First Impressions
Key Features
- Big screen upgradesOLED panel with high brightness and accurate make it great for media consumption
- Laptop or tablet?Comes with a folio keyboard with good key travel to turn the display into a laptop
- Fast chargingComes with a 65w power block for swift recharges
Introduction
The Huawei MateBook E is the latest hybrid to try and steal the crown from the Surface Pro 8.
Like Microsoft’s flagship device, the MateBook E is made up of two main parts. A tablet with a large display and all the components inside, and a keyboard cover that clips magnetically onto the bottom.
When the two parts are combined the MateBook E becomes a laptop of sorts. Unclip the keyboard and it’s more like an iPad. The issue I have always found with these devices, even to an extent the Surface Pro, is that its not the best tablet nor the best laptop – sitting somewhere in the middle.
The biggest upgrade here over the previous MateBook E is the display. This is the first Windows PC from Huawei equipped with an OLED panel, and the first to support the brand’s M Pencil stylus.
Pricing
The MateBook E will come in three variants, with the 8GB RAM and 128GB memory starting at €649 with the i3 processor. The i5 option will have 8GB/256GB storage for €999 and the 16GB RAM 256GB memory option will come with a Smart Magentic Keyboard and will cost €1,199 for the Intel i5 version, and €1,399 for the Intel i7 version.
We will be sure to update this article with the UK and US pricing as soon as it becomes available.
Screen and Design
- 12.6-inch OLED display with accurate colours
- Keyboard folio case provides extra functionality
- M Pencil stylus for drawing and notes
As I mentioned above, the MateBook E is made up of two parts. And, unlike the Surface Pro, you’ll get both the tablet and keyboard included in one package – at least in most regions,
The tablet itself is slim at 7.99mm and simply designed. It’s light too, at 709g. I’ve been carrying it around in my bag for a few days now and it’s welcome change from hauling around a larger laptop. The back is made from glass fibre, while the sides are magnesium alloy.
There’s a single Thunderbolt 4 capable USB-C port on the side and a power button with a fingerprint sensor embedded inside. More ports would have been nice, but there is a version of Huawei’s keyboard available that does give you a second USB-C port.
My biggest qualm about the tablet is that it doesn’t have a built-in kickstand, a feature that makes the Surface Pro series so special. With the MateBook E, the keyboard folio doubles as a kickstand so you need that attached to prop it up.
The magnetic keyboard is great for typing on, with a surprisingly good amount of travel. It has more shortcut keys than the iPad Pro’s Magic Keyboard which is a welcome sight. It is a bit fiddly to get all set up though, with my review sample seemingly never wanting to click into place at the first time of asking.
It’s the screen that’s the star of the show here though. It might lack the 90Hz refresh rate of the new MateBook Pro X 2022, but it trades that machine’s LCD panel for a OLED variant. OLED gives you richer colours, far better contrast and perfect blacks. If you want to watch proper HDR video on the go, you’ll likely want an OLED display.
Huawei claims the 12.6-inch display here boasts a peak of 600 nits of brightness and covers 100% of the cinematic P3 colour gamut and 100% of the sRGB gamut. Of course I’ll need to run a colourimeter over it to see for sure, but from first glance it does look like a very nice panel with accurate colours.
The display can alter itself depending on your environment and ambient lighting too, similar to Apple’s True Tone tech.
My review unit also came with the M Pencil, a stylus that charges on top of the tablet. This is the second-gen version of the stylus and improvements here include 2ms latency, 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity for smooth writing and a reported 10 hours of battery life.
Performance and Battery Life
- RAM upto 16GB, SSD up to 512GB
- Intel 11th gen chips
- 65w charging
The Huawei MateBook E can be configured with up to an 11th gen Intel Core i7-1160G7 processor align with Iris X graphics. It’s odd to see 12th gen options missing, though.
Memory goes up to 16GB, with SSDs topping out at 512GB. Huawei seems very happy with its new cooling system, which it says has 79 ultra thin blades measuring 0.15mm packed together to aid with air flow.
I haven’t spent enough time with the machine yet to judge performance, so check back for our full review to see how well it performs both in benchmarks and real-world tests. The same goes for battery life. There is 65w charging to get you back from 0% quickly.
Other improvements for the MateBook E include updated microphones for better voice calls, a quad-speaker system (two woofers and two tweeters) that Huawei says can create virtual surround sound and strong integration with other Huawei devices through its Super Device tech. Super Device lets you connect a phone to the MateBook E for multi-screen work.
First Impressions
I like a lot of things about the Huawei MateBook E, from the sleek design to the really nice OLED display. If battery life and performance match up then could well be a strong Surface Pro 8 rival.
Huawei MateBook E specs
All the most important specs for the Huawei MateBook E 2-in-1 Windows 11 device.
CPU Manufacturer Screen Size Front Camera Battery Battery Hours Size (Dimensions) Weight Operating System Release Date Resolution HDR Refresh Rate GPU RAM Connectivity Colours Display Technology Touch Screen Convertible? Huawei MateBook E (2022) Intel Core 11th Gen Huawei 12.6 inches 8MP 3665 mAh -2 215 x 47 x 306 MM 709 G Windows 11 2021 2560 x 1440 Yes 60 Hz Intel Iris X 16GB Thunderbolt 4 Grey OLED Yes Yes
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Jargon buster
2-in-1
A laptop with a 180-degree hinge, which allows you to twist the screen to the back of the keyboard, shifting the laptop into a makeshift tablet.
