Huawei Matebook X Pro 2021 Test

Huawei MateBook X Pro (2022) review: Another Huawei great, but even so non perfect

Even with its phone business concern struggling due to legal restrictions, Huawei's laptops accept kept trucking along, and the 2022 iteration of the Huawei MateBook X Pro is another nifty laptop from the company. It's fast, it has a beautiful brandish, and it's solidly built. It feels like a premium laptop, and it's great to use, for the most role.

I have a few issues with it, starting with the fact that the webcam however isn't astonishing (though at least information technology's properly placed this time). I besides don't similar the placement of the microphones, as information technology's very easy to cause distractions if I want to employ the laptop while I'one thousand on a telephone call.

I'd say this is probably the best Huawei laptop I've used, though I still wish some things were dissimilar. Information technology's far from flawless, simply it deserves some attention.

Huawei too sent me a MateView SE monitor, which I tested aslope the MateBook 10 Pro. I don't remember it warrants its own review, only I can say it's a solid bones monitor, with pretty good color coverage and some interesting features like an eBook mode for long periods of reading. It's definitely worth checking out for habitation and role apply.

Navigate this review:

Huawei MateBook X Pro: Price and availability
Huawei MateBook X Pro: Specs
Blueprint: The build quality feels premium
Brandish: A beautiful iii.1K screen
2nd screen: The Huawei MateView SE is a great basic monitor
Keyboard and touchpad: Typing is not bad, but I don't love this touchpad
Performance: Information technology's fast, but battery life is still an issue for Intel'southward P-series
The Huawei ecosystem and software
Should you buy the Huawei MateBook X Pro?

Huawei MateBook X Pro: Price and availability

The Huawei MateBook X Pro is available now, but you can't become it in the US
Information technology costs £1,799 in the UK, including an Intel Core i7 and 16GB of RAM

The Huawei MateBook 10 Pro was first appear during the summer, and if yous're in the Uk, you lot can buy it right now, though only from Huawei's website. It will probable be available on Amazon every bit well every bit other retailers at some point.

The only configuration Huawei is selling right now costs £1,799 in the Great britain or €2,199 in Germany, but it too includes a costless Huawei MateView (the standard model, non the SE mentioned in this review), which makes that price more than reasonable.

Huawei MateBook 10 Pro: Specs

CPU	Intel Core i7-1260P (12 cores, 16 threads, up to 4.7GHz, 18MB enshroud)
Graphics	Intel Iris Xe graphics (96 EUs, up to 1.4GHz)
Display	fourteen.two-inch FullView brandish, 3.1K (3120 x 2080) IPS, 264 DPI, 90Hz refresh rate, upwardly to 500 nits, 100% DCI-P3, Delta East<one, 10-point multi-affect Corning Gorilla Drinking glass
Dimensions	310 x 221 x 15.6 mm (12.2 x 8.vii x 0.61 in) 1.26 kg (2.78 lbs)
Memory	16GB LPDDR5 (soldered)
Storage	1TB NVMe PCIe iv SSD
Battery	60Wh battery
Ports	2 x Thunderbolt four (40Gbos) 2 x USB Type-C (with Ability Delivery and DisplayPort) iii.5mm headphone jack
Audio	6 stereo speakers Quad array microphone with noise cancelling Huawei Sound
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 6E, 802.11ax two×2 Bluetooth 5.two
Camera	Hd 720p RGB and IR hybrid camera, E-privacy shutter
Colour	Space Grey
Material	Aluminum
Os	Windows 11 Home
Price	£1,799 (including Huawei MateView monitor)

Design: The build quality feels premium

The all-aluminum build of the Huawei MateBook X Pro feels as solid as a premium production should
It but has USB Blazon-C ports, two of which support Thunderbolt 4

If at that place's one affair I've never had any complaints with Huawei's laptops, information technology's the build quality. Every laptop I've reviewed feels super solid, and this is no exception. it has an all-aluminum chassis that has a reassuring heft to it, and information technology feels solid equally can be. Existence made of aluminum ways it's not the lightest laptop around, but 2.77lbs is far from heavy. Equally far as aluminum laptops get, it's one of the lightest you'll find.

