Huawei laptops haven’t been extensively accessible within the US for years. But they’ve historically been improbable merchandise, with ok efficiency and construct high quality to make them severe MacBook rivals. So I figured I’d evaluate the MateBook 16, Huawei’s newest flagship pocket book, despite the fact that it is probably not on the radars of our US readers. Consider this a useful resource for these in markets the place Huawei continues to be working but in addition a fast verify on what the remainder of us are lacking out on.

On the surface, the MateBook 16… type of seems to be like a MacBook Pro. Huawei’s obtained the colours and the final vibe down pat. Whether it performs in addition to a MacBook is, after all, one other query. Most of the MateBook 16 is nice, from the speedy and cozy keyboard to the all-day battery life, large 3:2 show, and surprisingly highly effective audio system. I do know individuals who have changed MacBooks with MateBooks as a major driver, and I can see how for many workplace staff, the each day expertise is kind of comparable.

But the principle distinction is that after I’m utilizing a MateBook, I sometimes come throughout bizarre issues. They’re not issues that make or break the expertise, however they’re simply odd flaws for such a pleasant laptop computer to have. And they add as much as make a product that’s nice however not as nice because it feels prefer it simply may very well be.

I ought to observe, earlier than we get too far into this, that the MateBook is barely accessible in a considerably restricted variety of nations. Currently, you possibly can solely order it straight from Huawei’s website in the event you’re in China or Germany as of this writing. (I can’t think about will probably be accessible throughout the US any time quickly, given Huawei’s relationship with the Biden administration.) If you’re outdoors of these nations however are keen to ship one over, I’ve discovered fashions on AliExpress for as little as $1,259. My check unit, which has a Ryzen 7 5800H, 16GB of reminiscence, and 512G of storage, is presently accessible for $1,469 on AliExpress. (Of course, the same old caveats about ordering from third-party websites apply in the event you’re going to buy there — you in all probability received’t recieve a guaranty, you might must get a separate charger, and it is best to be sure you’re shopping for from a good vendor.)

If you’ll be able to get your palms on certainly one of these, it has a lot of promoting factors. It’s pretty mild for a 16-inch pocket book at 4.39 kilos. The trackpad is clean and roomy, although it sometimes had points with palm rejection. The keyboard is sturdy and impressively quiet — it’s in all probability probably the most MacBook-esque keyboard I’ve ever used on a Windows laptop computer (and I imply the latest fashions, not the god-awful butterfly ones). There’s a helpful port choice with two USB-C, two USB-A, a headphone jack, and HDMI. The audio system are fairly good, with bass that’s a bit weak. It’s obtained an unobtrusive, skilled look.

The spotlight of the gadget, for me, is the show. Not solely is it a whopping 16 inches, but it surely has a 3:2 side ratio, which is my favourite laptop computer side ratio. (Yes, I’ve a favourite.) There’s a ton of vertical area, and I comfortably labored in a number of home windows facet by facet; as somebody who usually makes use of a 13-incher, the additional room feels luxurious. The panel itself, whereas not fairly MacBook high quality, nonetheless shows sturdy colours and sharp particulars and kicked again nearly no glare. I loved it.

Now, for the bizarre issues. The MateBook’s microphones come geared up with Huawei’s Ai noise cancelation expertise that’s supposed to scale back echo and ambient noise, however coworkers mentioned that it made me sound very bizarre on Zoom calls. It was clearly processing my voice whereas I used to be talking; somebody mentioned I appeared like I used to be underwater. They may nonetheless hear and perceive me simply tremendous, but it surely’s an odd caveat to such a pleasant laptop computer. I’ve requested Huawei about this problem.

Another oddity: the SSD is partitioned? There are primarily two drives on the MateBook 16. I’ve requested Huawei why that is, however I actually can’t fathom why this might be needed on a client laptop computer. It appears prone to trigger unnecessary confusion and trouble — I had varied downloads interrupted halfway as a result of they’d been dumped right into a partition that didn’t have room, and I needed to transfer a bunch of issues round to accommodate a big folder I used to be attempting to load that was effectively beneath 512GB however too large for both partition. Finding information and functions that I wanted was additionally extra sophisticated, as a result of I couldn’t all the time bear in mind which drive they have been on.

And lastly, the webcam. The MateBook has a nosecam that pops out of the keyboard’s prime row while you press down on it. This, to me, is the equal of getting no webcam — I’d quite be a black sq. on Zoom calls than have coworkers staring up my nostrils. So that’s additionally a factor.

