Huawei announced the MateBook, it’s latest 2-in-1 running Windows 10 at MWC 2016 at Barcelona.
Huawei Matebook has a 12-inch (2160×1440 pixels) IPS display with screen-to-body ratio of 84%. It is powered by 6th Gen Intel Core M processor and has 4GB or 8GB of RAM, 128/256/512GB SSD. The device comes with Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro. The Matebook measures 6.9 mm sleek and weighs 640 g. The keyboard is back-lit and the case is also features a 1.5mm keystroke and a chiclet keycap design. It has built-in touchpad with multi-touch technology. There is a 5MP front facing camera on the device.
https://youtu.be/IJKXCEXByp8
The tablet section is really well designed and makes use of metal in the construction of the body. When placed in the laptop mode, from the top you have the power/standby button at the right hand side, beside which where is a speaker grill section. On the right hand edge, you have the volume rocker button whereas on the left hand edge there is the 3.5mm audio jack on the top. The base has the magnetic connector points which connects the tablet section to the keyboard.
The MatePen is made of plastic and seems quite flimsy when compared to the Surface Pro 4 Pen. It has three circular buttons on board. These buttons act as the left and right click mouse buttons as of now. On the opposite end of the MatePen nib is the laser pointer section and pressing the third button in the upper half of the MatePen, powers on the laser light.
The MateBook appears to be better suited for presenting in a meeting than it is for designers and artists. Unlike the Surface Pen (and like Apple’s Pencil) though, there’s no clever way to dock the MatePen, so it’ll have to sit at the bottom of your bag or on your desk. The good news there is that one hour of charging gives it 100 hours of battery life, so it will be ready to go whenever you pick it up.
The keyboard case that accompanies the MateBook has a glass trackpad that performs really well, but the keys themselves don’t feel equally good. Huawei is touting “near-notebook” key travel, but the keyboard still flexes and bounces in the middle when you type with any force.
The MateBook joins the Nexus 6P here as the only Huawei devices to offer a USB Type-C port. To assuage users who might not have a plethora of Type-C devices and cables around, Huawei will sell a separate dock adapter — much like what Dell did at CES this year.
The Mate Pen and Keyboard need to be bought separately at $59 (approx Rs 4,100) and $129 (approx Rs 8,900) respectively. So Huawei’s positioning seems to be a longer lasting 2-in-1 rather than the powerhouse. The company says the dock, the MatePen, and the MateBook will be sold in different bundles in different regions around the world later this year with prices ranging from $699 to $1,599 for the tablet.
