Huawei MateBook D 15, review with opinion and specifications

The Huawei MateBook D 15 is one of those laptops that attracts you as soon as you see it, and that's why we wanted to make it so much the review to this new edition of the Chinese brand's laptops. In this "new batch" Huawei also launched the D 14 version, which differs from the protagonist of our test in that it has fewer screen inches.

This new edition of Huawei's new ultrabooks does not differ substantially from the previous generation, but it does have some to another divergence, which we are going to look at in more detail right now since we start the review.

Huawei MateBook D 15 Data Sheet

Although we don't have some surprising specifications, the best thing about the team is the general balance of all its components There are even some, as we will see in the review, that they give more performance than we expected, which is excellent news.

Display: 15.6-inch IPS FullView and FullHD resolution.
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3500U.
Graphics Card: Radeon Vega 8.
RAM memory: 8 GB.
Internal Storage: 256 GB NVMe SSD.
Rear camera: 720p webcam.
Connectivity: WiFi ac, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, Huawei Share.
Ports and sensors: 2 x USB A 2.0, 1 x USB A 3.0, 1 x USB C, 1 x HDMI, 3.5 mm jack and fingerprint sensor.
Battery: 42 Wh.
Operating system: Windows 10 Home.
Price: 699 euros approx.

Sober and elegant design

Huawei MateBook D 15, review with opinion and specifications

The Huawei MateBook D 15 is made of aluminum alloy. The thickness is nicely tuned with just 16.9mm at the thickest part, as the thickness doesn't go evenly throughout the notebook.

The weight is also quite well achieved with 1.53 kilograms, helped in large part by the fact that it does not have a hard drive, instead it takes an SSD.

The metallic gray color of the unit that we were given to test it seems extremely successful, since it has a good conjunction between sobriety and elegance It's not the most striking ultrabook in the world, but it does turn away the occasional glance due to that perceived sensation of quality as soon as you see it.

The finishes of the Huawei MateBook D 15 are really good, with a hinge system that we found robust.

On the left side we have a USB Type-C port that can even be used to charge the laptop, a USB A 3.0 and an HDMI port.

On the right we have two USB A 2.0 ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack. We miss the occasional port such as a card reader or an Ethernet port.

The notch that Huawei has placed to help open the lid is greatly appreciated, something that seems silly, but on a day-to-day basis it gets a lot out of it.

Keyboard and touchpad good, but not quite

Opening the lid of the MateBook D 15 we see the QWERTY keyboard without a numeric keypad (something that would have been desirable), a rather large touchpad and the on-off button which is also a fingerprint reader.

We really liked this reader as far as its operation is concerned, since it is fast and extremely precise. It's commendable that Huawei installed it on its MateBook D 15, as other ultrabooks at this price point don't have it.

The keyboard is of the chiclet type, with some keys that seemed to us of a good size and with a touch with little travel, but not uncomfortable. What we do notice is that the keyboard, in general terms, is small and is too embedded in the upper part of the base of the Huawei MateBook D 15.

This is caused by the size of the touchpad, since it is quite generous in its dimensions. Regarding its operation, we cannot say anything other than that it works without problems The touch can be somewhat improved and with respect to the pulsation we have some mixed feelings.

Pressing the touchpad, in general terms, we liked a lot and the fact of having two buttons (left and right) on the lower part like traditional mice seems like a good decision to us.

What we did not like is that, having these two buttons, Huawei has decided to place a single plate and not leave the buttons independent from the rest of the touchpad, as is the case with external mice.

One of the curiosities that we already saw in previous generations is the placement of the camera to make our video calls. Because the frames are so extremely thin, they had no choice but to place the webcam (720p) on a key between the F6 and F7 keys.

This webcam remains hidden unless we press this key, which will reveal said camera. It is true that is not the best position for our video calls, but we think it is a pretty good solution and with a touch of curiosity.

Too bad the quality isn't too good, although enough to make video calls, but nothing more. Do not expect that your conferences will detonate a great quality, but we are not dealing with a webcam that is not usable either.

Screen and sound at a good level

Huawei has mounted on this MateBook D 15 a 15.6-inch 60Hz IPS panel with a1,920 x 1,080 pixel resolution (FullHD). The screen design is FullView type, with extremely thin top and side frames.

