It would also be beneficial if it had additional features like a big display. In that case, new HUAWEI MateBook laptops could definitely increase your productivity! The MateBook 16s is another excellent laptop from Huawei. Although you could purchase it for that amount alone, the Huawei ecosystem offers the best value. In fact, everything you use from a Huawei phone to a smartwatch, earphones, computer, display, and more is made to operate together smoothly. With Huawei’s Super Device function, the concept is that every screen you use is the same device; it doesn’t matter which one. We find the MateBook 16s’ lack of dedicated graphics to be its biggest drawback. If that’s the case, we’d prefer to see a P-series processor in this laptop. There are also minor issues, like the fact that only one USB Type-C port supports Thunderbolt.
Huawei MateBook 16s review: Design
The MateBook 16S is surprisingly light for a 16-inch laptop, at least one with this much power available, weighing in at just under 2 kg. And this is despite the fact that the entire thing is made of metal and has a surface that has been slightly textured by ceramic sandblasting. In the company’s now-signature Space Gray color, everything looks pretty upscale, and at 17.8mm, you won’t have any trouble fitting it into a laptop bag. Two USB 3 ports, a 3.5mm audio combination port, an HDMI output, and twin USB-C ports are among the ports that Huawei has managed to cram into the edges of the device. The laptop will happily output to two 4K monitors at once, even if only one of these functions as a Thunderbolt 4 connector for 40Gbps data transfers. The power button/fingerprint sensor combination has a lot of appeal to us. It skips right past the Windows 11 login screen in the same amount of time as previous Huawei laptops. Which is advantageous given that Windows Hello facial recognition is not supported by the built-in webcam.
Keyboard and touchpad
On the Huawei MateBook 16s, you’ll enjoy clicking and typing thanks to the enormous touchpad and the full-size keyboard, which has a nice tactile feel to every keypress. chiclet keyboard with beautiful, uniform backlighting across each key. The scissor switches have a soft landing design and 1.5mm of travel. While the enter key is half-height and the up and down arrow keys are sandwiched, typing is generally enjoyable because the letter and number keys are generously sized. We put this to the test by typing 86 words per minute on the 10FastFingers.com typing test. We typically type 83-85 words per minute on a laptop keyboard, which highlights how ergonomically sound this board is. With a life devoted to smaller laptops like our daily driver, the M1 MacBook Pro, we didn’t go as quickly as the MateBook X Pro, but that is due to the keyboard being somewhat marooned in the middle of this large base. This is accompanied with a sizable touchpad that measures 5.7 by 3.6 inches, which is somewhat smaller than the MacBook Pro’s (6.3 x 3.9 inches) but still feels incredibly spacious. This is to be expected on a 16-inch laptop. We were a touch surprised that the MateBook X Pro’s edge controls were absent from the MateBook X Pro, coupled with the absence of a solid state architecture, on the 16s. But make no mistake, the touchpad is smooth and responsive with nice clicks, taps, and multi-touch gestures. also you can check our article on Huawei MateBook 16s review.
Huawei MateBook 16s review: Display
The Huawei MateBook 16s’ enormous screen, measuring 16 inches, is one of its key selling factors. Its aspect ratio is 3:2, it has a 90% screen-to-body ratio, and its resolution is 2520 by 1680. With its small bezels, it looks more upscale than some other chunkier laptops because it has ample vertical space to operate with numerous tabs open. The Full HD (19201080) display is more stunning in terms of quality, and the screen was vibrant enough to watch media on. At this price, we wouldn’t anticipate OLED or 4K options, and we think this will be more than adequate for the majority of Netflix binge-watching sessions. We also tested the MateBook 16s screen’s actual capabilities using a colourimeter to support our assertions about real-world performance. It was simpler for us to work in brighter situations, even outside in the sun, because the brightness reached 335.12 nits, which is higher than the typical 300-nit count for most laptops. The contrast was 1739:1, which is comparable to the MateBook 16’s 1734:1 score. When we watched certain movies, such as Solo: A Star Wars Story or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it was easier to see the stark contrast between the dark and light imagery because of this. Additionally, because the laptop screen is so big, viewing content on YouTube and Disney Plus doesn’t feel confining, and the colours look vibrant and natural. The 10-point touchscreen feature is also something we really like. In addition to being useful for anyone who must manage large Excel sheets, we find that it streamlines zooming into or scrolling through documents. The screen is big enough to work on and is fantastic for viewing TV, but we don’t think it’s appropriate for creating professional video. It’s not all that surprising given that this isn’t being pushed as a creative tool, but it’s still important to note. The highest sRGB score is 87%, which is impressive but still falls short of the 90% mark that we prefer to see for professional devices. The Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 coverage, at 60.9% and 62.8%, respectively, were less impressive. As a result, this laptop cannot be used for creative tasks because it lacks the necessary colour accuracy for work produced by experts.
Audio
Huawei has plenty of capacity to fit some large speakers in this device, including large dual front-facing surround-sound speakers, as is to be expected from a 16-inch laptop without a number pad. They offer a respectable amount of detail to the highs and mids and deliver a respectable amount of oomph to the lows for a warm audio production with clarity, much like the MateBook X Pro. In Four Year Strong’s rendition of “Bittersweet Symphony,” the soaring vocals stand out admirably above the intricate crunch of the distorted guitars, the intense fury of the drum kit, and the satisfying bass kick. This is a nice-sounding system, regardless of what you’re listening to or under what conditions you need to listen (thanks to the 3.5mm headphone jack).