One thing I do wish Huawei would alter is the color of this laptop. This year'due south edition comes in Ink Blue and White colorways, but my review unit is still the classic Space Greyness, which I actually don't like. It'south not bad, merely almost every Huawei/Award laptop I've reviewed comes in this color, and it's just kind of tedious. I recall it doesn't help that the keyboard is just black and not color-matched to the chassis, that would have fabricated information technology experience a bit more premium to me. Huawei did do some nice things here, though – I like the shiny trim around the edges of the lid and the base, giving this otherwise evidently chassis a bit of flair.

Something else that's interesting is the touchpad, which I'll talk about more afterwards on. For now, I'll say that I like how it looks. The touchpad extends all the fashion to the edge of the laptop, even around the notch at the bottom, so it looks pretty unique in that sense.

The Huawei MateBook X Pro is adequately thin, measuring 15.6mm, but I'm yet somewhat disappointed with the choice of ports hither. On the left side of the laptop, in that location are two Thunderbolt 4 ports, forth with a headphone jack.

On the correct, two USB Blazon-C ports (not Thunderbolt) circular out the total selection of ports.

USB Type-C is the future, and indeed, it would exist bully if every peripheral used it. But many don't, so if you have a mouse, keyboard, or external monitor, in that location'southward a very proficient take chances yous're going to need adapters. Some people are okay with this because they already have a Thunderbolt dock, simply I ever discover it disappointing when a laptop requires me to buy an extra peripheral for what should be relatively basic functionality. And while fifteen.6mm is definitely thin, there are thinner laptops out there with more than ports. But because Huawei made the edges significantly thinner than the rest of the chassis, there actually isn't much room for anything else. I would have taken a slightly flatter chassis for USB Type-A and HDMI support, personally.

Display and audio: A beautiful three.1K screen

The Huawei MateBook 10 Pro has a super-sharp 3.1K IPS display with a 3:2 aspect ratio
Information technology covers 100% of DCI-P3 and information technology gets very bright if you need information technology to

The Huawei MateBook X Pro comes with a fourteen.two-inch brandish, and it has a iii:2 aspect ratio, which is already a peachy start. I've tried a few laptops with a 16:10 aspect ratio, but 3:2 is more of a rarity, and it's ever great to come across. Taller screens brand multi-tasking that much easier if you desire to read a webpage or document without scrolling as much, so information technology's not bad for work. I wouldn't say it'due south a huge divergence from 16:10, but I'll e'er appreciate a taller screen.

It'due south super sharp, besides, at 3120 x 2080 resolution, and it has a 90Hz refresh charge per unit, though it's set to 60Hz by default. 90Hz displays actually reduce battery life a lot, though, then you may want to stick with 60Hz when you're on battery power.

You likewise go touch support, something else I always love to meet on a laptop, even if information technology'southward not a convertible. There are many cases where I instinctively want to accomplish out and touch the screen, and it's disappointing when I tin't, so I'chiliad glad that'due south not the case here.

Huawei touts 100% coverage of DCI-P3 with this brandish, as well as a Delta E < ane rating for color accuracy, and indeed, this is a nifty screen. From merely using information technology, it looks absolutely fantastic, with vibrant colors and smashing contrast. My tests testify that it covers 98% of DCI-P3, 100% of sRGB, and 89% of Adobe RGB, which is bully for content creators and creative professionals.

I too measured the brightness and contrast levels, and the MateBook X Pro too excels here. Even though Huawei touts up to 500 nits of brightness, I really got up to 580, which is fantastic for any laptop, and it reaches a maximum contrast of ane,300:one – also a great result for an IPS panel.

For sound, Huawei packed a six-speaker setup in the MateBook X Pro, and while I'm far from an audiophile, I can say that information technology gets very loud, and there's no discernible baloney to my ears. It sounds fantastic, whether that'southward for music and voice calls, which is something Huawei emphasizes for this laptop with what it calls "Huawei Smart Conference". There are various features to enhance your vocalism as well every bit filters and furnishings for the webcam.

Unfortunately, other parts of this experience make calls less than ideal. There are 4 microphones placed along the front of the laptop, just below the touchpad and wrist residuum. If you lot tin can't see where this is going, this is likewise where your easily go, which means if you're trying to use the computer while on a call, y'all're going to make some dissonance straight into the microphone, and information technology won't be a dandy experience for the person on the other side.

