Huawei MateBook X Pro (2022, 12th gen) Review
The 12th-gen upgrade to the MateBook X Pro
Verdict
The Huawei MateBook X Pro 2022 (12th gen) is a fantastic productivity laptop that can finally be picked up in a colour option that isn’t just Space Grey. The 12th-Gen Intel Core processor delivers pace and efficiency, while features such as the pressure-sensitive touchpad and responsive touchscreen make it easy to use. The only downside is the high price, which is likely to put a lot of people off.
Pros
- Haptic feedback touchpad
- Speedy and responsive processor
- Bright and vibrant display
- Thin and light design
- New colour options available
Cons
- Lack of discrete GPU
- Too expensive
Availability
- UKRRP: £1799.99
Key Features
- 12th-generation Intel Core processorsThe Huawei MateBook X Pro comes with a 12-gen Intel Core i7-1260P processor and Intel Iris Xe graphics
- Pressure-sensitive touchpad Control volume, adjust screen brightness, take screenshots and scrub through video content using the pressure-sensitive touchpad
- Touchscreen capabilitiesTouchscreen support makes productivity work easier, with the ability to zoom in on images and scroll through documents without the need for a mouse
Introduction
The Huawei MateBook X Pro 2022 (12th-gen) is the upgraded version of the MateBook X Pro 2022 (11th-gen), which comes packing a more recent processor and a more impressive battery.
There’s only one flavour of CPU for this laptop, the 12th Gen Intel Core i7-1260P, which delivers super-quick processing speeds, marking this as another solid productivity laptop from Huawei.
The laptop is not seemingly available to buy right now, but Huawei suggests it could be available very soon.
This laptop is the next flagship in the MateBook series, but is it worth the upgrade? Here’s how I got on with the latest Huawei MateBook X Pro.
Design
- New colour options
- Same great build quality
- Pressure-sensitive touchpad
The MateBook series is known for its uniformity, and the MateBook X Pro falls in line with the rest of the family, sporting a sleek and mature design that wouldn’t look out of place in an office or school. There’s still something very MacBook Pro series about it, but overall this is easily one of the most attractive and subtle laptops on the market.
I’m also thrilled that Huawei has finally introduced new colour options, although I was disappointed to receive a Space Grey unit for review. I may have missed out, but you don’t have to, with the laptop available in White and Ink Blue options, too. I’m happy to see Huawei changing up the formula and bringing a little more personality to the series.
As usual, the laptop’s build quality is fantastic, with no flex in the chassis at all upon using the keyboard. The device feels sturdy and durable, and since the laptop weighs in at just 1.38kg, it was fine for throwing in my backpack and taking it to and from work.
Note that the port selection is limited here, with one 3.5mm audio jack and four USB-C ports. Two of those have Thunderbolt 4 support, although that is now becoming more common with high-end laptops. There are sadly no USB-A connections for older peripherals.
The keyboard has proved very responsive and satisfyingly clicky, and I’m also a fan of the trackpad, which comes with the same haptic feedback features as seen with the MateBook X Pro 2022 (11th-gen) laptop. I was able to adjust the volume and brightness by dragging along the sides of the panel via the gesture controls, as well as double-tapping with my knuckles to take a screenshot.
This made productivity work a breeze, and made scrubbing through a YouTube video and adjusting my music volume ridiculously simple. This has to be my favourite feature of this laptop.
Moreover, the 1080p webcam worked well and I found that it was clear and detailed enough to get me through work Zoom calls. It didn’t work as well in darker environments, but will be fine for anyone working from home who needs to hop on to the occasional video call.
Screen
- 14.2-inch display
- Over 550 nits of brightness
- 3120 x 2080 resolution
The Huawei MateBook X Pro comes with a 14.2-inch display with a 92.5% screen-to-body ratio, which gives the laptop a premium look. It has an aspect ratio of 3:2 and a resolution of 3120 x 2080. There’s plenty of vertical space for working, and despite the screen not being as large as some laptops out there, having two tabs open at once didn’t make the workspace feel cluttered.
