You might have heard of the Huawei phones that are making Huawei’s mark all over the world especially in Asian and Chinese markets are now in the US market too, but you might not have heard that they have now ventured into the notebook department too, marketed by the name of MateBook.
The specialty of Huawei’s marketing is that it always tries to market their devices against the Apple products same is the case with their new notebook; the Huawei MateBook X Pro marketed as the MacBook killer. This device has been around for some time now released in the US market with the MacBook being just around the corner; it is the perfect time to review this device.
Design
The MateBook X Pro’s design keeps the luxurious feel of its predecessors having an Aluminum unibody with Diamond cut finish around the edges. When closed it is only 0.19 inches thin at its thinnest part and 0.57 inches thick at its thickest part weighing only 1.33kg that is less than the MacBook Air’s 1.35kg.
The back of the notebook has the traditional lustrous finish that makes it a premium device, available in Space Grey and Mystic Silver color both look gorgeous up close. Clearly if you want to get that mystic Silver one in US you would have to pay more since it comes with the beefy specs only.
Display
If you are that person who disgusts those big bezels found in many laptops these days than the MateBook should be the laptop you would most definitely like with 91% screen-to-body ratio, the screen too is a 3k LTPS panel that supports 10-point no fingerprint touch screen, boosted by the 100% sRGB color gamut and 1500:1 contrast ratio that will ensure true to like colors and dense blacks. The brightness of this device is the only grain in the salt; the maximum brightness is 450 nits that is below average with the current notebook standards.
Specifications
For a notebook, the MateBook X Pro is replete with the hardware that anyone needs nowadays, starting with the 8th generation Intel® Core™ i7 8550U / i5 8250U processor depending upon the configuration supported by 8/16 GB LPDDR3 memory clocked at 2133Mhz and 256/512 GB NVMe PCIe SSD. There is a hidden 1MP webcam, you can find it between the F6 and F7 key on your keyboard. Lastly, you can also opt for dedicated Nvidia MX 150M Graphics that has 2Gb DDR5 memory, with Dolby’s Atmos sound speakers.
There is also a full-sized keyboard with good keystrokes and 1.3 mm key space that is just enough for a typical typist complemented by a trackpad that is the best trackpad you will find in any other windows laptop expect the XPS 15, nonetheless, it is huge with nice gestures and good travel along the screen, lastly there is a fast and accurate fingerprint scanner that doubles as a power button, it also supports windows hello. The peripherals include a USB type-A port, 2 USB C 3.0 four-lane PCIe ports one works as a Thunderbolt port and the other as a charging port and a headphone jack too.
Performance and Battery
Since the device comes with the new Intel’s processors and a dedicated graphics processor you can expect it to play lighter games with ease, it can play Fortnite at 1080p with the framerates being constant at 60, that said, it can also play the esports title like Fifa 18, Overwatch and Dota 2 at 1080p. It can be inferred that this device is a powerhouse that is supported by 57.4Wh lithium polymer battery, according to Huawei it can support your device up to 12 hours,but according to our testing, it lasts the whole day of work that too is awesome especially because it houses the six core processors.
Verdict
If you are a person who hates the MacBook’s butterfly switch keyboard and loves it for anything else Huawei MateBook X Pro is the device for you, it has a slimmer chassis, lighter weight, better CPU what else do you want only thing missing is the Mac OS, you would have to make do with the Windows 10, with the price tag of $1199 and $1499 this should be the MacBook killer as the Huawei claims.
