With the MateBook X Pro, Huawei would like to beat Apple’s powerful MacBook Pro 13 flat out. To achieve this, the Chinese manufacturer sees everything big and always gives more without drying up our portfolios. Successful bet?
After drawing the MateBook D 14 2020 for the general public just before confinement, Huawei is now propelling its ultra-high-end, the MateBook X Pro 2020, to the fore. If all goes well, this ultraportable 13.9-inch screen PC should start arriving on specialist merchant websites by the time you read these lines. The machine is also available on the brand’s website, of course.
This 2020 vintage MateBook X Pro comes in two configurations enclosed in the same beautiful aluminum case. First there is the one we had in test. It is the most luxurious and it is sold around 1800 euros. The second, for 1500 euros, is equipped with a slightly less powerful processor and a quantity of SSD, more standard. Finally, the last iteration will arrive during the summer and will be sold at around 1400 euros.
Much better known for its smartphones than for its laptops in our region, Huawei is however a brand with which we must learn more and more to count. The Chinese brand has launched French versions of some of its flagships for several years now but has chosen to simplify its range as much as possible with three machines.
First of all, there is the MateBook D, a very affordable 14-inch that we recently tested; there is also the “all short” MateBook, more expensive than the D because equipped with an Intel brand platform and not AMD. And in a 13.3-inch format. Finally comes the MateBook X Pro, the most ambitious of all, the one that looks like … a MacBook Pro. And it is not a hazard. Positioning this Huawei PC in front of Apple computers is the right approach. According to Chinese spokespersons, Cupertino remains the enemy to be killed, the one whose image of prestige and excellence must be broken. Even in 2020.
As proof, Huawei positions the MateBook X Pro 2020 in front of the current MacBook Pro 13. It is assumed and claimed. Finishes and high-level comfort, a large screen size with crazy definition and exceptional equipment for the size: everything is thought so that the Huawei shadows the MacBook. On paper at least. And the price of this MateBook X Pro? It is much lower than that of an Apple machine. Sum required by the Chinese: 1800 euros “only” against a sum that rather flirts with 2700 euros for a 13-inch 2020 MBP in Core i7, but without dedicated graphics card… And that’s not to mention the accessories provided by Huawei and absent at Apple.
Huawei re-uses its case from last year
Do you know the 2019 version of the MateBook X Pro? So much the better, nothing has changed. The webcam is always hidden in the keyboard between F6 and F7, the ignition button camouflages the fingerprint sensor and the connection still consists of two USB Type-C sockets, one of which is used to recharge the battery.
The other can accommodate the MateDock 2, the USB Type-C to HDMI / VGA / Type-C and USB adapter supplied with the machine (whatever its version). There is also a headphone jack, combo microphone input and stereo output without forgetting the Wi-Fi module 5 and Bluetooth 5.
Why is there no Wi-Fi 6? Huawei justifies this remarkable absence by citing that new technologies are first deployed strategically on smartphones. Only then on PCs. The MateBook X Pro was designed before the P40 and P40 Pro, which have Wi-Fi 6, is released. It will, therefore, be necessary to wait for the X Pro 2021 to have very high-speed wireless. Pity.
The last element of “connection” to point out, the Huawei Shareowner – which, as we explained during our test of the MateBook D 2020, offers you the possibility of associating your Huawei (or Honor) smartphone) to your PC, to control it directly from the 13.9-inch screen. Or transfer files from one to another with a simple drag and drop.
MateBook X Pro 2020: for a few more megahertz
Under the keyboard (backlit), Huawei is making some mechanical adjustments for 2020. We keep the To of SSD – hidden under the dissipation system (see below) – and the dedicated graphics card Nvidia GeForce MX250. Not really useful here, but we’ll come back to that in a few moments.
The Chinese however changes processor to stick to the news. He trades the aging Core i7-8565U for a brand new Core i7-10501U quadcore. And it even a little vitamin by pushing its frequency to its high limit, 2.3 GHz (against 1.8 GHz normally). Huawei does not go all the way to the end of the facelift since the 16 GB of RAM remains in DDR3. For the price and to further widen the gap with Apple or to compete with some competitors in the PC world, the LPDDR4x would have been a relevant and welcome addition.
With all this arsenal, the applications run very well, both those of everyday life and the most specialized. We did, for example, touch up and apply filters and format reductions on a large file of photos, in the battery, on GIMP and the machine did not even flinch. This behavior is well reflected in the results noted in PC Mark 10, visible below, and where the MateBook X Pro is shown in dark blue.
