Huawei MateBook X Pro (2024): Executive elegance with the performance to match

The Huawei MateBook X Pro (2024) packs capable performance and a breathtaking 3.1K OLED display into a gorgeous, ultra-light form factor, without sacrificing on battery life or ergonomics.

With a top-notch trackpad and keyboard, and booming speakers, the MateBook X Pro gets a lot right, and save for a disappointing selection of ports and limited availability in certain regions, it stands up as one of the most well-rounded Windows machines available this year.

Huawei MateBook X Pro (2024) review: Design

Huawei describes the design of its new flagship Windows notebook as setting "a new aesthetics paradigm" and while we would not go quite that far, the MateBook X Pro is certainly one of the nicer laptops to look at in recent years.

The unit we've been testing stands out from the pack of monotonous silvers, grays, and blacks that traditionally dominate laptop designs with its Morandi Blue paint job, a metallic blue-green that is eye-catching without sacrificing its professional air.

For those of you looking for something slightly less extravagant, the MateBook X Pro is also available in the more standard black and white finishes, but we would strongly recommend opting for the Morandi blue if you have the choice.

The matte finish on the MateBook X Pro is also very inviting, making the device warm to the touch from startup and extremely helpful in eliminating any greasy fingerprints on the lower clamshell of the device. Huawei also says the 'skin soothing' finish has improved scratch resistance and durability.

Huawei MateBook X Pro (2024) review: Display

Easily our favorite part of the MateBook X Pro, the 14.2'' 3.1K flexible OLED display is eye-wateringly crisp with 264 PPI, and can easily compete with the best panels currently available on the market. The use of a flexible OLED screen meant Huawei was able to 'bend' the display driver IC round to the back of the screen, allowing for an impressive 93% screen-to-body ratio with wafer-thin bezels.

We're big fans of the 3:2 aspect ratio and welcome Huawei's decision to keep this as standard on its devices as it gives you that extra few inches of content when scrolling through a PDF or web page – a godsend for productivity.

The MateBook X Pro's 3,120 x 2,080 display is a joy to use even when simply navigating around Windows, partly thanks to its buttery smooth 120Hz refresh rate, but it really comes into its own when consuming high-quality video content. Colors are vivid and accurate, registering a 99.9% sRGB coverage and 140% Gamut volume under our testing, beating out the M3 MacBook Pro.

The screen can get extremely bright, reaching a maximum brightness of 584 nits in our testing, which puts it above the Surface Laptop Studio 2 and Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 16, but not quite up to the impressive level set by the  M3 MacBook.

Huawei MateBook X Pro (2024) review: Keyboard and trackpad

The MateBook X performs well in the keyboard department too, providing an ergonomic typing experience where every keypress feels distinct with satisfying actuation feedback.

The keys, also in the Morandi Blue, feature a luxurious 1.5mm of travel, noticeably more than the 1mm actuation on Apple's Magic Keyboard, which some users will love and perhaps others may find slows them down. 

We found we could get up to speed on the MateBook X Pro's deck relatively quickly, moving from the Magic Keyboard we use day-to-day, and once comfortable, that extra travel really lets you hammer the keys while typing in full flow without worrying about double presses, key wobble, or similar problems the mushier keyboards struggle with.

Generally, touchpads are the area where Windows laptops have really lagged behind Apple's MacBooks, with recent exceptions of course, and we're glad to report Huawei is continuing to close this gap with the MateBook X's touchpad.

The expansive touchpad gives you plenty of room and also features a soft-touch matte finish and this helps keep things smooth when navigating around Windows and when paired with the 120Hz display scrolling through web pages is a breeze.

Similar to the Surface Laptop Studio 2, We preferred the haptic feedback of the MateBook X Pro's trackpad to that of Apple's Force Touch technology, although we would say it slightly lacks the super-smooth glide of the Surface's all-glass affair.

