Announced this morning alongside the Mi Mix 2S, the new Mi Gaming Laptop from Xiaomi is a beastly laptop built for games but at half the price of its nearest competitors.

When is the Mi Gaming Laptop release date?

The Mi Gaming Laptop goes on sale in China on 16 April.

You'll be able to import it to the UK from China using a site such as GearBest, but keep in mind that in common with Xiaomi's other laptops it will likely ship with the Chinese edition of Windows 10. You can get around this by installing a fresh copy of Windows 10 (an OEM licence offers the cheapest route).

How much does the Mi Gaming Laptop cost?

The top-end Mi Gaming Laptop costs 8,999 RMB, which is around £1,014/US$1,432. Xiaomi claims a comparable Alienware laptop that does not have the same powerful cooling system costs 17,699 RMB, which is a staggering £1,996/$2,816.

An entry-level model with a Core i5 rather than Core i7 chip and half the RAM at 8GB costs an even more affordable 5,999 RMB, which is around £676/$954.

Mi Gaming Laptop Features & Specifications

The Mi Gaming Laptop is, from the outside, an unassuming notebook with a larger than expected chassis for a 15.6in laptop that's 20.9mm thick. This is to help dissipate heat, along with some chunky 3+2 heatpipes, a couple of fans, and a dedicated Tornado button that can drastically cool things down in just minutes.

But while it's low-key on the outside, inside Xiaomi says it's wild. There's a 16-million-colour four-zone keyboard with five macro keys that creates a real lightshow, and this is a professional gaming keyboard with 30 n-key rollover.

The core hardware is impressive, too, with a seventh-gen Intel Core i7 processor and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 graphics with 6GB VRAM. For storage there's a 256GB SSD and a 1TB mechanical HDD.

Other features of note include 10 interface ports, a 15.6in display with wide colour-gamut and ultra-thin bezels, Dolby Sound and Sony Hi-Res audio.

Read next: Best laptops for gaming 2018

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