MateBook 14 with Intel® Core Processor ™ review: Mobile productivity in a premium package

Huawei has stood out in the last few years on the MateBook series laptop market, offering under this brand laptops for productivity in all categories. While the MateBook D models are made for basic office productivity, and the MateBook X models are the most technologically advanced, but also the performance offered, the MateBook 14 variants with Intel® Core ™ processor fall somewhere in the range of middle. They promise premium construction, high-performance components, attractive design and almost all the capabilities you need when you need a work laptop, without feeling compromised.

Huawei has chosen a premium build for MateBook 14

Huawei laptops have always had a very well-designed design. MateBook 14 with Intel® Core ™ processor retains the lines and materials of the past, being a laptop made of aluminum and glass, cold to the touch and weighing 1.5 kg. It also has the advantage that it does not “squeak” from any wrist, everything being extremely well coagulated, from the hinge of the display, to the area around the keyboard that does not flex when pressed, but also to the cover at the bottom. Basically, the MateBook 14 is a “dense” laptop, Huawei using all the space inside the case, without wasting any millimeter.

Huawei MateBook 14 keyboard

We are dealing with a large illuminated keyboard, well-spaced buttons and a medium stroke, pleasant to use, a medium-sized trackpad, as well as a power button that integrates a fingerprint sensor in the “main” area. of the laptop.

At the bottom, you can see a few ventilation slots and a grille for stereo speakers. Compared to other “desktop” computers, Huawei has chosen to use two fans to cool this laptop, located on either side of the motherboard.

Huawei MateBook 14

On the sides, the laptop includes all connectivity ports. Two USB-A’s on the right, for quick attachment of a wireless mouse dongle, or an external storage unit, and a USB-C, an audio jack, and an HDMI on the left. If it were up to me, I would have put another USB-C port on the left because the only one available is also used for charging, so if you still come with a USB-C cable accessory you have to choose either to connect it or the power from the socket. However, most of the accessories are still on USB-A, and this laptop already has almost everything you need inside, including a webcam, although this is not immediately obvious.

The frame around the screen is extremely thin due to the fact that the webcam is positioned elsewhere. Those who look more closely at the keyboard will see an extra button between the F6 and F7 buttons. It has a one-camera icon and is where the webcam actually is. Press the button, and it turns into the camera lens. An advantage of this design is that it has a physical “cover” included, the camera being retracted into the laptop case when not in use. This way you can make sure that no one is “spying” on you.

Huawei MateBook 14 webcam side

The laptop comes with a 65W charger that comes with a removable USB-C cable, so if something happens, it can be replaced without changing the entire plug adapter.

Configuration

  • Screen: 14 ″, 2,160 x 1,440 pixels, IPS, 60 Hz
  • Processor: Intel Core i5-1135G7 (2.4 GHz, 4.2 GHz boost)
  • GPU: Intel Iris Xe
  • RAM: 16 GB DDR4
  • Storage: 512GB NVMe PCI-Express 3.0 SSD
  • Ports: 1 x USB-C, HDMI 2.0, 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 × 2 (USB-A), 3.5mm combo jack
  • Wireless: WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.1
  • Battery: 56 Wh, 65 W power supply
  • Sound: stereo
  • Other: illuminated keyboard, fingerprint sensor in the power button, HD webcam hidden in the keyboard
  • Weight: 1.5 kg
Read:  Samsung Galaxy Book 3 unveiled with unofficial images and specifications

The large format screen is especially good for office productivity

The screen of the MateBook 14 is especially suitable for productivity, being made in 3: 2 format, but also with a high resolution: 2,160 x 1,440. Basically, we are dealing with a very high QHD model, which offers a very clear image, especially for the 14 ”diagonal. It is built on IPS technology, so it offers very good viewing angles, and is also suitable for watching movies. Of course, given the high format, they will be displayed with black bars up and down.

Huawei MateBook 14 display

The screen is protected by glass, because it is also a touchscreen. Even if we are not dealing with a convertible laptop that can turn the screen 180 degrees to turn it into a Windows tablet, there are times when touchscreen support can help make basic tasks easier. Because it doesn’t fold completely, its use for drawing doesn’t make much sense.

With a brightness of 300 nits, this screen is not necessarily the brightest on the market, but it offers high enough brightness that it is not necessary to use it on the maximum setting inside.

MateBook 14 is a laptop that allows you to be productive anywhere

In use, Huawei MateBook 14 is very pleasant, being the kind of computer that encourages you to take it with you everywhere. The 1.5 kg weight is still in the ultrabook area, and the large battery for a compact laptop ensures over 5-6 hours of “real” productivity when the laptop is unplugged. This means that as long as you set the consumption profile to the most efficient, you keep the screen at half brightness and all you have to do is work with documents and in the browser, you will be able to use your laptop all day long, only on battery.

