The Huawei MateBook D 15 is the company’s latest shot at the crowded budget category. It remains humble when compared to svelte, luxurious 13.3-inch Ultrabooks like the Dell XPS 13 or the Asus ZenBook 13, and we just love it for that. While it doesn’t pack cutting-edge processors, touchscreen or backlit keyboards, it nonetheless sets out to be an excellent laptop for a low price. And it does so exceptionally well.
In the past, we’ve been greatly impressed by Huawei’s devices, including the Huawei MateBook 13, the 2018 iteration of the Huawei MateBook D, and of course, the flagship Huawei MateBook X Pro, and with its successful debut, we’re just hoping the company can continue to deliver impressive laptops with the new and improved MateBook D 15.
At first glance, the Huawei MateBook D 15 looks fantastic, with a design that takes obvious cues from the Apple MacBook Pro. The Space Gray color and keyboard layout all owe some gratitude to the MacBook, but the Huawei MateBook D 15 avoids feeling like some cheap knock-off.
Instead, you have one of the most stylishly designed notebooks in its mid-range price point. Then it adds some of the latest hardware that deliver solid performance, including an 11th generation Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD storage and Intel Iris X graphics.
Huawei MateBook D 15 Specs
Here is the Huawei MateBook D 15 configuration in this review:
- CPU: 11th Gen Intel i5-1135G7
- Graphics: Intel Iris X graphics
- RAM: 8GB LPDDR4X
- Screen: 15.6-inch, FHD (1,920 x 1,080, IPS)
- Storage: 512GB SSD
- Camera: 720P HD Recessed
- Weight: 1.56 kgs
- Size: 357.8 x 229.9 x 16.9mm
A Stunning Premium Design
For a start, it’s clear that Huawei really wanted to craft a mid-range laptop with a design that we only see in more expensive laptops. A much welcome idea, actually. Huawei doesn’t bother to compete with the likes of Apple, Dell and HP in making the most powerful (and expensive) laptops in the world. Instead, that energy has been redirected towards redefining what we should normally expect form an affordable, yet functional, mid-range laptop.
Everything on the MateBook D 15’s design is seriously indebted to the Apple MacBook. From the gray aluminum design to the size and keyboard layout, you’d be forgiven for thinking this is an Apple device, were it not for the Huawei branding and lack of a Touch Bar. Of course, it’s not quite as nicely refined as a MacBook, but it’s certainly one of the best-looking mid-range laptops we’ve reviewed.
Measuring 14.08 x 9.05 x 0.66 inches (357.8 x 229.9 x 16.9mm) and weighing 1.56Kg, the Huawei MateBook D 15 is slightly bigger than the Apple MacBook Pr0 15-inch, which measures which measured 13.75 x 9.48 x 0.61 inches (34.93 x 24.07 x 1.55cm), but is heavier at 1.83kg.
There are other clever design tweaks as well, including the full-size USB and HDMI ports, as well as USB-C, which offers better connectivity out of the box than any recent MacBook. The power button doubles as a fingerprint scanner for logging into Windows 10, and the webcam is now recessed into the keyboard and pops with a press of a button that’s nested amongst the F keys at the top of the keyboard.
Not only does this allow the Huawei MateBook D 15 to have super-thin bezels around the screen, but also adds some level of privacy and security, as you can press it down to turn it off when not in use. Huawei also adds NFC connectivity to the body of the MateBook D 14, which allows for easy connectivity to compatible Huawei smartphone, by simply tapping the smartphone against the ‘Huawei Share’ sticker.
Great Performance for the Price
- Aspect Ratio:16:9
- Intel Evo Platform - The perfect combination of performance, responsiveness and battery...
- 13.3 inch OLED 400nits Full HD (1920 x 1080) Wide View 4-way NanoEdge bezel display
The Huawei MateBook D 15 comes in various configurations, starting with an Intel Core i3 model, Core i5 and maxes out at Core i7, with AMD Ryzen versions as well. Our review unit boasts an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD storage and Intel Iris X graphics. From the spec sheet, you can tell straight away this is a capable day-to-day laptop, but it isn’t going to break any records when it comes to intensive performance.
Sure, the quad-core Core i5-1135G7 processor is something we’d like Windows 11 laptops to come with, but we now have 12th generation chips as well, but that remains sufficiently for most office or college tasks. Also, the 8GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage are decent enough at this price point, at least you’ll not find yourself running out of space, especially if you have large collections of big files, such as videos and music.
You can forget about games altogether – there’s simply not enough space to install most modern AAA titles, and the Intel iris X graphics option and other hardware on the Huawei MateBook D 15 aren’t suited to run them well anyway.
If you’re looking to buy the Huawei MateBook D 15, you’re most likely not too keen about having a laptop with cutting-edge tech – not at this price point, but the idea that this laptop has a premium design and has the power to run most of your daily tasks could supersede any shortcomings it might have.
Talking of day-to-use, the Huawei MateBook D 15 in all its worth performs well. As long as you keep your expectations in check and abstain from attempting to run too intensive tasks – such as 3D rendering or playing modern titles – then you should be reasonably happy with the performance of this laptop considering its price.
The 15.6-inch IPS screen is a bit disappointing though, and with a contrast ratio of just 800:1 and a relatively low brightness of 250 nits, the screen feels washed out. It’s nothing close to some of the bright and vibrant screens we’ve seen at this price point – and a far cry from the quality of a MacBook screen.
Battery Life
The battery life on the MateBook D 15. Is fine, but unexceptional. In tests, it can loop a 1080p video in full screen in almost five hours and half hours. This is not too bad as it can last you almost an entire work day but it has some caveats that are less impressive.
First, this is looping of a video, which isn’t the most intensive workload. If you will be surfing the internet, editing photos and writing up text, then the battery is likely going to deplete a lot faster. Again, it falls short of Huawei’s promised 7 hours of office work with a single charge.
For charging, it uses a USB-C port, and Huawei promises that the official charger will give you four and a half hours of battery life after a 30-minute charge.
Huawei MateBook D 15 Review: Verdict
The Huawei MateBook D 15 is a stylish and affordable that offers excellent value for money, with a highlight being an all-metal chassis at a very low price. Well, battery life would be better, as could screen quality, but Huawei had to make a compromise somewhere to make this machine affordable.
For a mid-range machine, this is an impressively designed piece of kit, taking cues from the expensive MacBook, then adding a few novel twists. As Huawei steadies its entry into the laptop space, with the Huawei MateBook D 15, it has made all the right choices and crafted a great-value machine in the process. We highly recommend it for your everyday needs.
Last update on 2022-12-09 at 12:11 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
HUAWEI Matebook D15 Windows 11 Intel Core i5 11th Gen Laptop
£499.00 in stock
5 used from £449.99
