Full Review of the Budget Laptop Xiaomi Redmi Book 15E 2023

Introduction

A budget laptop with an Intel i7 11390h eleventh-generation processor, 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB of internal memory, licensed Windows 11, fifth-generation Wi-Fi support, numerous ports, a 15.6-inch screen, and a stylish design — and that’s just a small part of what you can read in the advertisement for the Xiaomi Redmi Book 15E 2023 laptop. But how does this model really fare? Let me tell you.

Unpacking

This model comes in a regular dense cardboard package. It has the model name and brief specifications on it. The packaging is also unremarkable. The set includes an adapter for the plug, a 65W power adapter, a power cable with a Chinese plug, a decent mouse, a mouse pad, stickers with Russian letters for the keyboard, and the laptop itself.

Dimensions and MacBook Test

It failed. Unfortunately, the weight of this model is 1 kg 775 g, and you can see the dimensions in the picture. Overall, it is quite compact considering the screen size.

Design and Body

The Redmi Notebook 15E is only available in dark gray. The design of the model is simple but looks good. The body is made of matte plastic. Yes, the body is not metal, but the quality of the materials is decent. The elements that catch the eye are the mirrored Redmi inscription with embossing on the lid and basically nothing else.

Ports and Connectors

On the body, there is one HDMI 1.4 port, two USB 3.2 Gen1 ports, a security lock slot, an RG45 internet port, one USB 2.0 port, an SD card reader supporting SD, SDHC, and SDXC, and a 3.5 mm mini-jack.

It’s cool that there’s an internet port and an SD card reader, but it’s a pity there’s no USB-C port.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard does not have a numeric keypad, but the cursor control is not reduced. There is no backlighting, which is not surprising for a budget option. This can also be tolerated.

The touchpad is centered, measuring 128×83 mm. The touchpad is well-implemented: it does not wobble or have a double bottom, the finger glides well over the matte surface, and it does not get in the way during typing.

As for using the keyboard, there are problems. No matter how hard I tried to get used to it, I couldn’t. I should note that there is no built-in fingerprint scanner or facial recognition feature.

Webcam and Microphones

The Xiaomi Mi HD webcam is not impressive in quality, but it is sufficient for video calls. The built-in dual microphones are also adequate: they work, but there is no mechanical or system privacy shutter, which is unfortunate.

Sound

For sound output, there are two 2W stereo speakers with DTS support. The sound quality is very poor, and there is nothing more to say about it.

Screen

The laptop is equipped with a 15.6-inch TN display with a Full HD resolution of 1920×1080 pixels, a 16:9 aspect ratio, an eight-bit matrix, and a refresh rate of up to 60 Hz. According to my tests, the brightness at 100% is about 220 lux, which is standard for this type of screen.

The screen lid opens up to 150°. The bezels are huge, the backlight is uneven, there are highlights on a black background, color distortion is present, color reproduction is poor, and the viewing angles are about 90°. At first glance, the screen might seem decent, but in use, it showed itself to be poor.

For office work with text documents, presentations, social networks, and similar tasks, the screen might be okay, but personally, I did not feel comfortable with it during testing. If you work with photos or videos, you won’t be happy with it.

Hardware

The processor is an eleventh-generation Intel i7 11390h with four cores, eight threads, a base frequency of 3.4 GHz, and 5 GHz when overclocked. The third-level cache is 12 MB. The integrated Intel Iris XE chip handles graphics.

Cooling is provided by one fan. In terms of memory, there is 16 GB of soldered RAM, and the M2 Forc XP 10.000 storage is 512 GB. The storage can be replaced, but the RAM cannot be expanded.

Connectivity

The laptop supports fifth-generation Wi-Fi, the Intel Wireless AC 9560 adapter, and Bluetooth version 5.2. The hardware is modest but functional.

Operating System

The operating system out of the box is Windows 11 Home. There were initial issues with activation, but it eventually activated without intervention.

Battery

The battery capacity is 46 Wh, 3090 mAh. A full charge cycle from the original power adapter takes an average of 1 hour 40 minutes. In 1 hour, it charges to 70%. In the PC Mark test for video playback and Modern Office, the laptop provided nearly identical results of 7:1 minutes.

According to my tests, the laptop’s autonomy is slightly less — about 5-6 hours. I used it at 100% brightness over Wi-Fi with 36% speaker volume. In one hour of YouTube video playback at 100% brightness and 50% speaker volume, it consumed an average of 16% charge.

In one hour of playing Super Animal Royale, it consumed about 20-25% of the charge. In other games, I tested its performance only with the power connected. It is not a gaming laptop, but in CS2, it maintained an average of 45 FPS, in Apex — 25, with frequent drops to 15 FPS.

Overall, you can play, and the laptop does not overheat too much, but you won’t find much joy in it.

Tests

Let’s move on to the Geekbench six tests. In Open Score — 9950, in Vulkan Score — 1374. Single Core scored 1022, in Multi-Core — 4188. The Crystal Disk Mark results were not impressive.

Disk C: read 1726 MB/s and write 926 MB/s — modest. Disk D: read 1675 MB/s and write 929 MB/s.

Cons

The laptop is poorly assembled: the plastic bends easily, there is no Type-C, no Power Delivery support, the body is plastic, the keyboard is not backlit, there is no fingerprint scanner, no privacy shutter for the webcam, the keyboard is uncomfortable, and the screen is poor.

The price is always pleasing. Moreover, these are MI laptops, and Redmi is always cheap compared to other options, but you already know that you don’t always get a gem for a low price.