Last year, the Huawei Matebook X Pro was a huge hit for both professional reviewers and common consumers alike. This success makes every instalment in the Matebook line more anticipated than ever before. Therefore, the launch of the more budget-friendly Matebook 13 in this year’s CES is such a busy booth.
It’s a nice machine worthy of the Matebook name, to be sure. There is a lot to love such as the screen, keyboard, and USB-C ports. However, it cut corners in all the wrong places in order to bring the price down. The trackpad, for example, is not made of glass which makes it undesirable to use. It’s also important to mention that none of the USB-C ports are Thunderbolt 3. Most disappointingly, it compromises on battery life as well. These gaffes aren’t something that Huawei wants to be making if they’re positioning to become a premium laptop maker.
Build Quality
There isn’t much difference between the Matebook X Pro and the Matebook 13 when it comes to build-quality. They’re both made from the same quality aluminium that's utterly luxurious to the touch. However, unlike its more expensive older brother, it has a bit of give to it meaning it flexes a little if you specifically try to do so. It’s a small price to pay for a little bit of savings.
The size and weight that the entire package comes in at are impressive. It's a little thicker than its older sibling but slimmer than the MacBook Air. However, it's a bit heavier than the rest coming in at 2.8 lbs.
It’s also obvious that the company has paid a lot of attention to designing the laptop because there are no imperfections at least upon visual assessment. There doesn’t seem to be any awkward gaps or defects.
Screen
One of the most important features on a laptop is the screen. You are, after all, going to have to stare at it for as long as you want to use it. Luckily, this is one aspect, that Huawei chose to pour their money on. While it is not quite as crisp as 4K, the small 13-inch plane is just enough for 2K for images to remain crisp and clear.
The 2k display has a great colour accurate screen that’s above average with 76% of Adobe RGB. It's accurate enough for some quick high-quality photo enhancements or some lightweight colour corrections on-the-go.
It doesn’t get too bright so you’re going to have to crank screen brightness all the way up in a brightly lit room. Contrast, which is another strong suit of the Matebook 13, is going to be much appreciated in these situations.
What it has got going for itself is the aspect ratio. The 3:2 aspect ratio is a surprising revelation since the early Surface Pros. It's so nice to browse web pages on it because it’s just the perfect balance between the vertical and horizontal areas. Word documents and Excel spreadsheets are also much better to interact with in this aspect ratio. In a world where we do most of our work and play online, this is something that more laptops should adopt.
Sure, you're going get some letterboxing effect when watching videos but you're going to get that in any case if you're a prolific YouTube or movie watcher. No one uses a standard video aspect ratio anymore.
Hardware
One component that comes standard with the two versions on sale is the RAM. It comes with 8GB no matter which version you buy. It’s enough for this multi-tab browsing but some work-related tasks might become unreliable because of this limited option. It’s important to note that it’s soldered onto the motherboard and there are no extra slots for an additional chip, so you’re basically stuck with 8GB.
The 8th generation i5 or i7 options on offer are also plenty powerful for whatever task you throw at it. The i7 especially performs great in the system transcoding 4K movies into 1080p in just 18 minutes and 30 seconds far below industry standard.
Another aspect that changes depending on the version that you buy is the storage. You’ll get a choice between 256GB and 512GB M.2 SSD.
If you opt for the more expensive $1,299 model, you’ll also get a 25W MX150 GPU which ensures that the laptop has decent graphic-crunching power It’s okay to game on but it’s not going to be a pleasant experience if you crank up the settings to ultra. Fortnite and PUBG, in case you’re wondering, works perfectly fine with good frame rates with the system.
Input Devices
The keyboard is also awesome on such an inexpensive ultrabook. At $999 for the i5 and 256GB version, you’re going to get a top-notch keyboard as well. Key travel is deep enough with a satisfying, but not unpleasantly noisy. Typing for hours in the dark is also not going to be a problem because it’s backlit.
The trackpad is where most of the compromise starts to become evident. Knowing that it’s one of the first things you interact with leaves a terrible first impression.
While it is backed with Windows Precision drivers, the surface itself isn't very good. Unlike other laptops at this price point, it's not covered in glass. It's made of plastic which makes your fingers difficult to glide because of the friction. Furthermore, it's likely that the paint and plastic itself is going to fade in the long run so aesthetics is going to get ruined quickly.
There is also a general lack of ports. Aside from 2 USB-C ports, there’s only one headphone jack. If you like travelling with peripherals, you’re going to need a USB-C hub or dock.
Battery Life
Another point of compromise, perhaps to keep the price down, is the battery life. Obviously, if you use programs that utilize the graphics card often, you’re not going to get much battery performance out of the Matebook 13.
