The Huawei MateBook X Pro is a nearly perfect machine

It is a solid performer, runs well over a long period and the display is nice, though it slightly gets awkward when watching videos with black bars. PHOTO | COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • It has a 57 watt-hour battery that sees it through nearly 10 hours of usage without needing to recharge.
  • It is a solid performer, runs well over a long period, the display is nice, though it slightly gets awkward when watching videos with black bars.
  • The only real drawback would be with the webcam, otherwise, this is a perfect laptop which should have a long life span, with five years being a solid reality.
  • It does not come cheap though, at Sh187,000.

In a very strange twist of fate, Huawei, a relatively new player in the personal computing industry, has been playing their cards really right, building machines that are far more solid and far better-looking than the brands the world has become accustomed to.

IMPROVED

Their first MateBook wasn’t a bad looker and performed well for a first device. It hasn’t been easy getting here. They are now on the MateBook X Pro, which takes on from the MateBook X. They have picked an 8th Generation Intel Processor, with a choice between the Core i5-8250U processor and the Core i7-8550U processor, that is backed by an NVIDIA GeForce MX150 with 2 GB GDDR5 Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), though you can opt for an Intel UHD Graphics 620 GPU. It ships with either 8GB or 16GB RAM, which is more than enough to get this machine where it needs to be.

For storage, you have a choice of either a 256GB or 512GB Solid State Drive (SSD) both of which seem adequate enough for this machine. Its display is a 13.9 inch screen with 3000 x 2000 pixel resolution. It is just right for content, and the thinner bezels make it seem larger than it actually is. The keyboard on the machine is also a welcome addition, with enough travel to make the keys easy to use yet allow you to be you, regardless of your choice of thumping keyboards or gracing them with a light touch. Within the keyboard is the webcam, which pops up when you need to use it. The downside is that the display has nearly no bezels, so there isn’t room for a webcam.

'PERFECT MACHINE'

Going on, it has a 57 watt-hour battery that sees it through nearly 10 hours of usage without needing to recharge, which is actually impressive, given that it is that small.

It has a one touch power button that also doubles as a fingerprint sensor, and it works brilliantly. It has a single USB Type C port that allows it to charge the laptop via the MateDock 2, a Thunderbolt 3 port that allows it to charge the laptop, again with the MateDock as well as a USB 3.0 Type A port. That’s it.

Does it live up to Huawei’s standards? From the word go, it is a nearly perfect machine. It is a solid performer, runs well over a long period, the display is nice, though it slightly gets awkward when watching videos with black bars.

The fingerprint sensor works as it should, and the keyboard is easy to use. The only real drawback would be with the webcam, otherwise, this is a perfect laptop which should have a long life span, with five years being a solid reality. It does not come cheap though, at Sh187,000.