Verdict
The Huawei MateBook 16s (2023) is a succesful laptop computer that does the work, and appears good with its low-key design. It has a great touchscreen, a pleasant keyboard and the general construct high quality impresses. It has restricted configuration choices and upgradability, nonetheless, and no X issue to set it aside from the opponents.
Professionals
- Stable efficiency
- Excessive-quality design and {hardware}
- All-day battery life
- Nice show
Cons
- Restricted to 16GB RAM and 1TB storage
- Trackpad will get everlasting streaks shortly
- Speaker grills entice mud and filth
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3:2 touchscreenThe Huawei MateBook 16s (2023) comes with a crisp IPS touchscreen with a 90% screen-to-body ratio, and the promise of 100% sRGB protection. -
High quality design and {hardware}The laptop computer has a really sensible design, with a pleasant and vast keyboard, an correct trackpad, high firing audio system, all wrapped in a robust chassis. -
Sturdy battery lifeThe Huawei MateBook 16s (2023) can final a full day on a single cost, and you may high it up shortly even if you happen to’re working low.
Introduction
Huawei has been recognized for some glorious {hardware} through the years. Its MateBook collection of laptops has been constantly high-quality, to some extent the place they’ve been critical opponents worthy of being thought of alongside the bigwigs like Apple’s MacBooks and Dell’s XPS vary. The MateBook 16s is a more moderen addition to the lineup, nevertheless it impresses.
The MateBook 16s (2023) is an iterative replace to the primary 16s, launched in 2022. The 2023 model will get an improve to thirteenth Gen Intel Core chips, however solely the i7 and i9. The storage can be restricted to a 1TB SSD, with no 512GB model. 16GB RAM is commonplace, with no room for growth.
As a result of US ban on Huawei, the MateBook 16s just isn’t obtainable within the nation. It, nonetheless, sells within the UK, Europe, and Asia. It simply has one mannequin broadly obtainable, the Core i9 mannequin, which sells for £1,499.99. This is similar mannequin we had for assessment. Right here’s my full assessment of the Huawei MateBook 16s (2023).
Design and Keyboard
- Primary but sturdy design
- Superb keyboard
Many laptop computer designs are related these days, particularly on the subject of productivity-focused machines. The Huawei MateBook 16s doesn’t deviate removed from the usual, nevertheless it manages to tick all the suitable packing containers in that division.
You get a sturdy aluminium physique, and the laptop computer feels reasonably strong and weighs in at round 1.99kg (4.39 lbs). The sides are all chamfered, which makes the laptop computer fairly snug to make use of. I’ve used it on a lap and a desk, and my palms and wrists have been extra snug than they’ve been on many different laptops. The palm relaxation is good and vast, which implies there’s an enormous trackpad as nicely. My solely concern with the trackpad is that it managed to catch everlasting streaks from my utilization, which is more likely to be a problem over time. It doesn’t have an effect on the performance, nonetheless.
The keyboard is excellent, too. The keys have ample journey, and don’t really feel mushy, nor does it really feel troublesome to kind on. It has a white LED backlight, which is ample, however generally feels uneven. It’s higher than having no backlight, however Huawei might positively enhance the implementation right here. The backlight additionally instances out faster than I might have appreciated it to, and I couldn’t discover a settings choice to vary that.
The audio system are top-firing, sandwiching the keyboard. I like this design, however the mesh is inclined to trapping mud and filth. Nonetheless, that’s the case with practically each top-firing speaker system in laptops. The facility button comes with an built-in fingerprint reader, which may be very fast.
The laptop computer is available in a cardboard field, with a plastic deal with, styrofoam packing, and a plastic sleeve over the laptop computer. General, the sustainability issue with the packing is 50/50. Our unit got here with out a charger within the field, however retail items will include one.
Show and Sound
- 2.5K IPS show
- Missing color accuracy
- Nice audio system
The show on the MateBook 16s is without doubt one of the key promoting factors. At 16 inches, the display screen is well-sized, and it is available in at a 90% screen-to-body ratio. The bezels aren’t uniform, however Huawei has put a digital camera in beneath the highest bezel with out making it too massive. The underside bezel is the thickest, nevertheless it’s skinny sufficient to not be an eyesore.
You get a 2.5K shiny show right here, which I favor due to the clearer colors. Talking of which, the color accuracy figures of this laptop computer in our show benchmarks weren’t too far off. With the manufacturing unit calibration, the show returned 97% sRGB protection versus the promised 100%. It managed to cowl 74% of AdobeRGB and 73% of the DCI-P3 shade house.
