An excellent laptop with premium performance, long battery life, and good build quality for €1,399. Introduction and unboxing
If you live outside of.
Introduction and unboxing
If you live outside of China, then Huawei smartphones have become somewhat of an afterthought for you in these last few years. We won’t go over the reasons for this here but we’ll add that it’s a shame for most of us at GSMArena, because Huawei makes some of the finest hardware (and particularly cameras) in the world and we rightfully feel like we’re missing out due to the software’s limitations.
But none of that affects the company’s PC business and Huawei has kept on making excellent laptops for just about every budget. Today, we’re looking at probably the best all-rounder – the Huawei MateBook D16 2024.
It’s a 16-inch laptop with two USB-A, one USB-C, and an HDMI port. There’s also a full-sized keyboard, a number pad, and Intel’s 13th Gen processors, all of which fit into just 1.72kg with the bigger 70Wh battery.
The laptop ships with a 65W Huawei Super Charge brick with a permanently attached cable.
Ours is the fully loaded model with 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD drive, the Intel i9-13900H processor, and the bigger 70Wh battery. It costs €1,399/£1,199 but there are a few other options – a selection of Core i5 processors and either 8/512GB or 16/512GB with a starting price of €649/£549 – less than half of our review unit.Design and build quality
The MateBook D16 2024 looks like pretty much every other Huawei laptop from a distance. It comes in either (Mystic) silver or (Space) grey (our unit, which is trending toward purple at times) and you get a cool metal body and a HUAWEI logo on the lid.
Before we move on, it’s important to note the difference between the Huawei MateBook D16 2024 and the Huawei MateBook D16 2023. They looks nearly identical and have the same range of processors and seemingly the same display. But the 2023 model has a different and arguably better port selection – two USB-A’s on one side, two USB-C’s, HDMI, and a 3.5mm audio jack on the other side. The 2023 version is no longer sold by Huawei but certain retailers have it and it might be worth a more detailed look to be sure that you are getting the correct version.
The hinge is very firm and opening the lid requires two hands. We’ll deduct points from Huawei for this because every other laptop from the company can easily be opened with one finger – perfectly balanced as all things should be.
Opening the laptops reveals the 16-inch 16:10 1200p display with relatively thin physical bezels that rise above the display glass. The display is matte, has a webcam on top, and a brand logo underneath.
The keyboard leaves plenty of space for your palm on the bottom case and there are three stickers for Huawei Share, Intel’s processor, and the graphics.
The MateBook D16 2024 is very sturdy. There’s no flex when you push down anywhere on the chassis and the screen lid doesn’t budge when you press the corners.Trackpad, keyboard, display, audio
The trackpad of the MateBook D16 2024 is regular-sized. Some might call it small for the class, especially compared to the same-sized MateBook 16S’.
The surface of the trackpad is smooth and feels natural to perform two or even three-finger gestures and taps on. If you insist on physically pushing down the trackpad to tap, you’ll find the edges harder than the center. The bottom of the trackpad is the easiest to press and it’s divided into single and double presses – a press on the right side is recognized as a right mouse click.
The trackpad is slightly off-center because the keyboard is offset to the left to accommodate the Numpad. It takes some getting used to but we expect Numpad diehards to feel perfectly at home here. The keyboard is fully backlit with a white backlight and two strength settings – half and full.
The keyboard has ample 1.5mm key travel and the keys are nicely damped. You have a two-row Enter key and a long Space key – something many will appreciate.
The function row has Huawei’s now-standard set of keys and you can lock the Fn button to either have function keys or the F1-F12 keys functional.
The Numpad has a classic layout with an additional four shortcuts up top for the Calculator, Search, a button to minimize the currently displayed window, and a key to disable the camera.
