20 06 2017

UPDATE 08/2017: decided against purchasing MateBook X. Thinkpad X2xx series remains first choice due to battery life.

I LOVE Thinkpads, they’re great. But … visually i fell in love with the design of HUAWEI’s Matebook X … such a beautiful machine! I’m collecting some infos about MateBook X specs and Linux here. It’s a beautiful beast but (unfortunately) you have to expect some drawbacks like heat, short battery life and limited disk/ram options.

MacBook 12 side by side with MateBook X:
http://japanese.engadget.com/2017/07/04/12-macbook-matebook-x-7-7-14-6800/
https://www.tek.no/artikler/test-huawei-matebook-x/395749

Liteon SSD part numbers:
liteon cb1-sd256
and
liteon cb1-sd512
see also: https://fccid.io/MSIP-REM-PPQ-CB1-SD512 and http://www.rra.go.kr/ko/license/A_b_popup.do?app_no=201717100000063528

SSD is M.2 2242 user replaceable, however i couldnt find a single M.2 2242 PCI-E (!) SSD with 512GB or higher:
https://www.laptopmain.com/huawei-matebook-x-disassembly-ssd-ram-upgrade-options/

Matebook X and Linux (what works, what doesnt – linux kernel 4.12 or later required for WiFi):
WiFi is Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265 (usually since 4.6 but its the Huaweis OEM modification, which is recognized since 4.12)
https://www.reddit.com/r/Huawei/comments/6czr0g/anyone_running_linux_on_matebook_x/
https://www.reddit.com/user/kuru81

BIOS Keys:
https://ersocon.net/blog/2017/7/12/matebook-x-boot-menu-and-bios

OpenBSD on Matebook X:
https://jcs.org/2017/07/14/matebook

Things you should know before purchase:
– People report the device gets HOT when being used AND charged at the same time
– Linux battery life 4-6 hours (comparable to MacBook 12″ … moderate load, like watching youtube in chrome and coding in vim, file watcher running in backgorund and compiling)
– The display seems to be quite glossy
– Warranty is only 1 year bring-in and i couldnt find an offer to extend that (as opposed to 1-3 years on Apple and 3-5 years on Thinkpads)

Reviews, Product videos:
http://consumer.huawei.com/en/tablets/matebook-x/index.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eorrOYD_dLM
https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/3067326
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf2ABffClLY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCNXdaeWv5U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMA_2bHqx6w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czdv-l-VTwA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz9HRaDdTMI

Enable desktop sharing in Ubuntu Desktop (“Freigabe der Arbeitsfläche”) VNC RDP OSX Terminal: create multi part splitted ZIP file archive