The recent arrival of Android 12L marks the apparent rejuvenation of Google’s efforts around large screens, especially the tablet category, which has been largely neglected by the platform holder in recent years. When we discovered going hands-on with 12L on the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro, Google has undeniably made progress in making Android something that feels more at home on a larger screen.
But while we wait for more big-screen Android devices to land, the Windows and iOS-based competition is still formidable. For the past few weeks, I’ve been using Huawei’s latest Windows 11 convertible, the MateBook E, as my daily driver laptop for pretty much all my daily computing besides video editing (Huawei provided the device to test its new cross-platform Super Device ecosystem).
Although it looks like many of Huawei’s other newer tablets that have used either Android or HarmonyOS, the MateBook E is a different kind of tablet. Like Microsoft’s Surface Pro series, it’s a complete PC contained in a tablet case. As such, just as even the best Android tablets bring with them some smartphone lineage, tablets like the MateBook E come with their own PC-influenced luggage. This is not a completely silent, fanless machine like the iPad Pro or even a modern Android tablet like the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra. It’s also a bit heavier than Apple’s tablet weighing 709 grams. But of course, unlike the iPad or Galaxy Tab, the MateBook runs a full-fledged desktop operating system.
A complete portable replacement?
The sleek proportions of the MatePad E mean that the internal battery is a relatively small 42Wh device that lasts medium life – most of a full working day depending on my workload, with Windows 11’s dark theme enabled. It’s weaker than you would get out of an iPad Air with similar usage.
The MateBook E is paired with a magnetic keyboard cover that can be clicked on the back of the tablet and provides a reasonable level of control over the screen angle. Unlike some convertibles like the Microsoft Surface series, the support leg is part of the keyboard cover, not the tablet, so you will need to attach it to support the screen.
The trackpad is relatively small compared to what you would find on a full size laptop.
And using it backed up like a tablet requires the keyboard to fold back under the support foot, which feels a bit unelegant. Lenovo’s Tab P12 Pro, for example, has a dedicated magnetic support leg. It’s a shame, because between the bright OLED screen and the quad speaker system, this is a great media consumption tablet.
The touch pad is pretty typical of this type of keyboard cover – not terrible in terms of responsiveness, but relatively small compared to what you would find on a full-size laptop. Meanwhile, the keyboard is large enough to type comfortably, with fixed keys and a fair amount of travel given the size of the cover.
The tablet chassis itself is minimalist and comfortable to hold, with a soft plastic back and small cooling valves around the edges. Smartphone-like volume controls live on the top edge of the screen, while biometric unlocking is handled via a fingerprint scanner built into the power key, which worked reliably for me.
Having the fully-featured Windows versions of these productivity apps allows me to get things done with fewer roadblocks for my workflow.
This model’s immediate predecessor, the 2019 MateBook E, ran the ARM-based Snapdragon 850 – a cooler SoC but one that limited its access to the full Windows ecosystem. This time, the MateBook E is back on Intel silicon – the version I used is the mid-tier model with an 11th generation Core i5-1130G7, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage (i3 and i7 variants are also available). These are low-power chips intended for the convertible like the MateBook E, but I’ve found that the model I’ve used is more than powerful enough to handle the few dozen Chrome tabs I throw after it during a normal workday, along with RAW photo editing in Photoshop and some light play.
All of this is of course possible on an Android tablet, but having the fully-featured Windows versions of these productivity apps allows me to get things done with fewer roadblocks for my workflow. Google Chrome has been tablet-friendly on Windows for some time, while Photoshop works surprisingly well with touch input or the included Huawei M Pencil.
Pixel push force
The most important feature of any tablet, of course, is the screen, and the MateBook E does not disappoint with its 2560×1600 resolution, strong colors and 600 nits maximum brightness. With 12.6 inches diagonally, it’s relatively spacious for a small tablet, although I found that I had to drop the screen scaling down to 175% (against the standard 200%) to make the Windows user interface feel more appropriately sized on this screen. .
When we talk about Windows, the multitasking offered by Microsoft’s OS remains far superior to Android or iPad OS for mostly obvious reasons. Google or Apple’s tablet implementations are great for handling two apps at once, possibly with a picture-in-picture video. But for something more than that, Windows, with its – yes, windows feels much more competent. Unlike Android or iPad OS, however, Windows was not originally built for touch. But navigating around using swipe gestures to go home or share the screen created a comfortable tablet experience.
The multitasking offered by Microsoft’s OS remains far superior.
I routinely paired the MateBook E with Huawei’s 3: 2 MateView screen over USB-C, and the device had no trouble running both the built-in Quad HD panel and the screen’s 4K + screen (3840×2560) at the same time. In fact, for such a smart device with integrated graphics, I was amazed at how well the built-in Iris Xe GPU handled relatively graphically intensive things, including light gaming. You will not play the latest triple-A titles on this thing, but I managed a solid 60fps in Team Fortress 2 with medium settings at 1680×1050 resolution. Older titles like BioShock and Unreal Tournament 3 also ran well around that resolution at high settings.
The only thing you really lack in this screen is a higher refresh rate. While not particularly notable when using the MateBook E as a laptop, the 60Hz refresh rate feels noticeably less smooth in tablet mode than the 120Hz offered by the iPad and Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra. However, if you spend most of your time with this tablet docket, it is not a big deal.
MateBook E is for maximum productivity
Even without a fast refresh rate or the iPad’s battery life for several days, modern Windows tablets like the MateBook E fit the way I work better than modern Android tablets. As soon as I used more than a few apps at once, I appreciated the extra multitasking versatility offered by Windows, as well as the full PC app ecosystem. When it comes to gaming, it’s surprising how well the integrated GPU of a device like this one is able to handle older or less intensive titles.
The problem with the Android tablet app gap that has plagued the platform since the early 2010s remains a major barrier to access. Windows is not a touch-first OS, but in this device category it still has the home advantage over Android, where most Windows apps work quite well with touch or a stylus.
Even if you want to sacrifice battery life and silent operation compared to an iPad or one of the best Android tablets, there is just more you can do with complete desktop apps like Photoshop and Lightroom on a device like MatePad E. For comparison, use you similar hardware on Android makes me feel less productive.
While Android 12L is an important first step and can be powerful as demonstrated by the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro, it will not take months but years of effort and investment from Google to catch up with the level of productivity that devices like the MatePad E offer today.
Huawei MateBook E
Huawei’s latest Windows convertible has a beautiful OLED screen and lots of power thanks to 11th generation Intel Core processors.