HUAWEI MateBook 14 (2024) Review: Elegant MacBook Air Alternative With Great Display

HUAWEI has already proven several times in the past that it can produce excellent, high-quality notebooks. For example, with the MateBook 16s (our test). With the HUAWEI MateBook 14 (2024), the company is now relaunching its handy and lightweight 14-inch notebook and consistently eliminating almost all of the criticisms of its predecessor. In our HUAWEI MateBook 14 (2024) test, the laptop is convincing almost across the board.

Technical data

HUAWEI MateBook 14 (2024) test: Elegant and high-quality notebook

• fresh green color scheme
• robust aluminum casing
• Hard-soldered RAM

The HUAWEI MateBook 14 (2024) proves to be an elegant and high-quality notebook in the test, which is a real eye-catcher visually. Okay, the shimmering green color scheme is certainly a matter of taste, but it does set it apart from the typical laptop monotony.

With dimensions of 322.5 mm x 226 mm x 14.5 mm (width x depth x height) and a pleasant weight of just 1.31 kg, the notebook is also very handy and perfectly equipped for mobile use.

The robust aluminum casing also offers nothing to complain about in terms of build quality and feels very high-quality. The hinges also sit comfortably firmly and ensure a stable screen that hardly bounces at all. It sits comfortably in the hand and can be opened with just one hand thanks to the large recessed grip.

It’s a bit of a shame that the appliance is limited in terms of maintenance options. Torx screws are used to access the interior, where you will find permanently soldered RAM. At least the M.2 SSD can be replaced.

Nevertheless, this circumstance does not weigh too heavily, because with 16 GB DDR5 RAM and a 1 TB SSD, the configuration is perfectly equipped for most applications.

Impressive features and a good selection of connections

• modern CPU
• Super device; but only with HUAWEI smartphone
• decent variety of connections; no Thunderbolt 4

The doubling of the SSD size compared to last year’s model is particularly good news for the HUAWEI MateBook 14 (2024). But there have also been some changes to the rest of the features.

The economical but not particularly powerful Core i5-1240P has given way to the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H from the current 14th CPU generation in the 2024 new edition, while graphics processing is performed internally via the Intel ARC iGPU and should be significantly higher than the Iris Xe GPU from the previous year.

HUAWEI is already making better use of the chip’s AI functions than many other manufacturers and has equipped the MateBook with an AI-supported webcam, AI sound, AI microphones and an AI-supported search function, for example.

Most of it works well, but is not much more than a nice gimmick. The auto-tracking of the webcam and the good microphone quality are particularly positive, even if the image quality of the 1080p webcam only achieves decent results.

However, the features are most interesting in combination with a smartphone from the manufacturer, with which a so-called super device can be created. This makes it possible to play the smartphone screen on the notebook and operate it from there. At the same time, the notebook’s peripherals can be used on the smartphone, while file transfers are particularly quick and easy.

The MateBook 14 is equipped with Wi-Fi 6, for which new HUAWEI Metaline antennas are used. Thanks to their innovative structure, they are designed to improve the transmission speed and the reliability of the Internet connection. In practice, the notebook achieves really excellent Wi-Fi speeds and maintains a good connection even far away from the router and through walls.

The selection of ports on the HUAWEI MateBook 14 (2024) is fine, but I find the layout a little impractical. On the left side, there is 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 1, 1x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, one 3.5 mm jack and one HDMI. On the right, however, there is just one more USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port.

Another USB-C port or even Thunderbolt 4 would have been nice, as this port is already occupied when the power supply is connected.

Bright and powerful OLED touchscreen, good operation

• high-resolution OLED display
• precise touchscreen
• good keyboard

In contrast to its predecessor, which used an IPS panel, the HUAWEI MateBook 14 (2024) uses an OLED panel, which is not only remarkable in this price range, but also suits the laptop extremely well.

The 2.8K OLED display has a resolution of 2,880 x 1,920 pixels in 3:2 format and scores with a variable refresh rate of up to 120 hertz. It achieves a screen-to-body ratio of 91% thanks to its narrow bezels and reaches a peak brightness of 450 nits. This ensures good readability even in direct sunlight.

It is also a touchscreen, which means it can be conveniently operated with a finger or stylus. The screen can be folded down comfortably, although not completely, which improves usability.

Thanks to 1,920 Hz PWM dimming, it is also very well protected against flickering and has TÜV Rheinland Eye Comfort 2.0 certification and a low blue light filter. Exciting for video and image editing professionals: The sRGB and DCI-P3 color spaces are fully covered and the factory calibration of Delta E<1 also allows for accurate color reproduction.

All in all, HUAWEI has installed an absolutely top display here, which doesn’t have to hide from OLED counterparts such as the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro 360 (our test) and has an even higher resolution with a smaller screen diagonal, which ensures crisp, sharp fonts and great details.

Alternatively, it can be operated via a successful keyboard with a two-stage white backlight, which, apart from the low key travel, offers no cause for criticism and accurately executes inputs.

The size of the individual keys is just as pleasing as the generous and precise trackpad. The manufacturer has also placed a fingerprint scanner in the power button, but Windows Hello is not supported.

