Huawei’s Matebook X: Our first take

The thin, light, and powerful Matebook X is one of the most ambitious laptops we’ve seen this year.

Huawei, the Shenzhen, China-based company behind the P10, Huawei Watch, the MediaPad M3, and a cavalcade of other mobile hardware, is a relative newcomer to PCs. Last year’s 2-in-1 Matebook, which packed Windows 10, an iPad-inspired aluminum unibody, and a full chicklet keyboard, marked the company’s first foray into premium computing.

The Matebook X is a traditional, all-metal laptop that boasts a thin frame, narrow bezels, and Dolby-optimized audio.

It didn’t make for a great first impression, unfortunately. The Matebook’s $700 asking price pitted it squarely against incumbents like the Surface Pro 4, and color accuracy and hard drive problems marred otherwise great hardware.

But Huawei’s nothing if not persistent. This year it’s back with the Matebook X, a traditional, all-metal laptop that boasts a thin frame, narrow bezels, and Dolby-optimized audio. Whether that’s enough to best standard-bearers like Apple, Dell, Microsoft will depend in large part on its pricing, which Huawei has yet to announce. But regardless, it looks like a stronger showing than the company’s first event.

As light and thin as a feather

The first thing you’ll notice about the 13-inch Matebook X is its slimness. Altogether, the laptop’s body measures 12mm thick and weighs 2.31 pounds — about a hair thinner and heavier than the incredibly compact LG Gram (12.7mm, and 2.4 pounds).

That’s all thanks to a fanless design that’s consistent across configurations. Even the most powerful Matebook X model, which packs Intel’s 7th Generation Core i7 processor, ships with a heat-dissipating backplate engineered by Huawei’s phone design team.

Kyle Wiggers/Digital Trends

Huawei said the Matebook X will launch in several flavors when it ships later this year. Storage and memory will start at 128GB and 4GB of RAM, up to a maximum of 512GB and 8GB. Core i5 models will be available, too, but only in select markets. Huawei says it will share more information soon.

All configurations will include the same inputs — a 3.5mm audio jack, two USB-C connectors (one on the right and on on the left), and a proprietary charging port. Battery life is quoted at 10 hours on a charge. Keep in mind that manufacturer estimates tend to be high, so real-world use will likely drain the battery more quickly.

Thin bezels steal the show

Just as impressive are its display bezels, which Huawei said are the narrowest on the market. The border between the Matebook X’s screen and edge measures 4.4mm, almost a full millimeter thinner than the bezels on the Dell XPS 13’s Infinity Display (5.2mm). In our brief time with it, we were impressed by the screen’s brightness. It’s a 2K (2,160 x 1,440) non-touch panel that’s vibrant both outdoors and in, though it’s a little prone to glare.

The Matebook X’s backlit, chicklet-style keyboard feels as good as its vibrant screen looks.

The Matebook X’s keyboard feels as good as the screen looks. The backlit, chicklet-style keys are something of a cross between the Microsoft’s Surface Type Cover and the Macbook Pro. They also accommodate a fingerprint sensor that supports Windows Hello authentication. Huawei says that multiple users can save profiles, settings, and pick up where they left off by swiping their finger across the sensor.

Not everything is perfect, though. The Matebook X’s aesthetics aren’t quite a match for its industrial design. Aside from its thin display bezels, we saw little to distinguish it from the dozens of the similarly thin, lightweight Ultrabooks already available. Choice of color is limited, too. U.S. buyers can only pick between gold and grey (a third option, rose gold, will be exclusive to China).

Dolby Atmos crammed into a tiny chassis

Huawei tapped Dolby’s expertise to optimize the Matebook X’s speakers. It’s the world’s second laptop with the Atmos Sound System, a combination of software-based equalization and custom speakers. Dolby engineers worked on “all aspects” of the Matebook X’s audio system, Huawei said, down to the size and placement of the speaker grills. And they collaborated with Huawei engineers on a unique “dual motor” design that’s purportedly much louder and crisper than standard, off-the-shelf laptop speakers.

Kyle Wiggers/Digital Trends

Kyle Wiggers/Digital Trends

Kyle Wiggers/Digital Trends

In a one-on-one demo with a company rep, we watched a clip from Mad Max: Fury Road with the Dolby Atmos app’s “Dynamic” mode enabled. Even beneath a whirring fan in a bustling hotel room, we were able to make out speech and dialogue easily. It won’t blow away a decent Bluetooth speaker, as the loudness of mid-range frequencies seemed a little inconsistent, and bass pretty much nonexistent (Huawei wasn’t able to stuff a subwoofer in the Matebook X’s tiny frame). But it’ll do in a pinch.

A free dock is hard to knock

All buyers get the Matebook Dock 2.0, a slimmer, enhanced version of Huawei’s first-gen USB-C dock. It offers a USB-C port for power, a VGA connector for video out, and an HDMI port, and can connect to a monitor and charge the Matebook X at the same. This inclusion is appreciated, as a good dock with similar ports can cost $50 to $100.

The Matebook X will also shipping with Huawei’s Smart Charger, a wall adapter that automatically optimizes voltage for plugged-in devices. Thanks to support for rapid charging, it can charge the Matebook X up to 45 percent in 15 minutes, Huawei said.

We’ll need to spend a little more time with the Matebook X before we can pass judgement, but our initial impression is quite positive. It might not be the most attractive laptop on the block, but it’s one of thinnest, lightest, loudest, and brightest. We’re eager to see how it holds up day-to-day.

Highs

• Extremely light
• Fanless, even with the Core i7
• World’s thinnest display bezels
• Dolby Atmos Sound System

Lows

• Generic design
• Plenty of screen glare
• Atmos-powered speakers didn’t impress