Typically, it’s simpler to only keep on with a components that works. That’s what Huawei has completed with the brand new Matebook 16s — similar machine, however with extra energy beneath the hood.
Which means you’re getting that very same beautiful 3:2 facet ratio 16-inch show, spectacular thermal administration, a huge touchpad and tactile keyboard, however with an improve to thirteenth Gen Intel efficiency.
Because it’s just about the identical as final 12 months, we do run into some comparable points with heft and webcam high quality right here. With all of this taken under consideration, together with the CPU improve, is the Matebook 16s value it? And furthermore, if you have already got the 2022 Matebook 16s, is that this well worth the improve?
Huawei Matebook 16s (2023) value and availability
You recognize the drill by now, America. Except you get the Matebook 16s imported, you’re out of luck by way of shopping for one.
Completely different to earlier than, nonetheless, is the very fact there is just one mannequin obtainable — packing an Intel Core i9-13900H CPU for £1,499. Nevertheless it has been discounted to £1,299 for the time being.
To place this in context, that’s £1,100 lower than the bottom specced 16-inch M2 Professional MacBook Professional, and £400 lower than a equally specced Asus Vivobook Professional 16 (solely distinction being the presence of a devoted GPU in Asus’ machine).
Huawei Matebook 16s design
Nothing has modified within the aesthetics division — it’s massive and in cost with an unmistakably premium, CNC milled and sandblasted metallic physique. This produces a clean end that’s fairly the looker in its House Gray colorway, and makes for a floor that you could’t assist however gently caress along with your fingers.
Similar as earlier than, portability is a little bit of a problem. Not simply due to the 16-inch laptop computer kind issue, however extra broadly in regards to the reality that is fairly the chonky boi.
| Laptop computer | Dimensions | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Huawei MateBook 16s | 13.8 x 10 x 0.7 inches | 4.4 kilos |
| 16-inch MacBook Professional | 14 x 9.8 x 0.7 inches | 4.8 kilos |
| Asus Vivobook Professional 16 | 13.9 x 9.9 x 0.8 inches | 4.18 kilos |
The principle motive for this heft is to not do with the size or the burden, as you possibly can see it is available in lighter than the MacBook Professional and barely slimmer on the horizontal, too. It’s that slight enhance within the vertical dimension that does make this really feel a little bit beefier to carry beneath your arm.
However wanting previous the numbers, this all provides as much as a decently smooth system to hold round in one of many greatest laptop computer backpacks, which you’ll be proud to whip out at conferences.
Huawei Matebook 16s ports
Port array stays similar from earlier than, and whereas there’s sufficient for many of your wants, I really feel it’s missing.
On the left, you’ll find two USB-C ports (one among them with Thunderbolt 4 assist), a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a full-size HDMI 2.0. On the precise, there are two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports.
Snap up a docking station to increase on this, however I used to be actually hoping Huawei would have taken the chance to slap on an SD card slot and perhaps Gigabit Ethernet.
Huawei Matebook 16s show
Whereas we don’t have lab examined outcomes for the show’s brightness and shade, I’ll simply say that similar to final 12 months, the Matebook 16s’ 16-inch IPS show is a stunner. Particulars are tremendous crisp because of that 2520 x 1680-pixel decision, the three:2 facet ratio is nice for attending to work completed, and the ten-point multitouch display strikes swiftly with zero latency.
Huawei claims a barely improved brightness of a 400-nit most, alongside the identical 1500:1 distinction ratio and a 100% sRGB shade gamut. The shiny glass floor does typically overwhelm the brightness in relation to being in challengingly vibrant lighting situations, however in most conditions, the show is vibrant sufficient to be seen.
On prime of that, the distinction and shade high quality results in a formidable vividness that pops off the display, and a stable depth to the darker tones. It actually makes exhibits like Apple TV +’s Swagger actually shine with a formidable HDR high quality.
Plus, with TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Gentle and Flicker Free certification, you possibly can work late into the night time with confidence that your eyes are being sorted. Is it higher than the mini-LED show know-how on provide within the MacBook Professional? No. However for the worth you pay, it is a excellent display.
Huawei Matebook 16s keyboard and touchpad
As soon as once more, precisely the identical as final 12 months, which implies you’re going to have a beautiful time clicking and typing away on this factor. The Chiclet-style keyboard with even backlighting offers you 1.5mm of journey with a delicate touchdown design, which is designed to drastically scale back the fatigue of pushing your fingers down in opposition to a tough floor.
When put via the 10FastFingers.com take a look at, I’ve clearly gotten used to this keyboard from final 12 months, and managed to hit a 88 words-per-minute common with a 100% accuracy (for context, I usually hit 85 wpm) — all full with a low-volume typing expertise for everytime you’re working within the quiet space of a library.
Head south and also you’ll spot the big trackpad, which measures in at 5.7 x 3.6 inches. Granted, it’s a little bit smaller than the MacBook Professional’s (6.3 x 3.9 inches), however it looks like an ocean in comparison with the Vivobook Professional 16 (5 x 3.2 inches), and the floor is gorgeously slick on your fingers to glide over.
Once more, I’m a little bit disillusioned that Huawei hasn’t taken the chance to profit from the Matebook X Professional’s trackpad greatness. This isn’t a stable state development, and not one of the edge swipe interactions make it over right here. However for all intents and functions, it’s clean, helps all of your multi-touch gestures, and has a pleasant, tactile click on.
Huawei Matebook 16s audio
The twin front-facing audio system are beastly in dimension, and equally so of their capacity to fill a room with impressively detailed noise. Don’t get me flawed; the MacBook Professional continues to be the unmitigated champ of speaker audio high quality, however Huawei does come shut.
