Huawei and Xiaomi laptops released, Yang Yuanqing breathed a sigh of relief

On the afternoon of July 27, Xiaomi's notebook was finally released, which was at least half a year later than expected, but it finally met the expectations of the public. Before that, Huawei also released the Matebook as its first product to enter the PC industry. So far, the two mobile phone manufacturers who have high hopes from the public and consumers have finally come up with their pioneering products and have given an explanation to the public.

However, as the two most influential manufacturers in the mobile phone field, the release of their PC products is indeed lackluster. What's more regrettable is that the two manufacturers are losing the best opportunity to enter the PC field.

Since the second half of 2015, the media and the public have been hoping that Huawei and Xiaomi would produce PC products in various ways, bringing some hope and ripples to the PC industry, which has been stagnant for a long time. In fact, with the development of the mobile phone industry, mobile phones, as handheld personal computing devices, are not much different from PCs, especially notebooks, so it is not impossible for mobile phone manufacturers to produce PC products.

1. What kind of notebook products are needed to meet improvement needs?

The user side hopes that Huawei and Xiaomi will enter the PC field. The reason is that after the rapid increase in improvement demand, the products on the market cannot meet the user's needs, which creates a market opportunity. I have discussed this repeatedly in previous articles, so I will not repeat it here. As far as the current PC market is concerned, the only manufacturers whose PC products can meet the user's improvement needs in terms of form and performance may be Apple and Microsoft, while the products of the three traditional families, Lenovo, HP and Dell, are basically still at the level of the last century, and have not undergone fundamental changes in the past decade. However, as the consumption level of users has increased, the requirements for PC products have changed dramatically, which is the fundamental reason why Apple products and Microsoft's Surface series PC products are flying against the wind.

Having said that, the PC products released by Huawei and Xiaomi this time are no different from those of traditional PC manufacturers in terms of product form, performance and price. The disappointment of the media and users will undoubtedly cast a shadow on the future PC path of the two companies.

Speaking of products, Huawei's Matebook is just a tablet. Although it is equipped with a keyboard, you still can't compare it with a laptop after using it. Although the workmanship and manufacturing process are perfect enough, the designer seems to have not understood the basic requirements that a laptop should have to be able to be used normally.

So at present, although the needs of users are not very clear, there are paths to follow. In the opinion of Dao Ke, to become a new force in the PC industry and to make products hot-selling products in the mainstream market, the following points cannot be ignored.

1. Efficient input and display devices. Whether it is a traditional PC manufacturer or a new entrant, if you want users to really like it, don't try to change the usage habits formed by users over decades. A full-size keyboard with a good feel and a suitable key travel is necessary. Without this, everything is empty talk. If the manufacturing process of Huawei Matebook is good enough and can basically match Apple products, its shell keyboard is at the level of Huaqiangbei. Compared with Surface Pro, it is dozens of millets behind.

Another point is that when mobile phones are all moving towards 2K screens, the minimum display resolution of laptops is at least 1080P, and the screen resolution that can really adapt to the future and improve display efficiency should be above 2K. In this regard, you can't help but admire Apple. The Macbook Pro series adopted a resolution of more than 2560 x 1600 as early as three or four years ago, while Microsoft Surface book directly adopted a resolution of 3000X2000. Don't talk about Windows 10's poor support for high resolution. You can talk about it after you use it. The display efficiency advantage brought by high resolution to users is incomparable to the common laptop resolution of 1366X768.

2. A proper compromise between portability and performance. The image of traditional notebooks as big and bulky is difficult to change, but for new entrants, they should be careful not to compromise on performance just for the sake of portability. After all, notebooks are to be used, not to be shown off. Whether it is Huawei's Matebook or the 12.5-inch version of Xiaomi Notebook Air, they all use Intel's M3 series processors. To be honest, Intel's M3 series products have excellent power consumption control and can be fanless, but their performance is about 40% lower than that of the U series. Compared with the standard version of the processor, the performance gap is huge. It can even be said that the M3 series processors are not suitable for use in business environments. In fact, even on Intel's website, the samples of the M series CPUs are limited to all-in-one computers, set-top boxes, tablets and entry-level notebooks. The test benchmark is the previous generation of Atom. Everyone can understand the mystery.

The premise of lightness is sufficient performance, and the premise of strong performance is sufficient lightness. The balance between the two is a kind of knowledge, and it also tests the manufacturer's ability to understand user needs. On the other hand, Apple, the leader in this industry, uses U series CPUs for all its products except the New Macbook with a 12.5-inch display and M series processors. Its high-end products even use i7 quad-core standard processors, but its lightness has not been lost.

3. Integrated body with excellent craftsmanship. Like mobile phones, the current user requirements for notebooks, appearance has become a real "parameter" that influences user choices. Looking at the well-received products on the market, whether it is Apple's Macbook series or Microsoft's Surface Pro and Surface book series, their manufacturing processes are far superior to the top products of Lenovo, HP and Dell. Even some niche products of Asus, the fundamental reason for their sales increase lies in the improvement of their manufacturing processes and industrial design.

Just as mobile phones have become an essential daily consumer product, notebooks are also an extension of people's brains and have become a daily necessity. This is completely different from the previous usage scenarios where computers were only used for work and entertainment, or there has been a major change. Just like people's demand for portability, the requirement for users to carry products with them, whether the manufacturing process and industrial design are exquisite, is an issue that cannot be avoided in notebook products now and in the future.

Let’s go back to the topic and ask why Huawei and Xiaomi are losing the best opportunity to enter the PC field?

2. Xiaomi laptop is an extremely mediocre traditional laptop product

Let’s take a look at the Xiaomi notebook first.

