The Huawei MateBook X Pro and MateBook 16S — two of the best laptops I’ve ever used — have finally been updated to Intel’s latest 13th Gen Intel Core CPUs. I’ve been waiting for this day for so long!
One is a trailblazer of an ultrabook with one of the best touchpads in the industry, and the other is a stellar 16-inch workhorse. But chances are if you’re reading this, you can’t buy one.
Oh, and unlike other companies with 13th Gen Intel upgrades, Huawei has kept the pricing identical — £1,799 for the X Pro and £1,499 for the 16s.
Bad news, America
One issue that always comes with Huawei is the lack of U.S. availability. That has been driven by the trade ban placed on the brand by the government. What this means is that this company’s laptops are not available through official channels.
Though it is worth noting that you can probably expect to find them on second hand/resale channels like eBay sooner rather than later…
Good news for the rest of you
As for everyone else uninhibited by the trade ban, you’ve got access to two brilliant systems. I called the MateBook X Pro the “XPS killer,” as it really does stand up to Dell’s uber popular XPS 13 with peak power, great ergonomics, and an aesthetic that stands out in the best way.
Not only that, but I still think about that massive solid state touchpad to this day — extending all the way to the edge of the deck and providing edge controls for a new level of convenience. There’s nothing quite like it in the market, so color me excited to see Huawei stick CPUs up to the Intel Core i7-1360p.
Meanwhile, the MateBook 16S is large and in charge in the best way possible. Thanks to that gorgeous 16-inch touchscreen display, unmistakably premium CNC milled metallic body, and a ton of ports, I called it one of the best big-screen laptops when I reviewed the previous version.
And now, it’s set to get an up to 30% speed boost with up to Intel Core i9-13900H with a 60-watt TDP. Neither of these have been updated in terms of visual design or port array, and that’s just fine and dandy for me. That ink blue on the MateBook X Pro is arguably my favorite texture and color finish on a laptop in the past few years.
Outlook
The MateBook X Pro is one of the best ultrabooks I’ve ever used, and the 16S goes big in more ways than just the size, while keeping the price impressively affordable.
But the burning question has been obvious since 13th Gen Intel dropped: when can we get the update to the latest CPUs? Huawei’s taken a while, but the company is finally on board.
And while some of my small niggles remain (for example, I’d love to see a MateBook 16S with a dedicated GPU), the performance gains bring these two banging laptops into the new generation, but only for our UK and European readers.
