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Huawei’s new MateBook X Pro comes with more power and more storage

Huawei’s new MateBook X Pro comes with more power and more storage

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The new lower-tier MateBook 14 also joins Huawei’s laptop portfolio

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Last year, Huawei released the MateBook X Pro, a stunner of a laptop that hit the right mix of performance, portability, ports, and price better than anything else you could buy. So for the new MateBook X Pro, announced today and available later this year, Huawei didn’t rock the boat: it still has the same design and the same number of ports. The new things are rather small: a slightly faster processor, slightly upgraded graphics card, a slightly upgraded Thunderbolt 3 port, and the option for up to 1TB of storage.

Alongside the new MateBook X Pro, Huawei also announced the MateBook 14, a lower-tier model that shares the same design language, but makes do with a lower-resolution display, a bump in weight, and some other concessions. It, too, will be available later this year, with pricing information to be announced.

There is only one visual difference between the new MateBook X Pro and the one that came out last year: the logo on the laptop’s lid is now just the Huawei wordmark, instead of the full logo found on the older model. Otherwise, this is the exact same laptop, complete with a 13.9-inch, 450 nit, edge-to-edge 3000 x 2000 pixel touchscreen; full size keyboard with 1.2mm key travel; fingerprint scanner embedded in the power button; and 2.93 lb weight. The two USB-C and one USB-A ports remain, though the Thunderbolt port has been upgraded to a full four lanes of bandwidth, which Huawei says is capable of supporting external GPUs like Nvidia’s RTX2080.

Huawei also kept the pop-up web cam the same, with it embedded in the keyboard’s function row. This was the most controversial feature of the MateBook X Pro, as it provides a horribly unflattering shot for video calls, but Huawei apparently doesn’t feel it needed to change it for this year’s model.

Inside, the processor options are a Core i5-8265U or Core i7-8565U, which Huawei claims are 10 percent faster than last year’s. The X Pro has either 8GB or 16GB of RAM, and between 256GB and 1TB of storage. The Core i7 version comes with Nvidia’s MX250 discrete graphics, a slight bump over last year’s MX150 GPU.

The MateBook 14 is visually very similar to the X Pro, but it has a 14-inch, 2160 x 1440 pixel touchscreen, and a slightly larger body. It weighs a little more, at 3.28 lbs, and trades the Thunderbolt 3 port of the Pro for one USB-C, one HDMI, one USB-A 3.0, and one USB-A 2.0 ports. It has the same keyboard, trackpad, fingerprint scanner, and pop-up webcam as the more expensive model. Instead of the quad-speaker system found on the Pro, the MateBook 14 has two speakers on its underside.

The MateBook 14 shares the same processor and GPU options of the X Pro, though it will top out at 512GB of storage. Huawei says the 57.4Wh battery is good for 15 hours of video playback or 10.5 hours of web browsing, which is slightly longer than the X Pro’s battery life, thanks to the 14’s lower-resolution screen.

Both models have a new software feature called Huawei Share that makes it easier to transfer images and other files between a Huawei phone and laptop. Huawei says it can transfer data at up to 30Mbps, and the feature is triggered by the NFC chips in both the laptop and phone. If it sounds a lot like Apple’s AirDrop feature, that’s because it is.

It’s not a huge surprise that Huawei didn’t change much for this refresh of the X Pro, and the MateBook 14 carries many of the same qualities at what will likely be an even lower price. Both models should be more compelling than the MateBook 13 released earlier this year, which had weird limitations in its USB ports and disappointing battery life. Of course, no amount of a discount will matter if you share the same distrust of Huawei’s products as the US government. But if that’s not an issue for you, the latest round of Huawei laptops look like they’ll be just as compelling as last year’s models.

Huawei says the MateBook X Pro and MateBook 14 will be available in global markets first, before coming to the US later this spring. The MateBook X Pro will cost 1,599 euro for the Core i5 model with 8GB RAM and 512GB storage; the Core i7 model with 16GB RAM and 1TB storage will sell for 1,999 euro. The MateBook 14 will start at 1,199 euro for a Core i5 model, while the Core i7 version will cost 1,499 euro. Pricing for the US market is expected to be released later this year.