Huawei Matebook D review (UK edition)

I very rarely buy new laptops but after having received a new laptop at work with a 1080p screen I was really struggling to enjoy working on my trusty X250.

Somewhat on a whim, I thought I would get myself a Huawei figuring that they would be cheap because of the recent disfavor the USA government seems to be placing on them. Seems I was correct.

My only real criteria was something that had a 1080p screen and something that would fit in my current laptop bag. I spotted the https://consumer.huawei.com/uk/laptops/matebook-d-14-k/ and picked it up for a litte over £500.

Initial Thoughts

This machine is truly an incredible piece of engineering for the money.

In summary:

Build quality: Stunning. Very thin. Aluminum

Keyboard: Very nice. Very low. The up and down cursor is combined into the size of a single key which I dislike

Screen: All good

Sound: It's a laptop, who cares?

Trackpad: All good

Connectivity: OK. Single USB C. No Ethernet (it's too thin). HDMI. Single USB 3.0, Single USB 2.0. Headphone jack

Fan: Seems very quiet to me and kicks in rarely

Performance: No idea. My Linux setup would probably still be quick on a PII 450Mhz

Battery life: General pottering seem to last around 6ish hours

Linux support: We'll see in a future post