Apr 15, 2024 12:14:00

Huawei announces the MateBook X Pro notebook PC equipped with Intel's Meteor Lake processor

Huawei's first AI PC , the MateBook X Pro , equipped with Intel's Meteor Lake, has been announced. The MateBook X Pro runs on Huawei's HarmonyOS and will integrate the company's large-scale language model Pangu to provide functionality similar to Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT.

HUAWEI MateBook X Pro Ultra Micro Soft Classic Edition - HUAWEI Official Website

https://consumer.huawei.com/cn/laptops/matebook-x-pro-ultra-premium-edition/

US lawmakers angry after Huawei unveils laptop with new Intel AI chip | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-lawmakers-angry-after-huawei-unveils-laptop-with-new-intel-ai-chip-2024-04-12/

Blacklisted Huawei unveils new Intel-powered notebooks — MateBook X Pro comes armed with latest Core Ultra inside | Tom's Hardware
https://www.tomshardware.com/laptops/blacklisted-huawei-unveils-new-intel-powered-notebooks-matebook-x-pro-comes-armed-with-latest-core-ultra-inside

The MateBook X Pro is based on a Core Ultra 7 155H or Core Ultra 9 185H processor with integrated graphics programmed to support up to 40W TDP, and is available with 16GB or 32GB of RAM and 1TB or 2TB of NVMe PCIe storage options.

The device has a 14.2-inch screen size, a 3:2 aspect ratio, and a resolution of 3120x2080 pixels. It features an OLED touch-sensitive display with a peak brightness of 1000 nits in HDR mode, a 120Hz refresh rate, and support for Adobe RGB, P3, and sRGB color gamuts.

It has a Bluetooth 5.3 adapter, one USB-C port, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 70WHr battery, six speakers, four microphones, a keyboard, a trackpad, and a 1080p webcam.

The MateBook X Pro features a lightweight design, weighing just 3.5 oz (980 g) with a magnesium alloy finish. Huawei has suggested that the device will rival Apple's MacBooks, revealing that the MateBook X Pro's OLED screen is better than the MacBook Air's LCD and that the Core Ultra 9 chip is 27% faster at 4K video editing than the M3-powered MacBook Pro.

In addition, the Pangu AI service can be used for real-time translation, image quality improvement, text summarization, etc., and it can also use AI models from other companies such as Baidu's Ernie Bot and iFlytek's Spark. It is unclear whether the MateBook X Pro will be able to take advantage of the built-in AI acceleration capabilities of the Intel Core Ultra or if it will rely on the cloud.

The MateBook X Pro is scheduled to be launched in the Chinese market on April 18, 2024, with a price of up to 14,999 yuan (about 319,000 yen) for a version equipped with Intel's Core Ultra 9 processor, 32GB of memory, and 2TB of storage.

The US government has been trying to restrict Huawei, and domestic chipmakers like Intel need a special government license to do business with Huawei. Intel has had special export licenses since late 2020, toward the end of Donald Trump's administration, and Intel has shipped chips to Huawei, including its 12th and 13th generation processors.

Meanwhile, rival AMD

has complained that it has not been granted permission and has lost the opportunity to sell $500 million worth of chips.

Some US lawmakers are not happy with Intel's continued export of products to Chinese companies, and some have criticized the Biden administration over the announcement of the MateBook X Pro.

However, Intel's export license will not last forever and is scheduled to expire at the end of 2024 unless Intel indicates its intention to renew it. Even if Intel requests a renewal, the government may not approve it.

'Huawei is in a precarious position and will need to import as many chips as possible from Intel before its export licence lapses, amid fears its supply lines will be cut,' Reuters said.