It is a screen with a brightness more than enough to work outdoors without problems, with a Correct color treatment, but nothing spectacular. In addition, it has a very well achieved white balance, good viewing angles, with a sufficient contrast and surprising sharpness

In general lines we liked the screen a lot, behaving much better than we expected at first.

Sound is another section that seems important to us on a laptop since we are going to use audio many more times, in theory, than we use it on a smartphone.

Well, we liked the sound a lot, since it has good quality, good body and bass that is noticeable with enough power. Too bad the speaker placement hadn't been a bit better, as we think we would have gained a lot.

The volume is sufficient for when we are in a room and a bit low if we are in a more or less noisy environment.

Good performance and good options

The Huawei MateBook D 15 does not have spectacular specifications, although as we are going to show you, its general operation is better than what you hope or you wait. Inside we have:

AMD Ryzen 5 3500U as processor.
Radeon Vega 8 Graphics as GPU.
8 GB DDR4 RAM.
256 GB SSD NVMe as storage.

The Huawei MateBook D 15 is a laptop that moves with ease in more or less normal tasks, of which we perform all days with our computers. There is not the slightest problem and everything works like a charm.

If we already force it with truly demanding games, we notice quite correct loading times (without being one of the best), with better-than-expected game performance and some minimal and very occasional slowdowns.

But we want to make it clear that it is not a gaming-oriented computer and, although it handles well, it feels more comfortable in tasks of office automation Even with image or video processing programs we have noticed that everything works much more smoothly than expected, since the graphics help much more than we thought at first.

The results in our usual tests in PcMark 8 corroborate our feelings with scores of:

Home: 3,669 points.
Creative: 4,587 points.
Work: 4,240 points.

In the graphic section it has behaved in an even surprising way. We expected less from the Radeon Vega 8 and we found it to be even a bit above Intel's Iris. In the Night Raid test, which measures this type of graphics very well, the result of 8,976 pointsagrees with our feelings.

Regarding the 256 GB SSD that comes with the Huawei MateBook D 15, it also seems to us that it offers more than decent speeds of 3,521 MB/s writing and 1,635 MB/s reading.

The SSD is partitioned in two, with 80 GB for a drive that houses the operating system and 142 GB for the drive dedicated to data. This is a rather small amount for these days and it will fill up quite easily, so it is advisable to have an external HDD or SSD

We have Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, WiFi, HDMI, USB Type C, fingerprint sensor, 1 x USB 3.0 and 2 x USB 2.0 in terms of connectivity, with thegreat absence of an Ethernet port , although with its thickness we can consider it normal. We also do not have the new WiFi 6 connection system, something that could be required today.

Regarding software we have Windows 10 Home and with an extremely interesting addition in the form of a Huawei application called PC Manager.

PC Manager is a suite that manages everything related to the laptop, such as drivers, warranty or equipment monitoring. Specifically, it has 3 functions:

Hardware verification: here it is analyzed that all the components of the laptop work correctly, from the monitor, through graphics or memories.
Management of controllers: This section is where it tells us if any controller needs an update so that we can give it permission in order to install that update.
My services: here we can find a user manual, a frequently asked questions section, the status of our warranty, shipping service, process of repairing something that we have sent to Huawei or contacting the brand service center.

An interesting function is a battery protection mode that limits its charge if it is going to spend a long time connected to the mains. This will make the battery have a longer useful life in the long term, since thanks to this system the battery is never charged to 100% to prevent it from being damaged by being plugged in for so long.

In addition, the Huawei MateBook D 15 comes with the Huawei Share system, which is a function that allows us to share files from our mobile to laptop, project the mobile screen and even control our smartphone from the computer. This system works as long as your mobile is Huawei or Honor (not all models).

Battery too small

The Huawei MateBook D 15 has a 42 Wh battery, which is not too large, mainly due to the little space it there is to put one with more amperage.

In our tests in intensive use, playing games, watching videos with the brightness of the screen at 70%, we have stayed close to 4 hours of autonomy, a time that, considering the battery it has, is not entirely a bad number.

It's a pity not to have a more powerful battery because we think the result would have been quite good, considering that the Ryzen 5 3500U processor is one of the least consuming on the market.

What the review of the Huawei MateBook D 15 has made very clear to us is that the Chinese brand has launched a highly elegant, balanced and with a look comparable to higher-end and therefore more expensive laptops. And knowing that its price is at 699 euros approximately, we see the excellent work that the brand has done to achieve a quality ultrabook and at the same time adjusting its price.