Huawei MateBook 16s (2022) review

Do you actually need a 16in laptop computer? For most individuals the reply is a powerful no. However for a choose few a conveyable powerhouse with an enormous display screen is a godsend – and Huawei clearly agrees, selecting to launch two of them on the identical time to the European market. 

The MateBook 16s is the extra premium of the pair (although the inexpensive MateBook D16 isn’t any slouch, to be honest), concentrating on graphic designers, video editors, and different customers with heavy skilled or artistic workloads. 

The large caveat is that there’s no choice to seize the 16s with a discrete GPU, and Huawei is as a substitute banking on the mix of Intel’s highly effective 12^th-gen H-series CPUs, Thunderbolt 4 assist, and a high-quality 2.5K show to influence creatives that the MateBook 16s is as much as the duty. 

Design and construct 

• Slim (for a 16in machine) 
• Nonetheless heavy at virtually 2kg/4.4lbs 
• Solely obtainable in gray 

Huawei has settled comfortably right into a steady design language for its MateBook laptops, and the 16s does little to upset the apple cart. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Like a lot of the firm’s units this laptop computer solely is available in House Gray, and the restrained design is easy {and professional}. At worst you would possibly name it somewhat boring, however this definitely isn’t an unattractive piece of package, from the clear, symmetric traces of the physique to the slim bezel across the expansive show. 

It is a 16in laptop computer, and essentially which means it’s massive. Huawei has finished its finest to minimise that, and did maintain the laptop computer svelte sufficient to earn Intel Evo certification. Nonetheless, it’s 17.8mm thick and weighs 1.99kg, which isn’t fairly ultrabook territory.  

That is about as transportable as a laptop computer this dimension will get – the ludicrously gentle LG Gram 16 is the one notable exception, and the MacBook Professional 16 is heavier – however you’ll undoubtedly discover the burden whenever you slide it into your backpack. 

Show and audio 

• Massive 16in 2.5K show 
• Boxy 3:2 side ratio 
• Spectacular color calibration 

The show is among the MateBook 16s’s strengths, and a key a part of Huawei’s pitch that the laptop computer can ship for creatives. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

The scale is one factor, however it additionally boasts a excessive 2.5K decision (2520×1680, to be exact) within the more and more widespread 3:2 side ratio. This boxier form provides you additional vertical display screen property to work with, and is optimised for productiveness, permitting you to suit extra of a doc on-screen directly or edit images and movies with much less letterboxing – although the inverse is true for watching content material, the place you’ll virtually at all times have black bars above and beneath no matter you’re streaming. 

Color calibration is spectacular, although not fairly the very best round. Testing with a SpyderX Elite, I recorded protection of 96% of the sRGB gamut, 73% of AdobeRGB, and 72% of DCI-P3. The panel is let down somewhat with regards to brightness although, peaking at 330 nits in my exams, which will likely be a specific limitation with regards to HDR. 

The bezel across the show is slim for a laptop computer this dimension – 7.3mm on the thickest level – with a 90% screen-to-body ratio. That’s not too slim to squeeze in a webcam although – on this case a 2Mp, 1080p digital camera. That’s a particular edge in a market nonetheless dominated by 720p sensors, making this one of many higher laptops round for video calls and the like. 

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One ultimate improve is the truth that the show is a 10-point touchscreen – an more and more widespread choice for Home windows laptops that offers you a couple of additional methods to navigate the OS.  

There’s an open debate as to how a lot the audio system on a laptop computer actually matter, however Huawei has clearly invested right here. You definitely can’t miss them, with two giant grilles that run down both aspect of the keyboard, however the sound is spectacular sufficient to justify their prominence. Music comes by means of punchy however crisp, and there’s sufficient readability to drag out dialogue in movies and TV – and even some midway respectable bass output. 

Keyboard, trackpad and ports 

• Snug keyboard – however no numpad 
• Massive glass trackpad 
• HDMI, USB-A, and Thunderbolt 4 

One consequence of the 2 giant audio system is that when you do get a full-size keyboard within the MateBook 16s, you don’t get a devoted numpad alongside the aspect, as in some rivals – together with the brand new MateBook D16. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Nonetheless, the keyboard is in any other case spectacular. The 1.5mm key journey is deeper than in lots of laptops, and mixed with what Huawei calls ‘soft-landing’ tech the result’s glorious. Huawei has lengthy rivalled Dell on the high finish of the laptop computer keyboard expertise, and that is no exception – there’s actually nothing I can discover to complain about. 