However, even in web browsing and offline video loops, the batter isn’t something to write home about. It’s average at best but might be more in the sub-par section in some cases. For an ultrabook geared towards becoming a normal person’s everyday carry, this might be a deal breaker.
It’s a nice machine worthy of the Matebook name, to be sure. There is a lot to love such as the screen, keyboard, and USB-C ports. However, it cut corners in all the wrong places in order to bring the price down. The trackpad, for example, is not made of glass which makes it undesirable to use. It’s also important to mention that none of the USB-C ports are Thunderbolt 3. Most disappointingly, it compromises on battery life as well. These gaffes aren’t something that Huawei wants to be making if they’re positioning to become a premium laptop maker.
Build Quality
There isn’t much difference between the Matebook X Pro and the Matebook 13 when it comes to build-quality. They’re both made from the same quality aluminium that's utterly luxurious to the touch. However, unlike its more expensive older brother, it has a bit of give to it meaning it flexes a little if you specifically try to do so. It’s a small price to pay for a little bit of savings.
The size and weight that the entire package comes in at are impressive. It's a little thicker than its older sibling but slimmer than the MacBook Air. However, it's a bit heavier than the rest coming in at 2.8 lbs.
It’s also obvious that the company has paid a lot of attention to designing the laptop because there are no imperfections at least upon visual assessment. There doesn’t seem to be any awkward gaps or defects.
Screen
One of the most important features on a laptop is the screen. You are, after all, going to have to stare at it for as long as you want to use it. Luckily, this is one aspect, that Huawei chose to pour their money on. While it is not quite as crisp as 4K, the small 13-inch plane is just enough for 2K for images to remain crisp and clear.
The 2k display has a great colour accurate screen that’s above average with 76% of Adobe RGB. It's accurate enough for some quick high-quality photo enhancements or some lightweight colour corrections on-the-go.
It doesn’t get too bright so you’re going to have to crank screen brightness all the way up in a brightly lit room. Contrast, which is another strong suit of the Matebook 13, is going to be much appreciated in these situations.
What it has got going for itself is the aspect ratio. The 3:2 aspect ratio is a surprising revelation since the early Surface Pros. It's so nice to browse web pages on it because it’s just the perfect balance between the vertical and horizontal areas. Word documents and Excel spreadsheets are also much better to interact with in this aspect ratio. In a world where we do most of our work and play online, this is something that more laptops should adopt.
Sure, you're going get some letterboxing effect when watching videos but you're going to get that in any case if you're a prolific YouTube or movie watcher. No one uses a standard video aspect ratio anymore.
Hardware
One component that comes standard with the two versions on sale is the RAM. It comes with 8GB no matter which version you buy. It’s enough for this multi-tab browsing but some work-related tasks might become unreliable because of this limited option. It’s important to note that it’s soldered onto the motherboard and there are no extra slots for an additional chip, so you’re basically stuck with 8GB.
The 8th generation i5 or i7 options on offer are also plenty powerful for whatever task you throw at it. The i7 especially performs great in the system transcoding 4K movies into 1080p in just 18 minutes and 30 seconds far below industry standard.
Another aspect that changes depending on the version that you buy is the storage. You’ll get a choice between 256GB and 512GB M.2 SSD.
If you opt for the more expensive $1,299 model, you’ll also get a 25W MX150 GPU which ensures that the laptop has decent graphic-crunching power It’s okay to game on but it’s not going to be a pleasant experience if you crank up the settings to ultra. Fortnite and PUBG, in case you’re wondering, works perfectly fine with good frame rates with the system.
Input Devices
The keyboard is also awesome on such an inexpensive ultrabook. At $999 for the i5 and 256GB version, you’re going to get a top-notch keyboard as well. Key travel is deep enough with a satisfying, but not unpleasantly noisy. Typing for hours in the dark is also not going to be a problem because it’s backlit.
The trackpad is where most of the compromise starts to become evident. Knowing that it’s one of the first things you interact with leaves a terrible first impression.
While it is backed with Windows Precision drivers, the surface itself isn't very good. Unlike other laptops at this price point, it's not covered in glass. It's made of plastic which makes your fingers difficult to glide because of the friction. Furthermore, it's likely that the paint and plastic itself is going to fade in the long run so aesthetics is going to get ruined quickly.
There is also a general lack of ports. Aside from 2 USB-C ports, there’s only one headphone jack. If you like travelling with peripherals, you’re going to need a USB-C hub or dock.
Battery Life
Another point of compromise, perhaps to keep the price down, is the battery life. Obviously, if you use programs that utilize the graphics card often, you’re not going to get much battery performance out of the Matebook 13.
However, even in web browsing and offline video loops, the batter isn’t something to write home about. It’s average at best but might be more in the sub-par section in some cases. For an ultrabook geared towards becoming a normal person’s everyday carry, this might be a deal breaker.