Huawei MateBook X Pro 2020

 

Positioning

A
laptop or it can rightfully be called an ultra-book, the Mate Book X Pro is
Huawei’s most powerful device. The characteristics of the device are not
the most impressive by modern standards, but some parameters are even nothing:
a high-quality 4K IPS screen matrix, a 1TB SSD drive, a 10th generation Intel
processor and a case weight of about 1.3 kg.

All
this makes the Mate Book X Pro an excellent “typewriter” for business
users, for those who need Windows, maximum compactness and lightness of the
device.

In
part, the ultra-book was created for Huawei employees: at meetings with
clients, you show the capabilities of your business on the Mate Book X Pro:
they say, you see, this is an expensive laptop that is not from competitors. The
idea is correct, in my opinion: in the corner is the AX3 router, the Watch GT2
is on the arm, the P40 Pro + is in the hands, Free Buds 3 is in the ears, and
the Mate Book X Pro is on the table 🙂

I
used this model for writing texts, editing, and encoding videos on trips,
storing significant amounts of data (this is what I now called gigabytes of TV
series to watch in the country). In addition, after buying a 4K monitor,
he became extremely picky about the quality and clarity of the picture on work
devices. After the AOC home screen, the display of the Mate Book X Pro has
perceived as “its own”: the same viewing angles, excellent color
reproduction, of course, the absence of pixilation.

From
a performance point of view, as you know, such a solution is more than enough
for me. However, creating a video still requires relatively powerful
hardware.

By
the way, in my social networks I often hear something like this: “Roman,
that you torture yourself with such a strange technique, buy already, finally,
normal things for work.” The answer is extremely simple: I pass all
the devices through myself in order to tell you honestly and in detail in the
future.

Ultra
book Huawei Mate Book X Pro today costs 120,000 rubles. Exactly the same
amount is asked now for the Apple MacBook 13. I have not used it, but something
tells me that the device is gorgeous and suitable for any task. While my
old Air can digest 4K content in Final cut, the modern MacBook does it
effortlessly. However, here two completely different operating systems
come into conflict. Therefore, those who are used to Windows OS will
choose Huawei (or another manufacturer), and those who are used to macros will
buy a product from Apple.

Design, keyboard,
and touchpad

From
a design point of view, everything is calm in the realm of Huawei laptops:
there is a MacBook – so it is redrawn every year. This is neither good nor
bad – a completely familiar appearance without frills and pretentiousness. Thin
metal case 14 mm, lightweight 1.33 kg – what you need to know about the new
product. Available in two colors: emerald green and space gray. I
would take the latter since there is no MacBook in green. People will look
askance and wonder: is it Chui or Xiao 🙂

The
build is excellent. For a couple of months of active use, everything works
like a clock. The slot for prying off the top of the lid is deep enough to
comfortably lift the panel. But the lid does not unfold completely with
one hand without lifting the bottom of the case. Flaw.

With
connectors, everything is kept to a minimum, just like Apple’s. But if Tim
Cook cuts money on accessories, then Huawei puts adapters in the kit. No
guys, you won’t make money like that…

In
general, on the right is a lone USB-A, on the left – 3.5 mm, two USB-C and a
battery indicator. Well, thanks for leaving the usual Type-A.

The
Mate Book X Pro Ultra book also has 4 microphones (bottom) and 4 speakers
(sides). Video conferencing is a pleasure: they hear you perfectly, you
hear clearly and loudly, well, if, of course, your interlocutor uses Huawei 😉

Pulling
up the top panel reveals a full-size keyboard and a huge 120x75mm touchpad.

The
keyboard is backlit with two brightness levels. Pressing is relatively
firm, the key travel is average, the buttons are separated from each other (why
is the letter “f” so small and thin?). Moreover, the entire
lower part is a one-piece structure, so the central area does not bend.

Typing
is very pleasant: you don’t touch the adjacent keys, you don’t bother anyone by
clicking.

But
I have complaints about the touchpad. I don’t know if the problem is
software or “iron”, but from time to time double-clicking on the
touch zone works. This happens in the case of one touch. When I
worked on trips (the MCC has extremely comfortable seats and even folding
tables), it seemed that I accidentally touched the wheelbarrow due to the
vibration of the carriage. But no, apparently, a bug. Well, on
Windows, working with the touchpad is generally not very convenient, unlike Marcos:
on a MacBook, the cursor listens to you perfectly. I think those who have
used both operating systems will understand me.

And
I’m a little annoyed by the trace on the laptop screen from the “Huawei
Share” sticker. It seems to be nothing like that, but in the device
for 120,000 rubles it looks a little, as it were, to put it mildly, ashamed. In
addition, the sticker “Intel Core i7 10th GEN” is stuck next to it. I’m
more than sure that the user of this ultra-book doesn’t care what’s inside. You
are selling a gadget not to PC boyars, but to business users.

The
power button stands alone at the top right. It has a built-in fingerprint
scanner. The technology is convenient: touched and entered the system.

I
once wrote about the conference camera in my previous articles. It
literally hides in a button in the top row. It seems to be original and
“secret” (what a word!), But get ready for the fact that the
interlocutors will see your second chin. From a more real: my daughter
went online with a kindergarten during a pandemic, and due to the peculiar
shooting angle, she was almost not visible: her forehead and her eyes were
sticking out 🙂

Display

Here
is a 13.9 inches of excellent quality 4K IPS-matrix JDI LPM139M422A with a
resolution of 3000×2000 pixels and a density of 260 PPI. Note that the
aspect ratio here is 3: 2, and not the newfangled horizontally stretched screens.
Color gamut 100% surge, peak brightness around 550 cd / m2, contrast ratio of
about 1200: 1. The display is equipped with a touch layer and supports 10
simultaneous touches. I almost never used the technology, since this model
is not an ultra-book-transformer. PWM, of course, is not here.