The resolution here is more impressive than traditional Full HD (1920 x 1080); however, for the MateBook X Pro 2022 (12th gen) model’s high price, I’d have liked to have seen an OLED panel included to improve contrast. Nevertheless, the screen here is super vibrant and has been superb for watching media – it’s perfectly serviceable for a Netflix binge.
To back up my real-world claims, I used a colourimeter to test the true capabilities of the display. In tests, the laptop hit a maximum figure of 578.53 for brightness, which is well over the standard 300 nit count of most laptop displays. This made working outdoors in the sun easy with no glare.
Contrast came in at 1419:1, falling below the 1739:1 of the MateBook 16s; but it’s still possible to see a good distinction between dark and bright imagery in photos and videos. In particular, this was welcome when watching darkly shot movies, making scenes look clearer and more distinguishable.
In a similar vein to some other productivity laptops from Huawei, the screen features a 10-point touchscreen, which in my experience worked brilliantly. It made scrolling through documents and zooming in on images super easy, and will prove a godsend for those who regularly work with spreadsheets.
The MateBook X Pro 2022 scored surprisingly well in our colour accuracy tests. The Adobe RGB coverage came in at 84.8%, with DCI-P3 and sRGB figures of 92.2% and 97.9% respectively.
This means that this laptop is able to accurately display colours, making it fit for creative work. We’ll touch on the integrated GPU in the next section, but anyone looking to engage in low-level creative work, such as Photoshop and video editing, should find that this laptop is just fine.
However, this laptop’s main purpose is as a productivity device, and I think that’s where it shines. The bright screen makes working in all environments easy, and its high resolution means you can happily use it to watch Disney+ after a hard day’s work.
Performance
- 12th-gen Intel chip performs wonderfully
- No option for a discrete GPU
- Quick load-up times and processing speeds
The Huawei MateBook X Pro is only available with one processor option: the 12th-Gen Intel Core i7-1260P. This chip offers great performance, delivering speedy load-up and response times. I was able to run Slack, Chrome, YouTube and Spotify at the same time without the laptop stuttering or stumbling.
I also was able to connect this laptop to my Razer Raptor 27 monitor via the USB-C port and watch YouTube content, making it easy for me to work using two monitors.
I ran a couple of benchmark tests on the MateBook X Pro to see how it stacks up against its rivals and other laptops in the MateBook range – the table below shows the results. The MateBook X Pro performed very well, only being beaten by the MacBook Air M2 in the Geekbench 5 single-core test.
| Huawei MateBook X Pro 2022 (12th gen) | Huawei MateBook X Pro 2022 (11th gen) | Huawei MateBook 16s | LG Gram 16 (2022) | MacBook Air M2 (2022) | |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-1260P | Intel Core i7-1195G7 | Intel Core i7-12700H | Intel Core i7-1260P | Apple M2 |
| Geekbench 5 single-core | 1770 | 1556 | 1771 | 1662 | 1928 |
| Geekbench 5 multi-core | 9827 | 5643 | 9801 | 8234 | 8968 |
| PCMark 10 | 5551 | 5229 | 5649 | 5222 | N/A |
| 3DMark Time Spy | 1799 | 1853 | 2113 | 1363 | N/A |
It performed particularly well in the multi-core test, beating the MateBook 16s and proving the effectiveness of the CPU. It also scored well in the PCMark 10 test, which evaluates the overall performance of a laptop. While it was beaten by the MateBook 16s, it won out over the LG Gram 16 (2022) and the last MateBook X Pro, suggesting that it comes in as one of the best Huawei laptops in terms of performance power.
The benchmark results, along with the impressive colour accuracy results, suggest the MateBook X Pro 2022 (12th gen) would be fine for entry-level Photoshop workloads. However, even with an accurate display, the lack of discrete GPU will provide limitations for gaming and intense creative work such as 4K editing.
