FOR
Incredibly slick, sensible design
Gorgeous, bright display
Strong all-around performance
Terrific battery life
AGAINST
No SD card slot
Clever webcam is still flawed
Mystic Silver is Core i7 only
Huawei might be better known for its smartphones, but the brand has been in the laptop game for a few years and its new MateBook X Pro is taking a shot at the latest laptops from Apple.
Here is the Huawei MateBook X Pro configuration we tested:
CPU: 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-8550U (quad-core, 8MB cache, up to 4.0GHz)
Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620, Nvidia GeForce MX150 graphics (2GB GDDR5)
RAM: 16GB LPDDR3 (2,133 MHz)
Screen: 13.9-inch 3K (3,000 x 2,000) LED with touch panel (3:2 aspect; 450 nits; 1,500:1 contrast; 100% sRGB)
Storage: 512GB SSD (NVMe PCIe)
Ports: 1 x Thunderbolt 3 USB-C, 1 x USB-C 3.1, 1 x USB 3.0, 3.5mm audio jack
Connectivity: 802.11ac (2 x 2 MIMO) Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1
Camera: 720p webcam with far field microphones
Weight: 2.93 pounds (1.33kg)
The MateBook X Pro is a great laptop with a bad webcam. You’ll have to decide if that problem invalidates the system’s other perks.
You can pick up the Huawei MateBook Pro X starting at £899. That’ll snag you a Core i5 processor, 8GB of memory, and 256GB solid state drive — but you don’t receive the Nvidia graphics chip. That’s part of the £1599 upgrade, which also has the Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB solid state drive. The upgrade is worthwhile if you can swing it.
Is there a better alternative?
Dell’s XPS 13 and Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 2 are strong competitors. Both offer excellent performance and great battery life. The Surface Laptop 2 has the best webcam of the three, though it’s outdated port selection makes it hard to recommend. The XPS 13 is a more well-rounded option, but it doesn’t have the larger 3:2 or discrete GPU that will attract some to the MateBook X Pro.
