The latest Huawei Matebook 13 sports NFC support and Whiskey Lake-U processor options

Those looking for a (hopefully) cheaper alternative to the new MacBook Air might soon be able to grab the Whiskey Lake-U-powered Huawei Matebook 13. Compared to Apple's Amber Lake i5-8210Y-driven MacBook Air in the slides shown during the official launch event, the new Huawei notebook also comes with NFC connectivity and a webcam placed above the display (nothing out of ordinary about it, only that the Matebook X Pro has a keyboard-embedded camera).

The two configurations announced by Huawei are these:

• Intel Core i5 8th generation with NVIDIA GeForce MX150 graphics
• Intel Core i7-8565U with Intel UHD 620

The list of common features is much longer, including all the other essentials: 8 GB of memory, a 256 GB SSD for internal storage, a 13-inch touchscreen display with 2,160 x 1,440 pixels, 178-degree viewing angles, sRGB color gamut, and 300-nit brightness, 42 WHr battery, NFC, dual-band WiFi, fingerprint scanner, USB Type-C, Bluetooth 5.0, as well as a traditional 3.5 mm audio jack. Obviously, it runs Windows 10 out of the box.

The new Huawei Matebook 13 has an 88 percent screen-to-body ratio, is 0.6-inch thick, and weighs around 2.8 pounds. The prices are not public yet, but at least the two hardware configurations that we mentioned earlier should hit the market — at least the Chinese one — before the end of the year. The color options are — hang on for the last one and be sure that it is only a name so the notebook will not be blown away by the wind — Silver Moon, Deep Grey, and Cherry Powder.