In the past month, Huawei has launched a number of laptop models that come with various specifications and different price tags depending on your needs.
One of the laptops they currently offer is the Huawei Matebook X Pro, the first premium class laptop offering from the Chinese tech company. This laptop is marketed as an Intel Evo laptop which typically not only comes with powerful performance, but also a compact, thin and light design.
Design
Huawei Matebook X Pro 2022
14.2″ IPS LCD screen
3120×2080 pixels, touch
Intel Core i7-1260P processor
Intel Iris Xe graphics
RAM 16 GB LPDDR5
Internal Load 1TB GB NVMe SSD
1080p camera
I/O 2x USB-C
2x USB-C Thunderbolt 4
1x 3.5mm audio jack
HDMI None
Card Reader None
Fingerprint Scanner Security
No SIM
84Wh battery
90W USB-C fast charger
Selling Price RM9,999
This Huawei Matebook X Pro laptop not only comes with the latest powerful components, but also a frame design that gives the laptop a look and feel quite different from other laptops.
The frame design of the Huawei Matebook X Pro can be seen as a completely new design even when it is compared to other Huawei laptops.
It is made of magnesium-aluminum alloy which gives it not only a sturdy frame, but also light to lift. As an addition, Huawei uses the Micro-Arc Oxidation coating process to make the surface of this laptop frame feel very soft and smooth.
Huawei calls this surface the Skin-soothing Metallic Body that comes through their Huawei Matebook X Pro Premium Edition offering. If I can describe a bit about how this surface feels, it's like holding a surface that doesn't feel like a metal or alloy surface at all.
One advantage that I can see and feel myself from holding this surface is that it does not show fingerprints easily and resting the hand on this laptop is also a comfort that is quite unique to this laptop.
However, one possible drawback is that the surface of this Skin-soothing Metallic Body is also quite slippery, and if you are not careful when holding it, it may slip out of your grip and fall to the floor.
With a thickness of 14.6mm and a weight of around 1.26kg, I can also say that this Huawei Matebook X laptop is one of the lightest on the market right now, even lighter when compared to the Macbook Air M2 that was just released by Apple.
The difference in design, thickness and weight between the two laptops may be negligible, but if you are someone who cares about these things, it may be one of the details that will make you choose one laptop over the other.
It is also equipped with a 14.2-inch Real Color FullView Display screen with a resolution of 3120×2080 pixels and a 90Hz refresh rate and can display 100 percent of the DCI-P3 and sRGB color gamut for the most precise color processing.
With support for the Universal Color Consistency feature, the color processing on the device connected to this laptop is seen to be in line with what is displayed on the Matebook X Pro display. For now, Huawei has confirmed that this feature is present on the 11-inch Huawei MatePad Pro and the Huawei P50.
This Real Color FullView Display is paired with six speakers and also four microphones built under the Huawei Sound audio system that helps in providing users with a noise-free listening and teleconference conversation experience, in addition to providing precise and loud audio quality when watching videos with a computer this lap.
Specifications
Turning to the specifications of this laptop, it is powered by an Intel Core i7-1260P CPU that comes with 12 physical cores, including four performance cores and eight efficient cores with a maximum power consumption of only 30W.
In terms of memory and storage, the Huawei Matebook X is loaded with 16GB of LPDDR5 memory and 1TB of PCIe 3.0 SSD storage. For the Malaysian market, this configuration is the only one offered by Huawei, who likely want to market this laptop as a powerful laptop for productivity and leisure purposes in and out of the office.
In terms of plug options, this Huawei Matebook X Pro comes with two Thunderbolt 4 plugs, two USB 3.2 Type-C plugs and one 3.5mm audio plug. If you want to connect this laptop to a larger display, you can use a USB-C to DisplayPort cable which this laptop can support displays up to 4K resolution without any problems.
One shortcoming that I can see in terms of this plug offering is the lack of a USB Type-A plug and also no SD or MicroSD card reader which can usually be seen on laptops of this type. To fix the issue of not having a USB Type-A plug, Huawei has at least introduced a USB Type-C to Type-A adapter for user convenience.
For those who also care about wireless connectivity, the Huawei Matebook X Pro also comes with support for WiFi 6 internet connection and also Bluetooth 5.2 which not only allows users to connect several Bluetooth devices at once, but also uses lower battery power.
User Experience
The Huawei Matebook X Pro is not Huawei's first offering in the premium productivity laptop segment. Last year, they launched a laptop with the same name,
However, the 2022 model is seen to appear with changes in terms of design, the use of the latest components and also more modern functions compared to what was offered last year.
The updated specifications and components mentioned in the previous paragraphs are seen to some extent help in giving users a better and easier usage experience than before.
The Huawei Free Touch touchpad for example now comes with a surface that makes it easier to move the mouse over the screen, and now comes with support for eight unique controls that allow users to access various shortcuts and functions of this laptop without the need for additional accessories such as a mouse.
