HUAWEI MATEBOOK 13

HUAWEI MATEBOOK 13

Huawei takes advantage of CES 2019 for a new laptop. New Combat Book 13 attacks the new MacBook Air with a more aggressive price

After the smartphone market, Huawei intends to impose on that of the laptop. The Chinese brand is not at its first attempt and we were also impressed by our test Matebook X Pro in 2018. The manufacturer is at CES 2019 to present a new model, the Matebook 13 will play on its price to convince. If its design can be reminiscent of the MacBook Air at first glance, the machine hides in fact a beautiful spec sheet that could beat the mark of the mark to the apple.

13-inch laptop with limited connectivity

The Matebook 13 is one of those machines that want to bet first on their smoothness and lightness, even if it means sacrificing features. Here, it is the connectivity that is reduced to two simple USB Type-C (USB 3.0) ports and a 3.5 mm jack. The manufacturer has therefore missed the conventional USB, but also the Thunderbolt 3.

The brand, however, had the good taste to maximize the volume of the keyboard in relation to the size of the chassis, the edges are thus refined to the maximum. The touchpad also promises to be wide enough. We also recognize the notch under the touchpad that allows to easily deploy the screen when the machine is closed.

Above the keyboard, Huawei placed his fingerprint reader allowing user identification with Windows Hello. On this subject, it is Windows 10 Signature Edition which is embedded on the machine. This means that the brand has not installed any additional software other than the drivers necessary for the proper functioning of the PC.

Technical sheet

• 13 Inch IPS LCD Screen 2160 x 1440 pixels (100% sRGB, 300 cd / m²) in 2: 3 format
• Intel Core i5-8265U or Core i7-8565U processor
• Intel HD Graphics 620 or Nvidia MX150
• 8 GB of RAM LPDDR3
• 256 or 512 GB of PCIe SSD storage
• 41.7 Wh battery
• Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac with MIMO 2 × 2)
• Bluetooth 5.0
• Connectors
• 2 x USB Type-C (USB 3.0)
• 1 x 3.5 mm jack
• 286 x 211 x 15 mm
• 1.27 kg
• 65W charger

Note that Nvidia offers two different graphics chips under the reference MX150, one of which is much less powerful. Huawei had unfortunately chosen the least powerful of the two solutions on the Matebook X Pro, but impossible to know if it is still the case here with the Matebook 13.

Price and availability

The Matebook 13 will come with 12 months of Office 365 subscription and a MateDock 2 dock with USB Type-A and DVI ports. Both versions will be launched at the end of the month in the United States from 999 dollars for the first, and 1299 dollars for the best configuration. Huawei promises that the Matebook 13 will also be available in Europe, but does not communicate more information about it. It may be necessary to wait until the MWC in Barcelona to know more about it.