Huawei MateBook X Pro (2021) Review: A Sleek and Vibrant Notebook
by Dr. Ian Cutress on September 28, 2021 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Notebooks
- Intel
- Huawei
- Laptops
- Matebook X Pro
- Tiger Lake
Final Words
The laptop/notebook market is very competitive. The whole range of prices for laptops, from $200 to $2000+, involve a series of tradeoffs for performance, battery, versatility, customization, portability, and everything in between. It goes beyond simply putting a processor and a display into a chassis, as the form of the chassis will define the cooling, which in turn defines the power available to what is inside. Not only this, but companies in the laptop supply chain might offer discounts for buying multiple modules, or committing to stock, or have a variety of certifications which if the device can achieve, there might be co-marketing budgets applied. Not only this, but it also should look good – probably. Everything from the $200 Chromebooks, to the $1400 mid-range portables, to $2500 space-age sub 1.5kg 17-inch notebooks, and to the desktop replacements, all have to balance the cost and design for performance and appeal.
Huawei may only be a young entrant into the laptop OEM market, but in its fourth year it does have a good foothold in a number of these areas. Despite issues with the entity list, it can still buy processors from Intel, licenses from Microsoft, and offer machines into the global market with a design flair traditionally made for its smartphones. Ever since the first MateBook E 2-in-1, Huawei has applied a superior aesthetic to its devices, however what it has had to work on is usability.
The MateBook X Pro 2021 (13.9-inch) is one of the premium laptop offerings from Huawei. Our model features the latest Intel 11th Generation Core i7-1165G7 quad-core processor, a thin-bezel 3000x2000 resolution display, 16 GB of LPDDR4X memory, a 1 TB Samsung NVMe SSD, Wi-Fi 6, and a 56 Watt-hour battery all in a 1.33 kg (2.9 lb) aluminium unibody chassis, 14.6 mm (0.57 inches) at its thickest point.
This laptop is designed to sit square opposite equivalent MacBook Pro 13-inch models, with a larger resolution, more default memory, more default storage, while being both lighter and thinner, for about the same price (give or take $100). The equivalent storage/memory version from Apple would be +$800, however the M1-based MacBook Pro wins on battery life and performance. There are also a large number of competitive Windows-based machines at this price point as well.
In isolation, Huawei does a number of things right. The portability and feel is good, the trackpad and keyboard are certainly better than average to use, and the power button as a physically separate key design with a built-in fingerprint is a big plus. The display is big, and vibrant, and the device has both Type-C and Type-A ports, which are a must.
However it does get a few things wrong – that webcam placement has to disappear at some point. It’s somewhere between not-present and useless. If Huawei doesn’t want to put it in the display where it traditionally sits, it needs to think of a solution. Beyond that, the battery life isn’t really as great as I thought it would be. We achieved just under 9 hours for light work – either video playback or web browsing – when really I would be expecting 13+. We’ve seen similar 10th Gen and 11th Gen Intel processors get 13-16 hours, although those have lower resolution (1080p) displays. The performance ultimately isn't that stellar, compared to others in this market, perhaps due to the design limitations and 15 W limit in order to get the display and chasis of this caliber. This is some of the tradeoffs that laptop manufacturers have to make.
The Huawei MateBook X Pro 2021, with 16GB/1TB, is available in the UK for £1300 (Space Grey) or £1400 (Emerald Green) with a current deal for £150 rebate as well as a choice between a free Huawei Monitor, Watch GT2, or Matepad T10, all worth ~£200.
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gijames1225 - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
According to Stack Overflow data, 44% of developers use Windows (or WSL), 30% Mac, and 25% use Linux (rounding and the BSD folks account for that missing 1%). Yeah, that's no horrible representation, but shows that LinkedIn recruiting photos of everything getting a MacBook aren't indicative of the industry (that said front-end developers do, in the States at least, use Macs by a slight majority, but then again, those guys write JavaScript so there's no telling what motivates them).Now, we'll have to see
gijames1225 - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
In the US it is a bit more common to be a developer and use a Mac, but it's still the minority platform by far, and in Europe and elsewhere it's very, very uncommon. Also, the couple of developers I work with who do use Macs don't use MacBook Airs, they use MacBook Pros. I've never encountered anyone in comp-sci besides budget constricted students who use MBAs.I'd also agree with TheinsanegamerN that now that Windows has WSL in good shape I'd be surprised if Macs don't eventually become solely Swift compilers over the next decade. Apple's whole attitude is around how to lock-in, control, and monetize developers rather than empower them, and that's just so night and day different than any other tech company / platform I've had to work with besides Oracle (at least since Microsoft came to Jesus under Nadella is open-sourcing and cross-platforming everything they get their hands on).
vladx - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
" you appear to be forgetting about programmers."I'm a programmer and would never buy a MacOS device, there's a world outside US you know.
jospoortvliet - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
Hum. Odd. Every designer including our video guy use a MacBook air m1 in our company as do several developers. Some have a m1 pro but it offers little extra. Most of the rest use Linux. But then, we don't have an ignorant it department telling ppl what to use, they can pick what they want.dontlistentome - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
How do they manage with just 16GB and a single external screen?SaolDan - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
Where i work the owner is a hard core apple guy so all cad, office ppl use apple. Field Programmers, technicians and installers use windows. All the software we use is for windows. There's one manufacturer that states "if you have MacOS good luck". I convinced the owner to buy surface pros 6 for the field guys and they all love it. Look ad drawings, make notes, runs all the lighting controls software all in a very light and decent size. I like having 1 device that will do everything i need. Yes apples devices hardware is pretty sweet but the world runs on windows.drvivek - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
The Mac ecosystem is also an extremely common choice amongst the academic community, am specifically talking about medicos here and its popularity increases are one becomes more senior. In my institute, inwould put its usage as 30% amongst faculty. So yes, while popular, its would still not be majority. Quite a few of us have both the organization supplied windows desktops as well as self procured Macs. Macs are procured nkt because they get the job any better than windows laptops but because they are a statement. And yes, the build quality and the smooth user experience of macs in their base models is something that only recently is being matched by windows laptopsSaolDan - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
This comment is pretty sad. Its all about making statements now. All about how others see us.Kuhar - Thursday, September 30, 2021 - link
I agree that having an Apple device USED TO make a statement. But if you walk the streets of NYC (or anywhere on east coast) any (sorry to say it) low life has an Iphone 12/Ipad/Imac. It is not a statement anymore. Same goes about comparing build quality. The newest MBA is very very fragile while HP/Dell/Lenovo are way sturdier. And my last point would be: never compare a 1,5k $ mac with a 400 $ wincomp. Even kids know that for more bucks you get more bangs.TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
LOL nobody cares about apples. Those who are in the mac cult will buy macs, the rest of the world will continue to ignore them.