Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G Specifications
Design- Aerospace class Series 6 aluminum, thickness – 15.9 mm, weight – 1.4 kg
Display- 14″ 2.5K (2560 x 1600 Px) IPS, 120Hz display, 16:10 aspect ratio, 100% sRGB wide color gamut
Audio & Camera- 2 x 2W stereo speaker and DTS audio support, 720p HD webcam
Hardware- 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12450H, GeForce MX550 GPU, 16GB LPDDR5 5200MHz Dual Channel RAM, 512GB PCIe Gen 4.0 SSD
Connectivity- Dual-band 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6, BT 5.2, 1 x Type-C USB 3.2 Gen 2, 1 x Thunderbolt 4, 1 x Type-A USB 3.1 Gen 11, 1x HDMI 2.0, 1 x Combo Audio Jack
Keyboard & Touchpad- 3-level backlit, scissor mechanism, multi-touch with Windows Precision drivers
Battery power- 56Wh Cell, 100W Type-C Power Adapter
Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G Design
The design of the Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G is heavily influenced by the 4th generation MacBook Pro lineup. Anyone could mistake it for a MacBook if the Xiaomi branding is removed from above. We don’t mind the design similarities, as long as the notebook doesn’t sacrifice other design principles such as looks, ergonomics and durability.
However, Xiaomi has managed to largely match the fine workmanship and build quality of Apple MacBooks. The Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G looks and feels premium, thanks to its Series 6 aerospace-grade aluminum construction. The CNC precision cut design looks sleek and minimal. The notebook is available in a single dark gray color scheme that has been sandblasted to create a fine texture.
Slim and portable
Xiaomi could have experimented with more color options. This design looks beautiful in matte black. In terms of ergonomics, the notebook weighs 1.4 kg and is 15.9 mm thick. It’s not the lightest or most stylish notebook in its class, but it’s small enough to fit in a backpack without straining your shoulders or back.
Webcam and audio output
Because the Notebook Pro 120G prioritizes productivity and media, it doesn’t skimp on basic utilities. The laptop includes a 720p HD webcam and a 2×2 stereo speaker audio system with DTS audio support. The Xiaomi Notebook’s webcam, like most 720p webcams, offers enough image quality for virtual meetings; However, Xiaomi could have added a 1080p camera for better performance. We anticipate this from Xiaomi because the company has a history of providing products with higher specifications than the competition.
Moving on to the audio, the speakers are fairly loud but lack the fine detail of a well-balanced setup. These are typical laptop-quality speakers (albeit a little louder) that sound flat but do the job for casual multimedia needs. Tweaking the DTS Audio Processing app can improve the sound output to some extent.
Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G Physical Ports Arrangement
The new productivity-focused notebook has a decent number of connectivity ports, but it’s far from ideal. A Type-A USB 3.1 Gen 1 port, a Thunderbolt 4 port for fast data transfers and charging, a Type-C USB 3.2 Gen 2 port, a 3.5mm headphone jack and an HDMI 2.0 port are included. The notebook does not have an SD card reader and wired Ethernet connectivity.
A second Type-A USB port is sorely missed, and because one USB-C port is used for charging, you only have one USB-C port for all your connectivity needs.
Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G Screen
The screen of the Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G is adequate, but could be better for the price. It excels at color fluidity and vibrancy, but falls short of the peak brightness and contrast levels one would expect from a 70K-75K laptop in 2022. Xiaomi claims the Notebook Pro 120G has 100% sRGB color gamut coverage, which appears to be accurate. to be .
Images come to life on the 8-bit Quad HD panel when you use the notebook in ideal lighting scenarios. When there is too much ambient light inside or you are in direct sunlight, the Quad HD panel looks a bit dull. The maximum brightness does not appear to be sufficient. The matte layer reduces reflections and improves visibility from corners, but also affects contrast levels and the overall color rendering of the LCD panel. If you prefer bright and glossy images, the matte panel of Xiaomi’s premium notebook will disappoint you.
No HDR support
The premium Xiaomi notebook lacks HDR support, which is an important overview. You do get Windows’ built-in HDR streaming option, though, which can trigger some HDR effects in compatible apps like HDR, but the results aren’t promising. The 14-inch screen has an aspect ratio of 16:10 (88% screen-to-body ratio). Some brands have moved to a 3:2 aspect ratio, which offers a little more real estate in some cases.
120 Hz refresh rate ensures smooth performance
Web page navigation, scrolling on Microsoft tools and native UI, and window animations are all buttery smooth. The 120 Hz refresh rate alone is a convincing argument for this notebook; however, it reduces the overall battery life. We’ll go into more detail about it later in the review. The screen refresh rate can be set to three levels: 60 Hz, 90 Hz or 120 Hz.
Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G Keyboard Trackpad Response
The Notebook Pro 120G, like the Mi Notebook Ultra, comes with a chiclet-style membrane keyboard. The keys have a stroke of 1.3 mm and use the standard scissor mechanism. The keyboard is backlit and the white LED backlighting can be set to three levels. Xiaomi has also added a dedicated macro key that can be used to launch any app or file/function.
In terms of performance, it is one of the best keyboards available at this price. The keys are well spaced, have a nice texture and have good travel distance, making typing a pleasant experience. The power button in the top right corner has a capacitive fingerprint sensor that works well but is a little slow.
When it comes to the multi-touch trackpad, it is both spacious and responsive. It is made of plastic, but it is quite sturdy. The trackpad has a nice matte texture that aids in precise UI navigation movements. However, since it is a large trackpad, there may be some accidental touches. Two-finger gestures should be used with caution, as the resting palm can cause annoying disturbances. Other than that, the trackpad is pure luck.
Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G Hardware Performance
The Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G has enough hardware to perform all your daily work tasks with ease. The notebook is available in two models, both of which use the 12th generation Intel Core i5-12450H CPU to perform computing tasks. The base frequency of the 8-core CPU is 2.0 GHz, with a maximum speed of 4.4 GHz. Both models come standard with 16 GB 5200 MHz LPDDR5 integrated memory (soldered to the motherboard) and 512 GB PCIe 4.0×4 NVMe M.2 flash storage.
Nvidia GeForce MX550 GPU (2GB GDDR6 video memory)
The underlying GPU makes all the difference. The standard model includes Intel UHD graphics, while the higher model has an integrated Nvidia GeForce MX550 GPU with 2 GB of GDDR6 video memory. While not a gamer’s dream, it can easily run light multiplayer games and older titles at reasonable frame rates. You can play casual games with titles like GTA V, CS: Global Offensive, PUBG, etc.
Good for most everyday tasks, but not for a powerful machine
In terms of daily tasks, you can make virtual calls, use more than 15 tabs in Chrome, work in Excel or Powerpoint, create documents in Google Drive, and edit photos in online photo editors without any performance degradation. The 16 GB RAM always ensures lag-free performance. The notebook can also be used for most front-end development tasks with the React JS and Angular JS frameworks.
The notebook doesn’t get too hot during normal day-to-day tasks, but it overheats and makes noise when stressed. With strenuous tasks like gaming and video editing 4K or 1080p files in Adobe Premiere Pro, fans start making audible noises and you start to feel the heat signatures and core performance drops.
Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G Benchmark Results
Our synthetic benchmark tests further inform us about the performance capabilities of the Notebook Pro 120G. In 3D Mark’s Time Spy benchmark, the notebook achieved a graphics core of 2426 and a CPU score of 7185, which corresponds to the actual performance. The overall score in the 3D Mark’s Time Spy remained at 2693. The laptop achieved a graphics score of 4746 in the Wild Life Extreme test.
Moving on, the Notebook Pro 120G took an overall score of 5117 in the PC Mark 10 Extended test with 8843 in the Essentials, 8472 in Productivity, 5322 in the Digital Content Creation and a reasonable 4650 in the Gaming component.
The notebook achieved a score of 9108 points in Cinebench’s multi-core CPU test and the single-core test.
Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G Battery Life
The new Xiaomi notebook is powered by a 56Wh battery cell and its lasting capacity on one full charge is largely dependent on the display’s refresh rate. If you set the display to the standard refresh rate of 60 Hz and keep the brightness around 100-120 NITS, the notebook will last up to seven hours on one full charge with light to moderate use.
By increasing the resolution to 120 Hz and using the notebook for high productivity tasks, the backup is reduced by up to 2.5-3 hours. This is not very inspiring and we think the battery life of the new notebook could have been better. Fortunately, the included 100W Type-C charger can charge the battery from empty to 100% in 75-80 minutes.
verdict
The Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G is an excellent everyday machine for working professionals, writers and students looking for a sleek and modern notebook. It is not intended for hardcore gaming and heavy video editing. If you plan to perform demanding tasks on your notebook, consider a notebook with a more powerful integrated GPU.
That said, which variant should you consider buying? I wouldn’t recommend spending an extra 15K for the integrated Nvidia GPU as it doesn’t really justify the extra cost. The standard variant should be more than adequate for most general day-to-day work and multimedia requirements.
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