Huawei has equipped its first MateBook X Pro with fresh hardware with the MateBook X Pro 2020. Virtually nothing has changed in appearance. Is it still a good laptop with this?
Huawei MateBook X Pro 2020
price € 1499, –
Color Gray
Processor Intel Core i7-10510U
Memory 16 GB
Graphic Nvidia GeForce MX250
Display 13.9 inch LTPS (3000×2000)
Storage 1 TB NVME SSD
Operating system Windows 10 Home (64 bit)
Format 30.4 x 21.7 x 1.5 cm
Weight 1.33 kilos
Battery 56 Wh
Connections 2x usb-c (Thunderbolt 3), 3.5mm, usb 3.0
Wireless Wifi 5, bluetooth 5.0
Other Fingerprint scanner
Website https://consumer.huawei.com
7 Score 70 
- Pros
- Good screen
- Sturdy and beautiful housing
- Separate on / off switch with fingerprint scanner
- Convenient aspect ratio (3: 2)
- Negatives
- Lousy webcam
- Slightly outdated hardware
- Sound cooling
The test sample of the MateBook X Pro 2020 that Huawei sent and you see in the photos, has a housing in a fresh opal green hue that Huawei calls itself Emerald Green. Unfortunately, you cannot buy it: Huawei only supplies the laptop in the Netherlands in the usual gray. With the exception of a different logo, this laptop is externally identical to the MateBook X Pro that we tested in 2018. A pity, because the green color is a nice change. The aluminum housing itself, just like its predecessor, is well put together and the laptop is sturdy. With a weight of 1.33 kg, the MateBook is also nice and portable. In terms of connections, you get twice USB-C with support for charging and connecting a screen. Despite the absence of the logo, those USB-C ports (gen 2) also support Thunderbolt 3. Furthermore, the laptop has a 3.5 mm headphone connection and a normal USB port. The USB-C mini dock that was included with its predecessor is unfortunately missing in the box with this new version.
On the MateBook X Pro you will find a sticker with Huawei Share next to the Intel logo. Not a very nice sticker and certainly something to remove immediately. If you have a Huawei smartphone, you may want to leave that sticker as it is an NFC tag used by Huawei Share. This is an app on Huawei’s own phones that allows you to share files directly between Huawei devices. Handy functionality perhaps, but Huawei is better off hiding the nfc tag somewhere in the laptop.
A review of a Huawei laptop is of course not complete without briefly mentioning the trade war, which prevents American technology companies from supplying Huawei. For the time being, this mainly applies to smartphones and the laptop division is not bothered by this, although Intel is recently no longer allowed to supply Huawei, according to Reuters. Of course, it doesn’t matter much for a product you buy. You will simply receive software updates.
Slightly outdated specifications
The processor can be selected from an Intel Core i5-10210U or i7-10510U. Maybe still a good choice in mid-2020, but now a bit outdated chips on a relatively old-fashioned 14nm production process. The test sample that Huawei sent is the Core i7 version. It combines the processor with 16 GB of ram and a 1 TB SSD. That SSD comes from Samsung and the PM981a used is an excellent choice. A bit inconvenient is that Huawei has partitioned the SSD into two partitions and that the OS partition with 80 GB is too small in my opinion. So just repartition. In terms of graphics, the built-in GPU of the processor is not relied on, but Huawei has placed an Nvidia GeForce MX250 on the motherboard. That MX250 is available in a normal and slower version and Huawei has opted for the slower version. Don’t expect too much from this, the MX250 is certainly not a gaming chip. It is also striking that this laptop does not have WiFi 6. The chosen Wi-Fi card is from Intel, but only supports Wi-Fi 5. Fortunately, it is a 2×2 variant and the card offers neat bluetooth 5.1. Although you will probably not notice it in practice, it is a strange choice for a high-end laptop in 2020.
Excellent screen
The 13.9-inch screen is the same screen as its predecessor and is still really excellent. The 3: 2 aspect ratio ensures that you have a lot more working space vertically. Something that you actually benefit from thanks to the high resolution of 3000 x 2000 pixels. The screen is remarkably clear and has excellent colors and viewing angles. Unfortunately, the screen has a glossy finish because it is also a touch screen. Touching works well and the hinge is stiff enough when folded open to touch the screen without changing its position. A nice detail of the MateBook is that you can easily open the laptop with one hand.
Keyboard and touchpad
In terms of design, the MateBook X Pro is quite similar to a MacBook, and so is the keyboard with its flat keys. It’s not as bad as the keyboard Apple used a few years ago, but the keys have remarkably little travel. Fortunately, you can still enjoy typing on it with a fine click. The keyboard is provided with key illumination in two positions. The precision touchpad is nice and large and supports multi-touch gestures. However, the touchpad is a bit nervous as standard and does not always do what you expect. After disabling tap for click, the touchpad works fine and without problems. Conveniently, the FN key with which you switch the functionality of the function keys from the normal functions to things like brightness and volume has a light to indicate the status. Also nice is that the on / off switch is a separate button above the keyboard so that the delete key is in the normal position. That is especially nice for touch typing. That on / off switch also features a fingerprint scanner to quickly log in to Windows.
Lousy webcam
Huawei has changed little about the MateBook X Pro, which means that the main drawback is still there: the position of the webcam. Because of the thinest possible screen edges, it is not above the screen as usual, but has been placed by Huawei in a false key between the function keys. You open the webcam by pressing the button. This place is very clumsy. With the laptop on your desk you are already less visible and your head is quickly cut off. And if you place the laptop in a typical laptop stand to raise the screen, only your sweater is in the picture. And (secretly) typing during a video call is actually not possible, then only your fingers are life-size in the picture. Also on your lap the webcam is not really helpful. Now a webcam was not very important in 2018, but now it is more important than ever. The concept is funny, but in practice it just doesn’t work and this is a typical case of form over function. Folding does not physically switch off the camera and it can also be switched on when folded, but of course you cannot watch it.
Performance
As mentioned, the processor used is now a bit outdated and the score in PCMark 10 is accordingly, because with 3609 points it is not very impressive. It remains a quad-core processor with eight threads, so in practice you can perform all (office) tasks without any problems. There is an annoying hum in the fan that becomes audible when the cooling starts lightly and for heavier tasks the cooling is just a bit too noisy. The battery life is fine, you will get about 10 hours with average use. In the PCMark 10 battery test that simulates typical office use, this laptop even achieves a battery life of 12 hours and 21 minutes. As expected, the ssd from Samsung is excellent and achieves read and write speeds of 3389.04 and 2775.69 MB / s.
The Nvidia GeForce MX250 offers little added value compared to other laptops with a newer Intel processor with more powerful integrated GPU. The laptop scores 961 points in 3DMark Time Spy. That is somewhat faster than Intel’s own integrated GPUs in the newer chips, but slightly slower than the integrated GPUs that AMD uses in, for example, a Ryzen 5 4500U. This chip is therefore not very suitable for gaming, you can only do that in 720p. It seems that Huawei has placed this extra GPU mainly to compensate for the weaker GPU in the Core i7-10510U used.
Conclusion
When Huawei launched its first laptops, the brand stood out for a beautiful design and that design is still beautiful in itself. The housing is also sturdy and light. This, in combination with the excellent screen, makes it a great laptop to work on. At the same time, the MateBook X Pro 2020 does not contain the latest technology. The processor is somewhat outdated and it is strange that Wifi 6 is missing. As far as I am concerned, it is the webcam that makes it really not recommended for the current time. The solution that Huawei came up with for the webcam was not particularly useful in 2018 and now that we use the webcam more often, it is actually not usable.
.