Huawei MateBook X Pro

Another top-class laptop, the latest MateBook X Pro ticks all the boxes – except when it comes to price

uawei is now well into the groove when it comes to pushing out yearly updates for the Huawei MateBook X Pro, and as you would expect, this year’s is the best edition yet. It’s a serious contender at the top-end of the market.

There’s no doubt that this year’s Huawei MateBook X Pro is a fine-looking laptop – the 13.9-inch, 3000 x 2000 pixel LTPS LCD screen looks great, with very little in the way of bezels – although it sadly isn’t 4K. Colours are bright, details are sharp, and it’s a fantastic laptop for watching movies. The 3:2 aspect ratio isn’t ideal for widescreen content of course, but we’d rather have it for the extra vertical space it gives to websites and documents.

It’s a touchscreen too, should you need it, and overall it’s a really light and compact device: you’ll barely notice it when you’re carrying it or when it’s on your lap. We’re pleased to see a fingerprint sensor built into the power button, which makes logging in a breeze, but we’re less happy about the webcam built into the top row of keys – it’s not an ideal position.

HFrom $2,098 consumer.huawei.com

Speaking of the keys, typing is a pleasure, and the trackpad is sharp and responsive. We had no problems using the laptop as our day-to-day device, and even though the laptop is a compact size, the keys feel well spaced and well proportioned. Our review unit came with a quad-core Intel Core i7-10510U 1.8GHz CPU, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage, plus an entry-level Nvidia GeForce MX250 GPU. The only other option has an i5 processor and 512GB of storage, and sticks with the integrated Intel HD Graphics 620, if you want to save yourself some cash and don’t mind the resulting performance hit. We can definitely say the configuration we used offered plenty of power for everyday tasks.

Huawei has put out another hugely impressive laptop with the MateBook X Pro for 2020. What might put most people off is the rather high price. It’s not a question of whether the laptop is worth the price (we think it is), it’s a question of whether you can get a perfectly fine and functional Windows laptop for a lot less (you almost certainly can).

If you do want the very best 13-to-14-inch Windows laptop in the business, and you’re willing to pay for it, then the MateBook X Pro should definitely be on your shortlist.