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Introduction and the unboxing experience
If you reside outside of China, then Huawei smartphones have become somewhat of an afterthought for you in recent years. We won’t delve into the reasons for this here, but we’ll add that it’s a shame for most of us at GSMArena, because Huawei produces some of the finest hardware (and particularly cameras) in the world. We rightfully feel like we’re missing out due to the software’s limitations.
However, none of that affects the company’s PC business, and Huawei has continued to produce excellent laptops for just about every budget. Today, we’re examining perhaps the best all-rounder – the Huawei MateBook D16 2024.
It’s a 16-inch laptop with two USB-A ports, one USB-C port, and an HDMI port. There’s also a full-sized keyboard and a number pad, along with Intel’s 13th Gen processors – all fitting into just 1.72kg with the larger 70Wh battery.
The laptop comes with a 65W Huawei Super Charge brick with a permanently attached cable.
Our model is fully loaded with 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD drive, the Intel i9-13900H processor, and the larger 70Wh battery. It costs €1,399/£1,199, but there are a few other options with a starting price of €649/£549 – less than half of our review unit.
Design and overall quality
From a distance, the MateBook D16 2024 looks like pretty much every other Huawei laptop. It comes in either (Mystic) silver or (Space) gray, with our unit trending toward purple at times. You get a cool metal body and a HUAWEI logo on the lid.
Before we continue, it’s important to note the difference between the Huawei MateBook D16 2024 and the Huawei MateBook D16 2023. They look nearly identical and have the same range of processors and seemingly the same display. However, the 2023 model has a different and arguably better port selection. The 2023 version is no longer sold by Huawei, but certain retailers have it, and it might be worth taking a more detailed look to ensure that you are getting the correct version.
The hinge is very firm, and opening the lid requires two hands. We’ll take off a few points from Huawei for this, as every other laptop from the company can easily be opened with one finger thanks to being perfectly balanced.
Upon opening the laptop, you’ll find the 16-inch 16:10 1200p display with relatively thin physical bezels that rise above the display glass. The display is matte, has a webcam on top, and a brand logo underneath.
The keyboard leaves plenty of space for your palm on the bottom case, and there are three stickers for Huawei Share, Intel’s processor, and the graphics.
The MateBook D16 2024 is very sturdy, as there’s no flex when you push down anywhere on the chassis, and the screen lid doesn’t budge when you press the corners.
Trackpad, keyboard, display, audio
The trackpad of the MateBook D16 2024 is regular-sized. Some might call it small for a laptop of its class, especially compared to the same-sized MateBook 16S’.
The surface of the trackpad is smooth and feels natural to perform two or even three-finger gestures and taps on. If you insist on physically pushing down the trackpad to tap, you’ll find the edges harder than the center. The bottom of the trackpad is the easiest to press and it’s divided into single and double presses – a press on the right side is recognized as a right mouse click.
The trackpad, compared to the MateBook 16S
The trackpad is slightly off-center because the keyboard is offset to the left to accommodate the Numpad. It takes some getting used to, but we expect Numpad diehards to feel perfectly at home here. The keyboard is fully backlit with a white backlight and two strength settings – half and full.
The keyboard has ample 1.5mm key travel, and the keys are nicely damped. You have a two-row Enter key and a long Space key – something many will appreciate.
The function row has Huawei’s now-standard set of keys, and you can lock the Fn button to either have function keys or the F1-F12 keys functional.
The Numpad has a classic layout with an additional four shortcuts up top for the Calculator, Search, a button to minimize the currently displayed window, and a key to disable the camera.
The power button is in the upper right corner and features a capacitive fingerprint reader on top. It’s up to Huawei’s usual great standard and has caching, meaning when the laptop’s turned off, you press it and it will power on and log you in without the need of a second touch.
The 720p camera is positioned at the top of the display. It’s in a perfect spot for video calls. It’s low resolution, and the image from it is not impressive.
