Apart from the smartphone business, one of Huawei‘s stronghold is its laptop business. Huawei manufactures some of the best laptops worldwide, in terms of design and even the configuration (hardware and software). Until now, Huawei laptops run Microsoft Windows but the recent US trade ban is threatening to shut down the laptop business. Well. that isn’t going to happen as Huawei has started selling its latest Matebook models running Deepin Linux.

Deepin is a Chinese software brand with a beautiful and polished desktop Linux distribution. The laptop models were spotted on Huawei’s official store in China – VMall. The models listed include the Huawei Matebook X Pro, Matebook 13 and Matebook 14. On the interface, the Windows logo is ditched and replaced with a key that simply reads “Start.” The prices also vary slightly from those of the Windows version with all three models priced at 300 yuan (about $42 USD) less than the Windows 10-running models.

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While we cannot say for sure why the company released these versions, it may not be unconnected to the US/China trade war in which Huawei is caught in the middle. When the trade ban goes into effect, Huawei won’t be able to install Microsoft Windows on its laptops. but with this new option, the company may just have found an easy alternative.

The Chinese tech giant had also hinted that it would launch laptops running its self-developed HarmonyOS in the future. But for now, Deepin Linux comes to the rescue and we believe the company must have worked on the software to ensure that the desktop and other aspects like battery are optimised.

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During the Nova 4 launch event, Huawei also officially launched a budget smartphone which goes by the moniker Enjoy 9. Details of the Huawei Enjoy 9 had first been spotted on VMall sometime last week but the pricing wasn’t disclosed. The device has now been shown to be a thousand yuan machine as its pricing starts at 999 yuan (~$145) for the base variant.

Specs wise, the Enjoy 9 features a 6.26-inch 720x1520pixel IPS LCD display. The device has a waterdrop notch design which houses the selfie camera. The device packs a Snapdragon 450 chipset onboard instead of Huawei’s custom Kirin chipset. However, the chipset is a low-end chipset that won’t offer so much in terms of firepower. The processor is paired with a 3GB of RAM and 4GB of RAM on some models. The device also comes with 32GB of internal storage while the 4GB RAM variant has a 64GB storage onboard.

On the camera end, the Enjoy 9 sports a 13MP f/1.8 + 2MP f/2.4 depth-sensing dual camera setup at the rear while for selfies, there is an 8MP f/2.0 selfie camera. The device comes with Face scanner using the front camera but there is no physical fingerprint button at the rear. One outstanding feature onboard the Huawei Enjoy 9 is the 4,000mAh battery that will definitely deliver an extended usage period. On the software aspect, the device runs Android 8.1 Oreo-based EMUI 8.2. In addition, the device comes with three slots, two SIM slots and a third one for microSD card. The Enjoy 9 comes in Black, and three gradient Aurora colors – Blue, Red and Purple.

Huawei Matebook 13

Huawei’s notebook model is presently categorised into four series – Matebook X Pro, X, D, and E. In early November, Huawei announced the new full-screen, ultra-slim and lightweight MateBook 13 (WRT-W29E) which is a new series entirely. More details of the Matebook 13 was also revealed today during the Nova 4 launch.

According to the details announced, Huawei MateBook 13 adopts Huawei’s family-style full-screen design, with narrow bezels around it. The left and right-side bezels are just 4.4 mm while the laptop has a screen ratio of 88%. As the name implies, it packs a 13-inch IPS glossy screen with a resolution of 2160×1440 pixels (3:2). The display has a 178-degree wide-angle view, 1000:1 contrast, typical brightness of 300nits and minimum of 240nit, but the screen does not support touch control. The laptop has a thin 14.9mm metal body and weighs just 1.28kg. The body is manufactured using diamond cutting technology, supplemented by delicate sandblasting technology with well-chamfered edges. 

The Mateboo 13 is powered by the latest eighth-generation Intel Core i7-8568U (Whiskey Lake) processor with the lower model utilising an Intel Core i5-8265 chipset. Both SoCs are Quad-core eight thread chipsets. The processor also has a power consumption of 15W. The laptop is also equipped with an NVIDIA MX 150 discrete graphics, 2GB GDDR5 independent graphics memory, thermal design power consumption 25W, with LPDDR3 memory, NVMe solid state drive.

On the internals, it has a shark fin fan 2.0 smart cooling system, dual fan separation heat source, seven sensors real-time temperature control. The battery capacity is 41.838Whr (3670mAh/11.4V), the theoretical battery life is about 10 hours, and it can be used for 2.5 hours after charging for 15 minutes. The interface has only two USB-Cs with data transfer and charging on the left side, data transfer and DisplayPort output on the right side, and a 3.5mm headset. Other aspects, it packs a full-size island chocolate keyboard, power button which also doubles as a fingerprint sensor, dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0, 1MP camera, dual speaker, dual microphone, Dolby Atmos sound.

The Matebook 13 comes in three colours of Deep Gray Ash, Cherry Powder and Gold. As for the pricing, the Intel Core i7 version is priced at 6399 yuan. However, the Core i5 variant with 8GB RAM and 256 storage is priced at 4999 yuan. It will go on sale on January 1 but pre-sale will start on December 25.

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