It’s not essentially the most colour-accurate show on the market, after all, nevertheless it was crisp and nice to the eyes. The shiny show did simply superb open air as nicely, the place this laptop computer was capable of hit 465.4 nits of brightness, and was typically very usable. The panel is simply 60Hz, which isn’t ultimate given many of the opponents provide greater refresh price screens now.
The one concern with the shiny display screen, for me, is the truth that this can be a touchscreen panel, which implies fingerprint smudges for days. The touchscreen is good and responsive. There isn’t any stylus bundled, nor does the MateBook 16s have a 360-degree flip-back design. As such, this one isn’t fairly the laptop computer for note-taking. The touchscreen is fairly nice, however when it comes to practicality, you’d be restricted to the standard navigational use.
The sound on the laptop computer is amongst a few of the higher experiences I’ve had on laptops. The highest-firing audio system are crisp, and produce a pleasant and balanced sound. Laptop computer audio system generally tend to sound tinny, however these, fortuitously, don’t go in that route. The sound isn’t as deep as I might have appreciated, nevertheless it’s lots good for a laptop computer.
Efficiency
- Large productiveness performer
- Overeager followers
The mannequin of the MateBook 16s I’ve been testing affords up an Intel Core i9-13900H, 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD storage. This gadget is a productiveness laptop computer initially, and it packs sufficient punch in that division. It’s not essentially the most highly effective Raptor Lake laptop computer on the market, after all, nevertheless it has respectable sufficient efficiency to be a strong day by day driver for residence, workplace, and scholar use. That’s to not say it received’t be capable of deal with heavier duties. It did fairly nicely in our artificial benchmarks.
By way of real-world efficiency, the MateBook 16s was capable of deal with my workload with ease, however to a sure diploma. My utilization features a comparatively lighter workload with a bunch of Chrome tabs with totally different web sites loaded directly. Typically throughout my heavier utilization classes, I discovered the MateBook 16s struggled to maintain up with the variety of tabs I had open. Google Chrome could be fairly a reminiscence hog, and the Matebook was hitting 99% reminiscence utilization in Process Supervisor very often.
When put next with rival laptops, it usually comfortably surpassed them in benchmark testing. It’s anticipated although, with the Core i9 onboard, and that chip is basically overkill for a laptop computer with a productiveness focus. It’s a disgrace there isn’t a less expensive Intel Core i5 or i7 choice.
I additionally discovered the laptop computer’s followers ramping up when the reminiscence utilization received too excessive, however there wasn’t a dip within the general system efficiency because the CPU utilization stayed fairly low. I’m positioned in a reasonably sizzling local weather as nicely, which is presumably why the followers spun up, so it might be unfair to label this as a problem with the thermals on the laptop computer.
Coming in at 4912.62 learn and 3962.82 write in our SSD benchmark scores, the MateBook 16s’ storage isn’t something to write down residence about. Nonetheless, it’s sturdy sufficient that efficiency will probably be as much as snuff and file transfers will probably be speedy – simply not up there with one of the best of them.
Software program
- Free from most common bloatware
- Helpful apps for Huawei product house owners
The MateBook 16s comes with Home windows 11 Dwelling. By way of pre-installed software program, there was nothing too annoying on there. Which means no anti-virus trials or some other bloatware. Huawei does bundle in a number of of its personal PC instruments – Huawei Management Panel, Huawei PC Supervisor, and Huawei Cellular Cloud.
Huawei PC Supervisor handles gadgets, together with exterior gadgets like telephones and tablets related to your PC, in addition to handle audio gadgets and digital camera. Whereas I didn’t notably discover this handy, the Digicam toggle is nifty and will help prevent from unintentionally turning on the digital camera in a gathering. You may entry the digital camera toggle and the audio gadgets from the Huawei Management Panel, which is fairly just like the Home windows Motion Middle.
The Huawei Management Panel is helpful, however I don’t see why not one of the further toggles might simply be built-in into the Motion Centre. The Huawei Cellular Cloud is a OneDrive/iCloud-like cloud service. Doubtlessly helpful in case you have different Huawei gadgets however fairly ineffective in any other case.
General, Huawei’s bundled software program isn’t fairly helpful, nevertheless it’s not intrusive sufficient to be a hassle. You may uninstall it if needed, however I didn’t discover any purpose to take action.
