Fire and Ice

I had been looking at the Huawei Matebook for some time and just could not resist last week when they lowered the price for the entry model down to below $400. And it seems to be a great piece of hardware matched with the excellent Windows 10 Signature package.

Signature means pure OS, no crapware included. It appears the Matebook is fire married with ice in a very elegant package. Especially when mated with the portfolio keyboard, the dock and the pen. The whole package is still 1/2 the price of an iPad Pro, while what you get is a great tablet and a great computer.

It is also probably the first Intel - based machine that is really passive. No fan. Just the back getting little warm, but nothing uncomfortable. The keyboard is not a ThinkPad class but much better compared to the iPad accessory.

But most surprising of all is the Windows 10 package that handles both laptop and tablet modes very well. When undocked, it enters the tablet mode automatically and forces all apps to work in a full screen mode, with a software keyboard popping up when needed.

While it will not be serving as my workhorse machine (I do too much typing to accept any keyboard other than Lenovo), I am very surprised how good overall this computer is. A great choice for a casual user who values flexibility and portability and likes an armchair - style web surfing on a tablet. At $399 it is a great buy.