The use of Intel's 12th generation Alder Lake processing chip on this laptop is seen to improve its performance quite well. With a combination of 16GB of LPDDR5 memory as well as 1TB of SSD storage, I can open 15-20 Microsoft Edge web browser tabs without a problem.
I don't really need to worry about the issue of time lag regardless of my task, whether it is to write articles or reviews, edit photos and so on when using this laptop. In fact, with one full charge, I can use this laptop wherever I want by taking advantage of the 'Sleep' function by closing the display of this laptop.
Apart from that, the Huawei Matebook X Pro is part of the Huawei Super Device ecosystem that allows users of existing Huawei devices to share content with each other or use these devices as additional screens quickly and easily.
If I had a few criticisms of this laptop, it would probably be just one or two things, such as the absence of a USB Type-A plug which is made easier by using the supplied dongle, and also the keyboard which in my opinion is a bit shallow which provides a typing experience that is not as good as I want.
Here I also want to say that the experience of using the Huawei Matebook X Pro touch pad is quite smooth, but the haptic response for this touch pad, at least when used to press the left and right buttons, is sometimes not sensitive enough and somewhat disappointing.
Even so, the Huawei Matebook X Pro touchpad comes with a number of very interesting features that in my opinion are not just gimmicks.
Smart Touch Pad
The main function of this Huawei Matebook X Pro laptop is its touch pad. In this latest iteration, Huawei Free Touch, Huawei presents eight unique controls that allow users to scroll through various settings quickly and easily, such as controlling display brightness, audio volume, shrinking or closing windows quickly, taking screenshots easily and so on.
The list of eight controls you can do with this Huawei Free Touch touchpad is as follows:
Take a screenshot by tapping the touch pad once with one knuckle
Record the screen by tapping the touchpad twice with two knuckles
Control the display brightness by scrolling the left side of the touchpad
Control the audio volume by scrolling the right side of the touchpad
Control fast forward and rewind video by scrolling the top side of the touchpad
Minimize the window to the taskbar by pressing the left corner of the touchpad
Close the window by pressing the right corner of the touchpad
Open the notification window by scrolling in from the right side of the touchpad
Apart from that, the Huawei Matebook X Pro also comes with a touchless gesture function that allows the user to change the page of the presentation slide, control the fast forward and rewind the video and pause the video with just a wave of the hand.
This nirtangan gesture function may take some time to get used to using it and reduce awkwardness when making presentations. Touchless scrolling for videos also appears to be limited to videos played through Windows 11's built-in Media Player software, and in our experience, does not currently support other media players, including YouTube.
Bench mark
Here are the benchmark scores for PCMark and also CrystalDiskMark for this Huawei Matebook X Pro.
PCMark
CrystalDiskMark
Audio And Visual
The pairing of the Real Color FullView Display screen and the Huawei Sound audio system is also quite solid, where it works well for productivity and leisure purposes. The use of four built-in microphones for example helps in canceling noise when you are in a teleconference call even if you are not using earphones.
The six speakers built on the side and above the keyboard, in my opinion, give this computer a loud enough audio volume when playing audio songs or videos that also do not lose details, giving me a listening experience that is quite ear-friendly.
Battery
In my experience, one full charge of this laptop can last for around 7-8 hours with screen use at 50% brightness and WiFi connection and web browser used for writing purposes and some video viewing.
In this usage pattern, I also found that the laptop does not get very hot when used on the lap, and the temperature of the processing chip only increases when the CPU process increases when used for tasks that require high processing power, such as video editing.
If you use this laptop as a productivity machine when you work outside the office. you can choose to use the supplied 90W charger, or your own charger that supports at least 65W charging for fast device charging.
As for me, I have a 100W GaN charger that I always carry with me to charge multiple devices in my bag if needed.
In the box
Here's what you get with every device purchase in Malaysia.
1x Huawei Matebook X Pro
1x 90W Charger
1x USB-C to USB-C charging cable
1x Manual
1x warranty card
Closing
At a price of RM9999, the latest Huawei Matebook X Pro is also seen to appear at a much more expensive price compared to the previous year's offering. This price tag marks the first time Huawei has launched a laptop in an elite class that on paper is a little hard to recommend.
The combination of Alder Lake 12th generation Intel processing chip performance, magnesium-aluminum alloy frame design, Microsoft Windows 11 operating system and also features from the Huawei Free Touch touchpad including touchless gestures show how serious Huawei is in developing a unique productivity machine and has a pretty useful gimmick.
I can honestly say that because of the price tag alone, this laptop might not be for everyone. If you want a laptop that is more wallet-friendly, Huawei is also seen offering laptops such as the Huawei Matebook 16s and Huawei Matebook D16 which are also updated with the latest Intel processing components.
Pro
Light and compact.
Unique frame finish.
Comes with the latest Intel Alder Lake processing chip.
Battery life is good.
Very useful touchpad controls.
Fast charging.
Cons
The price is quite high.
Smooth frame
Shallow keyboard
Poor haptic response.
No media card reader