Huawei may have just made a Windows laptop that’s as desirable as Apple’s MacBook.
It always used to be that Windows laptops lagged behind Apple in industrial design; while Apple made desirable, instantly recognisable unibody laptops, manufacturers of Windows laptops made ugly grey devices recognisable only for being non-descript. That script started to change with Dell’s XPS line which married quality design with quality internals .. but the journey was not complete.
Huawei’s MateBook X Pro could just put the Chinese manufacturer at the top of the Windows notebook market.
The MateBook X Pro – if measured by the metrics applied to smartphones, which Huawei is perhaps better known for – is a stunner, with a huge 91% screen-to-body ratio on the display, meaning that you get a 13.9-inch display packed into a 12-inch notebook form factor.
The bezels are so thin, in fact, that there’s no room on the display for a camera. To get around this, Huawei have embedded it in the keyboard, and it pops up on demand for video conferencing and other camera uses, and disappears into the keyboard when it’s no longer needed. It’s a remarkably simple mechanism, and it works so well that it makes me wonder why no one else thought of it.
Probably the only criticism is that – like the Dell XPS range – the camera is at a rather low angle, meaning that you’ll be videoconferencing up your nose rather than straight-on, but you can work around this.
The other stand-out features are the high resolution (3000 x 2000 pixels, a 3:2 aspect ratio that’s perfect for work on the go), with a touch-display. The MateBook X Pro is just 4.9mm thin at the front, very light (just 1.33 kg), and carries both USB C ports and a USB A port.
With a spill-proof keyboard, a separate graphics processor (for faster performance than mere integrated graphics), four speakers and a suggested 14-hour battery life, this strikes me as one of the best Windows notebooks around.
There is one other criticism, I guess, and that’s the lack of any confirmed availability for Australia. I desperately want to get my hands on a MateBook X Pro, and though Autumn 2018 was mentioned for Asia Pacific, there’s no specific reference to Australia in that.
A real shame, because I’d love to review one of these for our readers — I don’t often recommend a laptop, but after some hands-on time at the launch event and at Huawei’s booth at MWC 2018, the Matebook X Pro may be the best Windows notebook I’ve used.
Such a find -finally screen ration 3:2 with dedicated graphic! I can’t describe how frustrating working in 16:9 environment with 3D CAD ( or any text document ) is. The keyboard camera solution solves not only the screen, but also privacy. So thank you Huawei engineers, I will chip in your salaries as soon as you let me 🙂
I’m going to follow up with Huawei this weekend.. we definitely want this laptop here.
Well?
Sadly the answer is staying much the same. “Can’t confirm anything at the moment.”
We share your pain!
I’m not sure that the original MateBook announced two years ago is still on sale, but in their launch event, Richard Yu referred to existing models of Huawei Matebook which this X Pro would sit above:
Matebook X, which was the direct predecessor to the Matebook X Pro, the Matebook E (a 2-in-1 design) and the Matebook D (a more traditional laptop design). The Matebook X Pro is clearly destined to be their flagship notebook.
Glad to see another 3:2 laptop out there after the Surface Book/Laptop. The 3:2 display aspect ratio is long overdue. Hope this would drive other manufacturers to get rid of those 16:9 laptops with ugly thick chins.
Such a glib and throw away opening couple of paragraphs.
Is the product better that Surface 2, Dell XPS, Zenbooks, Yoga 920’s, Surface Laptops, Spectre’s, LG Gram’s, Samsung 9’s etc…..just because it directly copies the Macbook.
Having used many of the competing laptops I’ll say yeah, the MateBook X Pro is actually pretty damned good.
A response that matches the opening paragraphs.
I do however like the aspect ratio on the device and the fact is will be a signature addition device. beyond that I’ll wait for full reviews before selling the Surface 2 or X1 Carbon.
The Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 was the last windows notebook i used and it was great. This feels more premium than that. The screen is bright, vivid, and a great aspect ratio for working on two documents at once as I often do.
Once it’s out in Australia I’ll be doing a full review for you. Don’t worry.
How do we find out if/when this beast will be on sale in Aus?
time to replace my HP Spectre x360?