Review of Huawei MateBook D16 2023 - non-flagship laptop with the most powerful Core i9
Miscellaneous / / August 29, 2023
A solution for those who are ready to compromise for the sake of top-end hardware stuffing.
MateBook D series laptops have always been positioned as the best mid-range solutions - good workhorses with balanced characteristics. In the latest model with a 16-inch screen, the manufacturer decided to go a little beyond and use the most powerful 13th generation Core i9 processor - the same as the flagship Matebook 16s 2023. What came of it and how the novelty turned out to be better than its predecessor - read in our review.
Table of contents
- Specifications
- Appearance
- Keyboard and touchpad
- Screen
- Filling
- Software part
- Nutrition
- Results
Specifications
CPU | Intel Core i9‑13900H |
Graphic arts | Intel Iris Xe Graphics |
Memory | RAM: 16 GB (LPDDR4, 4266 MHz, dual-channel, soldered); ROM: 1TB (WD PC SN740, NVMe PCIe SSD) |
Display | 16″, IPS, 16:10, 1920×1200 pixels, 142 PPI, 300 nits, 100% sRGB, 1200:1 contrast ratio |
Webcam | 1080p |
Ports | USB‑C (DisplayPort, Power Delivery), USB‑C (Power Delivery), USB‑A (3.2 Gen 1) × 1, USB‑A (2.0) × 1, HDMI, 3.5 mm audio jack |
Wireless interfaces | Wi‑Fi 6e (802.11ax, 2×2 MIMO), Bluetooth 5.2 |
Other | Stereo speakers, dual microphones, fingerprint scanner, full-size backlit keyboard |
Battery | 60 Wh, 65 W charging (USB‑C) |
Dimensions | 356.7 × 248.7 × 18.4 mm |
Weight | 1.7 kg |
Appearance
In terms of design, everything here is more than standard for Huawei laptops: a metal case in the color “space grey", thin bezels, keyboard with black keys and a round power button with a fingerprint scanner fingers. The sensor reads touches quickly and accurately, as always.
The central part of the lid flexes noticeably, but the rest of the laptop is quite strong and rigid, with excellent assembly and fit of parts. At the same time, it weighs 1.7 kg, which is not much for the owner of a 16-inch display. The weight is distributed evenly, so at first impressions it is even lighter than the declared one.
The lid cannot be lifted with one hand, the hinges are tight, so the lower part of the case will have to be held. There is no usual notch under the touchpad for this, but there is a small “visor” in the webcam area on the cover – you need to pick it up with your finger.
The screen frame itself is made of matte black plastic. Its width on the sides is 5 mm, at the top - 9 mm, at the bottom - 12 mm.
With a set of ports, everything is also standard: on the right - two USB-A, on the left - HDMI, an audio jack and two USB-C - both can be used for recharging, but only one supports DisplayPort, but not Thunderbolt. On the front edge are four microphones.
At the bottom there is one familiar long leg and two smaller ones, as well as a wide ventilation grill almost the entire length of the panel and two grilles for speakers. Yes, the sound here goes down, because the manufacturer equipped this model with a full-size keyboard with a digital block - there is no space left for the front speakers.
Two more ventilation grilles are located in the hinge area, hot air comes out of them, and it is blown directly onto the screen panel. During the operation of the laptop, no problems were noticed from this.
With a weight of 1.7 kg and a body thickness of 18.4 mm, the MateBook D16 2023 is quite suitable for the role of an “exit” laptop, which you can always put in your backpack and go on business, on a trip, to work, study, and so on.
Keyboard and touchpad
The keyboard here is a membrane type with a key travel of 1.5 mm. Compared with past model all the buttons of the digital block have become a little narrower, so the numbers are no longer square, but rectangular.
It looks a little strange, but it allows you to visually separate this block from the rest of the keyboard. The only pity is that this did not help the up and down arrows in any way - they are still the same, at half the height.
Above the number block are the traditional proprietary keys for calling the calculator, AI Search, turning off the camera and minimizing the open window.
The backlighting of the keys is two-level, but not very bright. Turns on with the F3 button if you activate the FN-value mode (this is done by pressing FN - the indicator on the button lights up).
In general, typing on the keyboard is convenient, but if you had a previous laptop without a numeric keypad, then at first you will probably miss past some keys. For example, very often instead of Backspace you press the adjacent Num Lock. But this is a matter of habit.