With
the Mate Book X Pro, I mainly worked on trips: trains, metro, and MCC. I
am not yet mature enough to “Saps a” 🙂 Almost the whole trip was in
the light of the sun. This I mean, the brightness of the headlight was
enough for such conditions. Well, in the office or at home, more than 50%
of brightness was not selected. The fonts are all clear, even and not
loose, the image is detailed. This is exactly the kind of picture I’m used
to on a working 4K monitor.

Working hours

And
this is where I really enjoyed using the Huawei Mate Book X Pro. Almost
all Windows laptops are very gluttonous: they just closed the lid or completely
cut off the power. Anyway, expect 10% charge in a couple of days at best.

My
2013 MacBook Air lives for a month when the lid is closed. The new product
from Huawei cannot do so much without power, but two weeks without any problems
(56 who battery).

Moreover,
in working mode (Wi-Fi connection), brightness in the region of 70-80%, typing
– the ultra-book operates for about 10 hours! The same feeling when you
don’t need to remember: when was the last time I charged the laptop?

Yes,
even if the Mate Book X Pro is discharged, we take out an extremely compact
network adapter (not much more charging for a smartphone) and in 20 minutes we
replenish 50% of the ultra-book battery’s energy. The cable (USB-C –
USB-C), by the way, is long – 180 cm.

If
you decide to encode a video, then expect to work for about 4-5 hours. This
is also a lot, especially since you won’t be coding that much in time: editing
for 20 minutes and then processing a 10-15-minute video for the same amount.

All
in all, the Huawei Mate Book X Pro is the first Windows laptop where I didn’t
have to worry about battery life. It just works, always.

Performance

I
would like to repeat that it seems to me that users of this model will be the
last to think about hardware. Only gambling addicts and PC madmen are now
worried about the nuances of the package bundle: with which index the
processor, what exactly is the memory frequency and its timings, and so on.

In
the case of the Mate Book X Pro, it’s simple: 10th Gen Intel Core-i7 10510U
processor, 16GB LPDDR3 RAM, and 1TB Pie SSD.

The
chip, announced in August last year, consists of 4 cores based on the Comet
Lake generation. The TDP is only 15 W, so the coolers start their work
only under hard CPU loads, for example, when encoding video. In other
situations, you will not hear the ultra-book!

Responsible
for the graphics NVIDIA GeForce MX250. Based on the same chip as the MX150
– GP108, but higher frequency. What can you play on the Huawei Mate Book X
Pro without lags? Drive COD 2019 at minimum settings in HD resolution, run
GRID 2019 or run FIFA 20 even in Fulda at 60 frames per second. But you
can forget about RDR 2, or kill 15 fps in HD resolution.

For
video encoding for Fulda resolution, laptop parameters are suitable: a simple
10-minute video will be processed in 15 minutes. The device will digest 4K, but
it will take about an hour.

The
drive here is from Samsung, the 1 TB model PM981a, split into two logical
drives: for the system and for data storage. Crystal Disk Mark speed –
3500/2800 MB / s, its cool! Moreover, it is not only fast, but also
extremely reliable: you replace the laptop faster than the drive will fail.

Sound

Also
an integral part of any laptop. There are 4 speakers at once: two speakers
on the right and left (not quad). Basically, the middle frequencies are
listened to, in order to convey the voice more clearly (movies, communication
with video calls). The volume is sufficient for watching a movie at a
distance of up to one and a half meters. But if you need to hear the
details of the sound, you can always use headphones with a 3.5 mm jack. You’re
Captain.

As a conclusion

Of
course, in the comments you can now write something like this: “Yes, I
would rather buy HP / DELL for that kind of money, what kind of crazy confer
does Huawei have?” Probably, these words will be true. But
without a real comparison of devices, reasoning like that is empty. The
time has passed for measuring the “strength” of devices only with
synthetic tests. Do you feel the difference between a tutu 400,000 points
and a tutu 650,000 points? And somehow you will understand: here is
LPDDR3, but here is LPDD4? Another question is that they saved on some
elements, but they sold us for a lot of money.

Obvious
pros:

·        
Lightweight and compact

·        
High screen resolution

·        
Relatively high performance

·        
Long battery life

·        
Large storage capacity

I
did not find any obvious flaws in the Huawei Mate Book X Pro ultra-book. There
are strange moments (for example, the Huawei Share sticker imprinted on the
screen, the camera in the button, the double triggering of the touchpad), but
this cannot be called minuses. Another nuance: I still can’t imagine
buying a device from Huawei for 120,000 rubles. It’s either Apple MacBook
or the rest.

From
competitors I see Dell XPS 13 (13.3 inches screen, Intel UHD Graphics, 16 GB
RAM, 512 TB SSD), MSI Prestige 15 (15.6 inches screen, GTX1650, 32 GB RAM, 1 TB
SSD), Asus Zen book UX534 (15.6 inches screen, GTX1650, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD). All
these devices cost about 140,000 rubles. The last two are not very compact
and lightweight.

Well,
the “golden” composition in every sense: Apple MacBook Air 13 (10th
generation Core-i5, 8 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD) or MacBook Pro 13 (8th generation
Core-i5, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD) for 120,000 rubles. From experience, I can
tell that no matter what MacBook you buy, its performance will be enough for
everything for many years. Elder is still using the 2016 Mac. Probably,
with Apple products, the only question will arise with the amount of internal
memory – they have it very expensive.