The fan started and purred to show that it was there and the mercury, under the machine, then climbed a few degrees. Just enough to warm our thighs while we work outside, on a cool morning of containment.
However, all this beautiful discretion is shattered if you try to play in the native definition of the screen. Besides, it’s a waste of time unless you like slide shows. Offered here in its 25-watt version, the MX250 graphics chip manages to generate 72 images per second in Full HD, on a game dating back more than 5 years ( Dirt 3 ). And half as much in native definition.
As for running current AAAs – still in Full HD, don’t think about it unless you want to taste them in (very) low graphic quality. And beware, during the game phases, it heats up (40 ° C below and 45 ° C on the keyboard), it ventilates (42.1 dB max) dry. And that throttle, too.
As soon as you stress them, the processor and the GPU both reduce the airfoil in a few minutes, to avoid heatstroke. The Intel CPU then displays speeds between 758 and 1185 MHz instead of the 2.3 GHz normally expected… The cooling system may be complex and give the impression of being very efficient, it is not size to dissipate the heat of all these components, launched at full speed.
Why does Huawei offer a dedicated GPU then? ” To help the Intel processor incompatible digital creation applications, “we were told when we asked Huawei. The big deal… This is not at all the specialty of the MX250. It can lend a hand but it will not change the deal. In fact, from our point of view, the Nvidia chip owes its presence only to the will of the Chinese to offer equipment superior to that of Apple’s MacBook Pro 13.
MateBook X Pro: a camel from Asia
Pleasant design and proven versatility, what about endurance? With such a mix of components, we expected correct autonomy. Nothing more. But oh surprise, he is doing well.
The MateBook X Pro (still in blue) holds a standard full working day, as long as you don’t ask it to display video games or encode 4K on battery. You can count on it for 10 hours in versatile use and just over 6:30 in video playback. In our ranking of the most enduring laptops of the moment, it cannot however pretend to prance like the Elite Dragonfly from HP, or even occupy one of the other four places, like the Dell XPS 13 2020.
Finally, note that the USB Type-C charger looks like it can be mistaken for that of a smartphone, but it is inflated with steroids while not taking up space in a bag. A real plus for transport.
The almost 4K touch screen is excellent but not very practical
Let’s finish with Huwaei’s pride: the 13.9-inch LTPS (Low-Temperature Polysilicon ) screen, a technology found on some smartphones. The ratio of 3: 2 is very pleasant for working. More than the standard 16: 9. However, the definition of 3000 by 2000 pixels and the pixel density – allowed by the LTPS – are really too high for a screen of this diagonal. The best is the enemy of good here.
For office applications for example, it’s appalling. Everything is too small. Impossible to use the Windows interface at 100% on a panel so condensed in pixels. It must be pushed to at least 150% zoom for readability to be comfortable. And do not hesitate to use the magnification functions of applications when possible … and that it disfigures neither the fonts nor the menus.
In Google Docs, for example, we displayed our page at 200% so that we could correctly enter this test article. For a PC intended for work first and for leisure then, it is a shame to be a little embarrassed by this high definition when it should be a great asset.
Outdoors, with the sun in the back and the brightness of the slab pushed to its maximum, the readability is correct. On the other hand, if you reduce the intensity by half, the screen becomes almost black. Conversely, inside, do not push the gauge beyond 50% otherwise it is guaranteed glare.
Outside and inside, the real problem is the shiny glass of the screen. It catches all the reflections of the environment. A sacred wound. Let’s be clear, the anti-glare treatment of the MateBook X Pro is frankly bad for a PC of this caliber. As for the usefulness of the touchscreen on a classic ultraportable, this is completely debatable. It does nothing… except fingerprints that can be seen even better in broad daylight! Red card to Huawei.
And yet, on the pure technical side, it is difficult to fault anything about this slab. Quite the contrary. The graph below shows this.
The brightness and contrast ratio are simply excellent. The homogeneity is completely correct and the backlighting is uniform enough not to create over or underexposed areas.
Finally, on the colorimetric side, we measured a Delta E for which, there too, it is almost flawless. The value is less than 2, which is great. Remember that the closer you get to 0, the better.
TECHNICAL SHEETHuawei MateBook X Pro 2020
Processor | Intel Core i7-10510U |
Random-access memory (RAM) | 16 GB |
Main storage capacity | 1000 GB |
Screen size | 13.9 “ |
Graphics chip | Nvidia GeForce MX250 |