Huawei has entered the Australian laptop market.
The Chinese company has brought its MateBook X Pro range our shores Australia, with the notebooks slated to go on sale this coming Thursday, 22 November.
Huawei’s channel is narrow: it will sell only at Microsoft stores and through Microsoft’s Australian website. The company left open the possibility of that changing, telling CRN that the Microsoft-only deal is in place “until further notice" and that Huawei "is currently reviewing ranging opportunities with our partners" with "more details ... coming through" at an unspecified future moment.
With Microsoft Australia currently operating a sole store – in Sydney - news of Huawei’s arrival isn’t going to scare other retailers.
But the MateBook X may scare other PC-makers: CRN is testing the device and after a few hours use can report that it is a very slick, boasts impressive battery life, a stellar screen and is pleasingly swift.
The device’s 13.9-inch screen boasts exceptionally thin bezels, achieved in part by making the webcam a pop-up affair hidden under a dedicated function key.
Other features include:
- Core i7 8550U or i5 8250U CPU;
- NVIDIA GeForce MX150 GPU
- 6mm thickness and 1.33 kg weight;
- Dolby ATMOS Sound System, including breakthrough, moving audio with Dolby Atmos and custom speakers.
- Long-lasting battery life with 57.4Wh (Typical capacity) battery.
Huawei’s also included a dongle that plugs into a USB-C port and adds VGA, HDMI, one type-A USB and another USB-C port. Putting the dongle in the box effectively saves buyers around $50, the cost other PC-makers charge for a similar device.
The laptop comes in two models: a $1899 version with the Core i5 and 8GB of RAM and a core i7 version with 16GB of RAM and a price tag of $2599.
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