Huawei Matebook 13 AMA

"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion) 04/14/2019 at 20:05 • Filed to: Heuwai, Matebook, Matebook 13, Matebook X pro, Apple, Macbook Air, Macbook Pro

0

18

With five month, 0% interest financing through Amazon in addition to an offer from Chase that would net me an additional 12% back b y redeeming just a single Ultimate Rewards point, I decided to pull the trigger on something I’ve been needing for years. A new laptop. I’ll get this out of the way now, I’ve fallen in love with the Matebook.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Full disclosure: My last laptop was an early 2008 Macbook. It was the early plastic model (an aluminum, higher spec refresh was introduced halfway through the year) and in addition to being downright hideous, would struggle to match the computing power of a bass guitar.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

At $1100 (Amazon price at the time of purchase) for the top-spec version it’s not exactly cheap, but it comes in significantly less pricey than similarly spec’d competitors. Especially with the discrete graphics card, which I’m happy to say I’ve already taken advantage of! Another way to look at it... Huawei’s Matebook is the top-of-the-line fully loaded Hyundai in a sea of black lease-special 3 series’.

Speaking of things millennial’s do, my Uber Eats meal is here so I’ll let the professionals have the floor for a minute while I try to track down the driver...

The MateBook 13 is quite impressive, especially when you consider that it offers more specs for your buck than virtually anything else on the market. It has outstanding performance, an excellent display, a fantastic keyboard and trackpad, and surprisingly compact dimensions.

-The Verge

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

While it’s tempting to call the Matebook 13 a thin-and-light PC, the combination of the discrete GPU and Intel’s latest Whiskey Lake chip help the Matebook 13 punch well above its weight class

-PC World

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Huawei has created yet another highly-desirable laptop that packs some serious performance. The MateBook 13 is chock full of premium hardware, including that excellent i7 processor, Western Digital SSD, Intel AC-9560 Wi-Fi card, outstanding touch display, and a very good typing experience.

-Windows Central

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

for 2019, Huawei made a new mainstream 13-inch laptop meant to take down the recently revamped !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and aside from one shortcoming, the MateBook 13 outclasses its biggest competitor in nearly every way.

-Gizmodo

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

The Specs That Matter

CPU: 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-8565U (quad-core, 8MB cache, up to 4.1GHz)

Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620; Nvidia GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)

RAM: 8GB DDR3 (2,133MHz)

Screen: 13-inch, 1440p (2,160 x 1,440, IPS, 300 nits, 1,000:1 contrast, 100% sRGB, 3:2 aspect) touch display

Storage: 512GB SSD

Ports: 2 x USB-C 3.1, headset jack

Connectivity: 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1

Camera: HD (720p, 0.9MP) webcam

Weight: 2.87 pounds (1.3kg)

Size: 11.26 x 8.31 x 0.59 inches (286 x 211 x 14.9mm; W x D x H)

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

I’m aware that Huawei is not well regarded by many in America, but truthfully I couldn’t care less about a massive tech companies policies. They’re all looking to maximize profits, and every one of them has a laundry list of appalling business practices that help them do so. I’m not hypocritical enough to be up in arms about one while supporting others, and since you’re reading this on a computer of some sort, neither are you! 

Quick notes

I bought this to be a multi-purpose laptop that could be brought practically everywhere. So far, it’s handled everything I’ve thrown at it without missing a beat.

While I would have loved to see more ports (you’ve got 2 USB type-C and a headphone jack) they at least include a free dock, which is more than Apple does with the similarly spartan Macbook Air. There’s a free Windows 365 subscription included as well that I’m on the fence about using, as I’ve come to really love Google’s equivalents.

Fingerprint sensor is incredible. beats any of the flagship phones I’ve used, and all of the laptops as well. It’s so fast!

While petite in dimension, this thing is surprisingly heavy. I like that.

Effortless connections with my phone. Mobile hotspot, bluetooth, Wi-fi, Samsung’s proprietary transfer standard.... every possible way to send data from one to another has been incredibly simple to initiate, with a solid connection. Trying to get modern Apple computers to play nicely with Android devices has been a massive headache for me so it’s been great to see that that isn’t necessarily the norm.

The screen tilts back further than most laptops, which is great for those of us with tall torsos, or less-than-ideal workplaces.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Okay, any questions? ask away.

Spanfeller is a twat > AestheticsInMotion 04/14/2019 at 20:16

0

I wanted one, but they don’t sell them here anymore.

Are you worried about Huawei’s strange behavior around privacy?

facw > AestheticsInMotion 04/14/2019 at 20:18

2

Looks nice. That high-res screen is a must (or would be for me at least). My Asus Zenbook has 3200x1800, but with display scaling I keep it at about an effective 1440p setting. That and it’s size and weight are about all its got going for it though, it’s severely underpowered (when buying I had to choose between the screen and the processor because I couldn’t find the model with both available anywhere), and the inputs are all pretty bad.

