Huawei made an utterly sleek laptop that’s 35% lighter than MacBook Air. Too bad you don’t need it.

Huawei has made one of the most tempting ultralight laptops most people will probably never consider buying. The new MateBook Pro S weighs just 798 grams in its lightest configuration, making it around 35% lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Air. It is slightly thicker at 11.9mm, but Huawei still managed to fit a larger display and a 54Wh battery inside its magnesium-alloy chassis.

Its color options are pure eye candy, too. The soft pastel finishes immediately reminded me of the MacBook Neo and give the laptop far more personality than the usual sea of silver, gray, and black ultrabooks.

It looks excellent on paper

The 14.2-inch OLED touchscreen uses a productivity-friendly 3:2 aspect ratio, giving documents and websites more vertical space. Its 3120 x 2080 panel runs at 120Hz, reaches a claimed 1,600 nits during HDR playback, and covers the P3 color gamut.

Huawei also sells a Privacy Screen Edition using technology similar to what Samsung recently introduced on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. A dedicated button activates the privacy mode, which narrows the screen’s viewing angle, keeping it clear for the person sitting directly in front while making text and images much harder to see from either side. The laptop also has an AI feature onboard that can notify the user when it detects someone peeking at the screen.

Performance comes from Huawei’s in-house Kirin XE90 processor, supported by up to 32GB of memory and 1TB of storage. The cooling system can sustain up to 20 watts, while Huawei claims up to 18 hours of 1080p video playback and supports 66W USB-C charging. The biggest hardware compromise is connectivity. There are only two 5Gbps USB-C ports, and just one can drive a 4K display at 60Hz. Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, four speakers, six microphones, and front and rear 1080p cameras help round things out.

HarmonyOS is the deal-breaker

The MateBook Pro S runs HarmonyOS 6.1 instead of Windows. Huawei offers its own AI assistant, meeting transcription, cross-device controls, and software ecosystem, but anyone tied to Windows applications would need to rethink their workflow. It is also limited to China for now. Huawei sells Windows laptops across Europe and other regions, but it has not confirmed whether the MateBook Pro S will travel overseas.

Prices start at 7,999 yuan, or roughly $1,185, while higher-end and collector configurations reach 14,999 yuan, or about $2,220. As a piece of laptop design, it is difficult not to want one, although HarmonyOS makes it a highly impractical choice for most buyers outside China for now.