In the last year, personal computers have returned to their lost place at home. They have done it as teams for both work and study and even leisure. It has been the resurgence of basic laptops, the usual all-rounders.
The Huawei Matebook D15 is one of the best examples that we can find on the market. With a generous screen but little weight, this 2021 has been renewed with the new Intel processors and its integrated Xe graphics, which, as we have verified in this complete analysis, give it a very interesting extra as a main computer at home.
Huawei Matebook D15 2021 Specification
| SCREEN | 15.6 inch IPS 16: 9 matte finish |
|---|---|
| RESOLUTION | 1,920 x 1,080 pixels |
| PROCESSOR | Intel Core i5 1135G7 |
| GRAPHICS | Intel Iris Xe |
| RAM | 8/16 GB DDR4 3200 MHz |
| STORAGE | 256/512 GB SSD |
| PORTS | 1 x USB-A 3.2, 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB-C, 1 x HDMI, minijack |
| CONNECTIVITY | Bluetooth 5.1 // Wifi ax (Wifi 6) |
| DRUMS | 42 Whr |
| OPERATING SYSTEM | Windows 10 Home |
| OTHERS | Fingerprint reader on home button / Retractable webcam |
| DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT | 357.8 x 229.9 x 16.9mm / 1.56kg |
| COLOUR | Gray |
| PRICE | 849 dollars |
Large but light and well finished laptop
The design of the Huawei Matebook D15 is anything but revolutionary. It’s the classic look you can expect from a laptop without a specific bulb, so you should try to fit as many profiles as possible.
The well-finished aluminum alloy body with smooth lines so that it is pleasant in hand and not aggressive to the touch, gives it the robustness necessary for a home battle laptop while not neglecting the weight.
Huawei has achieved a laptop with a generous screen, 15.6 inches, maintaining a very correct weight and dimensions.
Despite being in front of a 15.6-inch team, the Matebook D15 weighs 1.5 kg, in addition to keeping its dimensions contained by a good body / screen ratio, close to 90% thanks to the very notable reduction of the frames.
The Huawei Matebook D15, as we have indicated, is a device with a resistant appearance while being very stable on the table thanks to the rubber feet that also help to slightly raise the device for proper cooling. It does not have air vents on the sides but on the bottom and the hinge of the screen.
The regular thickness of almost 1.7 cm allows the Huawei MateBook D15 to have connectivity in which we expected at least an Ethernet port and even a memory card slot. At the connectivity level we miss an Ethernet port and some USB-C more.
At least the one that includes allows direct loading of the equipment
On the right side we have two USB-A 2.0 ports along with the headphone and microphone connector. The rest of the ports are on the left side.
There we find an HDMI port, a USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 and a USB-C that supports charging. Good news that this Matebook is finally going to charge exclusively via USB-C.
Wireless connectivity takes advantage of the new Intel and we already have WiFI 6 available, in addition to Bluetooth 5.1.
Fingerprint reader and webcam (but on the keyboard)
Regarding the webcam that does not exist in the upper frame, it should be noted that Huawei insists on placing it on the keyboard. It is true that the retractable type gives it extra security but the working angle is far from what one expects in a laptop.
The integrated webcam at the height of the keyboard is a decision that makes this element unusable in video calls
Finally, Huawei does not forget the fingerprint reader, which is integrated into the power button, being comfortable, reliable and quick to use to identify ourselves safely in the system.
The convenience of a large screen
If the aluminum alloy exterior is interesting, the Huawei Matebook D15 shows its great strength by opening the lid. There a 15.6-inch screen emerges as they are no longer usually seen in the market.
It is true that the rather discreet profile of this type of notebook means that the screen does not exceed a just 1080p resolution, but for the multimedia focus, basic work and general leisure at home, the screen of the Matebook D15 is sufficient.
At the level of specifications, we are not facing scandal data either. The brightness, of 250 nits, and the contrast, of only 800: 1, do not make the panel dazzling, which focuses with its matte finish on improving its visibility in any light condition in which we want to use it, mainly thanks to the reduction of the always annoying reflections.
