Huawei takes on Dell: FullView screen on new MateBook X Pro

When we saw the Dell XPS 13 at CES earlier this year it was love at first sight – what Dell had done with the screen was almost eliminate the borders around it and it appears that idea is not unique.  Huawei have announced today the MateBook X Pro in Barcelona and it has some serious performance.

In 2017 Huawei had three MateBook variations – the X was ultraslim, the E a 2-in-1 and the D which had a larger screen and more performance.  Sadly, Australian’s seem to miss out on these, but there’s hope with MateBook X Pro that will turn around.

MateBook X Pro is what Huawei describe as a “Full View” display notebok – the screen takes up 91% of the upper fold, the first – they say – to exceed 90%.

As a comparison, the previous MateBook X had an 88% screen to body ratio, while the MacBook Pro 13 inch has an 82% ratio.

Featuring a 3000 x 2000 LTPS panel, with 260 PPI it’s a stunning screen to look at.  450 nit brightness and a 1500:1 contrast ratio.

Touch screen gives complete control, and it comes in two colours, a silver and space grey.

The whole unit is a uni-body aluminium and the thickest edge is 14.6mm (MacBook pro is 14.9), tapering down to 4.9mm.

Under the hood is an 8th Generation Intel Core i7 processor, and to make it even more enticing for those looking for a MacBook alternative – there’s a discreet GeForce MX150 graphics processor too.

Four speakers with Dolby Atmos built in, you’ll get 12 hours of video playback from the 57.4Wh battery.

The fingerprint sensor has been integrated into the power button, a large touchpad sits below the full size keyboard and there’s still room for a camera too – it’s Zuckerberg friendly – neatly hidden under one of the function keys:)

Huawei reckon 70% of people don’t use cameras, but that you can’t build a laptop without one. Having tested it – you’re better off without it – it’s a solid double chin angle so you’ll wanna prop the MateBook X Pro up almost vertical to get a good angle.

On the side there is a single USB-A port, and two USB-C, one of which is Thunderbolt 3 compatible.

Perhaps buried in the lede is Huawei’s coolest feature – Huawei Share.  Built to allow laptops and Huawei Mobile phones to transfer data directly, they claim 1000 photo transfers in just 3 minutes, and a 1GB video in around a minute.  Pretty cool stuff.

Sadly, no word on Aussie availability – though you’d have to think one of the Telcos could see some benefit in this one to upsell Huawei phone owners – or an outright play by a big retailer.