Huawei MateBook X Pro 2022 in for review

The Huawei MateBook X Pro is the company's most premium laptop line and we have the 2022 model at the office today!

The Huawei MateBook X Pro 2022 is a sight to behold. Ever since Huawei introduced the thin-and-light MateBook X Pro series back in 2017, they've been one of the prettiest machines. We're talking MacBook Air 2022 bezels back in 2017. But this year, Huawei finally made some changes to the design, which we'll go over right after we get the unboxing out of the way.

The MateBook X Pro 2022 comes in the same-looking white retail box with a USB-C to USB-C cable and a new 90W charger (the 2021 model had a 65W charger).

The cornerstone of this laptop is the display, and it's even better than last year's already-excellent screen. It's a 14.2-inch 3120x2080px touchscreen IPS LCD with the same, taller-than-usual 3:2 aspect ratio. The old model was a 13.9" 3000x2000px unit.

The new display is also brighter - rated for 500 nits, over the 450 nits of its predecessor.

Another big difference is the new touchpad, which Huawei calls Free Touch. It now spills over the bottom of the palm rest area, creating a nice infinity pool effect and adding a few mm to the touchpad's surface.

This year, the MateBook X Pro 2022 comes in a different set of colors. You get a White for the first time, along with an Ink Blue, and the purplish Space Grey we have for review. You lose the lovely Emerald Green, though.

The battery has grown from 56Wh to 60Wh on the 2022 model, and there are 2 more speakers and 2 more microphones than on the 2021 model - totaling a 6-speaker sound system with a 4 microphone array.

Finally, there's the move to Intel's 12th gen processors, which bring a true generational leap in performance over the 11th gen of the MateBook X Pro 2021. You get a choice of the Intel Core i5-1240P, and the Core i7-1260P we have in the review unit.

Intel's 12th gen processors moved to a new big.LITTLE arrangement with powerful and power-efficient cores, similar to Apple's M1 and M2 processors. The new architecture provides better performance, but also potentially far better battery life.

The P-series of Intel's 12th gen processors is aimed at thin and light business laptops, like the MateBook X Pro. The Core i7-1260P has 4 performance cores, 8 efficiency cores, and 16 threads. That's a big jump from last year's Core i7-1165G7, which had 4 cores and 8 threads. The GPU is the same Intel Iris Xe G7, which can handle light gaming and photo editing. There's no discrete GPU option on the MateBook X Pro 2022.

Stay tuned for our full review.