This time, Xiaomi released two products, one with a 12.5-inch screen and the other with a 13.3-inch screen. Every time I see Xiaomi's product release, I can't help but laugh. However, this time, not only industry professionals are laughing, but even ordinary people can't stand it. Jokes about the thickness of Xiaomi notebooks have flooded major media, WeChat, and Weibo.

Smart people are always fooled by their own cleverness.

Today, I will not discuss which is thicker, the Xiaomi notebook or the one-yuan coin. Let's take a look at the real Xiaomi notebook.

At the press conference, Lei Jun compared the 12.5-inch version of Xiaomi Notebook Air with the Apple Macbook Air, and concluded that it was lighter and thinner than the Apple Macbook Air. This showed the cleverness of Lei Jun and Xiaomi. For those who are not familiar with Apple products, it is easy to be fooled by Lei Jun. Indeed, according to this comparison, in terms of thinness, the 12.5-inch Xiaomi Notebook is definitely lighter and thinner than the 13.3-inch Macbook Air. Lei Jun did not lie.

However, what Lei Jun did not tell users is that the 13.3-inch version of the Macbook Air uses an Intel i5 U-series CPU, not an M-series one. Among Apple notebooks, only the new Macbook uses a 12.5-inch display and an M-series processor. In other words, if you really want to compare, the real benchmark for the Xiaomi 12.5-inch notebook version is the New Macbook. If you compare this product, the Apple New Macbook is 0.15kg lighter and 0.8mm thicker than the Xiaomi notebook Air (basically negligible).

The Xiaomi Notebook Air's 13.3-inch product is designed to compete with the 13.3-inch Macbook Air.

In the opinion of the swordsman, the so-called cleverness will eventually dig a hole and bury oneself. Xiaomi's cleverness in product parameters can deceive people for a while, but it can't deceive people forever. For a normal enterprise, this kind of opportunistic cheating method is very despicable.

Now that we understand the comparison, let's look at the advantages of the Xiaomi Notebook Air. If we only look at the fact that it uses the M3 processor, the Xiaomi Notebook, like Huawei's Matebook, has no value for normal use in a business environment, and I would never recommend anyone to buy such a fancy product. But to illustrate the problem, we still evaluate the advantages of this product from three aspects.

Since Xiaomi is benchmarking against Apple, it is very similar to Apple in manufacturing technology and industrial design. As for scratch resistance and durability, it is not clear yet. At least in this respect, Xiaomi is better than 90% of the products on the market. As for keyboard and resolution, they are at least up to standard. In terms of balance between portability and performance, it is not up to standard. The M3 processor cannot meet the basic usage requirements of users.

In general, the 12.5-inch version is not worth buying at all. Although it is only priced at 3,499 yuan, it is at least usable to buy a traditional laptop at this price. The 13.3-inch version, like the Macbook Air, uses the i5 series CPU, and the display efficiency has basically reached an above-average level. The price is 4,999 yuan. What's the situation? The benchmark Apple Macbook Air only costs 6,988 yuan (the low-end version is only 6,288 yuan). Although the screen resolution is only 1440X900, the 16:10 screen ratio still has a great display advantage over 16:9. As for which product the user will choose, it is actually self-evident. The price range of about 5,000 yuan is the main battlefield for mainstream notebooks. The main products of traditional manufacturers are concentrated in this price range, and users have an extremely rich selection of products.

3. Huawei and Xiaomi’s mediocre products are missing out on a great opportunity to enter the PC market

It should be said that the Xiaomi Notebook Air (13.3-inch version), apart from copying Apple's exterior design and adopting better shell craftsmanship, is an extremely restrained and mediocre product in terms of performance and price. Compared with traditional products of the same price, it has no advantages except for the shell, and will not pose any threat to traditional PC manufacturers.

The root cause of this result is Xiaoyu. Xiaomi claims that the Xiaomi notebook team is a Xiaomi-affiliated Tianmi company, and most of the company's personnel come from traditional notebook manufacturers. The team's average industry experience is more than ten years. It is easy to understand why Xiaomi notebooks are so mediocre. In the fully competitive PC field, if new entrants continue to follow the thinking of traditional PC manufacturers, they will have no chance of survival. For several years, the Xiaomi brand has left users with the impression of cost-effectiveness. Although Xiaomi does not want to continue to move forward with this brand impression, in fact, before the Xiaomi brand has formed a new brand positioning, if Xiaomi's products are not cost-effective, then for users, Xiaomi products will have no value.

For new entrants into the PC industry, the advantage is that they do not have the product line burden of traditional PC manufacturers. They can start from user needs and develop products that are completely different from traditional PC manufacturers, rather than improving on the basis of traditional manufacturers. If they continue to use the thinking of PC manufacturers to make notebook products, it will be a disaster for new entrants.

When users are extremely dissatisfied with the products of traditional PC manufacturers, they call on Huawei and Xiaomi to enter the PC field to bring a breath of fresh air to the long-dormant market. However, when the products they launch are no different from those of traditional manufacturers, users' hopes will turn into disappointment. Huawei and Xiaomi are losing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because of the mediocrity of their products.

This change in users' demand for improvement is something that traditional manufacturers or other new entrants will inevitably fail to notice. However, it is not certain whether Huawei and Xiaomi will still have such a good user base and market space when their next generation of products are launched.

For traditional PC manufacturers like Lenovo, when they saw the Xiaomi notebook and Huawei Matebook, they could finally breathe a sigh of relief, as the disruptors had not arrived. As for Yang Yuanqing, who had been nervous about Huawei and Xiaomi entering the PC industry, he could finally sleep well.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.