The highs and mids are given good ranges of readability, whereas the lows are given a good quantity of oomph for a large and heat audio manufacturing that’s scrumptious to the ears. The hovering vocals in Set Your Targets’ album “This would be the loss of life of us” shine properly above the detailed crunch of the distorted guitars, the deep ferocity of the drum package, and the satisfying bass kick.
Huawei Matebook 16s efficiency
Now for the largest change to the system we’ve bought right here. Below the hood, you’re getting a soar as much as the Intel Core i9-13900H CPU, alongside 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a 1TB NVMe PCIe SSD. You’re additionally getting built-in Intel Iris Xe Graphics, which given the sheer heft of this method, I’m a little bit disillusioned on the lack of a devoted GPU choice.
| Laptop computer | Geekbench 5.4 multicore | Geekbench 5.4 single core | Handbrake (transcoding 4K video to 1080p) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Huawei MateBook 16s | 12555 | 1969 | 05:06 |
| MacBook Professional (M2 Professional) | 15120 | 1919 | 04:06 |
| Asus Vivobook Professional 16 | 14976 | 1958 | 04:14 |
As you possibly can inform, whereas the chip has improved efficiency by fairly a margin over final 12 months’s mannequin, it isn’t sufficient to hold with its costlier competitors. The identical might be stated within the graphics division, too.
| Laptop computer | 3DMark Fireplace Strike |
|---|---|
| Huawei MateBook 16s | 2075 |
| Asus Vivobook Professional 16 | 15645 |
Nevertheless, numbers inform half the story. It’s straightforward to have a look at these and assume this isn’t value it, however grasp on with me right here. The thirteenth Gen Intel Core i9 chip continues to be a scream. Placing it via the same old excessive stress rigmarole — Two Level Campus operating within the background as I edited a large RAW image in Photoshop, performed a number of 1080p YouTube movies, streamed on Twitch with OBS, all whereas operating a benchmark — there was zero trace of a slowdown.
Plus, whereas gaming isn’t its major objective, as long as you tweak with the settings, you may get the likes of Forza Horizon 5 to run at a good framerate on decrease graphics choices.
All in all, it’s a quick machine for the worth you pay for it!
Huawei Matebook 16s battery life
Similar as earlier than, the Matebook 16s will get right into a cellphone sales space, and awkwardly undresses to disclose its biggest tremendous energy — the surprisingly sturdy battery life.
At this level, I’m assured in saying that nothing will come near touching the MacBook Professional by way of pure stamina proper now (not no less than till Intel figures out its effectivity cores). However so far as Home windows laptops go, it is a long-lasting machine. Since we haven’t put this via the scientific rigmarole of our Battery Informant testing, I’ll simply provide you with a diary of my day and when it lastly gave up.
My day concerned many Chrome tabs, Apple Music and Slack operating consistently, the occasional use of Photoshop, and tons of 4K YouTube viewing throughout my lunch break and within the night. Beginning at 9 a.m, I went all over the day to 7 p.m. earlier than needing to cost.
Truthfully, you could possibly make it last more with a little bit extra economical care to the apps you employ and the facility consumed, however the 84Wh battery goes to maintain you going for a very long time and not using a care on this planet.
Huawei Matebook 16s webcam
All people has caught up. A 1080p webcam is now a norm throughout laptops, so the Huawei Matebook 16s has competitors, which makes its fuzzy image all of the extra obvious.
Element is loads higher right here, particularly in well-lit situations the place the distinction begins to shine. However the aperture continues to be far too slender for low gentle conditions, the place images will nonetheless look fairly fuzzy.
And nonetheless, there is no such thing as a Home windows Hi there assist, as there is no such thing as a IR digital camera. However the fingerprint reader softens that blow considerably. If you happen to do want higher image high quality, you’ll at all times want to choose up an exterior webcam for the very best seize.
Huawei Matebook 16s warmth
I can’t provide you with actual temperatures, however it’s been clear from utilizing this machine that the upper energy Intel Core i9-13900H CPU does generate a little bit extra warmth.
Don’t get me flawed; the 75mm twin Shark Fin Followers work onerous to attract cool air in whereas the large twin heatpipes dissipate excessive temperatures with ease. They work properly to maintain the surfaces you contact good and funky, however be sure you preserve the underside clear, and don’t relaxation this factor in your thighs. If you happen to accomplish that, your kneecaps could find yourself being cooked medium uncommon.
Huawei Matebook 16s software program and guarantee
Huawei packs just one very important piece of software program within the Matebook 16s and it’s aptly referred to as PC Supervisor. This allows you to replace any lacking drivers in your PC or run checkups to make sure your {hardware} elements are wholesome. Surprisingly, there’s no Home windows 10 bloatware put in on this gadget.
Since this product isn’t obtainable within the U.S. but, the guarantee hasn’t been said, however Huawei PC units sometimes include one-year restricted warranties within the States.
Backside line
The Huawei Matebook 16s continues to be the no frills massive boy of the 16-inch laptop computer mountain — merely providing highly effective internals, a beautiful show, a implausible keyboard, and an ocean of a touchpad, which is all crammed into this trendy utilitarian body.
We’re nonetheless missing a devoted GPU choice, which given the sheer dimension of this machine, looks like a missed alternative. The webcam isn’t so nice, and the thermal administration is combating the thirteenth Gen Intel energy.
However these minor issues pale as compared to what’s an overwhelmingly sturdy, big-screen system with loads of premium goodness with good worth for cash.
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