HUAWEI MateBook D 16
From RM3,699.00
Pros
- Large 16" display
- Full size keyboard
- Powerful internals
- Nice HUAWEI features
- Light for its size
Cons
- Touchpad location too far left
HUAWEI recently launched their new high-performance MateBook line-up, namely the HUAWEI MateBook D 16 some time in mid July 2022. I had the privilege to review the new MateBook and it has been a great 2 weeks of testing and using the new portable powerhouse.
From the moment I unboxed the new HUAWEI MateBook D 16, I thought to myself, this will probably be a great IoT work-from-home or office device for anyone who needs reliable and portable computing power. The HUAWEI MateBook D 16 is basically a 16” screen size laptop with a full size keyboard along with the numpad at the side. It’s big in screen size, but surprisingly light for carrying around.
Display
The non-reflective display looks great. It has a beautiful display with vibrant colours and deep blacks. I honestly prefer to use a non-reflective display, or some may call it matte surface display. It simply looks sleek and nice to look at. It is also the kind of display to use when you want to reduce glares on your screen.
The display is also a TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light (Hardware Solution) certified to filter out the blue lights and display vibrant colours with 100% sRGB wide colour gamut. Screen resolution is 1920 x 1200 pixels, which is great for creative minds and graphic designers. With a flicker-free screen this large with sharp resolution, it felt really comfortable for me to sit and stare at the screen 8 hours a day at the office. Truthfully, it doesn’t strain my eyes at all. In fact, I become extra productive when it comes to multitasking and working on heavy graphic loads.
Processor
This is because everything done on the HUAWEI MateBook D 16 is very snappy, so to speak. It comes with a powerful 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12450H processor on the review unit, with an option to choose an even more powerful Intel Core i7 processor. This HUAWEI MateBook D 16 with Core i5 is amazingly fast and snappy. Hence the reason I became extremely productive on my daily tasks. Opening files or apps doesn’t take that long. Switching from one window to another is done in an instant.
The high-end processing power is supported by 16GB of RAM and starting with 512GB of NVMe PCIe SSD storage. The large RAM and the high-speed NVMe SSD provides the extra speed and reliability for that extra snappy performance. As for the graphic card, the HUAWEI MateBook D 16 uses the built-in Intel UHD Graphics from the processor. Nevertheless, performance from the GPU is great but it would be better to use a standalone nVidia Graphic card or something like that.
Keyboard and Touchpad
Typing on the amazing full sized keyboard is an absolute joy. The keys are comfortable to type on with almost no sound during each keypress. Sometimes I mistakenly hit a double letter because it felt like I didn’t press any button the first time around. The large touchpad is very responsive to touches but it has a palm detection to avoid any input when I’m typing. The touchpad also supports gesture controls. The most common to use is the natural scroll gesture where you swipe two fingers up to scroll down a page. This happens to be my favourite touchpad gestures on any laptops.
Pressing the “Fn” key on the keyboard will toggle the alternate features on some of the function buttons. This is pretty much a standard for newer laptops that we see today. This is a handy toggle as it converts the current available keyboard to have a second command to do other things. Of course, each key comes with a backlight for better night use or when you’re in a dark area.
Windows 11 and Apps
The HUAWEI MateBook D 16 comes with Windows 11 right out-of-the-box. It also comes with a few of HUAWEI’s own softwares and apps to enhance the user experience. If you’re a HUAWEI user, you will be taking advantage of some of the proprietary software that works better with HUAWEI mobile devices. For instance, you can seamlessly pair your HUAWEI phone with the HUAWEI MateBook D 16 to have it sync and work together like reading your message on the MateBook or transfer files and images from one another.
Basically you can control your phone on the MateBook, and vice versa. It is part of the new HUAWEI Smart Office ecosystem where everything is seamlessly connected. If you have a new HUAWEI MatePad in hand, you can use it as a second display for the MateBook. See where I’m going here? Now imagine the kind of productivity you will have with the new HUAWEI MateBook D 16. Again, the HUAWEI MateBook D 16 will be a great workhorse to have in the office or in your own home office.
User Experience
If you need to work outside, the portability of the HUAWEI MateBook D 16 is good. You will be thinking that a huge 16” laptop isn’t portable, but you might be wrong with this one. The HUAWEI MateBook D 16 weighs 1.7kg, which is pretty light for its size. You won’t feel the weight as much when you have it in the backpack while travelling in the LRT. But there is no doubt that you may need a bigger table when you’re working from a cafe or any public place.
Battery
Another matter that you may have to keep in mind when you’re working outside like a nomad is the battery endurance. On full battery capacity, the HUAWEI MateBook D 16 can last about 5 hours on medium screen brightness while connected to the WiFi and doing normal office-ish kind of work. When it’s down to 10%, it can be charged up again via the given 65W USB-C charger in 1 hour and 50 minutes or so. That is by my last count.
Connectivities
For other connectivities, the HUAWEI MateBook D 16 comes with Bluetooth 5.1 for a nice low latency pairing option to your favourite wireless earphone or gaming accessories. For the IO ports, the HUAWEI MateBook D 16 comes with 1 USB-C that supports data, charging and DisplayPort, another USB-C port that supports data and charging. There is also a USB 3.2 port, a USB 2.0 port, a single HDMI port and also a 3.5mm audio jack.
For video calls or conferences, like Zoom or Google Meet, the front facing AI camera also comes with 4 smart microphones with noise cancellation feature. The HUAWEI MateBook D 16 also comes with dual bottom firing speakers that are located near the bottom front of the laptop on each side. I am happy with the audio quality produced by the HUAWEI MateBook D 16. Clarity is excellent and can be heard clearly, even when playing a tune in a large crowded area. Zoom meetings will definitely be so much better with the HUAWEI MateBook D 16.
Conclusion
Based on my 2 weeks of testing, I find that the new HUAWEI MateBook D 16 is something to be considered when you’re thinking of a laptop upgrade. Since it is based on Windows 11, you don’t need to be using a HUAWEI smartphone to own one. But having one will be an advantage to seamlessly connect both mobile devices for better productivity.
The HUAWEI MateBook D 16 is one powerful laptop, thanks to the latest Intel i5 processor but if you need more power, you can always opt for the Intel i7 version. That will be a better choice if you’re working on heavy graphics or lots of video editing. Having said that, getting the Intel i7 version will be a better future proof option.
I would get one for myself as the HUAWEI MateBook D 16 is great for productivity. I can do many things at once without it breaking a sweat. The large flicker-free display feels so much better for my eyes as I used to get tired quickly while using another laptop. It also filters out the blue light so that it doesn’t strain my eye as much. As a productivity device, I will recommend this HUAWEI MateBook D 16 to anyone, anytime.
So if you’re thinking of getting one for yourself, you can head over to HUAWEI Malaysia’s official store on Shopee right now. You can also click here for more info on the new HUAWEI MateBook D 16.