One criticism I've e'er had with all the Huawei laptops I've reviewed is the webcam placement, since it'due south typically been under the keyboard. Thankfully this time, Huawei put the camera to a higher place the brandish, which is long overdue. Yet, this is still a 720p webcam, and image quality is non fantastic. Similar well-nigh 720p cameras, information technology'due south serviceable, but information technology's very grainy and far from precipitous. That might be because the laptop as well supports Windows How-do-you-do facial recognition, which kind of makes upwardly for the image quality to me. Widows Hello works really well here, and it's very convenient to accept.

Second screen: The Huawei MateView SE is a cracking basic monitor

The Huawei MateView SE comes in Full Hard disk drive resolution and has a 75Hz refresh rate
Information technology covers 90% of DCI-P3, and so it'due south still great for artistic piece of work

Along with the MateBook X Pro, Huawei also sent me the MateView SE, a relatively basic monitor meant for office work. This is a 24-inch (23.8-inch, technically) monitor, and it comes in Total HD resolution, which is about what you lot'd await for something at this price. It also has a 75Hz maximum refresh rate, which is nice if yous want things to look a piddling bit smoother. It's not really meant to match the MateBook X Pro, information technology simply happened to exist appear around the aforementioned time.

Still, this is a nice screen. Side by side to my own personal monitor, information technology looks brighter and more vibrant, all the same information technology feels similar it's a lilliputian easier on the eyes. Huawei claims xc% coverage of DCI-P3 with this monitor, and that seems to concord truthful based on my tests. It also covers 81% of Adobe RGB and eighty% of NTSC, then it's a great panel all effectually, even if it's not as great equally the MateBook Ten Pro.

For brightness, Huawei only claims 250 nits, which isn't infrequent, though not entirely unexpected for a cheaper monitor. In my testing, it did reach 274 nits, then it'due south a little meliorate than advertised.

There are likewise a few temperature profiles bachelor, including Warm, Standard, Neutral, and Cool, though yous tin set your custom profile. I found Standard to be the best (and that'due south what I tested above), as it was really a bit more than "neutral" than the Neutral profile, which leans more towards a cooler white point, around 7300K.

Of class, the monitor includes a few color profiles, like sRGB, HDR style, and game fashion, just I always left it in P3 fashion for the best color coverage. The virtually notable is eBook mode, which is meant for reading for longer periods. In this mode, the display turns blackness and white, and the blu low-cal levels are reduced significantly so as to reduce eye fatigue while reading.

You can notice monitors with USB hubs effectually this toll.

This model of the MateView SE as well includes an adjustable stand, so you can suit the height and tilt angles, as well as pin the screen to use it vertically, which goes great with the eBook colour profile if you want to read on a large screen. There's no swivel support, which is unfortunate, only the monitor is easy enough to arrange and the slim contour of the base means information technology shouldn't be much of a bother for your desk-bound space.

For inputs, yous get one HDMI port and one DisplayPort port, though only the HDMI cable comes in the box. This port setup isn't terrible, but at this toll, you can start finding some monitors that also have USB hubs, or at least built-in speakers, which you as well don't get here. Most of those monitors probably won't have color coverage on the same level, though, so it depends on your priorities.

Keyboard and touchpad: Typing is swell, but I don't love this touchpad

The keyboard has 1.5mm of travel and it's fairly comfy
Huawei Free Affect adds some actually cool features to the touchpad, just there are problems

Dorsum to the laptop itself, information technology'due south time to talk near the keyboard, which is frankly fine. I accept typically not been very picky with keyboards, and I'd say this one is pretty expert. The keys accept a whole 1.5mm of travel, which is very expert for a laptop, and they feel comfortable to blazon on. I don't actually take whatever issues with it at all, though I don't think I'd put it on the same level as something like a Lenovo laptop or the Dynabook Portégé X40L-G I recently reviewed. Those have fantastic keyboards, and this ane is great too, but not quite as amazing.

In that location isn't anything too noteworthy almost this keyboard, except that Huawei seems to have used the space where the webcam used to exist hidden to add a new cardinal that launches the Windows voice typing feature. It might exist a useful feature for some, though it kind of comes across equally a rushed decision but to make utilize of that space. The power push still has a fingerprint sensor congenital-in, even with facial recognition already available, so y'all tin can choose whatever method you adopt.

