guy in Silicon Valley with two phones recently, one for business use, the other for private use.

Steve Wozniak, an Apple founder, carries something like 7 phones with him along with other gadgets in a backpack, now that's electronic commitment.

View attachment 15279
 
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I think Xiaomi may be onto something here: PC is a mature product category with not-optimal UX. Will be interesting to note how Xiaomi will do its notorious UI tweak that may give PC a fresh look and feel - some may call it "eye-candy" but I think Xiaomi can do better than just aesthetics.
 
What if the new Xiaomi notebooks are really netbooks like the Google Chromebook? That would be another endorsement for Google's vision of a thin client, using the cloud to store all documents.
 
No wonder, Xiaomi's notebooks come with that concept. We are yet to hear what they offer. But we can surely expect cheaper laptops with good features from Xiaomi in this saturating market segment.
 
It's interesting (and surprising!) to hear that Xiaomi would enter the notebook arena. In terms of production, Taiwan ODMs account for 90% of global notebook production. I'm curious how Xiaomi can suddenly produce a (significantly) cheaper notebook than the major players (such as HP, Dell, Acer, Asus, etc.).

The screenshot of the Mi Notebook Pawan kindly provided us shows an OSX-like UI. I BELIEVE* (*-not quite 100% sure) I've read that both Google & Microsoft prevent OEMs from modifying their UIs. Certainly, the UI in the screenshot looks nothing like the standard Chrome OS or Windows 10 UI. Another point...adding a UI-layer would most likely slow the performance of the notebook & incur development costs to create & maintain. Is that something Xiaomi wants?

Perhaps we can speculate that Xiaomi is going to bundle a Xiaomi-branded Linux distribution instead? That would certainly keep costs down while maintaining complete control of the OS. The downside...limited Windows application compatibility (especially games).
 
Yes, the OS and UI, that go on Xiaomi notebook we are waiting to see.

I see the following specs taking rounds for US$ 710 Xiaomi Ultrabook which is yet to arrive. Yes its Linux OS.

Specification
[table] border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); color: rgb(101, 109, 120); font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; width: 500px"
|-
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | CPU
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | Intel Core i7
|-
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | OS
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | Linux
|-
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | Memory
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | 8G DDR3
|-
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | Screen
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | 15.6 Inch 16:9 1920x1080resolution
|-
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | Graphic card
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760M
|-
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | Memory Capacity
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | 2G DDR5
|-
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | Vedio port
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | HDMI
|-
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | Audio port
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | Headphone / microphone combo interface
|-
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | USB port
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | USB2.0+USB3.0
|-
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | Card reader
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | Multi-in-1 card reader
|-
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | Wired LAN
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | 1000Mbps Ethernet card
|-
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | Package include
| style="border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221)" | 1x Laptop
1x Power adapter
1x Power cable
1x Manual
|-
[/table]
 
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Using Linux will be smart for cost savings, but unwise for the consumer market, because consumers are expecting: Windows 10, OS X, Android or iOS.

Retail stores like Walmart tried to sell a Linux-based PC before in 2002, and they were promptly met with the reality that consumers want a popular OS with millions of apps.
 
Using Linux will be smart for cost savings, but unwise for the consumer market, because consumers are expecting: Windows 10, OS X, Android or iOS.

Depends on definition of Linux; some people also consider Android as Linux.
 
Yes, Linux listed there would not be plane Linux. I don't think Xiaomi would be so foolish. One can guess from their MIUI on Smartphones out of Android.
 
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