Published in PC Hardware

Huawei sells Matebooks with Linux

by on13 September 2019


2019 is the year of the Linux notebook don't ya know?

Huawei is now flogging the Matebook 13, Matebook 14, and Matebook X Pro in China with Deepin Linux preinstalled.

For those not in the know, Deepin is a Chinese-domestic distribution, with their own desktop environment. It is possible that Huawei may lose the ability to purchase Windows licenses from Microsoft due to their placement on the "entity list," restricting companies dealing in U.S.-origin technology from conducting business with Huawei, constituting an effective blacklisting by the US government. While it might take the pressure of Huawei if the US trade war gets even uglier, Huawei is passing along the savings to consumers.

The Matebook 13 and 14 models get a 300 yuan ($42) price cut, though the Linux version of the MateBook X Pro is listed at 600 yuan ($84) higher.

The products are listed on VMALL, Huawei's ecommerce marketplace in China, though only allow users to be notified when they are in stock.

Sales of Linux laptops to consumers -- by Huawei, and in general -- could result in better driver support for fingerprint readers and other hardware with inconsistent Linux support.

Sadly there is no news about it appearing in the West.

 

Last modified on 16 September 2019
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