Strong performance and practical features in the practical test

• excellent everyday performance
• pleasantly quiet fan
• three performance profiles

The combination of high-quality workmanship, strong features and a convincing range of functions ensures that the HUAWEI MateBook 14 (2024) is completely convincing in the practical test.

The manufacturer has adapted the components superbly and delivers a system performance that is on a par with comparably equipped notebooks such as the aforementioned Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro, and even clearly superior to the Medion E15443 (our test) with the same CPU.

After all, a TDP of 40 watts is set for the Intel Core Ultra, giving the CPU more power than Samsung, for example. This is also reflected in the benchmark and performance values, as we will see in detail in a moment.

The cooling system, which features two Shark Fin fans, is at least as impressive. Compared to its predecessor, it should be able to generate 40 percent more air volume without increasing the noise level.

Apart from the marketing promises, the cooling performance of the new MateBook 14 is simply impressive. Even under continuous load in demanding gaming tests, the fans always remained pleasantly quiet during my test and only emitted a slight hiss.

Even in the Cinebench 2024 multi-core test, in which the fans normally have to work at full speed on notebooks and PCs, the MateBook 14 remains pleasantly quiet. I measured a peak of just under 33 dB(A) in the test. At the same time, the cooling performance is also impressive. Although the casing heats up noticeably under load, the notebook never gets uncomfortably hot. Only in the optional performance mode does the notebook become significantly louder at 41 dB(A).

The HUAWEI MateBook 14 (2024) also comes with two additional apps, which, however, hardly offer any real added value. In the HUAWEI PC Manager, however, you can switch between three performance profiles (High Performance, Balanced and Power Saving). This is very practical for achieving either maximum performance or a longer battery life.

Benchmark: Productivity, system, SSD and gaming

As always, I took a closer look at the performance of the HUAWEI MateBook 14 (2024) in various benchmark and real-life tests. The notebook delivers very good results in all tests and is at least on par with other devices that rely on a similar configuration.

The SSD, for example, comes from Western Digital and achieves excellent sequential read and write speeds of more than 4,200 MB/s with equally excellent 4K values and low latencies.

In the end, AS-SSD’s overall score was 5,219 points. That’s almost 500 points more than the Galaxy Book4 Pro. Under continuous load, only the 4K-64Thrd write rate drops, otherwise the storage solution delivers very good values even with large transfers.

In the CPU tests, on the other hand, the rather high TDP is particularly evident in the multi-core range, where the MateBook 14 sometimes clearly outperforms the Samsung and Medion notebooks.

With 744 points in the multi-core test of Cinebench 2024, the notebook is almost 100 points ahead of the Galaxy Book4 Pro and on par with the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra (our test). In balanced mode, mind you. In performance mode, the score rises to 762 points, which results in a noticeable increase in performance in practice.

The HUAWEI notebook also delivers a very good result in other system tests such as the holistic PCMark 10 benchmark. In the end, it scored 6,814 total points, outperforming even Samsung’s Galaxy Book4 Ultra, especially in the demanding field of digital content creation, which includes image and video editing as well as rendering.

This is no longer possible in games due to the lack of a dedicated GPU. However, the HUAWEI MateBook 14 (2024) does a good job here as well and is neck-and-neck with the Galaxy Book4 Pro 360.

However, the ultrabook is only suitable for gaming to a limited extent. However, older titles can be played wonderfully smoothly on it. Even a Shadow of the Tomb Raider runs in maximum resolution at medium detail settings with a decent 32 FPS on the screen.

Impressive battery life in the HUAWEI MateBook 14 (2024)

• almost 10 hours runtime
• compact 65-watt power supply unit

HUAWEI equips the MateBook 24 (2024) with a 70 Wh battery, which is charged via USB-C using the included compact 65-watt power adapter. According to the manufacturer, this should enable a runtime of up to 19 hours with 1080p web video playback.

In the practical PCMark 10-Modern Office benchmark, we achieved a very good value of 9 hours and 51 minutes at maximum brightness, which means that even a longer working day can be mastered without any problems.

If you like, you can also extend the runtime even further by reducing the brightness or refresh rate, as well as an optional power-saving mode. Thanks to 40 watts of reverse wireless charging, the notebook can also be used as a power bank to supply other devices with energy even when switched off.

HUAWEI MateBook 14 (2024) test: Conclusion

With the HUAWEI MateBook 14 (2024), the manufacturer delivers an excellent ultrabook that not only consistently eliminates the criticisms of its predecessor, but can also keep up with the sometimes significantly more expensive competition in terms of performance.

Above all, the switch to a high-resolution and fast OLED display with touchscreen marks a clear added value, especially as the panel scores with excellent color space coverage and outstanding calibration.

The poor battery life of the previous year’s model has also been addressed and delivers a really good result with almost 10 hours of realistic use (at maximum brightness). Apart from this, the equipment has no significant weaknesses.

Although the competition certainly scores with a better webcam or clearer speakers, HUAWEI’s offering here also has nothing to hide.

The main criticism is the variety of ports and their positioning. There should have been at least one Thunderbolt 4 port, but a second USB-C port should be mandatory if the only modern port is already blocked by the power supply unit.

The AI functions are still just a nice gimmick and the practical Super Device function is reserved for HUAWEI smartphones. Apart from that, however, the HUAWEI MateBook 14 (2024) delivers an absolutely coherent overall package.