Huawei Singapore started off the year with a bang by launching it’s much anticipated Huawei P50 Pro (Review) flagship phone as well as it’s first-ever clamshell-style foldable phone dubbed as the Huawei P50 Pocket in the local market.
While most of the hype is still revolving around it’s latest P50 devices, let’s not forget that the company had also recently announced the brand new Huawei MateBook 14s laptop that aims to elevate productivity experience for business users.
Knowing that the company had launched some fantastic models such as the Huawei Matebook X 2021 (Review) and Huawei MateBook 14 2020 AMD (Review), I’m probably more excited than anyone in checking out what new features and innovations Huawei had managed to squeeze into the Matebook 14s this time round.
After spending more than two weeks with the new Huawei MateBook 14s, it’s safe to say that Huawei had done another excellent job in it’s next laptop offering. To find out why, read on our full review of the new Huawei MateBook 14s!
An Ultra Sleek & Portable Design
I’d mentioned before in my past reviews that I’ve always been a huge fan of Huawei MateBook series’ laptops design – not just about how good-looking these laptops are, but also how portable they are for users who’re frequently on the go.
This is why I’m glad that the new Huawei MateBook 14s continues to retain a consistent design which had already been proven to be popular among Huawei fans. In fact, this is a success formula which had been tried and tested by other laptop makers such as ASUS and Apple which have adopted a similar strategy for their flagship line.
On the outside, the Huawei MateBook 14s features a sleek and minimalist design which looks elegant across all angles. This is especially true for the Space Gray model which looks fitting for all business occasions thanks to it’s processional outlook.
Despite it’s featherlight weight of just 1.43 kg, the Huawei MateBook 14s sports an excellent build quality with the usage of sturdy aluminium-alloy for it’s entire chassis which not not only improves the durability of the laptop, but also feel premium to touch.
Flip open the laptop cover, we’ll be greeted by a 14.2” LTPS LCD display which offers sufficient screen estate for entertainment and productivity. As with any other MateBook series laptop, the new MateBook 14s sticks with the signature 3:2 tall aspect ratio for the display.
Speaking of this, Huawei’s MateBook series laptops are among the pioneer batch of laptops which embrace a taller aspect ratio as opposed to the traditional 16:9 aspect ratio. While this isn’t a widely adopted aspect ratio, but it do offer better productivity experience as a result of the extra vertical screen estate.
That’s because the extra screen allows browsers or any other apps to show more contents onscreen which reduces the amount of scrolling required to go through contents. This makes it an ideal aspect ratio for those who love to indulge in reading e-book on the laptop.
Additionally, the 3:2 aspect ratio actually enables you to fully fit two A4 sized documents side-by-side onscreen which really helps whenever you need to cross reference any data or information from one of the document.
Another aspect which I really love about the Huawei MateBook 14s is the impressive 90% screen-to-body ratio which offers a near full-screen viewing experience. This of course makes entertainment and binge watching more enjoyable on the MateBook 14s.
Specs-wise, the display offers a sharp 2520 x 1680 pixels resolution that puts plenty of details on screen when browsing photos or streaming videos. Similarly, it’s fast 90Hz refresh rate also makes scrolling and transitions appear much smoother onscreen.
In terms of color accuracy, the Huawei MateBook 14s is also supports 100% sRGB color gamut coverage as well as 10-bit color depth which allow contents to appear more realistic on screen.
A Comfortable Typing Experience
Sitting below it’s 14.2” screen is a familiar-looking keyboard layout shared across the MateBook series laptops. Here, Huawei did a great job in ensuring a convenient key space between each of the individual keys. Also, the keys are responsive with right amount of key travel and tactile feedback to facilitate a comfortable typing experience.
Most importantly, it’s keyboard deck isn’t those flimsy type of construction which flexes under you fingertip. Rather, it’s built upon a robust construction which felt sturdy even for a heavy-typer like myself. That’s definitely remarkable for a slim laptop like the MateBook 14s.
Although I mentioned that the keyboard layout on the MateBook 14s is pretty much similar to other MateBook series laptops, but there’s actually one notable change whereby it’s webcam is no longer hidden within a spring-loaded button which sits between the “F6 and “F7” keys.
Instead, it’s now situated along the upper bezel of the screen which in my opinion, works way better than having it hidden along the top row of the keyboard which often requires you to do some physical adjustments to the laptop’s position to put yourself inside the camera frame.
For better ergonomic, the Huawei MateBook 14s also provides ample space below the keyboard deck for users to rest their palm when typing to help alleviate wrist fatigue after spending long hours working on the laptop.
Snappy Performance For Work & Entertainment
Under the hood, the new Huawei MateBook 14s is helmed by a 10nm Intel Core i7-11370H Processor that’s found in quite a number of high-end gaming laptops. It’s a quad-core SoC capable of reaching a maximum clock speed of 4.8GHz with Intel’s Turbo Boost technology.
On the graphical-end, there’s an integrated Intel’s Iris Xe GPU that helps ensure a smooth entertainment and productivity experience on the laptop. Likewise, it’s also geared with a hefty 16GB LPDDRX4 RAM alongside an ample 512GB SSD storage which leaves us with little to nit pick in this aspect.
In terms of real life usage, the Huawei MateBook 14s did performed up to expectation with lag-free gaming session (default graphics settings) and seamless video editing (1080p @ 60fps), making it an ideal machine for both work and play.
While the MateBook 14s isn’t a gaming-focused laptop, but it nonetheless comes with an advance Shark fin dual-fan cooling system which never fail to sprung into action whenever I was working on more resource intensive workload like video editing, to keep the laptop at an optimal temperature to prevent thermal throttling.
Amazing Battery Eudurance
To keep the laptop running, the Huawei MateBook 14s is equipped with a high-capacity 60Wh battery that can easily last me through a day of work with around 10 to 11 hours’ worth of battery life with a single charge.
This allows me to bring the laptop out for work at a nearby café without even worrying about it’s battery life at all. Most importantly, it saves me hassle of bringing along another charging brick – and that’s something I really appreciate!
As for charging, the Huawei MateBook 14s comes with a 90W USB-C adapter out of the box. During my testing, I was able to recharge the laptop from a completely flat battery to it’s brim in less than two hours which is pretty impressive for a battery of such capacity.
Additional Perks For Huawei Smartphone Users!
As usual, Huawei smartphone users will also be able to take advantage of certain exclusive features such as the Huawei Share/ Multi-screen collaboration feature which can be activated by simply tapping your phone on the touchpad.
Once connected, your phone screen will be mirrored to the Huawei MateBook 14s which will open you to all sort of possibilities including controlling your phone apps or seamlessly transfer files or pictures from your laptop to your phone.
This is definitely an intuitive feature that’s unique to Huawei laptops and set them apart from other models. However, do note that this feature only works for Huawei smartphones running on EMUI 10 and above. Likewise, some of the more complex tasks like running multiple phone tasks using your MateBook may require the latest EMUI 11 software as well.
For more information about the supported models and requirements, you may visit Huawei’s official support page which gives you every single bit of details.
Verdict
Priced at S$1,998, the Huawei MateBook 14s can be considered as one of the more affordable model in the world of premium laptops. Despite that, it does have the calibre to put itself on equal footing with other more expensive models.
From it’s breathtaking design to it’s amazing performance and battery life, the Huawei MateBook 14s is an all-rounded laptop ideal for both entertainment and productivity. Simply put, it’s an epitome of Huawei’s craftmanship and hardware excellence.
For those who’re interested, the Huawei Matebook 14s can be purchased via Huawei’s official store on both Shopee and Lazada, or any of the Huawei Experience Stores island-wide.