Huawei fanatics can use a Multi-Screen collaboration characteristic to attach the MateBook 16 to a Huawei telephone or pill. You can then drag and drop information between the tethered units, entry their apps interchangeably, or use the latter as a standard exterior show. I wasn’t in a position to check this, as I didn’t have any Huawei telephones or tablets readily available, but it surely sounds handy and much like Apple’s Sidecar characteristic. It does appear that it’s important to enter a passcode each time you reconnect a tool, which might in all probability drive me up the wall after some time.

The MateBook additionally connects simply to Huawei earbuds — per Huawei, the 2 devices will immediate you to pair them mechanically in the event you put them close to one another. Huawei is clearly shifting in direction of a sturdy and developed ecosystem, although whether or not individuals purchase in will seemingly rely on how effectively the options proceed to work as new merchandise are launched. Regardless, it’s one thing I’m jealous of as somebody whose Bose 700 come disconnected from her Surface Book a minimum of a couple of instances every week.

As a piece driver, the MateBook’s eight-core Ryzen processor did a superb job. The followers have been silent beneath heaps of Chrome tabs, Spotify streaming, and Zoom calls. I used to be by no means nervous about something crashing or slowing down, and nothing was ever scorching. You can swap to a devoted Performance Mode by urgent FN+P, although I’m undecided the place a consumer who doesn’t have Huawei’s reviewers’ information would discover that info out.

As we usually count on from AMD Ryzen 5000 methods, the MateBook did fairly effectively on multi-core benchmarks and lagged behind a bit on single-core units. It additionally didn’t blow any graphical duties out of the water — AMD’s built-in graphics haven’t acquired a significant replace for a pair years. We noticed a mean of 15 frames per second on Shadow of the Tomb Raider on the MateBook’s native decision of 2520 x 1680 and 28fps at 1920 x 1080. Neither of these is a improbable gaming expertise, they usually’re considerably worse than what we noticed from the 13-inch M1 MacBook Air.

The MateBook took 13 minutes and 44 seconds to finish our 4K export check. This isn’t a horrible end result amongst AMD methods with built-in graphics, but it surely does underscore the delta between a system like this and a heavier-duty artistic workstation (which individuals typically count on 16-inch laptops to be). The most up-to-date MacBook Pros, even the 14-incher, all took beneath three minutes for a similar process. On the Puget Systems benchmark for Premiere Pro, the MateBook also landed far behind Apple’s machines, together with the very similarly priced MacBook Air. None of that is to say that the MateBook is a foul laptop computer; it’s simply to emphasise that you would be able to get extra graphics energy for this value if that’s a precedence for you.

What AMD’s chips are likely to lack in single-core energy, although, they typically make up for in battery life. The MateBook comes with an 84Wh battery, and I averaged simply over 10 hours of steady use with the display screen round 200 nits of brightness. (Huawei claims you’ll get 12.5 hours of “continuous local 1080p video playback,” so I suppose take observe in the event you do quite a lot of that.) That does beat the MacBook Air (though not by a ton) and lots of Intel laptops of this measurement.

To me, the battery life is the strongest argument in favor of shopping for the MateBook. It ought to get you thru a workday with no downside, which is particularly spectacular contemplating the huge high-resolution display screen. I’d love to have the ability to carry this round a convention, charger-free, and have a lot actual property to work with at any time when I opened it.

While the MateBook 16 looks like a pocket book with the potential to have widespread attraction, the oldsters I’d most suggest it to are largely nonetheless Huawei superfans. The MateBook’s compatibility with different Huawei merchandise is one thing that nothing from Apple or Asus can provide. I can see that profit outweighing the odd drawbacks for those who already personal different Huawei units.

For everybody else, I feel the MateBook may very well be a tremendous buy for a normal work driver, however you may get different laptops with a lot of the similar advantages and with out the weirdness surrounding the webcam, audio system, and drive. Even if MacBook Pros are outdoors your value vary, many Ryzen units have comparable efficiency and battery life to the MateBook, in addition to a purposeful webcam and microphones. The MacBook Air is mainly there as effectively (and as unhealthy as its webcam is, I’ll take that over a nostril shot any day). Basically, I feel it’s important to actually, actually need the 16-inch, 3:2 display screen for the MateBook to have a shot.