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
Graphics Performance
The key part of the name of the processor inside the Huawei MateBook X Pro 2021, the Intel Core i7-1165G7, is that bit at the end. G7 means that it has Intel’s largest deployment of its Xe-LP graphics design. For your hard earned money, this is 96 execution units of what is the foundation of Intel’s graphics portfolio moving forward over the next few years. Each unit has eight threads, providing 768 threads of graphics compute, and this number is more easily comparable to the offerings from AMD.
Huawei has paired the processor with 4x32-bit LPDDR4X-4266 memory, which should offer a theoretical peak bandwidth of 68.3 GB/s, and it’s that number which is usually so crucial for integrated graphics performance. By contrast, a similarly equipped DDR4-3200 system will only achieve 51.2 GB/s, but is also cheaper to produce and more end-user customizable.
That being said, Huawei has enabled this laptop with a 3000x2000 display, which is a 3:2 aspect ratio. For gaming, 3:2 is an uncommon ratio, and so in some cases users may be forced into a more traditional 16:9 orientation, and experience black bars at the top and bottom of the display. Even for the games running at full 3000x2000 resolution, this is three times as many pixels as a standard 1920x1080 display – as we’ll see in the benchmarks below, trying to run at 1080p medium is sometimes a struggle, let alone at full resolution. As a result, be understanding that not all of the screen’s capabilities will be utilized during gaming.
In our synthetic tests, the Intel integrated graphics seem to do a lot better with more complex scenes. With Fire Strike the system is very much ahead of AMD’s best 4000-series offering, but dialing back down to Ice Storm and it now sits behind all the Ryzen 7 systems.
Overall Thoughts
The 1165G7 is definitely in the middle of the pack here. In certain environments it can excel and sits just behind the faster 1185G7, but the 15W extended power limit is certainly a factor when in some titles it struggles to match our Ryzen 4000 series systems. Nonetheless, it is a step up from the previous generation configuration.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
84 Comments
View All Comments
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.