Beneath the keyboard is the touchpad, which is simultaneously super cool and somewhat disappointing. Huawei has been touting some unique touchpad features for a while, like knocking on the touchpad to take a screenshot. In the MateBook 10 Pro, there are a total of viii gestures you can perform with the touchpad, including minimizing or endmost the active window past clicking the top corners of the touchpad. My favorite is that y'all can slide a single finger on the right border of the touchpad to adjust the volume, or on the left edge to adjust the brandish brightness. That's not exactly new, merely Huawei has added tactile feedback to this mechanism, so you experience each caste of adjustment. You don't fifty-fifty have to printing hard on information technology, it just starts clicking when it recognizes the gesture. I tin can't enlarge how much I honey this tactility.

I wish that would extend to the basic functionality of the touchpad, though. Clicking this touchpad doesn't feel great, particularly if you lot're trying to click and drag and you motion your finger up nigh the centre of the touchpad. More than once I've found myself unsure if I had lifted my finger off the touchpad enough, and I've accidentally dragged things or selected more than I should. If you just click the bottom of the touchpad, it feels fine, but while it can still click near the middle, the tactility isn't there, and then it sometimes gets in the flow of my work.

Operation: It's fast, but bombardment life is withal an event for Intel's P series

An Intel Core i7-1260P and 16GB of RAM requite you plenty of functioning for daily piece of work
Battery life still isn't bang-up with Intel P-series processors

Turning to performance, the Huawei MateBook X Pro comes powered by an Intel Core i7-1260P, function of Intel'southward P-series with a 28W default TDP. With 12 cores and 16 threads, this is a very powerful CPU for a relatively lightweight laptop like this i, and it's backed past 16GB of RAM. In my usage, mostly consisting of working in WordPress while browsing the web with multiple tabs open, I've never run into any performance hurdles. I likewise do some low-cal image editing, and that too, is handled without much of a problem. The laptop besides doesn't tend to go overly loud, though the fans can spin upward a lot occasionally.

Looking at benchmarks, the scores are virtually what you lot might expect from this processor. Information technology's on par with other laptops I've reviewed with Intel P-serial processors, and in some tests, it even beats the Dynabook Portégé X40L-K, which has a Core i7-1270P. If you lot want maximum performance, you're going to want to enable operation mode in Huawei PC Manager. In some cases, information technology seems like information technology actually performs worse, but for the most function, it's faster this fashion. That'southward what these benchmarks are based on.

	Huawei MateBook 10 Pro Cadre i7-1260P	Dynabok Portégé X40L-K Cadre i7-1270P	HP Spectre x360 13.5 Core i7-1255U
PCMark 10	5,653	4,878	5,533
3DMark: Time Spy	1,967	1,939	1,553
Geekbench five (unmarried / multi)	ane,761 / ix,865	1,742 / 9,195	one,682 / 7,534
Cinebench R23 (single / multi)	1,543 / 9,348	1,707 / 8,319	1,684 / 6,287
CrossMark (overall / productivity / creativity / responsiveness)	1,791 / 1,666 / 1989 / 1,624	1,504 / ane,407 / 1,774 / 1,119	1,593 / 1,509 / i,781 / i,340

Intel P-serial processors still have issues with thermal throttiling and battery life.

While thermal throttling isn't the worst on this laptop, these results highlight i of the problems with the Intel Core P-series processors. They take a higher TDP and the potential to exist much faster, only companies are putting them in laptops that used to take 15W processors, and it only doesn't make sense in that context. This is pretty much the same chassis that had a U-series processor before this year, and now it has a CPU that's generating a lot more oestrus and needs more than cooling. While information technology is faster than the HP Spectre x360 thirteen.5, which all the same has U-series processors, the difference isn't that big in a lot of these tests.

The second downside to these processors is battery life. To test the bombardment life of this laptop, I did two things. Outset, for a more standardized test, I let a 20-hour YouTube video play (at 720p, fullscreen) with the effulgence and volume set up to 50%. Information technology lasted roughly 6 hours and 40 minutes, which isn't terrible. So, for real-life usage, I simply used it for piece of work as I normally would, with brightness set to 50%, 60Hz refresh rate, and the Windows power setting set to Balanced, and with bombardment saver kicking in at xx% bombardment life. In full general, battery life was hovering around four hours and 40 minutes. The worst I got was simply over three hours, only this was a clear outlier, and for the most part, I was at least very shut to 4 hours. In one case, I got up to five hours.

