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Evaluating the Design of Huawei Matebook 14s
The new Huawei MateBook 14s comes in two colors: Sage Green and Space Grey. Both color variants exude modernity and style thanks to the metallic frame and chrome accents.
The rounded edges of the lid and the slim profile on the front make the laptop visually lighter, although it weighs 1.43 kg for an ultrabook. The laptop's dimensions are 314 × 230 × 20.5 mm (front thickness – 17.5 mm). The device's chassis resembles that of the MateBook 14 2021, but the vent grille on the base isn't a single strip anymore; it's now two strips.
The laptop is supported by thick rubber feet, providing stability on any surface without slipping.
All connection ports are situated on the two side edges. On the left are 2 USB-C 3.2 Gen1 ports supporting Thunderbolt 4 and DisplayPort, HDMI 2.0, and a 3.5mm jack. On the right, there's only a single USB-A 3.2 Gen1 port, oddly missing a card reader.
All ports are located on the edge. On the left are two USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C Thunderbolt 4 interfaces with charging support and DisplayPort, along with HDMI 2.0 video output and a commonly used mini audio jack for microphones/headphones.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The keyboard of the new Huawei MateBook 14s sees no significant changes compared to its predecessor. The keys, including letters and numbers, measure 17 × 17 mm, slightly larger than usual. With nearly equal width, the function keys at 9mm height, and the arrow keys at 8mm height, perhaps the main drawback of the keyboard. Key travel is 1.5 mm, providing a fairly decent typing experience, accompanied by a very subtle sound.
The keyboard also features backlighting with three brightness levels, which can be turned off when not needed.
The Matebook 14s touchpad slightly encroaches on the palm rest area. It measures 120 x 72 mm. The buttons operate smoothly, with sensitive touch, providing convenience during operation.
Camera and Fingerprint Scanner
The new MateBook 14s camera is positioned in the center of the upper screen frame, with a resolution of 720p (30 FPS). This camera can detect faces to unlock the device and is very responsive under sufficient lighting, although it might struggle in low light conditions, hence for enhanced security, utilizing the fingerprint scanner is advisable. The MateBook 14s fingerprint scanner can store and recognize up to 10 fingerprint profiles, allowing easy personalization or authorization for others.
Display
One of the main differences between the new Huawei MateBook 14s and the MateBook 14 2021 is the touchscreen display. While it retains touchscreen functionality, this model boasts a higher resolution of 2520 x 1680 pixels and an increased refresh rate of 90Hz (with a 60Hz option available). Additionally, the maximum brightness of the screen has been raised from 300 to 400 nits.
The screen-to-body ratio is 90%, with side bezels measuring only 5mm, the top bezel at 7.5mm, and the bottom at 10mm. The Huawei MateBook 14s laptop features a 14.2-inch LTPS IPS panel with a resolution of 2520 × 1680 pixels.
Another notable feature of this display is its surface coated with a special oleophobic layer, effectively resisting fingerprint smudges. The touchscreen can detect up to 10 touch points simultaneously.
The screen offers good viewing angles without significant brightness and color shift, even with considerable off-axis viewing and no color inversion. However, when viewed diagonally, the black color field appears washed out with a slightly reddish hue.
Configuration – Performance
The Huawei Matebook 14s in this review boasts an Intel Core i7-11370H processor from the Tiger Lake H35 series, clocked at 3.3GHz with turbo boost up to 4.8GHz. The machine is equipped with 16GB of faster LPDDR4x RAM operating at an effective frequency of 4,266 GHz, sufficient for most tasks achievable on a modern Ultrabook. Its internal storage is a 1TB M.2 2280 NVMe SSD (there's also a 512GB SSD variant available).
With this configuration, the Matebook 14s offers a 16% faster performance compared to the Matebook 14 2021 model. Therefore, for office purposes, you'll hardly encounter any issues with its usage. However, due to relying solely on the integrated Intel Iris XE graphics, the gaming capability of this laptop is quite limited. Naturally, it wasn't designed for gaming either.
Audio Quality
The Huawei MateBook 14s features the new proprietary Huawei Sound surround sound system, including Realtek codec and four built-in speakers, with two downward-facing and two upward-facing speakers at the corners of the keyboard. The maximum volume output of this speaker system reaches 78.1 dB, louder than the average laptop volume level.
Cooling System
The ultrabook's cooling system operates on the classic principle, drawing in cold air from below through the vent grille, passing it through the heat sinks, and expelling it outside. However, compared to the Matebook 14 2021, the cooling system of the Matebook 14s boasts a 25% higher efficiency due to increased heat sink size and fan diameter (from 6 mm to 8 mm).
Battery Life
The new Huawei MateBook 14s features a 60 Wh lithium-polymer battery. It comes with the 188g HW-200450EP0 power adapter with 90 watts. It connects via cable to any USB-C port of the ultrabook, with a flashing white LED when charging.
Thanks to the increased power of the adapter, the charging cycle from 2% -3% to 99% -100% takes only an hour and a half (average result of four cycles), also faster than its predecessor.
For everyday use, this ultrabook can operate from 10.5 to 13 hours for office tasks.
Conclusion
Compared to its predecessor Matebook 14 2021, Matebook 14s has certain advantages. Firstly, it features a premium touchscreen with 2.5K resolution, 90Hz refresh rate, and 400 nits brightness. Secondly, it comes with the faster Intel Core i7-11370H processor with 16GB LPDDR4x RAM, making the ultrabook 16% faster on average, and the improved cooling system ensures stable operation of these crucial components without generating unnecessary noise. The ultrabook's sound system has also been enhanced, with four speakers instead of two and surround sound effects along with 4 microphones. The battery capacity has slightly increased, and it charges faster.
However, the drawbacks still persist. For instance, the two tiny arrow keys on the keyboard are inconvenient to use, there's no card reader, and only one USB-A port is available.
Despite these shortcomings, the Huawei MateBook 14s has made a good impression and is a solid step forward from the previous model. And the price of this upgrade is reflected in the increased cost; the Huawei Matebook 14s model with 16GB RAM + 512GB SSD starts at around 36 million VND, while the version with 16GB RAM + 1TB SSD + Thunderbolt 4 is priced at 39 million VND.
