24 JULY2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE389
ITHASN’TBEENmakinglaptopsforloong,but
Huawei’sMateBookXPro(Shopper 3777 )had
littleissuegettinguptherewiththebest
ultraportablesyoucanlayyourhandsoon.
The2020 MateBook XPro is the latestt
model.Itcomeswithupgradedinternal
hardwareoverlastyear’slaptop,anditt
remainsafinechoice,especiallyas,unlike
thecompany’ssmartphones,thelaptop
divisionhasavoidedbeingslappedwithhaban
onusingitscoresoftware:Windows1 00.
ONE FORTHEBOOKS
As with previousversions, the 2020 MaateBook
XProhasafabulous3:2aspect-ratio 144 in
display,it’sslimandlight,andithasonneof
the nicestkeyboards we’ve used on any
laptop.It’snearly as good as thekeybooaarrddoonn
theGooglePixelbookGo(Shopper 387 ).
Infact,physically,theMateBookXPro
hasn’tchangedonejot.It’sinsidewhereall
thechanges have been made,withHuawei
introducing new 10th-generation Intel
processorsfor improved performance and
(in theory) better battery life, too.
It also features avividand incredibly sharp
14in 3K touchscreen, andabeautifully made,
all-metalbody.It’sajoyofalaptoptouse,with
quad-speakers, afingerprint reader,pop-up
webcam and agreat keyboard andtouchpad.
Thecatch?Its price.UKpricing hasn’t
been revealed yetbut converting the euro
RRPs,even the base model –containing a
quad-core,1.6GHz Intel Corei5-10210U
processor,16GB of RAMand a512GB SSD
–comes to £1,309.For £1,484 you can upgrade
the integrated graphics to adiscreteNvidia
GeForceMX250 GPU,while thetop-spec
model –the onewe’re testinghere–costs
£1,746 foraquad-core1.8GHz Intel Core
i7-10510Uand 1TB SSDontop of that.
There’s nothing new about thedesign of
the MateBook XPro,but it’sworth reiterating
howgooditisfromthis perspective. First up,
HUAWEI
MateBookXPro(2020)
★★★★★
£1,746•Fromconsumer.huawei.com
WINDOWS10 ULTRAPORTABLE
it’s very slimand lightweight, measuring
14.6mm thickwhen closedand weighing a
ffeeaatthheerrlliigghhtt 11. 33 kkgg.WWeeppaarrttiiccuullaarrllyylliikkeetthhee
softly rounded edges, which mean it’s simple
to slideintolaptop pockets in most bags
without catching thefabric lining.
WELL CONNECTED
Around the sides,you’ll also find amore
substantial selection of ports than youmight
expect from suchaslimline machine.There’s a
single,full-sized USB3socket on theright,
which comesin veryhandyforconnecting
legacy USB thumbdrivesand wireless
dongles. On theleft edgeisapairofUSB
Type-C ports, both of whichsupport data,
charging andvideo output, andthere’salso a
3.5mmheadsetjack next to these.
Lift open the lid–asingle-finger
operation, thankfully –and you’re faced
with aspacious,backlit, chiclet-style
keyboard. It’snicely laid out, with alarge
two-row-highEnter keyand nice bigShift
and cursor keys as well.The keyactionis
wondrously luxurious, too, with alovely dig
of feedback and plentyoftravel to each
keystrokeand asmooth, almost liquid feel.
The keyboard is lovelyand the large
touchpad is just as good to use.Although
theres
force-feedbacktechnology
ppeerrffeeccttllyywweeiigghhtteeddmmeecchhaanniiccaallcclliicckkaanndd
smooth glass topgotogethertomake a
pointing device that’s amatch forany that
you’ll findelsewhere.
SHARING IS CARING
Other than this, there are afew other features
worthnoting about the MateBook XPro.First
is thecircular power button that sitsjust
above the keyboard on the right-hand side,
which incorporates afingerprint reader,for
fast biometriclogin.The second –and the one
featurewewishHuaweiwouldchange –is
that the laptop’s 720p webcam remains
integrated intoafunction key, betweenF6
and F7 on thetop rowofthe keyboard.
Video quality is passable,but thelow
angleisasproblematic as it was on lastyear’s
version. Besides it pointingunflatteringly up
below your chin, you end up with your
knuckles in the shot if you need to type
while on avideocall.It’salso not compatible
with Windows Hello.
Lastly, there’s theMateBookXPro’s
NFC-drivenHuaweiSharetech. This worksa
little like Apple’s AirDrop wireless sharing,
exceptinstead of an iPhone,you needa
Huaweihandset to makeitwork. Huaweisent
over aP30 Prototest outthe feature and it
worked well,allowing quick transferoffiles
back and forth without the need to faff
around with pairing or connecting cables.
It’s ashameitdoesn’t work with other
Android phones, however.
VERDICT
Agreatlaptopgetsupdated,thoughoonly
mildlyandattheapparentcostofbatttterylife
There’snothing,asideperhapsfromtheglossyfinish,that
we’d changeaboutthisscreen.Itisstupendouslygood