Bluntly, that'due south not every bit bad as I expected. Considering other laptops I've reviewed with P-series processors and the fact that this has an incredibly abrupt display, I was expecting a lot worse, then this was a pleasant surprise. Still, information technology'south far from astonishing battery life, and if yous plan to take your laptop with yous somewhere, yous're going to want an outlet nearby.

The Huawei ecosystem and software

Y'all can connect your Huawei telephone or tablet to the MateBook 10 Pro
Huawei also packs features like Huawei Smart Briefing and Free Touch

One of the big selling points of Huawei laptops is how they integrate with the Huawei ecosystem, and that's besides the instance hither. At that place's nothing new here, but information technology'due south worth reiterating if y'all're not familiar with it. 1 of the things you can do is connect your phone to your laptop, which lets you mirror your phone's screen and even open up multiple apps from your telephone at the same time. You can also easily transfer files from your phone to your PC.

With a Huawei tablet, you tin actually apply information technology as a 2d screen for your laptop, and so it's a not bad feature to accept if you want to have two screens on the go. Yous tin can likewise use your computer mouse and keyboard to interact with your tablet, and motion files between devices more hands. Again, this isn't new, and since I don't personally utilise a Huawei phone or tablet, I don't find it that useful.

Oddly enough, I can't seem to enable Huawei Mobile App Engine, which iss supposed to let y'all run Android apps on Windows, even without Windows 11 or using the Windows Subsystem for Android. There's no mention of it in the Huawei PC Manager app, then possibly this laptop isn't supported however.

Huawei bundles in other software with the laptop, though. Commencement, at that place's Huawei Audio and Huawei Camera, which collectively are part of what Huawei also refers to as "Smart Conference". Huawei Sound offers a few different settings to enhance voice recognition during video calls, and so you can be heard more than clearly in specific scenarios. You can also tune the sound from your speakers, though these features aren't all that different from what you'd go with a standard audio driver.

Huawei Camera is a chip more interesting, since it can apply virtual backgrounds to your webcam, add together beauty filters, and more. It doesn't make up for the lackluster webcam we have hither, but it's potentially nice to have, and something many other laptops take started doing due to the broad transition to remote work.

Finally, Huawei Gratis Affect lets you lot customize the gestures you tin can employ with this unique touchpad. Equally I've mentioned above, there are eight gestures bachelor, and they assist you make the most of a touchpad past giving you quick shortcuts to certain features. These are actually very useful, though information technology depends on your willingness to go used to them. I already mentioned scrolling on the edges to adjust the volume or brightness, but y'all can knock on the touchpad with your duke to take screenshots or tape the screen, printing the top corners of the touchpad to shut or minimize a window, and more.

Who should purchase the Huawei MateBook X Pro?

All in all, I think the Huawei MateBook X Pro has a lot to offering, and while information technology is a bit pricy, it'south not overly expensive for what y'all get. Once more, the £1,799 price tag includes a fairly expensive monitor in the packet, and then this isn't as expensive equally it initially appears. For what yous pay, you get a phenomenal display, bang-up sound, premium build quality, and a good typing feel. You can't inquire for a lot more. Except, maybe, for it to exist available in the United States.

Yous should purchase the Huawei MateBook Ten Pro if:

You work as a artistic professional and want a color-accurate display
Consume a lot of media, such equally movies, music, or web videos
Y'all value premium pattern and build quality
You spend a lot of time typing

You shouldn't buy the Huawei MateBook 10 Pro if:

You lot live in the United States
Long battery life is essential for your use instance
You want to make a lot of calls with the built-in webcam and microphone
You take a lot of peripherals that require legacy ports and don't desire an adapter

My biggest issues with the Huawei MateBook X Pro take to practice with the built-in webcam and microphone setup, plus the lack of legacy ports is unfortunate. I also didn't love some aspects of the touchpad, simply you might exist able to go used to how information technology works.

As for the Huawei MateView SE, I'd say this is a nice monitor for the toll. I notice the lack of speakers a chip unfortunate considering I would as well like to hook up my Nintendo Switch to information technology, only if yous're only using a laptop, information technology probably already has meliorate speakers than any monitor in this cost range. The reasons to become this are the nice color coverage, pivot back up, and the eBook mode, which might come up in handy if you spend a lot of fourth dimension reading.