As for the touchpad, it is relatively small, 120 × 73 mm. The surface is plastic, in the color of the case itself. Clicks perfectly, with a click.
Screen
The screen here is almost the same as its predecessor: a 16-inch IPS matrix with an aspect ratio of 16: 10, a resolution of 1,920 × 1,200 pixels, a brightness of 300 nits and coverage of 100% sRGB gamma. The refresh rate is standard 60 Hz. The surface is matte.
The color reproduction for a mid-range laptop is excellent, there are no critical highlights of the matrix, the viewing angles are quite wide. Working in the sun is tolerable, although the picture fades noticeably, which is expected given the declared characteristics of the panel.
Separately, I would like to note perhaps a very low minimum brightness, which will be a big plus when used in complete darkness, especially if you print a lot and work with documents. There is also the usual eye protection that activates blue filter.
Filling
The MateBook D16 2023 features a 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900H processor (also available with an Intel Core i7-13700H). It has 14 cores: six high-performance ones that can run in two threads at up to 5.4 GHz (Turbo Boost), and eight single-thread energy efficient ones.
Exactly the same chip and the flagship model Matebook 16s 2023, however RAM D16 has a slightly more modest one - LPDDR4 instead of LPDDR5. It's a compromise for a lower price tag.
In the Cinebench R23 benchmark, the results were slightly lower than expected, but still quite high. The same situation is in Geekbench 6, as if the laptop is not fully using the capabilities of its processor.
The drive occupies a single M.2 slot, that is, it will not work to expand 1 TB, only if you change the bar itself. However, this may not make much sense, since the built-in SSD demonstrates very high read and write speeds. This is confirmed by CrystalDiskMark.
The graphics in the laptop are only integrated - Iris Xe Graphics. Of course, there is no need to talk about modern games, but if you are just tired of the routine and want to have some fun, then the laptop will quite cope with the classics - GTA V, Skyrim, The Witcher, the old parts of Battlefield and COD, well, World of tanks.
Heating under load is noticeable, after all, the metal transfers heat perfectly, and there is only one cooler inside, like its predecessor. Noticeable noise is present, but without a "flying up" noise. aircraft' was a pleasant surprise.
Software part
The laptop comes with Windows 11 Home and proprietary utility Huawei PC Manager. The latter allows you to update drivers, perform system diagnostics, and connect other Huawei devices.
The same service makes it possible to use a convenient control panel, which is displayed by clicking on the right side of the taskbar. It gives you quick access to notes, screen recording, search, launch hotspot, and other quick settings, just like on other MateBooks.
There is also a separate camera utility that allows you to change the background behind your back, center the picture, and even change your gaze to interlocutors did not notice when you take your eyes off the screen.
The camera itself writes FHD and has a capture angle of 88°. The picture is not bad, especially if there are no problems with lighting.
Nutrition
Inside is a 60 Wh battery. With daily use, the average battery life of the laptop was about 6 hours. This is an average. There is fast charging with a compact 65W power adapter. With it, it takes 40 minutes to replenish up to 50%, and an hour and a half for all 100%.
Well, since the laptop supports Power Delivery, you can charge it with many other chargers, for example, from your smartphone, if the adapter is powerful enough.
Results
Huawei once again took a long-standing working scheme and simply made a few changes adjusted for time: installed a fresh powerful processor and built in a faster SSD, and 1 TB for both versions of the laptop. Of the slightly less noticeable improvements compared to the previous model, there is a more accurate color reproduction of the screen, although this is subjective, and reduced weight.
A proprietary Metaline antenna for stable Wi‑Fi, a set of connectors, mediocre stereo sound, an FHD camera, average autonomy and a good keyboard are unchanged, everything is like the previous model.
This whole set of advantages and disadvantages makes it quite possible to call the MateBook D16 2023 an excellent solution in its segment. Positioning shifted slightly, the laptop approached flagship line, but he still did not become his alternative. And this is good. The company carried out an upgrade without provoking internal competition of models.
Prices for the MateBook D16 2023 seem a bit high, but so far there are not many similar models on the market, so these numbers are quite logical:
- MateBook D16 2023 (Core i7‑13700H) — 99,999 rubles;
- MateBook D16 2023 (Core i9‑13900H) – 106,999 rubles.
When buying a laptop on the official website as a gift (for 1 ruble), they also give an excellent Huawei Sound Joy audio speaker.
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