Hey! How is it going guy's, this is Dave2D and this is a video on the Huawei Matebook.
So, this is a 12" Windows tablet, it costs $700, it's got 2-in-1 capabilities, it's got a very clean design.
Let's take a look. So, when you open the box, you get the Matebook itself, a 24 watt adapter,
a double male USB-C cable and then some components to adapt to other USB devices.
This cable lets you connect to micro USB and then, if you plug this in the adapter, you get a standard USB port.
So, the build quality is really nice.
Recent Huawei devices have had excellent build quality and this one is no different.
Aluminum body, chamfered edges, the exterior finish feels very similar to an iPad.
It has that silky smooth texture. The device has a little bit of flex, but it doesn't bother me at all.
Now, in terms of how it feels when you use it, this is a very comfortable tablet to hold.
It's got rounded corners, rounded edges, it's not too heavy, I like handling it.
Now, going around the edges, we have a volume rocker, power button, stereo speakers up top,
a headphone jack, mic and the keyboard connector pins on the bottom.
There's only one port on this device.
It's a USB 3.0 type C connection, it's not Thunderbolt 3, so there's no external GPU connections.
You can charge the device through this port and you can also connect drives and peripherals.
There's an optional mate dock by Huawei that connects to the port.
I think it's $90. This thing has USB-C pass-through, so you can charge it while it's docked
and has a couple USB-As, Ethernet, HDMI out, VGA out and it magnetically fits into a carrying case.
If you're using the Matebook for work or for college a dock like this can be super useful.
The volume rocker actually has a fingerprint sensor in the middle.
It's fast, its accurate and works with Windows hello to log you into the tablet pretty quickly.
The display is a 12 inch IPS panel and it's pretty good: QHD, so 2560x1440.
If you turn off the automatic controls, you can get up to 400 nits.
it's still not great for viewing outdoors, because of the glossy screen, but indoors it's awesome.
Viewing angles are great and so is the color gamut, when I'm measuring with the Spider 4.
The bezels are also pretty thin at 10 millimeters and overall I really like this screen.
The speakers on the top edge of the tablet sound okay.
They get loud, louder than you would think for the size that they are, but they don't sound particularly clear.
I'd say they sound a little bit worse than the speakers on the Surface Pro 4.
The webcam up top is 5 megapixels and it's actually pretty good,
but if you'll notice there's no rear facing camera on the device,
and at first I thought this was pretty cool, because...
well I'm not a tablet photography person and it keeps the back really clean by not having a camera cut out...
but I used this for Skype a few times and once I want to show what I was looking at to the person I was talking to
and I realized that in order for me to do this I had to flip the device around, use the front-facing camera,
and kind of hope that I was aiming it in the right direction.
It's not a big deal and I won't affect most people, but if you are a frequent video caller, keep that in mind.
There's an optional $60.00 Matepen. It's rechargeable by microUSB.
I kind of wish they made it a type-C connector, but it works well, 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity
and it has a laser pointer, if you want to go old-school.
The portfolio keyboard costs $130 and it connects magnetically using pogo pins.
The keyboard has backlighting and the keys have one and a half millimeters of travel.
It's a pretty comfortable keyboard and I think most people will get used to it quickly,
I would say that the keyboard from the Surface Pro 4 is better not by lot but I do think it's better.
The trackpad is big for this type of device, so if you're coming from a laptop, it's an easy transition.
It has a nice texture on the glass surface, tracking around is good,
but the button mechanism feels kind of average to me. Clicking and dragging sometimes feels unresponsive,
but I've been told that a software update will fix this soon.
The cover to the portfolio keyboard has folding flaps,
and because the structural support is dependent on the flaps, it's not sturdy using it on your lap at all.
Now, if you're using it on a table or any kind of flat surface it's structurally sound,
you don't have to worry about it, but if your workflow requires you to use the Matebook on your lap,
it's not going to be easy.
In terms of screen tilt, it's not universally adjustable, infact there's only two sets of positions,
one of them you set up like this, it's sturdy in a flat position.
The other position is tilted back a bit more, but it uses magnets to secure it into place
and it's pretty easy to knock down.
But fortunately, I think the first position is a good angle for most people.
The unit I have is the base model, SkyLake Core M3 HD515 integrated graphics, with only 4 gigs of RAM.
It's the same loadout as the base models of the Surface Pro 4 and the Samsung Tab Pro S.
Drive speeds are okay, but the performance overall is good.
If you're doing light tasks, like email, web browsing or typing up documents for work, it's more than enough,
but you might feel limited with 4 gigs of RAM, if you have a lot of browser tabs open.
Gaming isn't great, even the lightest 3D games run at pretty crappy frame rates,
but overall I'm happy with the performance on the base model.
Thermally, it's a little warm with heavy use, but on my M3 version, it never gets uncomfortable to hold.
Ok, the battery life is less than the advertised nine hours.
I was getting around 5 to 6 hours of light use and screen at 75%.
It doesn't have good battery life, especially for a tablet,
but it does support quick charging and it gets you a full charge in around two and a half hours.
Alright, the Huawei Matebook.
It starts at $700, it's a 6.9 millimeter thick tablet, nicely machined aluminum, with no camera on the back.
It has a 12 inch IPS panel, that's bright, with pretty good color gamut and the bezels are nice and thin.
There's two speakers on the top that get loud, but they don't sound amazing.
There's a super quick fingerprint scanner for Windows Hello.
The portfolio keyboard is backlit, has good key travel and it's a pretty solid typing experience.
The glass trackpad is spacious, but the button mechanism isn't the best.
The fold up stand only has a couple positions, it's good on a flat surface, but it's not really usable on the lap.
On the inside, the Core M3 processor is sufficient for work and media consumption,
but it's not great for gaming.
The RAM and storage are not user replaceable,
but the base model with 4 gigs of RAM is enough for light computer use.
And then juicing this tablet is a battery that lasts around five to six hours of regular use.
Now, there's obviously things I don't love about the Matebook
and for some people these might be deal-breakers,
but things like the portfolio keyboard I wish it had more tilt positions for the screen,
I wish the portfolio keyboard was a little more sturdy so that I could use it on my lap,
I'd also wish it had a bigger battery or a longer battery life, but aside from those things I really like this device.
It's one of the best Windows experiences, in terms of the...
the ergonomics of the tablet, most Windows tablets are uncomfortable to hold, this one just nails it.
And if you look at the laptop experience, it's also really good as long as you don't have to use it on your laps.
So, if you're a student or you're a professional, that's looking for a tune one,
that has a really good tablet experience as well, take a look at the Matebook, you might like it.
That's the end of this video, I hope you guys liked it.
Thumbs if you liked it, subs if you loved it, it's been nice, I'll see you guys next time.