Huawei MateBook 13 and MediaPad M5 Lite debut in the US at CES 2019
The company brings its latest ultraportable laptop and kid-friendly tablets to the US.
Huawei may be known for its cutting-edge phones, but it makes some nice little laptops (like the MateBook X Pro) and tablets , too. At CES 2019, the company introduced two models to the US: the midrange MateBook 13 13-inch ultraportable and the MediaPad M5 Lite tablet that's got some... interesting kid-focused parental controls.
The "lite" aspect of the new family-friendly MediaPad refers to the lower-resolution, slightly smaller 10.1-inch 1080p screen, less powerful processor and the bundled M-Pen Lite stylus which offers 2,048-levels of pressure compared to the regular M5's 4,096. It will also have a slightly lighter price of $299 when it ships at the end of January.
It offers the usual parental time limit controls and a dedicated "Kids Corner" interface, but also introduces some novel behavior-focused controls as well. It can detect when the tablet is too close to a face, the ambient light is below a certain threshold or if the tablet's being used at an "unhealthy" angle, such as overhead. It will then pop up a little warning animation in the corner, which expands to the entire screen if not heeded.
And it's not very durable for kids -- I accidentally dropped it thanks to my toddler-level coordination and ended up damaging the corner and headphone jack.
As for the MateBook 13, it's more or less a reworked MateBook X: aluminum unibody construction with a matte sandblasted finish, 2,160x1,440 touchscreen with 100 percent sRGB gamut coverage, and a measly two USB-C ports for connections. And the updated logo, of course.
It incorporates the latest Intel Core i5 or i7 U series processors, and the higher-end i7 model comes equipped with the higher-power version of the Nvidia MX150 graphics processor.
The MateBook 13 will be available at the end of January starting at $1,000 with integrated graphics and $1,300 for the model with discrete.
Because of the discrete graphics option, the MateBook 13 isn't fanless like the X models, which makes it thicker, and it scales back to two speakers from four.
It will come in Space Gray for a Core i7 or silver for a Core i5 with prices starting at just under $1,000.
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