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
Display
On paper, the specifications for the Huawei MateBook X Pro 2021 seem impressive – a 3000x2000 resolution LTPS display that gives a 91% screen-to-body ratio. At a 13.9-inch diagonal, that translates to 260 pixels per inch, which is a key target for devices in this price bracket. Huawei rates the display as a 450 nit brightness with a 1500:1 contrast ratio, which is above a lot of traditional 300 nit displays that sometimes plague this price point. On top of this, Huawei promotes a 100% sRGB gamut for color accuracy, and the screen supports 10-point multi-touch as well as gestures.
As mentioned a few pages prior, because Huawei has moved the webcam from the display to the keyboard, this allows the display to go as far up to the edge of the chassis as Huawei could make it without sacrificing rigidity. Any laptop looks really good when a display almost touches the edge, which when combined with the 450 nit brightness does make the device stand out.
The panel is listed as the Tianma XM TL139GDXP01, and the official specifications match those Huawei has provided.
For our testing today, we’re using the X-Rite i1Display Pro colorimeter.
Brightness and Contast
As for maximum brightness, we’re right on specification, however in our testing the black level is certainly higher than other devices in the market, which leads to a lower-than-advertised contrast ratio.
Battery Life
Taking advantage of the bigger-than-13-inch form factor, Huawei has equipped the MateBook X Pro 2021 with a 56 Wh battery, which is about 10-20% bigger than the 45 Wh batteries we see in the smaller size. Without the presence of a discrete GPU, one might argue that this battery should go for a long time, however the high-resolution display might prove to be an Achilles heel. Huawei’s documentation lists a 10 hour battery life for local video playback, which would be just enough for a long haul flight.
For our testing, we calibrate the display as close to 200 nits as we can (in this case, brightness set to 62), and progress through both a movie workload and a web workload. We would have also tested using PCMark’s battery test, however the test would always fail when video decoding, as mentioned previously.
It’s worth noting that Huawei lists the battery as 56 Wh (typical). Our battery reported 55.4 Wh when fully charged.
Our movie test at 200 nits is just below the 10 hour mark quoted, however Huawei seems to have done their testing at 150 nits, according to the website. 529 minutes is actually quite low compared to a number of laptops that the MateBook X Pro 2021 competes against.
The web test does slightly better than our movie test, even though the screen is doing a lot more whites, but it isn’t having to process so much video. Normalizing for the battery capacity, we get 10.2 minutes per Watt-hour, which again isn’t a great result compared to the previous generation hardware or AMD’s offering.
Charge Time
Huawei ships the laptop with a 65 W charger with a Type-C port, and a C-to-C cable to connect it to the laptop. For our charge test, we discharge the battery down to 5% with a high powered workload, then down to 2% while on idle to cool it down. The system is then plugged it in, set on low power, with the screen still at 200 nits, and then monitored the charge level as reported as a function of time up until the reported charge no longer moved.
As well as our output report, I also put one of these in the loop. It showcased that the laptop was charging around 48-52 W constantly for the first 80 minutes or so, at 20 V / 2.5 A.
For our charge profile, we achieved:
- 2% to 10% charge in 7 minutes
- 2% to 65% charge in 60 minutes
- 2% to 90% charge in 87 minutes
- 2% to 100% charge in 110 minutes
Even though the charger is listed as 65 W capable, I didn’t see it ever go up to 65 W.
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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.