Huawei MateBook 16s review: Graphics
Instead of using a separate graphics card, Huawei relies entirely on the built-in Xe Graphics G7 (96 EUs), which we are all familiar with from the previous generation of Tiger Lake mobile processors. The new Radeon 680M of the Ryzen 6000 CPUs offers significantly more power and also a more effective video decoder, but the iGPU is entirely adequate for everyday use, including the playback of high-resolution videos. At least, compared to the RX Vega 8 in the previous MateBook 16, the graphics performance has increased by about 40–50%. Therefore, one should not have too high of gaming aspirations since they will be limited to older or simpler games like Dota 2. On medium/high resolution, games like F1 2021, for instance, continue to function without any issues. Additional GPU benchmarks can be found here, and graphics performance holds steady under continuous load as well as on battery power.
Performance
The 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900H, the 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700H, and the 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12500H are the three different CPU flavours available for the Huawei MateBook 16s. My unit had the i7 variant. Our tests demonstrated that the Intel H-Series processors offer high-end processing performance. Multiple tabs open at once, as well as different programmes like Chrome, Spotify, YouTube, and Slack, worked without a hitch on the laptop. We conducted further testing on the MateBook 16s to compare it to competing laptops in order to substantiate our claims. The MateBook 16s even outperformed the new MacBook Air M2 in the multi-core Geekbench 5 test, demonstrating the efficiency of the Intel processor, as shown in the table below. Additionally, it performed exceptionally well on our PCMark 10 test, which measures a laptop’s overall performance. This is one of the best Huawei laptops in terms of performance power, beating out the MateBook D 16 and the LG Gram 16, two other 16-inch laptops available on the market. Given the processing speed, we believe it would even be suitable for basic Photoshop workloads or other moderately demanding jobs; however, the absence of a discrete GPU will restrict both the creative output and gaming potential. It’s unfortunate that Huawei hasn’t offered any discrete GPU choices because an optional Nvidia RTX 3050 or RTX 3060 would help to expand its market and entice the creative crowd. Like the majority of MateBook laptops, we also noticed that this one operated quietly. When under pressure, it did get a little warm on the bottom, but it wasn’t unbearable and it didn’t spread to the rest of the laptop.
Battery life
The MateBook 16s comes with a sizable 84Wh battery from Huawei, but due to the large display and potent processor, it still drains pretty quickly. In our battery test, it lasted for almost 12 hours of continuous movie playback, which is a fairly average result. That indicates that there is enough power here for a working day, but only if you’re not doing anything particularly demanding; the professional target market for Huawei will probably still need to be close to a charger. Thanks to the combination of quick charging and small USB-C power adapters, fortunately, this is not too painful. However, there is a small deviation in this case. The i5 or i7 model will come with a 90W converter, while the more potent i9 model will have a quicker 135W charger. However, they are roughly the same size and, thanks to USB-C capability, can also serve as chargers for your phone, laptop, and other gear, saving you from having to carry around extra cables. The 90W charger that came with our i7 model was able to recharge 43% of the laptop’s battery in just 30 minutes, which is remarkably quick for a laptop and a welcome balance to the average battery life. you can read our article on Huawei MateBook 16s review
Huawei MateBook 16s review: Heat
We are unable to provide precise temps for the MateBook 16s because it has not undergone our in-depth laboratory testing. However, we can speak from our own experience using this laptop over the past few weeks, and we can promise you that Huawei maintains a comfortable temperature. Dual 75mm Shark Fin Massive dual heatpipes easily dissipate any high temperatures while fans work hard to draw in cool air. Even more impressively, fans were whisper quiet during times of high stress when multiple tasks were being completed. Not a single component felt hot to the touch.
Configuration options
The MateBook 16s is debuting in Europe and the UK. The i7 model will be available for purchase in the UK starting on July 13 for £1,299, and the i9 model will follow at some point in August for £1,499. However, there are incentives for early birds. Pre-orders for the i7 model are now available and come with a free MateView monitor, valued at £599. If you forget, the £349 MateView GT 27 monitor is still yours if you make a purchase between July 13 and August 23, though. Between July 13 and July 26, when you pre-order the i9 model, you’ll also receive the £599 MateView. The new MateBook D16 offers the same H-series i7 chip starting at £999, dropping to just £749 if you don’t mind an i5. If the 16s is too expensive for you, it is also available for £749 instead. The MateBook 16 from last year is also slightly less expensive, but it lacks a touchscreen, uses outdated silicon, and has a subpar webcam.
Conclusion
The new MateBook 16s replaces the MateBook 16 and shares many features with it, but after switching to an Intel processor, little of the former favorable price-performance ratio remains. The new Intel Core i7 of the Alder Lake generation performs only marginally better than the outdated AMD chip, and AMD processors would naturally also be capable of improvements like Wi-Fi 6E or more keystroke travel. There are no really compelling justifications for an Intel processor, and battery life is also reduced. However, the cost has increased by 500 euros.
