Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro

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Mi Notebook Pro i7 8550U 16GB Version Reviewed

Mi Notebook Pro i7 8550U 16GB Version Reviewed

I’ve already reviewed the i5 8250U 8GB model of the Mi Notebook Pro, the RAM limit of 8GB (nonupgradeable) made me sell it and buy this model. The i5 model came out a good month before the most powerful version which is now out powered by an Intel Core i7 8550U quad-core CPU, the Nvidia MX150 GPU remains & 16GB of RAM. The only change to the model is the faster CPU and double the RAM which is 16GB of DDR4 2400Mhz RAM. My Mi Notebook i7 8550U review is below:

This video only covers the new chipset, the design, battery life, build & design and speakers is all covered in the full Mi Notebook Pro review.

Sadly no fix yet it seems for the SSD slots. Both run at PCIe x 2 mode and not x 4 so we can get the full speed of the NVMe Samsung PM961 SSD this laptop comes with. Performance of the i7 8550U is great, with 1 megabytes of cache and 600Mhz higher max turbo more than the i5 8250U you do see the difference in synthetic benchmarks. And like the i5 8250U model, the power limit is what holds back this great CPU.

In my testing with Intel XTU application, I was able to get the i7 8550U to perform close to a desktop i7 4770k CPU in Cinebench R15. A remarkable result considering this is an ultrabook not a big desktop, but not really too practical for extended periods. As a 35W TDP limit (25W over the stock 15W limit) caused thermals to peak up to 91 degrees when encoding 4k video. So the maximum you can really safely use is a 30W power limit with Intel’s Xtreme Tuning Utility. But don’t forget to undervolt it -0.095 volts to this helps keep the temperatures down.

But under the stock power limit and GPU clocks, thermals are great. Temps taxes both the GPU and CPU are perfectly acceptable. The CPU staying under 80 degrees C and the GPU under 70 degrees C. And if you’re wondering does the faster CPU mean it will give more FPS in games? Yes, but a minor difference. If gaming is important to you, you might be better off with something with at least a Nvidia 1050 GPU. But the MX150 can at least play modern 2017 titles at 1080p as long as you tweak visuals or go with the lowest setting possible. And you also want to overclock the GPU with a +1000Mhz clock on the MX150’s memory clock and +200 Mhz on the core clock. This can really help the GPU produces a nice 14-20% or more frames per second making games smoother.

Battery life on this i7 model is a little less as expected from the 600Mhz faster turbo and base clocks. But only around a 5-10% difference. Battery Bar Pro also reports a slightly larger battery at 62 WH and not 60Wh? I wonder if it’s just a glitch or Xiaomi did use a slightly larger battery?

This model is currently selling for $1159 USD with coupon 16GBMINTPRO at Geekbuying here.

Video tech reviewer and tech blogger. I have a huge interest in the latest tech, tablets, laptops, mobiles, drones, and even e-scooters. Active in the tech community since 2008 days of the Omnia i900 Windows phone. Samsungi8910omnia.com, Samsunggalaxysforums.com founder from way back.

21 Comments

  1. PLEASE, I want to know which type of SSD is supported in the two slots in there ?, I’m planning on buying one and expand it’s storage. Does it support RAID 0 ?
    And another thing about external monitors does it support high resolution ones trough the usb c that is meant for charging ?
    THANKS in advance.

    • RAID 0 is not supported. The slot supports both SATA3 and NVMe (PCIe)

    • Yes sorry type-c max res is 4k60hz and use must use the charging type-c port, the other port is USB 3 data only. And the HDMI port is max 4k30hz.

  2. Hello everyone.
    I just bought the Mi Notebook Pro. When installing Windows 10, I erased all other partitions to create a new one. The installation was done correctly. Except that at startup, I realize that some hardware components no longer work. Like the wifi for example. I downloaded the drivers from this links (https://techtablets.com/xiaomi-mi-notebook-pro/downloads/). The problem is that I do not know how to install them one by one. Is there a driver to install in priority before others? Need help please. Thanks you in advance.

