Huawei MateBook 14s in review: Outstanding, proproductive notebook

Most people probably know the Chinese manufacturer Huawei mainly for their very good smartphones. You limit yourself Product portfolio is far from limited to these. Huawei has also been building premium notebooks for many years. 

As a new model in the MateBook series, the 14s wants to convince with top hardware for its comparatively low price of 1.149 euros. About a premium design, Intel Core i7-11370H Proprocessor and a 90 Hertz 2,5k touch display. In addition, as always, Huawei's own advantages come from the software in combination with a Huawei smartphone.

Design - unspectacular premium

The MateBook 14s relies on the typical design of the high-quality Huawei notebooks. All three sides are made of aluminum and are properly processed. The high-quality hinge ensures that the device can be opened with one hand. There are high-gloss rounded corners at each corner, which can look very nice with light reflection. Compared to the previous models, Huawei has relocated the front camera to the top of the display with the same, very thin edges. For most users who do video conferencing frequently, this position is much more humane than being filmed from the bottom up. With a weight of only 1,43 kilograms, the 14 inch notebook definitely belongs to the lighter class. The height of 16,7 millimeters is also very portable.

On the outside there is only the large Huawei logo, so the design looks very clean overall. After Huawei released the MateBook X Pro had already presented the color emerald green, this year there is again a green version to choose from: and is called Spruce Green. With significantly less saturation and a subtle appearance, I think the look is very successful. You can stand out from the crowd with it. Opened, the view falls directly on the inside with keyboard, trackpad and fingerprint sensor.

Connections

The ports are on the side of the MateBook. There are two full-fledged USB-C ports on the left, each supporting data transfer, charging and DisplayPort, a 3,5 mm jack and an HDMI port. On the right side there is a classic USB-A port with USB 3.2 Gen 1 standard. It should also be mentioned that the version of the MateBook 14S with a terabyte of storage on the second USB-C socket on the left supports Thunderbolt 4.

Display & speakers - surprisingly good

On the front we see a 14,2-inch display. It comes with a higher 3:2 screen format, which is particularly useful when reading and writing documents, i.e. the Proshows advantageous productivity. With the 2,5k resolution of 2520 x 1680 pixels, it has a PPI of 213, which is more than sharp enough for a notebook display.

The display is made of high-gloss material, but it is also sensitive to touch. Together with the refresh rate of 90 Hertz, which can be activated via the key combination Fn+R, viewing is very pleasant. According to real tests, it covers 94,8 Procent of the sRGB color space and achieves a brightness of 484 nits.

Especially with the 90 Hertz refresh rate and accurate color reproduction, I really enjoyed using this display, more than the MateBook X, for example Pro.

The marketed HUAWEI Sound System has recently been used in the Huawei MateBook 14s. This is a solution consisting of four loudspeakers, which should ensure a high-quality sound overall. In the first impression I was really surprised. While the sound doesn't quite compare to an Apple MacBook Air, it compares favorably to many other Windows notebooks I've heard before, including the MateBook X Pro, significantly better. The sound system will be completely sufficient for simply listening to music in between.

Input devices & unlock

The keyboard of the Huawei MateBook 14s has a key travel of 1,5 mm and is of course backlit. Due to the longer keystroke, the typing feel is extremely pleasant, typing longer texts on it should not be Prorepresent problem.

Key pressure points (image: TechnikNews)

In comparison, the trackpad can't quite keep up. It's made of plastic, which feels less high quality than glass. As with other Windows notebooks, the pressure points are of less quality and cannot be clicked everywhere. Compared to an Apple MacBook or the HUAWEI MateBook X, which in my opinion is the best Windows trackpad on the market, I would recommend always using a mouse.

To overcome the lock screen, the MateBook 14S supports both Windows Hello through infrared face recognition, as well as unlocking via the fingerprint sensor. Both are very fast and reliable, so that you never actually have to enter your PIN in everyday life.

Performance & Battery Life - Not the focus, but good

As a business-oriented notebook, performance is of course not the top priority, but the Intel Core i14-7H is standard in the Huawei MateBook 11300S Proprocessor with Intel iRIS Graphics, 16 gigabytes of RAM and 512 gigabytes of mass storage. There is a choice of balanced or performance-oriented mode, which can be activated via Fn+P when connected to the mains or via the PC Manager software. The difference in performance is not that big, which is why you can basically use the notebook like a smartphone as long as the battery lasts.

The pure performance in everyday life is of course very good, even with more complex multitasking, because the CPU is quite powerful in terms of performance and the cooling is excellent for such a thin notebook. Even simple video editing in the one I tested Program Adobe Premiere Pro is feasible, the performance is better here than with my previously tested Huawei MateBook X Pro 2020. Even if users who really often do complex tasks should prefer a notebook with a dedicated graphics card. The built-in fans turn up during complex tasks, but they are comparatively quiet and have a pleasantly frequented sound.

As for the battery, the Huawei MateBook 14s is equipped with a 60 watt hour battery. Even if the runtimes are of course significantly worse for me as a user of an Apple M1 SoC, it is still higher up in the Windows comparison and does not represent a weak point. Surprisingly, a power supply with a speed of 90 watts is included. This is the fastest speed that a Huawei notebook has ever had. Furthermore, the size of the power supply is similar to that of smartphones. It also supports some fast charging standards, for example to quickly charge a Huawei smartphone.

Software – Exclusive highlight for proproductive Huawei users

On the software side, the Windows 10 user interface is used as standard, whereby an upgrade to Windows 11 is already available free of charge. HUAWEI PC Manager software makes it very easy to update drivers and discover hardware errors,

When talking about a Huawei notebook, of course, you should never neglect the exclusive features. A few months ago I already had a detailed report on the functions of the new HarmonyOS 2.0 ecosystem released. The simple connection of different hardwareProproduce.

Users of current Huawei smartphones, such as the Huawei Nova 9, Enjoy features such as multi-screen collaboration, where the smartphone screen can be switched to the Matebook screen with a tap on the NFC-enabled trackpad prois injected. In this mode, you can easily operate your smartphone using the MateBook display or trackpad, share files with drag-and-drop, and maximize multitasking efficiency. Instead of logging into the MateBook via WhatsApp Web, you can simply answer WhatsApp messages with the notebook keyboard on your smartphone. The latency with this feature is surprisingly low. Users of current Huawei tablets simply have the option of using this as a portable second screen.

Conclusion

The test results listed above show that the HUAWEI MateBook 14s is a very well-rounded overall package in terms of design, display, keyboard, performance, battery and more. Because it hardly has any major weaknesses and, in my opinion, even performs significantly better than the flagship model of the company in many areas, I can use it for Windows users prorecommend without hesitation.

It is obvious that this notebook has to proproductive users. Those who, for example, are often on the go and rely on the thin design. To maximize their experience, Huawei uses a 3:2 screen format, for example, and offers functions such as multi-screen collaboration for Huawei smartphone users. But even if you're not one of them, the MateBook 14s offers a very good user experience for its price. It shows Huawei's many years of experience in the notebook segment. Only the MacBooks with the M1 chip from Apple were able to convince me a little more here. If you are not dependent on the Windows operating system, you can also take a look around at Apple.

• Buy the Huawei MateBook 14s on Amazon

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