Huawei launches new MateBook X Pro to go toe-to-toe with Apple MacBook Pro

Huawei has unveiled its new Matebook X Pro at Mobile World Congress 2019, with the system going straight up against the latest Apple MacBook Pro in features and performance.

Every aspect of the new MateBook X Pro has been upgraded over last year's model, which itself currently sits top of T3's prestigious best lightweight laptop guide and won the much sort after Innovation Award at MWC 2018, with the ultraportable featuring an upgraded processor, beefed up Nvidia-designed graphics card, and a new "Borderless Experience" screen.

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Design-wise the 2019 Huawei MateBook X Pro boasts a 91 per cent screen-to-body ratio, with a 3:2 aspect ratio and resolution of 3,000 x 2,000 pixels. This screen also features a 100% sRGB colour gamut and a peak brightness of 450 nits.

In terms of physical construction, the system is now thinner (14.6mm) and lighter (1.33kg) than last year's MateBook X Pro, and houses its components in a metal unibody casing with diamond cut edges and a sandblasted finish. As with last year's MateBook X Pro, the system's camera is a pop-up unit embedded in the keyboard.

That internal hardware includes an 8th gen Intel i7 8565U CPU, which is 10 per cent faster than last year's Intel 8550U processor, and an in-built Nvidia GeForce MX250 GPU with 2GB of GDDR5 RAM. The graphics processor is, according to Huawei, 3.5 times faster than last year's system's graphics chip.

In addition, as the new Huawei MateBook X Pro has a Thunderbolt 3 port that can deliver speeds up to 40 Gb/S, the system supports pairing with an external graphics card up to Nvidia GeForce GTX 2080 level power.

In terms of storage, up to 1TB can be configured.

Features-wise the standouts are One Touch To Go, which is a fingerprint power button with independent security chip, as well as what Huawei call OneHop. OneHop is a new wireless way to transfer photos, videos and documents from your phone to PC, or PC to phone. 

Tap the phone on the new MateBook X Pro's transfer point (located to the right of the trackpad), for example, and an image in your phone's gallery is instantly transferred to that on the laptop. Other functionality includes the ability to shake and then tap phone against system for the screen on the laptop to be recorded.

Lastly, the new Huawei MateBook X Pro comes with an optimised 57.4Wh internal battery, which the Chinese maker says will deliver 13 hours of video playback, 14 hours of office use, and 12 hours of web browsing. The laptop also comes with a quad-mic setup, Dolby Atmos, and a brand new Smart Cooling System, the latter delivering both passive and active cooling modes.

The new Huawei MateBook X Pro ships in the spring and will cost €1599 for an Intel i5 edition with 8GB of RAM and a 512GB of storage space and €1999 for a system equipped with an Intel i7, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage space. For more information about the 2019 model head on over to Huawei's official website.

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