The matte screen does not stand out for its high brightness or contrast but it makes work much easier in almost any setting or place
The premises on the screen of the Huawei Matebook D15 have been strictly fulfilled in our experience of daily work with it in different situations: it is not visually spectacular but it is practical for the comfort of viewing.
The latest Intel enter the scene
With design and screen identical to last year’s model, which we analyzed with the Ryzen 5 as the main argument, the Huawei Matebook D15 2021 is planted on our test table with the latest Intel Core as the basis of its technical sheet.
The model we have reviewed features an i5 1135G7 processor with the highest configuration available: 16 GB of DDR4 RAM and a 512 GB NVMe SSD.
Good data on paper taking into account the market and the price of the equipment, and which is confirmed in the results of our synthetic tests, where the Intel Core i5 regains ground with the equivalent AMDs and strengthens its graphical section thanks to the arrival of Iris Xe.
In the PCMark tests, this Huawei laptop reached figures of 3069 and 4652 points in the Work and Home tests, while in the graphic section it is necessary to speak of more than 7500 points in Wild Life and In Cinebench it achieved almost 86 fps in OpenGL.
The SSD has also delivered on-target performance, with figures of 3,500 and 2,900 MB / s in the read and write tests respectively.
That good performance does not translate into excessive heat from the laptop or noise. The operation is silent except in specific moments, usually related to the graphic section. In any case, the noise level of the fans in operation is not very worrying.
The great beneficiary of the new Intel is the graphic section of the Huawei Matebook D15
And autonomy? The Huawei Matebook D15 battery has a capacity of 42 Wh, which in our tests has offered us an autonomy of between 4.5 and 5 hours on average, always with active connectivity and a brightness of around 50%.
The figures are very correct for a computer that is not an ultrabook and its main destination is not to be on the go all day and away from a power source. Here it is very important that you have already switched to the comfortable, light and efficient USB-C charger (with fast charging), which is capable of fully recharging the battery in just over an hour.
At the software level, this Matebook D15 2021 is very user friendly and does not include any bloatware. It comes standard with Windows 10 Home and the PC Manager application, which allows the user to manage in a simple and centralized way aspects of the equipment related to security, driver updates and even the equipment warranty and repairs.
The touch of Huawei is also evident with the Huawei Share label, located in the lower right corner, which adds direct synchronization of the PC with a Huawei phone.
Comfortable and reliable keyboard and touchpad
With a design based on the black finish that stands out against the gray of the case, the keyboard of the Huawei Matebook D15 is one of its capital elements.
The Huawei Matebook D15 keyboard makes good use of all the available space to configure a comfortable keyboard without reduced keys, but it does not choose to include a numeric keypad
Being crammed into a 15.6-inch laptop gives it a clear advantage to be able to opt for large keys, without very strange layouts and of course, with full key. Look if not in Enter, very unusual in laptops. What we do not find in a dedicated numeric keypad, as perhaps one would expect in this type of laptop.
The keyboard of the Huawei Matebook D15 2021 has a short but comfortable travel, with good response and fair sound. Good typing speed is easy to achieve without showing signs of fatigue. What I did not like is that it is a keyboard that does not have a backlight .
As in the previous version, in the row of function keys we find the icon of a camera, which corresponds to the only webcam of the Huawei Matebook D15 2021. It protects privacy very well but the extreme low-angle recording is incompatible with the usual uses of a webcam.
Finally, we must talk about the touchpad, a somewhat reduced size for what we would expect in a laptop with so much space available. In any case it is not small at all and adds precision, good touch and correct response to gestures.
Another strange absence in a design with so many possibilities is that of the speakers. On the sides of the keyboard there is plenty of room to have included two stereo speakers. However, Huawei has placed them at the bottom, allowing for a fairly powerful sound, which complements the screen well for entertainment, but could have been better.
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