Huawei might be best known for phones like the Mate 20 Pro and Mate P20 Pro, but that’s not its only business — the Beijing company’s budding laptop portfolio goes toe-to-toe with the best of them. In January, after quietly launching the Matebook 13 in China late last year, Huawei brought the 13-inch laptop with an Intel Whiskey Lake processor to the U.S. And at a press event today in Barcelona ahead of Mobile World Congress, it took the wraps off two new additions to its 2019 lineup: The Matebook 14 and MateBook X Pro (2019).
Matebook 14
The Matebook 14 — which bears a slight resemblance (but no relation) to the Matebook D 14 — slots somewhere between the Matebook 13 and Matebook X Pro (2019) in Huawei’s lineup. It’s 307.5mm high and 223.8mm wide, and it has a depth of 15.9mm and weighs roughly 3.28 pounds. For comparison’s sake, that’s a tad thinner but heavier than Asus’ 14-inch VivoBook S15 (18mm and 3.3 pounds) and Lenovo’s 2-in-1 Yoga C930 (14.5mm and 3 pounds).
Above: The Huawei Matebook 14 (left) and Matebook X Pro (right).
As the name implies, the Matebook 14 sports a 14-inch screen — with 2160 x 1440-pixel (QHD) resolution and a pixel density and viewing angle of 185 pixels per inch (PPI) and 178 degrees, respectively. It reaches 300 nits when the brightness is cranked up to maximum (equal to 300 candelas, or the amount of light emitted by a common tallow candle per square meter), according to Huawei, and it supports 100 percent of the sRGB color gamut, for a total of 16.7 million colors.
Like Matebook laptops before it, the Matebook 14 has a power button with an embedded fingerprint scanner (Huawei calls it One Touch) and a 3.5mm combination headphone/microphone jack. Other ports include a USB Type-C port with support for data transfer, DisplayPort, and charging (but not Thunderbolt 3.0); a single USB 3.0 USB-A port and USB 2.0 USB-A port; and an HDMI out port.
June 5th: The AI Audit in NYC
Join us next week in NYC to engage with top executive leaders, delving into strategies for auditing AI models to ensure fairness, optimal performance, and ethical compliance across diverse organizations. Secure your attendance for this exclusive invite-only event.
Also present and accounted for is the 1-megapixel spring-loaded webcam introduced with last year’s Matebook X Pro. The webcam lies concealed beneath the keyboard’s F6 key until triggered with a physical tap. It wasn’t particularly well-received last time around — on the Matebook X Pro (2018), it was angled in such a way that it cut off the heads and shoulders of taller folks — but Huawei says it has made “improvements.” Time will tell what difference those make.
Above: The Huawei Matebook 14 (bottom) and Matebook X Pro 2019 (bottom).
As for what’s on the inside, a 57.4-watt battery supplies power to the Matebook 14 and recharges via an included-in-the-box 65W wall adapter, and one of two processors — Intel’s 8th Generation Core i7-8265U processor or i5-8565U processor — handles compute duties. They’re cooled by Huawei’s proprietary dual-fan cooling solution and optionally paired (for an upcharge) with a Nvidia GeForce MX250 graphics chip with 2GB of dedicated GDDR5 RAM.
The Matebook 13 comes in 8GB or 16GB of RAM and packs up to 512GB of PCIe solid-state storage (or 256GB, for customers who don’t spring for the premium option). In terms of connectivity, it’s compatible with Bluetooth 5.0 and 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi networks. On the software side of the equation, the Matebook ships with Huawei’s Share 3.0 tech, a Bluetooth-based system that transfers up to 1,000 photos in two seconds when a compatible handset makes contact with the laptop’s embedded NFC chip, and Eye Comfort Mode, a blue light-filtering eye mode borrowed from Huawei’s smartphones and tablets.
The Matebook 14 will be available in gray and silver when it goes on sale later this year. The i5 model with 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage is priced at €1,199 (about $1,360), and the i7 variant with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage is €1,499 ($1,700).
Matebook X Pro (2019)
The Matebook X Pro (2019) replaces the original Matebook X Pro, which similarly made its debut at Mobile World Congress. Nothing’s changed externally the second time around — and not much internally, for that matter.
The Matebook X Pro (2019)’s aluminum body has the same dimensions year-on-year, at 217mm high, 304mm wide, and 14.6mm deep. The weight is also the same, at 3 pounds. The 13.9-inch LTPS touchscreen display retains its 3,000 x 2,000-pixel resolution (and subsequently its 260 PPI and 3:2 aspect ratio) and 178-degree viewing angle. And, like last year’s model, it supports 100 percent of the sRGB color gamut and reaches 450 nits at maximum brightness.
Above: The Huawei Matebook 14 (left) and Matebook X Pro (right).
Familiar accoutrements abound, like the One Touch power button, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB Type-C port with Thunderbolt 3, and a USB-A (USB 3.0) port. (The Thunderbolt port has been upgraded to a full four bands of bandwidth, making it capable of supporting external GPUs.) The 1-megapixel spring-loaded webcam is here, too, as is a 4-microphone array and quad Dolby Atmos-compatible speakers.
Internally, it’s more of the same — quite literally. Matebook X Pro (2019) buyers will get the choice of 8GB or 16GB of LPDDR3 RAM; 256GB or 512GB of NVMe PCIe solid-state storage; Intel’s 8th Generation Core i7-8565U processor or i5-8265U processor; and Nvidia GeForce MX 250 or Intel’s integrated UHD Graphics 620.
Regardless of model, the Matebook X Pro (2019) supports Bluetooth 5.0 and 802.11/a/b/g/n/ac 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi networks and packs a 57.4Wh lithium polymer battery that’s compatible with Huawei’s 65-watt USB Type-C power adapter.
Like the Matebook 14, the Matebook X Pro (2019) will be available in gray and silver when it goes on sale later this year. The i5 model with 8GB of RAM and 512GB storage will start at €1599 ($1,814), while the i7 model with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage will cost €1,999 ($2,267).
