The Huawei MateBook 2020 boasts a sleek design, and it doesn't end there.
Dubai - Do more, share more seamlessly with this compact machine
Published: Fri 12 Jun 2020, 12:00 PM
Last updated: Tue 16 Jun 2020, 3:24 AM
Huawei's known for its really powerful smartphones, but there's some other category where it's really showing its muscle: Laptops.
The Chinese tech giant is always ready to rumble with the best, and now it's about to give its competition a good run for its money with the Huawei MateBook 13 2020.
THE LOWDOWN
| Processor | 10th Gen Intel Core i5-10210U/i7-10510U |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce MX250/Intel UHD Graphics 620 |
| Display | 13" IPS, 2160 x 1440, 200ppi, 300 nits, 88% ratio |
| Platform | Windows 10 Home |
| Memory | 8/16GB LPDDR3 2133MHz |
| Storage | 512GB SSD |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 |
| I/O | USB-C (2), 3.5mm audio |
| Camera | 1MP |
| Battery | Li-poly 41.7Wh, up to 11.6h local full-HD video |
| Price | Starts at Dh2,999 |
One of Huawei's pegs on the new computing gizmo is 'seeing is believing'. Well, it's got a crisp, easy-on-the-eyes 13-inch FullView display, which gets good marks on its 4.4mm bezel slimness; it has an 88 per cent screen-to-body ratio. And it's also touchscreen, with 10-point mult-touch and finger gesture screenshot. It's also one of the thinnest and lightest in its class, with a depth of only 14.9mm (about 0.58 inches) and a weight of approximately 1.3kg, respectively.
There are, however, only a limited number of ports: A USB-C on both sides with a 3.5mm audio port on the left. Users may arrive at a time when they may need a USB-A and a memory card slot, so this may be an issue at certain times. Its speakers - two of them - run across under its base, which gives good sound but would be muffled if you place it on surfaces like a sofa.
It has a minimalist design, with only its unmissable power button on the upper-right corner of the chiclet keyboard, whose keys are very low and thus won't strain your fingers while typing. They don't have much space apart, so you can easily glide through them.
You'll get two RAM options: 8GB and a very generous 16GB. The unit we received for review has the latter, and I can't complain about the speed and experience. There is, however, only one storage option, a 512GB SSD; that's already a very fair amount of storage space, but it would've been a whole lot better if there was a 1TB version as well.
In our standard one-hour YouTube-at-full-brightness test, the device lost 22 per cent, which is quite a lot. However, using it for my daily routine, I was able to churn out about 9 hours of battery life; Huawei pegs it up to last about 11.5 hours, so that's still a pretty good results and guarantees all-day juice. It also supports SuperCharge for certain Huawei phones.
And arguably the most key feature of the devices is Huawei Share, which the company says will make life and work easier. It does, thanks to its Multi-screen Collaboration: If you have a Huawei or Honor phone running on at least EMUI 10 and has NFC, you'll be able to share data between your devices seamlessly.
AND SO...
Sleek and very modern, the Huawei MateBook 2020 is a great example of simplicity in a no-nonsense package. It boots up real fast and you won't have any problems while you deal with its interface, since it's very speedy when responding to your commands.
And its price is also very competitive, with a number of similar devices hovering above that tag. Huawei isn't relenting in its strategy of offering premium devices at lower costs, which would prove very advantageous going forward.
GOODIES: Compact and portable, really fast
GOODIES: Limited number of ports, battery zaps when streaming over the Web
EDITOR RATING: It's a great alternative to other compact laptops, and Huawei's put a lot of its great tech in it. Worth considering for your next buy. 4.5/5
- alvin@khaleejtimes.com
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