Huawei MateBook 13: Checks Off All The Boxes

We haven’t toyed w/ the X Pro so this is our initial experience on Huawei’s laptops since the original MateBook back in 2016 and a lot has changed. Mainly, in regards to design for the most part. They’ve gotten a lot better w/ the design and features as some would say they’ve become Apple-inspired or you can view it as a minimalist look to it. Huawei’s Matebook X Pro has been hailed & praised by other sites as well as colleagues. Now we have a slightly smaller take on it but similar specs. You can consider this Huawei’s answer to the 12inch MacBook & the MacBook Air – more or less.

Now there isn’t a ton of things different between the MateBook 13 & the MateBook X Pro. Both have an aluminum frame, a high screen-to-body ratio (like over 85%), fingerprint reader in the Power button, and powerful internals. You got a 13inch display w/ 2160 x 1440 vs the X Pro’s 13.9inch display w/ 3000 x 2000 resolution and a 14.9mm profile vs a 15mm profile. Despite the numbers, the MateBook 13 measures in a little bit thicker than the X Pro. Now enough of the comparisons, let’s talk about what the MateBook 13 excels in and where it lacks.

The 13inch display is a good one. It gets pretty bright and images a crisp. If I had to compare it to another device, it would be that of the Surface Pro/Laptop lines. If you’re looking for more vivid colors and pop, I would point you towards the X Pro. Like their smartphones, Huawei equipped this w/ an Eye Comfort Mode to filter out 30% of the blue light that can strain your eyes. This works as well as it does on the phones and since its a bigger display, this feature is even more necessary.

The webcam is where it belongs, on top of the display. The X Pro cleverly put it on the keyboard but lead to a poor viewing angle. Here you get it back although the 1MP webcam will give you an overall grainy quality. Where you might want to use your smartphone for video calls instead or a separate webcam. I hope these companies just start putting smartphone cameras in their laptops.

OUR REVIEW MODEL:

13inch IPS touchscreen display w/ 2160 x 1440 resolution
Intel Core i7 CPU 8th-gen
8GB of RAM + 512GB SSD
NVIDIA GeForce MX150 GPU
10-hour battery life w/ Quick Charge that gives you 2.5 hours of juice in a 15-minute charge
Windows 10 Home
1MP webcam
Dolby Atmos audio when using headphones
2 speakers + 2 mics
2 USB-C ports
3.5mm headphone jack

The keyboard & trackpad are a joy to use.

Huawei made sure not to repeat Apple’s mistakes on their laptops w/ super shallow keys that has proven to be problematic for some. These are a low profile but not too low and just right. Its backlit, great layout, and the Enter key isn’t too small. Just great to type on. The glass trackpad is a great as well. Not as large as on the newer MacBook Pros but a good size + width. It even supports Windows 10 gestures too. Might be the best one I’ve used on laptop.

There ain’t a lot of ports present here – even less than on the X Pro. You do only have 2 USB-C ports along w/ the headphone jack so you’ll have to rep that dongle life to get certain things done like SD card, HDMI, USB-A, etc. This is more or less the norm for many laptops these days.

Huawei blessed us w/ the higher spec model of the 2 that gives us an Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and a NVIDIA GPU inside. Definitely enough to handle tons of multitasking, multiple Chrome tabs open, listening to music, streaming Netflix/YouTube, web-based photo-editing apps, & more w/o breaking a sweat. It can handle light video editing (cutting + adding transitions) using Davinci Resolve 15 but once you do anything more than that, it goes a bit laggy. Keep in mind, this is not properly equipped to handle that app.

More than enough power - for most.

There are dual fans present as part of their Shark Fin 2.0 design to get rid of heat faster. So you will hear them when doing something taxing but never got too loud. It did heat up a bit when using taxing apps like Resolve 15 but not enough for a 1st -degree burn or cook eggs on.

The battery inside holds it down around the standards many other laptops. Huawei advertised the 42 Wh battery to last around 10-hours on a single charge. Playing a video loop w/ the battery at 100%, took just over 7 hours to drain it completely. In normal use, I got pretty close to the 10-hour suggested time when using it combined w/ Netlfix, emails, YouTube, light photo editing, and dabbling w/ Adobe Premiere on this thing. It can also give you 2 and a half hours of juice on a 15-minute quick charge as it takes about around 2 and a half hours to fully charge. Definitely giving you enough juice to handle a good day using this for multiple needs.

The Matebook 13 might be one of the best combinations of features in a perfect-sized laptop.

Despite requiring a dongle and not having the option to up the RAM to 16GB, the MateBook 13 is a kind of the perfect laptop. Small, powerful, well-built and capable. You’re definitely getting more bang for your buck as other computer makers would charge you around $1,500 and higher for this spec sheet.

The only issue is that you would have to actually choose between this or the MateBook X Pro as there isn’t a huge difference in pricing. As the X Pro gives you as higher-res display, double the RAM, & more ports for $150 more. Decisions, decisions. But honestly, you can’t go wrong w/ either MateBook you choose. This one goes on sale today at Amazon & new Egg and then Microsoft (online + in-stores) in the next few weeks.