    • Manually find and install the Intel 8265 Wifi driver first, then run Windows update it will find the rest. But Wifi should have worked, is the image you’re using new?

    • I found the way to resolve the problem. Thank you again.

  3. Hello everyone.
    I just bought the Mi Notebook Pro. When installing Windows 10, I erased all other partitions to create a new one. The installation was done correctly. Except that at startup, I realize that some hardware components no longer work. Like the wifi for example. I downloaded the drivers from this links (https://techtablets.com/xiaomi-mi-notebook-pro/downloads/). The problem is that I do not know how to install them one by one. Is there a driver to install in priority before others? Need help please. Thanks

  4. Hey Chris. I bought the i7 16gb version for 870€ – a nice price i guess and it is sent from poland.

    One question: whats in your opinion the best solution to charge it in Germany? Would you recommend buying a small and cheap adapter for the charger or should I get a new charger?

    Because we have europe plugs here in germany and I dont want to kill the battery of the Notebook with a shitty adapter or a shitty psu?

  5. Hi, thanks to you I recently bought the i5 model of the mi notebook pro.
    I’m using it since Yesterday and I love it!
    My only concern is the display. Not the brightness that is adeguate, not the reflections, but the fact that it changes brightness around the level that I choose. When I open a White page, or very light colored, the brightness go up, when there is a prevalence of a darker colour the brightness decrease. All this happens ”by steps”, not smoothly.

    I really hate this, is there a way to disable this? or is this the famous pwm? before this I had a laptop with a TN panel, so I don’t know what is that effect.

    Paolo

    • That’s the display’s power saving feature. Disable it in the Intel GPU power menu.

  6. Hi Chris,

    Thanks for the in depth review. I own the Pro and I noticed a freezing issue that seems to only pop up when using MSI Afterburner and/or GPU-Z. I noticed that when either programs are active (or both) after about 10-15 minutes of inactivity the laptop’s dedicated GPU shuts off completely and cannot be found while trying to use for 3d applications such as games. Then the laptop freezes and hard crashes. I’ve updated all of my drivers for graphics and chipsets and I can’t seem to figure out this problem. The issue completely dissapears when not running GPU-Z or MSI Afterburner. Wondering if you or anyone else has seen this issue or if you can test it. Thanks!

    • Hi, never had that issue on mine. No freezing up and I use GPU-Z and afterburner for overclocking.

  7. Hi

    Has anyone done a network capture over a long period of time to check if the laptop tries to “call home”?

    I’d love to buy one but I’m worried that it has state sponsored spyware that you can’t remove (ie in the UEFI bios or somewhere in the hardware itself).

    Thank you

  8. Hi Chirs
    Great review like always.
    I like this laptop but I have know idea if it suitable for me
    I study design and need a laptop light and powerfull
    could you help me know if I can use adobe photoshp with heavy filters and illustrator software
    without lag or crach. If its ok wich one should I bought the i5 or i7, will it make a real difference for my need
    Thanks

  9. Hi Chris,

    First of all, thanks for the review!

    We currently own the i5 model of the Pro, and run 3.2 Mhz constant at around 65C and 3.4 Mhz at around 70-72C, both with an undervolt of -0.090V. In your video you state that the i7 model will run at 4Ghz, but gets very hot. Could you tell me whether you actually see an increase in CPU performance over the i5 model while aiming for a target temperature of +/- 70C during Realbench or during the extreme tuning utility CPU stress test.

    Thanks!

    • At 30W TDP it will hold 3.7Ghz all 4 cores or 4.0Ghz single core. Temps reach 85 degrees. Due to the higher clocks it does get a lot hotter.

  10. Chris G,
    Have you tried the XTU mod on the 8550U model yet?

    • Correction… have you dont a heat-sink mod on this model yet. The video shows the XTU tuning.

    • Correction… have you done a heat-sink mod on this model yet? The video shows the XTU tuning.

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