To the top-right of the keyboard you’ll additionally discover a Huawei staple: an influence button with a built-in fingerprint scanner. To date this has labored easily and reliably. 

The massive glass trackpad can also be a winner. Sadly it doesn’t function the haptic tech or right-up-to-the-edge design you’ll discover on Huawei’s premium MateBook X fashions, however it’s giant, clean, and comfy to make use of. 

Lastly, ports. You’d anticipate loads on a 16in machine, and for essentially the most half I feel Huawei has delivered. Two USB-C ports – one among which incorporates Thunderbolt 4 – are discovered on the left, alongside HDMI 2.0 and a 3.5mm headphone/mic jack. On the opposite aspect you’ll discover two USB-A 3.2 ports. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Some customers will seemingly miss an Ethernet connection, although the larger omission is the shortage of any SD card slot, which means many creatives will nonetheless want to hold a dongle spherical with them regardless of the laptop computer’s dimension. A couple of Thunderbolt 4 port wouldn’t go amiss both, however for many this setup ought to suffice. 

Specs and efficiency 

• 12^th-gen Intel i5, i7, or i9 H-series 
• No discrete GPU choice 
• Intel Iris Xe graphics efficiency can cope regardless 

Huawei is the newest producer to place its religion in Intel’s Iris Xe graphics processing, transport the MateBook 16s with none discrete GPU choice and as a substitute counting on Intel to ship the products. 

To again that wager, Huawei is utilizing Intel’s strongest laptop computer chips proper now: the 12^th-gen H-series CPUs, that are larger, beefier, and better wattage than most different laptop computer chips. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

The 16s may be outfitted with the i5-12500H, i7-12700H, or i9-12900H, all of that are paired with 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM. There’s additionally a alternative of 512GB or 1TB of storage – although keep in mind that completely different fashions will seemingly launch in numerous markets, so chances are you’ll not see that full unfold of specs obtainable to you. 

I’ve been testing an i7 mannequin with 1TB of space for storing, and from a efficiency perspective I’ve little to complain about. My day-to-day wants are principally easy – quite a lot of work in Chrome and a little bit of comparatively gentle Photoshop and Lightroom – and predictably the 16s has breezed by means of the lot. 

In benchmarks, it’s no shock to see sturdy efficiency within the CPU-focussed Geekbench 5, although the extra generalised PCMark 10 take a look at sees it drop again somewhat, even lagging behind final yr’s AMD Ryzen-powered MateBook 16. 

If Huawei is critical about this performing as knowledgeable artistic machine then graphical output is the true take a look at. Regardless of the shortage of a real GPU, the 16s holds its personal within the 3DMark Evening Raid take a look at, exhibiting as soon as once more that with Iris Xe, Intel means enterprise. It’s predictably trashed by gaming units just like the RTX 3050-enabled Asus ROG Movement Z13, however beats virtually each different built-in choice and matches some much less highly effective GPUs. And that’s simply the i7 mannequin – the i9 would little question push issues even additional. 

As for connectivity, the 16s helps Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. There’s no choice so as to add a SIM card for 5G, however that shouldn’t come as any shock. 

Battery and charging 

• Common battery life 
• Quick charging with 90W or 135W adapter 

Huawei has outfitted the MateBook 16s with a beneficiant 84Wh battery, although between the large show and the highly effective processor, it nonetheless runs down fairly quick. It lasted for about 12 hours of fixed video playback in our battery take a look at – a reasonably common rating.

Meaning there’s sufficient energy right here for a working day, however provided that you’re not doing something too intensive – Huawei’s skilled goal market will seemingly nonetheless want to remain near a charger. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Fortuitously that’s not too painful due to the mix of quick charging and compact USB-C energy adapters. 

There’s a little variation right here although. Should you purchase the i5 or i7 mannequin, it is going to ship with a 90W adapter, whereas the extra highly effective i9 model in flip comes with a sooner 135W charger. They’re about the identical dimension although, and with USB-C assist will double as chargers on your cellphone, laptop computer, and different tech so that you simply don’t want to hold a number of leads spherical. 