Huawei MateBook X Pro (2024) review: Specs and performance

We tested the top-spec configuration of the MateBook X Pro which comes equipped with Intel's Core i9 185H processor, Intel Arc graphics, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 2TB SSD, as well as Intel's EVO certification that is meant to set the standard for a new generation of high-performance laptops.

To accommodate this level of power Huawei said they redesigned the internals of the MateBook X Pro, which now uses a new three-segment PCB, as opposed to older versions using two, which allowed them to increase the fan dimensions required to cool the Core i9 chip.

At the moment, this is the only skew of the Matebook X Pro available in the UK, but our European readers will be able to choose a slightly less powerful unit if their needs aren't quite so intensive.

In our testing, the MateBook X Pro achieved a 2405 single-core, 13635 multi-core, and 37079 GPU score in Geekbench 6, which just pips our previous leading Windows machine – the Surface Laptop Studio 2 – but it could not reach the gold standard set by Apple's M3 Macbook Pro.

MateBook X Pro performed very well in day-to-day use handling most of what we threw at it with ease, and remained cool and quiet when editing photos, exporting video, or running multiple 20+ tab Chrome windows.

The only hitches in performance came when stress testing the MateBook X Pro, with 100% CPU and GPU usage the laptop struggled to stream 4K video from YouTube, but as soon as we dialed back the CPU load it got back to smooth playback in a jiffy.

Huawei MateBook X Pro (2024) review: Battery

In our looped video benchmark, the MateBook X Pro ran for just over 10 hours, which is only beaten out by the Surface Studio Laptop 2 and of course the incredible performance from the latest M3 MacBook Pro.

Huawei said the MateBook X Pro's new three-segment PCB design also freed up enough space in the chassis to bump up the battery capacity to 70Wh, and in our day-to-day usage we had no issue putting the machine through its paces and still having power left at the end of the day.

In addition, the Huawei uses a 90W SuperCharge Turbo power brick that we found was incredibly quick at topping up the MateBook X Pro when we needed it. This sort of power is invaluable for anyone who's had to quickly run to a power outlet on a show floor, or at a conference.

While it didn't quite keep up with the MacBook's marathon man-esque battery life in our testing, the Huawei gave a good account of itself and showed it has the juice to keep you going all day when you're on the move.

Huawei MateBook X Pro (2024) review: Ports and features

The MateBook X Pro gives you 3 USB-C, two of which support Thunderbolt 4, and conveniently one is placed on the right hand of the device, meaning you can charge the laptop on either side, a bugbear of ours with laptops such as the MacBook Air.

One major gripe we had with the MateBook X Pro was Huawei's decision to ax the 3.5mm headphone jack that the 2023 model had, which Huawei says was to enable them to make the device thinner, but we'd happily sacrifice a few millimeters for the ease of just being able to plug in our headphones without the faff of having to use a dongle.

Another feature we were pleasantly surprised with was its new 1080p webcam which we found provided a clean image that anyone would be proud of in a Zoom meeting, although Huawei does do some face smoothing in certain applications, which has a tendency to make you look a bit like a deepfake of yourself, so we'd recommend turning Beauty Mode off in the settings.

Huawei MateBook X Pro (2024) review: Is it worth it?

The top-spec version of the MateBook X Pro, the only version available in the UK at this time, comes in at £2,099.99, whereas in Europe you can choose to get the slightly pared-back option with 16GB RAM and 1TB of storage for €1,999.99.

Although the premium configuration is pricey, the MateBook X Pro looks like a steal compared to the eye-watering price tag on the specced-out Surface Laptop Studio 2, offering comparable performance and a better display for our money.

When pitted against the holy grail M3 Macbook Pro, a 16GB RAM, and a 1TB SSD MacBook comes in at the same price as the MateBook X Pro, and although the MacBook remains our top choice, the fact you can double your RAM and storage for the same price (if you are willing to sacrifice a bit on the performance and battery life) makes Huawei's offering look a lot more competitive.

Huawei MateBook X Pro (2024) specifications