F5.5G Leap-forward Development of Broadband in Africa The Africa Broadband Forum 2024 (BBAF 2024) was successfully held in Cape Town, South Africa recently, under…
Huawei MateBook now official, guns for Microsoft Surface
The tablet convertible is currently the fashionable format for mobile manufacturers, and now Huawei has also boarded that bandwagon.
It’s new Huawei MateBook, launched at its MWC 2016 conference today, will likely compete with the Microsoft Surface and Apple MacBook ultraportables.
It features a 12-inch 2160×1440 screen, a wrap-around keyboard that doubles up as a cover (a la Surface), and Windows 10.
It’s also extremely thin, at 6.9mm, and weighs around 640 grams.
Other numbers include a 4430mAh battery (which will result in around 10 hours of typical usage), a smart charger that can adjust voltage to suit location, and a microUSB port and a USB Type-C port — which will undoubtedly please many users.
The MateBook will run on Intel’s fanless Skylake Core M with top clockspeeds of up to 3.1GHz (this includes the Core M3, M5 and M7), which should mean more than enough horsepower for demanding applications, and perhaps even light gaming.
#HuaweiMateBook MatePen High precision, high performance #Huawei #MWC16 pic.twitter.com/zLPghnIpna
— Huawei Device (@HuaweiDevice) February 21, 2016
And for those more creative types, Huawei announced its Mate Pen, which will allow graphic designers up to 2048 levels of pressure on screen. It’s a clear competitor to the Apple Pencil and the company’s iPad Pro.
The pen also doubles up as a laser pointer, and a presentation clicker for all you bosses out there.
And that’s not all. Huawei has also revealed the Huawei MateBook Mate Dock, which boasts a battery, a traditional USB A slot, USB Type-C and Ethernet.
And finally, how much will the MateBook cost? Well, Huawei’s covering all market segments here, with the cheapest MateBook with Core M3, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for US$699. The most expensive device, with a Core M7, 8GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage will retail for US$1599.
Unfortunately, the keyboard (US$129), Mate Pen (US$59) and the Mate Dock (US$89) will be sold separately.
And as for availability? “The MateBook will be available in Asia, Europe and North America in the coming months and will be available in two elegant colors: grey and golden,” the company’s press release confirms.
Updates to follow….
Feature image: Huawei via Twitter