My i7 mannequin shipped with the 90W charger, which was in a position to restore 43% of the laptop computer’s battery in simply half an hour – impressively quick for a laptop computer, and a welcome steadiness to the common battery life.

Software program 

• Ships with Home windows 11 
• Huawei ecosystem assist 

Should you observe the tech world in any respect then chances are you’ll know that Huawei has had issues within the cellphone area, the place its entry to Google companies has been restricted, in flip driving it to undertake its personal rival software program to Android: Concord OS. 

The excellent news is that none of that applies right here. The MateBook 16s ships with Home windows 11, and consists of full assist for all the things you’d anticipate – Microsoft, Google, and in any other case. In essence, this runs similar to some other Home windows machine. 

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The one distinction in reality is that Huawei provides somewhat additional on high for anybody who additionally owns different Huawei tech – particularly telephones, tablets, and displays. 

You’ll be able to rapidly pair a Huawei cellphone to the MateBook to share the display screen or ship recordsdata, connect with a MatePad pill to make use of it as a secondary display screen or drawing pad, or wirelessly increase your laptop computer show onto a MateView monitor. 

That is all surprisingly seamless, and Apple is de facto the one firm that may match Huawei for ecosystem assist proper now. After all, that solely helps when you personal different Huawei tech – or are open to purchasing some sooner or later – however it does unlock an additional edge if that’s you. 

Worth and availability 

The MateBook 16s is launching within the UK and Europe. Within the UK, the i7 variant will go on sale from 13 July for £1,299, whereas the i9 mannequin will observe a while in August for £1,499.

There are presents for early birds although. Pre-orders for the i7 model open at present, and can internet you a free MateView monitor – price £599. Should you miss that, purchases between 13 July and 23 August nonetheless internet the £349 MateView GT 27 monitor.

Place a pre-order for the i9 variant between 13 July and 26 July and also you’ll additionally nab the £599 MateView.

If the 16s is somewhat steep for you, the brand new MateBook D16 presents the identical H-series i7 chip from £999, dropping to simply £749 when you don’t thoughts an i5. Final yr’s MateBook 16 can also be somewhat extra inexpensive, however could have older silicon, a worse webcam, and no touchscreen.

For extra choices, take a look at our total rating of the very best laptops. 

Verdict 

The MateBook 16s definitely gained’t be for everybody, however it’s not making an attempt to be.  

Though Huawei has tried its finest to maintain issues trim, most individuals don’t want a laptop computer this massive or cumbersome, and will likely be higher off with smaller alternate options. 

For individuals who want the additional display screen area, the three:2 show right here will likely be an enormous a part of the 16s’s draw. It’s expansive, nicely proportioned, and punctiliously colour-calibrated, and is definitely one of many largest and finest shows obtainable on the value. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

CPU efficiency can also be distinctive due to Intel’s 12^th-gen H-series chips, making this a robust performer. The dearth of a devoted GPU choice will undeniably restrict the enchantment to critical video editors or anybody hoping to make use of this to recreation, however don’t write off the built-in Iris Xe graphics, which give loads of oomph for workplace work and even photograph modifying and graphic design. 

If you’d like a 4K OLED panel or an Nvidia RTX GPU then the MateBook 16s gained’t be for you – however then nothing at this value level will likely be. However with loads of energy in a comparatively compact chassis, and all at a aggressive value, this can ship loads for anybody who’s barely much less demanding. 

Specs 

Huawei MateBook 16s (2022) specs: 

• 252.9 x 351 x 17.8mm 
• 1.99kg 
• 16in 2.5K IPS show (3:2 side ratio, 2520 x 1680) 
• Full-size keyboard with backlighting 
• 1080p webcam 
• Massive glass trackpad 
• Entrance-firing stereo audio system 
• Fingerprint energy button 
• Intel i5-12500H, i7-12700H, or i9-12900H 
• Intel Iris Xe graphics 
• 16GB LPDDR5 RAM 
• 512GB/1TB SSD 
• 2x USB 3.1 
• 1x USB-C 
• 1x Thunderbolt 4 
• 1x HDMI 2.0 port 
• 1x 3.5mm jack 
• 84Wh battery with 90/135W USB-C charger 
• Wi-Fi 6E 
• Bluetooth 5.2 
• Home windows 11