Huawei’s AI Camera software can put a virtual background behind you and apply a beauty filter on your face with options to soften, brighten, and more, but the connectivity between the camera and the software is lacking and affects the quality of the image.
The display is a 16-inch IPS LCD with a taller-than-standard 16:10 aspect ratio and a resolution of 1920x1200px, which rounds off at 142ppi. Huawei claims this panel covers 100% of the sRGB gamut and 45% of the NTSC one, and that it has a 1200:1 contrast ratio. It has a standard 60Hz refresh rate and isn’t touch-enabled.
The display is rated at up to 300 nits, and we measured 311 nits in the center, as high as 330 at the top left edge, but only 280 nits at the bottom right one. That’s a uniformity of around 84%, which isn’t bad, but not amazing either.
Colors are reasonably saturated, and there’s a good amount of contrast. Huawei’s Display Manager app is included, but it lacks any sort of meaningful display controls aside from adjusting the color temperature.
The display is matte, which is appreciated, especially compared to the glossy MateBook 16S. Huawei’s glossy panels are very reflective, and a matte panel is more practical and works well in the MateBook D16 2024.
The MateBook D16 2024 next to the MateBook 16S (matte beats glossy, fight me)
There are two microphones at the front of the MateBook D16 2024 that produce good sound quality. Huawei’s PC Manager suite adds a solid amount of options. You can choose between Noise Cancelling, which tries to eliminate external noise, and Sound TrueHD, which tries to convey your environment to callers in a natural way. It sounds digital and a bit harsh, so the default Noise Cancelling is preferred.
There are two speakers on the bottom right and left of the MateBook D16 2024. They are louder than your average laptop speakers, but the sound has no bass to speak of. Huawei’s PC Manager gives you three options to amplify the speaker’s output – Smart Optimization is the default and improves the sound slightly. Ultra-Bass and Sound Turbo make little to no meaningful difference and are best avoided.
Finally, a word on upgradeability. To open the MateBook D16 2024, you need to unscrew ten Torx T4s and then use a pry tool to unsnap the bottom panel from the top one, starting from around the heating vents on the back and gently working your way around. You can swap the Wi-Fi card, the battery, and the NVME SSD on this laptop. The RAM is soldered onto the motherboard and is not upgradeable.
Software, performance and battery life
As a Huawei laptop, it comes with smartphone connectivity out of the box. You can link your Android phone (not just Huawei) and control its display from the laptop, back up its photos and videos to the laptop, and have the phone’s data connection accessible through Instant Hotspot.
Huawei’s SuperHub resides at the top of the screen. Just drag a file up, and a little virtual drawer pops up for you to deposit it there. This is a convenient way to share files, photos, videos, as well as text and share it across apps and windows.
Huawei SuperHub
You can also access the phone’s files and share files across your laptop and phone.
Huawei’s PC Manager app is excellent. It provides tips on operating the laptop and features a control panel with quick toggles to quickly access Notes, Huawei Share, AI Search, enable the hotspot, or the display’s eye comfort mode.
It’s also a one-stop shop for all the laptop’s drivers, and it’s where you can choose the performance mode between Balanced and Performance.
We have the MateBook D16 2024 with the 13th Gen Intel i9-13900H and 16GB of 3733MHz DDR4 RAM, which is not upgradeable. The processor is Intel’s 13th Gen i9 (Raptor Lake) and is the most powerful available in a laptop. In comparison to Intel’s 14th Gen and its new line of Core processors, this processor is still a beast of a CPU.
This processor is a 45W processor with 14 total cores, divided between 6 performance cores and 8 efficient cores. The total number of threads is 20.
The processor scored highly in both single-core and multi-core in Geekbench 6, outperforming laptops with the same chipset but more impressive cooling. The Geekbench 6 OpenCL score is about what you’d expect for built-in Intel graphics – much lower than just about any contemporary discrete GPU out there.