Ideally, Huawei could introduce a model that comes with an optional RTX 3050 or RTX 3060 from Nvidia to really broaden the use cases for this device. Currently, no such option is available.
As with the rest of the MateBook lineup, this laptop ran quietly and didn’t suffer any overheating issues, with the bottom of the laptop only becoming a little warm when under a lot of stress.
This laptop comes with 16GB of RAM and a choice between 512GB and 1TB of storage. For a productivity device, 512GB is plenty, and I’m happy to see a 1TB option for those with heavier workloads.
The SSD scores were decent, too, with read and write results of 3558MB/s and 2,788MB/s respectively, offering average speeds for saving and loading data onto the drive. However, laptops such as the LG Gram 16 and the Dell XPS 13 Plus have boosted SSD speeds even further, if that’s a priority for you.
Battery Life
- Lasted 9hrs 19mins in our benchmark test
- 60Wh battery
The MateBook X Pro 2022 (12th gen) will happily last through a workday, although I’d have welcomed more impressive battery scores.
Huawei includes a 60Wh battery, which saw the laptop last 9hrs 19mins in the PCMark 10 battery test.
While this doesn’t come close to the MateBook 16‘s impressive score of 13 hours, for real-world use, it was sufficient. In addition, I was able to boost that by reducing screen brightness below 150 nits and turning on battery saver mode.
However, you are able to find alternatives with superior stamina. Laptops such as the Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED and Acer Chromebook Spin 513 offer a battery life of 13 hours and 13hrs 35mins respectively.
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Should you buy it?
You want a premium and portable productivity laptop
The Huawei MateBook X Pro is a sleek device that features a fantastic display with a high nit count that can even be used for work that demands colour accuracy.
You want a productivity laptop that won’t break the bank
Despite this laptop’s many benefits, its high price puts it into MacBook territory, which may be off-putting for some customers.
Final Thoughts
The Huawei MateBook X Pro (2022, 12th-gen) is a great laptop; it offers improvements over its predecessor, including higher levels of brightness, better accuracy for colour-sensitive work, and a 12th-Gen Intel processor.
I’m a fan of the sturdy build, and the haptic feedback touchpad. The MateBook X Pro is the ideal laptop for hybrid workers who are looking for a lightweight and portable device that can be used from home or the office.
However, with a disappointing battery life and a super-high price, it’s likely to have limited appeal. If you want a speedy work laptop, then this is a great choice. But you can find a similar performance on more reasonably priced devices such as Dell XPS 13 OLED and MacBook Air M2.
How we test
Every laptop we review goes through a series of uniform checks designed to gauge key things including build quality, performance, screen quality and battery life.
These include formal synthetic benchmarks and scripted tests, plus a series of real-world checks, such as how well it runs the most frequently used apps.
We also make sure to use every laptop we review as our primary device for at least a week to ensure our review is as accurate as possible.
Used as a main laptop for two weeks
Used consistent benchmarks for fair comparisons with other laptops
Tested battery life
Tested the display
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FAQs
The laptop charges via USB-C, with four available ports.
There is only one processor option for this laptop – an Intel Core i7 processor.
Yes, this laptop is capable of running Super Device, a new Huawei feature that allows Huawei users to link their devices together.
Full specs
Trusted Reviews test results
Sustainability
Trusted Reviews holds the fact that global warming is not a myth as a core value and will continuously endeavor to help protect our planet from harm in its business practices.
As part of this mission, whenever we review a product we send the company a series of questions to help us gauge and make transparent the impact the device has on the environment.
We currently haven’t received answers to the questions on this product, but will update this page the moment we do. You can see a detailed breakdown of the questions we ask and why in our sustainability info page.
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GPU
The graphics processing unit is designed to render graphics, which is particularly important for gaming, creating 3D models and editing video.SSD
Known as Solid State Drive, this is a faster form of a memory than a standard hard drive. Results in faster loading times and more ambitious games.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