Battery Life
The battery on the Huawei MateBook 16s is fairly strong. With my typical utilization of about 30-40 Chrome tabs working, switching between them whereas utilizing one Google Docs tab to kind, and the display screen brightness set to 40%, the MateBook 16s lasted for about six hours. I used to be capable of stretch this to round eight hours by being a bit frugal with my browser utilization. As such, it’s not unrealistic to get a full day’s utilization from a single cost.
Huawei bundles a 90W or 135W USB-C energy adapter within the field, however our assessment unit didn’t have a charger. I used a spare Nubia 65W charger to cost the MateBook 16s, and it took barely over 40 minutes to go from 1% to 50% cost and one hour and 55 minutes for a full cost from 1%. A 30-minute cost took the battery proportion to 36%. These figures could possibly be totally different with the bundled chargers, however I count on them to be higher or the identical, not worse.
Even with the 65W charger I used, charging was fast sufficient to be counted as handy. General on the battery life entrance, the MateBook 16s did nicely.
Newest offers
Do you have to purchase it?
You desire a strong productiveness laptop computer with a pleasant touchscreen
The Huawei MateBook 16s does the work and appears good whereas doing it, with strong efficiency and an all-day battery life.
You desire a actually highly effective or in any other case extraordinary laptop computer
The Huawei MateBook 16s has restricted configurations and upgradability. There’s additionally not a lot to set it aside from the competitors.
Closing Ideas
The Huawei Matebook 16s isn’t a nasty providing and packs in good {hardware} in a chassis that feels very strong. Nonetheless, it lacks when it comes to configuration choices and upgradability, and it doesn’t have any high quality that might make it a really sturdy advice. That’s not nice because it’s in a market section that’s flooded with nice choices.
A strong instance of a great different is the brand new MacBook Air 15, which lands across the identical value however boasts superior {hardware}. Samsung additionally has the Galaxy Book3 in a number of sizes, flavours, and AMOLED screens round this price ticket. There’s additionally the Asus Zenbook Professional 14 Duo, which is smaller in measurement however makes up for it with the additional display screen. There are additionally fairly a number of gaming laptop computer choices on this value bracket that tick the suitable packing containers.
Most of the greatest laptops round are extra thrilling – be it Apple Silicon, AMOLED screens, or the novelty and practicality of a twin show. The MateBook 16s virtually appears boring as compared, however that’s not a nasty factor for everyone. It performs decently and blends in. That itself is a USP for a lot of patrons who desire a succesful no-frills system.
The Huawei MateBook 16s will serve you nicely. It’s a wonderfully good laptop computer – simply not an overwhelmingly nice one. In case you’re unsure about whether or not you can purchase the 16s, you may take a look at our greatest laptop computer information for extra choices.
How we check
Each laptop computer we assessment goes by way of a collection of uniform checks designed to gauge key issues together with construct high quality, efficiency, display screen high quality and battery life.
These embrace formal artificial benchmarks and scripted exams, plus a collection of actual world checks.
We used as our important laptop computer for no less than per week.
Examined the efficiency by way of each benchmark exams and real-world use.
We examined the display screen with a colorimeter and real-world use.
We examined the battery with real-world use.
FAQs
The Huawei Matebook 16s doesn’t have a devoted GPU, and as such it’s probably not constructed for gaming. The Intel Iris Xe is an honest built-in GPU, although, so that you’ll be capable of play some older titles at decrease settings.
Sure, the Huawei Matebook 16s is a touchscreen laptop computer with 10-point multitouch assist and a glossary display screen.
Sure, the Huawei Matebook 16s comes with Home windows 11 Dwelling preloaded.
Trusted Critiques check knowledge
PCMark 10
Cinebench R23 multi core
Cinebench R23 single core
Geekbench 5 single core
Geekbench 5 multi core
Geekbench 6 single core
Geekbench 6 multi core
3DMark Time Spy
CrystalDiskMark Learn pace
CrystalDiskMark Write Velocity
Brightness (SDR)
Black stage
Distinction ratio
White Visible Color Temperature
sRGB
Adobe RGB
DCI-P3
PCMark Battery (workplace)
Battery Life
Battery recharge time
UK RRP
USA RRP
EU RRP
CPU
Display screen Measurement
Storage Capability
Entrance Digicam
Battery
Measurement (Dimensions)
Weight
ASIN
Working System
Launch Date
First Reviewed Date
Decision
Refresh Fee
Ports
GPU
RAM
Connectivity
Colors
Show Expertise
Display screen Expertise
Contact Display screen
Convertible?
