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Huawei might not be the first name that comes to mind when you think of laptops. In fact, most of you probably can’t even pronounce it correctly. It’s “hwah-way,” by the way.
But it turns out this Chinese smartphone maker is more than capable of producing a laptop to rival the best on the market, even if it does look like Huawei lifted its design from Apple’s (AAPL) MacBook.
Dubbed the MateBook X Pro, this machine is so powerful and, at $1,199 compared to $1,499 for a similarly-equipped MacBook Pro, so relatively inexpensive that it feels like it shouldn’t exist at all. It’s got some problems, namely a goofy webcam hidden below the keyboard that’s difficult to use. Oh, and Huawei’s new reputation as a national security threat is sure to turn off some shoppers. But for the money, this laptop is one of the best you can buy.
The MateBook X Pro is a stunning machine. Built using an aluminum chassis that prevents it from flexing or creaking, the X Pro is available in both silver and space grey. For my money, the latter is the one to go with.
Sporting a slim design, the X Pro packs a 13.9-inch display, which puts it in between Apple’s MacBook Pro 13-inch and MacBook Pro 15-inch. Still, Huawei’s X Pro is as wide and a hair thinner than the MacBook Pro 13-inch. And while it feels a bit heavy, the X Pro is actually lighter than the Pro 13-inch.
The X Pro looks just about as close to a MacBook as possible. Two details give away the fact that this isn’t a Mac: the Huawei logo on the laptop’s lid and the ridiculously thin display bezel. This thing is virtually all glass.
The MateBook’s screen is more than just its thin bezel, though. The touch screen panel, yes it’s touch and still thin, offers a resolution of 3,000 x 2,000 pixels. That’s sharper than the MacBook Pro 13-inch’s and 15-inch’s screens. Dell’s incredible XPS 13, however, offers a sharper 13-inch panel with a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160, though you need to pay $400 to upgrade to that display.
Colors on the MateBook X Pro look spectacular. Even the Windows 10 screensavers looked fantastic. I spent several hours poring over trailers from E3 2018, which I swear was definitely for research, and not just because I wanted to watch game video game trailers while at work, and they looked brilliant.
We all know someone who covers their webcam with either a small Post-it note or piece of tape out of fear that someone will hack their computer and watch them read their emails and eat their sad packed lunch hunched over their desks. No? Just me?
Anyway, Huawei has decided that slapping a Post-it on your sleek new laptop is probably the last thing you want to do. It also didn’t have any space for a webcam on the MateBook X Pro’s super-thin bezels.
Rather than putting the camera directly below the display like Dell does on its XPS 13, Huawei has hidden it under a special button in the keyboard’s F6 and F7 keys. Pressing down on the button flips it up so you can begin chatting.
It’s a novel idea that certainly eliminates any need for a Post-it to cover the camera, but it also means that whoever you’re chatting with will get a good look up your nose much like the XPS 13. And God help you if you have to type something while using the webcam, because your friend will just get a close-up look at your fingernails. I sincerely hope you get a manicure before using this webcam.