Huawei MateBook 14 power

The keyboard is nice for long typing sessions, being large enough not to put pressure on your wrists. Its lighting has two different levels of brightness. You will probably only use this function in the evening, on the minimum setting, which is enough, especially because during the day, when there is light in the workspace, the illumination of the keys is hardly noticeable at all, as it is white. This will save you even more battery power. The trackpad is quite large, but not the largest I’ve seen on an ultrabook, but it’s well tuned, with a surface that slides easily and a satisfactory mechanical click on its entire surface. While some manufacturers prefer to include the fingerprint sensor here, Huawei has chosen the most stylish solution, similar to what we find on some smartphones: integration with the Power button and compatibility with Windows Hello.

I did not understand why Huawei is configuring the system with two partitions on an SSD of only 512 GB. The system comes with a 120 GB system partition and a data partition with the remaining almost 400 GB left. It seems like an old-fashioned practice that could quickly cause problems for those who are used to installing many applications and saving many things on the desktop, in the download folder or in the document folder. Fortunately, you can easily change partitions even in Windows.

Huawei MateBook 14 back side left

Being a productivity computer and not a content creation computer, I didn’t expect it to be noisy, and it turned out not to be. Its fans start when more complex use cases occur, but never rise to a level where they make annoying noises. In fact, it does not even integrate components that consume a lot of energy or heat up a lot. With an 11th generation Intel® Core 5 i5 processor and an NVMe SSD, along with a dual-fan cooling system, it can’t get very hot.

Read:  Elon Musk wants to make access to Twitter for a fee. Network introduces "Official" badge

The HUAWEI MateBook 14 features an 11th-generation Intel® Core 5 i5 processor to deliver powerful performance in a lightweight case. Built on the advanced 10 nm SuperFin process, the new processors are paired with up to 16GB of dual-channel DDR4 memory and a 512GB high-speed PCIe SSD to support fast, stable performance so users can fully express their creativity. , whether it’s multitasking or managing heavy computing tasks. The powerful cooling system, with two fans with dense S-shaped fan blades and two heat pipes, keep the HUAWEI MateBook 14 cool and quiet, even during demanding tasks.

We haven’t tested Huawei’s “Multi Device” functionality now, but we’ve tested it with the company’s phones and tablets before, and that can be an important factor in choosing a new laptop. If you already have a Huawei smartphone or tablet, you can use them all together through Huawei Share. You can quickly send files from one to another, control other devices on your laptop screen, and even take voice or video calls through your microphones and webcam.

Huawei MateBook 14 charger

And when it comes to the webcam, while it comes with the advantage of being very discreetly hidden in the keyboard, it also comes with an inconvenience for those who do multi-tasking during video calls. Because it is positioned at the bottom, when you type, your fingers will always be in the frame. At least the camera quality is above average, so on the other hand, the images reach a very good fidelity.

The Huawei MateBook 14 comes with the Windows 10 operating system at the factory, but it can be upgraded to Windows 11 by those who want the new operating system.

Huawei has built the MateBook 14 for low noise and low temperatures in use

In terms of performance, the Huawei MateBook 14 falls within the limits of an “office” computer. It does not break performance records with either its mid-range processor or the integrated SSD. However, I would say that they are exactly within the limits of providing good performance for the use cases for which the computer was designed.

Huawei MateBook 14 front side

In fact, the cooling curve and temperature limits are specially designed for office work. Thus, when you start an application that requires high processing power, the processor rises to 95 degrees in temperature as long as it keeps the initial boost, then drops to 72-73 degrees to keep the fans at a low speed. As a result, the processor stabilizes at around 3.0-3.1 GHz for sustained loads, so above the base frequency anyway.

The MateBook 14 has an Intel® Core ™ i5 processor fast enough to keep you from waiting when you open a new application and an SSD that quickly loads the operating system at startup and can provide quick access to files. The 16 GB of RAM is enough even for most gaming systems, so for browsing and office, it will certainly be enough, even with a lot of tabs open in Chrome.

Huawei MateBook 14 bottom

We also did some performance tests with MateBook 14, which shows that we are not talking about high-end configurations. Most likely, Huawei maintains that level of performance for the higher models, MateBook X.

Benchmarks

  • Cinebench R23: Multi-Core: 4,588
  • CrystalDiskMark SEQ1M Q8T1 Read: 3,353 MB / s / Write: 1,025 MB / s
  • CrystalDiskMark SEQ1M Q1T1 Read: 1,814 MB / s / Write: 1,035 MB / s

PCMark 10

  • Essentials: 8,975
  • Productivity: 6.185
  • Digital Conent Creation: 4,882
  • Total Score: 4,636

conclusions

Huawei MateBook 14 is a laptop that achieves its goals. It is primarily suitable for the level of performance for office productivity, looks good, is very well built and has a very good screen for editing documents, browsing or tables in Excel, due to its high format.

MateBook 14, in the tested configuration, is available on the Huawei Store at the price of 4,249 lei and comes on sale with a backpack and a gift mouse.

The Best Online Bookmakers March 27 2024

BetMGM Casino

Bonus

$1,000