Recently, market has been enlivened with laptops that carry sip specifications for online activities during pandemic. One of them is the Huawei MateBook D 14 and D 15.
Both have similar specifications, the difference is only in the size of the screen. This new Huawei device can indeed be relied upon for work and online school activities.
At least that's what we felt while trying this laptop for work from home (WFH). Here's a review of the Huawei MateBook D 15:
Design
Last November we had the chance to try out the MateBook D 15 which is powered by the AMD Ryzen 5 3500U. The appearance is not much different from this MateBook D 15 (2021).
Huawei only provides one color option, namely Mystic Silver. The appearance is still simple, concise and clean, there is only Huawei writing that adorns the front shell of this laptop.
Entering the inside, the screen frame is made of plastic with a matte black finish. While the overall body material uses A/C/D aluminum, B Mylar.
That's why even though this laptop measures 15.6 inches, its weight is fairly light in its class. The weight of the MateBook D 15 is only 1.53 kg so it's still easy to fit in a bag when you're already mobile again.
The size of the MateBook D 15's keyboard is comfortable for typing and quiet. However, Huawei does not provide backlight so it needs additional lighting if you want to type in low light.
One more thing that is unfortunate, the left and right areas of the keyboard are left 'idle'. In fact, if the speakers are installed, the sound of this laptop will be much more kicking in the ear.
The audio quality produced by the MateBook D 15 itself is quite good. But typical speakers at the bottom of the body do often have distortion.
The Touchpad area is responsive when in use. The chassis is roomy enough to support your hands while typing, besides that it's not hot.
There is a fingerprint sensor embedded in the power button, which is located to the right of the keyboard, parallel to the row of Fn keys.
Huawei still provides quite a lot of ports. On the left side there is USB 2.0 Type-C, USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A, HDMI. While on the right side there are two USB 2.0 Type A ports and an Audio jack.
Like the MateBook D 15 (2020) Huawei does not provide a differentiator for the USB type A port. Generally, other vendors make the USB 3.1 Type A port blue to differentiate.
And being the hallmark of Huawei laptops, they place a hidden webcam on the keyboard. One side increases privacy while making the screen bezel thinner. It's just that the position makes it uncomfortable during video calls, the head must be lowered so that the eyes are directed to the camera. Otherwise, the camera will focus on the chin and neck.
Screen
The Huawei MateBook D 15 screen uses an IPS panel with FHD (1920 x 1080 pixels) resolution and an aperture of up to 178 degrees. Maximum brightness is only 250 nits, which means that outdoor use can be disrupted in sunny conditions.
Even so the screen can be used well for doing typing and daily productivity tasks at home or in the office. For working in dim environments, MateBook D 15 supports Windows 10's Night Light mode. This laptop also has TÃœV Rheinland certification which is able to reduce blue light so as to provide better eye protection for users.
Another advantage of the MateBook D 15's screen is that the right, left and top bezels are made with a thickness of 5.3 mm. This results in a screen-to-body ratio of 87% which gives the impression of being spacious on the eyes.
With a 15.6-inch screen, opening two applications side by side on one screen is easier to see. You can join online meetings while checking email or typing meeting points
Performance
The MateBook D 15 is powered by an Intel i3-10110U processor with 8GB of DDR4 RAM and 256GB of PCIe SSD internal memory. When used for daily tasks, there are no complaints at all.
Smooth typing, even opening multiple sites (up to 20 tabs) in the browser is not slow at all, not hot and and still quiet without any fan noise. This possibility is due to the Huawei Shark Fin Fan 2.0 which has more fan blades so that it provides a better cooling system and greater air output.
Unfortunately, when we wanted to benchmark with PC Mark 10, this application couldn't be installed because we were running Windows 11. Talking about Microsoft's latest operating system, it can run smoothly on the MateBook D 15. Hopefully when Windows 11 is released on October 5, users of this laptop can get it soon. .
Ecosystem
One of the strengths of the MateBook D 15 is the Huawei ecosystem. When users have Huawei smartphones and tablets they can connect to this laptop.
There is Huawei Share which allows displaying the phone screen on the MateBook D 15 with just one touch. Users can run mobile applications on the laptop screen.
In addition, it makes it easy to exchange files by drag and drop. Send phone messages using the laptop's keyboard and touchpad, it can even receive incoming voice and video calls to the connected phone on the MateBook screen.
In addition, Huawei provides PC Manager. This feature is not only to help monitor the health condition of the laptop and download drivers, it also facilitates collaboration with Huawei smartphones and tablets.
We tried it with the MatePad 11. When two devices are connected, there will be three options namely Mirror, Extended and Collaborate.
When selecting Mirror, what is displayed on the laptop screen is the same as on the tablet. While Extended, the tablet will be an additional screen for the laptop.
Interestingly, when choosing Mirror or Extended mode, we control from the tablet. As if we are using a Windows tablet.
Not only that, we can input text using the Smart Keyboard or M-Pencil. This will be very helpful when it comes to signing digital documents.
If Collaborate, the two devices still run their respective operating systems. However, it is possible for users to control the tablet from a laptop, using either the touchpad or the keyboard.
This Collaborate mode will help you drag and drop files between devices. So it's more practical and faster, rather than having to move it first to an internal storage device or even cloud-based.
The Multi-Screen Collaboration experience provided by Huawei is better than the similar capabilities offered by Apple on the MacBook and iPad Pro. Make the multitasking process more leverage, resulting in increased productivity.
Battery
The battery life of the MateBook D 15 is longer than the AMD version released last year. The capacities are both 42Wh, but the AMD model lasts up to 4 hours of use.
This laptop can be used for more than 7 hours of use. Huawei provides 65W fast charging so that it charges fast. The battery is fully charged in less than an hour.
In the sales package, a compact 65W charger is provided. But this laptop can still use a third-party 65W charger.
Our opinion
The MateBook D 15 is reliable for work and online school. Although the body is large, the weight is still light to carry mobile.
The spacious screen size makes multitasking easy. Despite using the tenth generation Intel Core i3, this laptop provides smooth performance when typing tasks, making video calls and more. Opening multiple tasks at the same time doesn't heat up the laptop and it stays quiet without the clatter of the cooling fan.
The battery also lasts a long time, and when it runs out it is quickly fully charged in less than an hour. Most importantly MateBook D 15 can run Windows 11 smoothly.
But there are some shortcomings that this laptop has, such as the absence of a backlight on the keyboard and the position of the webcam below. If you don't have a problem with that, the MateBook D 15 sip becomes a partner for WFH and distance learning (PJJ).
