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VPNs for ad-blocking In its relatively short time in the spotlight, Huawei’s smartphones quickly became a favourite amongst consumers here in Australia. But now, an ocean away from the tit-for-tat tariffs and trade barriers, Australian Huawei users are being told to steer clear of the company’s next smartphone. But the trade ban only restricts Huawei’s smartphones from using Google services. Huawei’s Windows-powered laptops haven’t suffered the same grave fate. It was for this reason that I was drawn to the Matebook D 15. Despite Huawei’s history of success, it’s now got something to prove again: how will it survive the market share freefall of its smartphone division? Huawei can’t make up for all it has lost, but its other consumer channels can surely help lighten the blow. Ultimately, the Matebook D 15 is a step in the right direction. It has unbridled access to Windows 10 Home, and a price tag and performance that resemble the same value proposition of its smartphone range, but its price point puts it in an odd position. For a little extra, you can get a budget laptop with more juice under the hood, and for less you can get something with much longer battery life. For me, it’s the perfect laptop for an Apple-to-PC convert looking to make the switch at a reasonable price, despite its shortcomings. The Huawei MateBook D 15’s price tag is its biggest selling point. It’s a great package at just under $1,200, coming in a little cheaper than the Dell Inspiron 15 3000 (Ryzen5), and the HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop (GTX1650), but a little pricier than Lenovo’s IdeaPad 2, or the 128GB IdeaPad Flex 5. If you’re more concerned with aesthetics than technical specs, the Huawei MateBook D 15 will suit you just fine. Huawei has never been shy of paying tribute to Apple’s hardware design (just look at Huawei’s Air… I mean Freebuds) and the MateBook D 15 is no exception. This is clearly Huawei’s take on the MacBook design, and while this aluminium build isn’t quite the engineering marvel of Apple’s latest, it does an exceptional impersonation at the very least. In fact, I’d argue the Huawei MateBook D 15 is a great Windows alternative for Mac fans full-stop. As someone raised on MacBooks, using the MateBook D 15 was a pleasure for me. For many of the same reasons I’ve recommended Huawei phones to iPhone expats in the past, Huawei’s MateBook D 15 gives you all the benefits of owning a Windows PC with half of the headaches. It offers a very clean Windows 10 Home OS with only a few proprietary software features that aren’t intrusive in the slightest. I’ve got zero complaints about the OS and user experience. No random errors, or technical oddities around WiFi connectivity. My short fling with the MateBook D 15 was smooth as smooth can be. Below is a photo of a makeshift mount I cobbled together in order to recreate a more regular video call perspective, but even with all my faffing about, there was something very strange about the camera’s POV. You get the feeling that whatever software wizardry has gone into making the default position feel natural, clashes with your attempts to find a more suitable angle. While not quite as fluttery as past MacBook’s butterfly keyboards, the Huawei MateBook D 15’s Chiclet-style keyboard still has a pretty shallow travel time. Its slimline design only allows for so much, and while the keyboard took a little getting used to after switching from my mechanical Razer Huntsman Elite, it didn’t pose any real issues once I became comfortable with it. But it took the better half of a week to get comfortable with it. Gaming with the MateBook D 15’s keyboard felt like I’d taken the bullet train towards RSI city. Is the Huawei MateBook D 15 a powerful gaming workhorse? Not particularly, no. Will it allow you to play popular games, like Minecraft: Dungeons and Valorant with no hiccups? Absolutely. Granted, neither of these games are particularly demanding but I still managed to max out the graphics settings on Minecraft: Dungeons with no complaints from the machine. In fact, the only time it started to chug was when I was dual-wielding Adobe Photoshop and Premiere—a sure-fire way to slow down most personal computers. If you’re looking to play the next big AAA behemoth with all the bells and whistles, the MateBook D 15 might struggle but it’s perfectly fine for a quick bash on indie games and easy-going multiplayer shooters. Plus, if you do happen to be coming from Mac, the fact you’ll be able to play most games at all will be a welcome change. That was with a bit of regular use (word processing and some photoshop) and about an hour of gaming, which is where it really started to plummet. The USB-C fast charging does a fantastic job of getting you juiced back up in no time at all. Huawei claims it can get you to 53% in 30 minutes, and in my experience it managed roughly that every time I plugged in. Still, I had to plug in a lot, which wasn’t an issue for me reviewing it from home, but it did become a bit pesky when I was visiting friends for the weekend. I would like to end this review by saying, no, I don’t want no hubs, and thankfully, Huawei MateBook D 15 users shouldn’t need one. If you’re switching from Apple to PC, the MateBook D 15 offers a no-nonsense Windows 10 Home OS, with only a few added software features that aren’t intrusive in the slightest. Then there’s the number of ports and connections available. Despite its incredibly slim profile, the MateBook D 15 retains one HDMI port, three standard USB-A, and one USB-C. For the dongle, adverse, that alone will be a selling point. Unfortunately, the mid-range price is felt most in the laptop’s battery life and processing power. Throughout our tests, the battery life on regular usage lasted around 5.5 hours at best, and roughly 4.5 hours at worst. The AMD Ryzen 5 3500U processor meets expectations for this price bracket, breezing through most of the games we tested. Still, it’s not the best option if you want a serious gaming machine, or require the power required to tackle both Adobe Photoshop and Premiere at the same time. Lastly, an investment in a MateBook D 15 means investing in an external webcam. Despite its best efforts, the pop-camera can’t help but catch you at your worst angle.