The Matebook would definitely be on my radar if I were looking for a new machine (though at $1100, I’d be very tempted to look for a deal on an X1 or XPS 13 instead).

AestheticsInMotion > Spanfeller is a twat 04/14/2019 at 20:19

0

Not particularly

AestheticsInMotion > facw 04/14/2019 at 20:23

1

I cross-shopped this with an XPS 13, but I wanted to dip my toes in gaming so the matebook won out. Huawei’s 3 new models were just announced, and look very impressive. I wish I could have justified the price on one of those !

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > AestheticsInMotion 04/14/2019 at 20:32

0

Looks like a nice little notebook. Even though they included a dock, I would still rather have the ports on the computer itself. 

AestheticsInMotion > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 04/14/2019 at 20:41

0

100%. I also wish there was an SD card slot, but I'm not sure if that's a thing anymore for laptops..? 

random001 > AestheticsInMotion 04/14/2019 at 20:42

1

Guy at work bought in on one of these, too.  They’re nice for the price.

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > AestheticsInMotion 04/14/2019 at 20:51

0

You dodged a bullet. T he XPS and Alienware lines are both complete fucking junk, and Dell will absolutely not honor their warranties. They know they’re selling improperly engineered, defective parts.

facw > AestheticsInMotion 04/14/2019 at 20:54

0

Yep, the dedicated graphics is a nice boost. I have a desktop as well and so am happy to game on that (or via Steam streaming), so I didn’t really need a gaming laptop, just something that wasn’t a pain to lug around.

AestheticsInMotion > Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks 04/14/2019 at 21:04

1

I don’t have a ton of faith in Huawei in terms of post-purchase support, so I’m hoping to just have nothing go wrong.

Out of curiosity, what would you grab if you needed a laptop for everything from Oppo shitposting, to web design, to light editing

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > AestheticsInMotion 04/14/2019 at 21:09

0

I’m forced to buy a new laptop this week after putting it off for about two months. Wanted to finally get a nice desktop, but it’s just not in the budget. I’ve already chewed through a Toshiba, Dell, 2 chromebooks, and this HP since 2011. HP was probably the best, but still died.  Not really sure where to go from here...

facw > AestheticsInMotion 04/14/2019 at 21:13

0

There are still laptops (even ultaportables) out there with SD card readers. The XPS 13 has one. Lenovo and Asus have gone with MicroSD for their ultraportables, which is probably more useful today. Really though, I’m not sure I see much use, anything with a card can normally just be connected to machine, and few people are going to be filling the cards quickly enough to need to swap them (maybe 4k video or something? ). With the flush microSD ports you could throw in a fast 256 or 512 GB card and use it just to have more storage on the machine I guess.

AestheticsInMotion > facw 04/14/2019 at 21:19

1

It would be nice for GoP ros and simmilar , where high res video and high frame rates are common. Makes it easy to get work done when out of wireless range, up in the mountains or something. 

AestheticsInMotion > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 04/14/2019 at 21:20

0

Damn. You need a subscription service

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > AestheticsInMotion 04/14/2019 at 21:25

0

Let me put it to you this way: if their executive support escalation does not, direct quote , tell you to “fuck off” for asking them to make up for their atrocious attitud e by covering the cost of the part and repair?

They’re already MILES ahead of Dell.

Yes, someone from Mikey Dell’s office responded to me being very polite and patient on the phone with the exact phrase “you can fuck off.”

Twice.

Honestly, they’re all fucking scum at best. Dell’s just EXCEPTIONALLY bad. MSI’s worthless and tied up in court over straight up lying to customers. Asus will steal your laptop , return it broken worse than before if they even do, and regularly just ignores lawsuits.

HP is more or less fine, except their specs are complete trash . Spectre Folio is really nice except the specs are crap and oh, yeah, it’s $1600. ProBook line is dead as a doornail which puts you into the ZBooks, at $2.4 k+ for a decent spec . Which, by the way, you can’t game on. Quadro. BUT, most of them are 3 year warranty standard with onsite being just $100 more (which is worth it.) If you can get the specs you need, HP’s who I’d use.

At this point I’m about ready to just fucking cycle through used Surface 3 Pros and turn every trip into a font of misery.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > AestheticsInMotion 04/14/2019 at 22:50

0

I have a newish ThinkPad that has a microSD reader which isn’t exactly what I would have wanted, but at least I have it. I really like that it has 2 USB 3.0 A and a thunderbolt USB C as well as a full size HDMI port. So much IO. So convenient. 

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > AestheticsInMotion 04/14/2019 at 23:31

0

I’m still in the phase of my life where a desktop replacement laptop is the best for me, but I continually look more and more into these “ultrabooks” as a travel companion and then use a dedicated high caliber desktop for gaming duties.

JMKarstetter > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 04/16/2019 at 02:23

0

Lenovo makes a very solid machine. I’d recommend Apple, Lenovo, ASUS, Dell and HP, in that order.