Huawei laptops are getting popularity among users, who need budget laptops with features of a MacBook. The MateBook 13 is a relatively new addition to Huawei’s laptop series that boasts powerful hardware. This is a better alternative to MacBook Air, thanks to its cheap price and faster specs. The Whisky Lake (U-series) processor and a comfy keyboard make it a better choice, unless you want Apple’s logo on your laptop.
Huawei MatebBook 13 is both the beauty and the beast that you need in a modern laptop. This is an affordable Core i5 laptop with Quad HD display, NVIDIA graphics and a powerful memory plus storage combo. Huawei claims that the MatebBook 13 goes head to head with its competitors both on paper and in practice.
The word on the market is that this is a laptop that can tear through everyday use and won’t show any drawbacks. That is the reason why we decided to review the MatebBook 13 and to evaluate its performance.
Specs sheet
Processor: Intel Quad-Core i5-8265U / 1.6GHz Max. Turbo Speed 3.9GHz
Display: 13-inch Quad HD (2160 x 1440) Resolution
RAM: 8GB Storage: 512GB SSD
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce MX250 Dedicated (2GB GDDR5)
Battery: 42Wh
Weight: Around 2.9lbs (1.31kg)
Operating System: Windows 10 Home
The specs on this Windows laptop look great, especially the dedicated GPU and QHD display. Let’s see what Huawei MateBook 13 has got to offer and what are its strengths and weaknesses.
Design
As we mentioned earlier, the MatebBook 13 resembles in looks and specs with a MacBook. Huawei has built it with a minimalistic design that reminds of MacBook Air and the only difference you’ll feel is the alluring Huawei logo instead of a bitten Apple. The laptop comes in two elegant colours: Mystic Silver and Space Gray, which are equally graceful.
Huawei MatebBook 13 is a bit thinner and slightly heavier than Apple’s MacBook Air. It has a thin profile of 14.9mm and weighs around 2.9lbs (1.31kg), whereas the MacBook Air weighs about 2.8lbs (1.27kg) with a 15.6mm profile. The MatebBook 13 also beats its counterpart in the screen-to-bezel ratio. However, it has somewhat thicker bezels because its top bezel carries webcam.
Display
The display on this laptop is slightly shorter than industry standards, but it leads in terms of display quality. This is a 13-inch Quad HD FullView display with 4.4mm bezels and a screen-to-body ratio of 88%. Watching videos on the MatebBook 13 is a visual treat, thanks to NVIDIA GeForce MX250 graphics.
We found its performance pleasing while we were browsing and working on media files. Running media editing tools on this office laptop is fun, as it delivers bright graphics with vivid colours to flare up your imagination.
Keyboard
This is another area where Huawei has beaten Apple’s MacBook Air in terms of performance. Huawei MatebBook 13 features a comfy keyboard, which we found easy to use. Its keys are well placed with 1mm key travel and offer a nice tactile feedback. On the top right corner of the deck, there is a fingerprint-integrated power button.
This is a decent keyboard that is ideal for programmers and writers. The keys aren’t too hard and you won’t feel any extra resistance upon pressing them. We were able to type 75 words/minute on the “10fastfingers typing test” with 98% accuracy.
Touchpad
Huawei MatebBook 13 features an impressive touchpad that is 4.6 x 2.4 inches in size. This is a highly responsive touchpad that responds well to commands even around the corners. We found it receptive to multi-touch gestures with a solid accurate performance.
Connectivity
As we mentioned earlier, the design of this laptop is minimalistic and it extends to port selection as well. The MateBook 13 only features two Type-C USB ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Unfortunately, none of these two ports is Thunderbolt 3, which might be frustrating for some users.
The port on the right side can also be used as a DisplayPort in case you want to extend your screen. Whereas, the Type-C port on the left side also supports draws power, which further assists in fast-charging.
Performance
Huawei MateBook 13 is equipped with a quad-core i5 CPU that runs on the Windows 10 Home OS. The processor offers a base speed of 1.6GHz that could go up to 3.9GHz with a maximum turbo boost. In order to smoother the performance, Huawei has paired the processor with a combo of 512GB SSD and an 8GB memory.
This is, by all means, a good combination of specs for a mid-range work laptop. We tested the performance of the MateBook 13 by running Office Suit, a dozen Chrome tabs and some basic media editing software. First of all, we evaluated its capability by switching between apps and found its performance satisfactory. There were no lags and we were able to multitask without any tattering.
Secondly, we switch between tabs while streaming a 1080p video and a podcast. To our surprise, there was no glitch and we had a pleasing web browsing experience. Furthermore, the SSD drive brought the data in less than seconds when we search the files in the system.
Gaming
Although this is not an ideal laptop for gaming, you can enjoy some basic games with low settings. Thanks to dedicated NVIDIA GeForce MX250, you can enjoy gaming in your leisure time. We found the graphics lively and really enjoyed playing PUBG on the MateBook 13.
Battery life
Huawei has loaded a 42Wh battery on this office laptop which the company claims can deliver up to 10 hours of battery life. Contrary to the claim, we were able to extract roughly 9 hours on a single charge while playing videos. Still, this is a strong battery performance from which can save you from battery anxiety.
Verdict
After evaluating Huawei MateBook 13, we found it a great business laptop for professionals. Huawei laptops are catching up with big brands and the MateBook 13 is leading the way. This is a powerful Core i5 laptop with dedicated graphics, QHD display and a comfy keyboard deck.
