First Impressions
The Huawei Matebook 14 (2024) sports a number of tantalising upgrades, including a new OLED screen, speedier Intel chip and a larger battery capacity. First impressions indicate that this could be a serious competitor to the MacBook Air and leading Windows ultrabooks.
-
2.8K OLED screenThe move to OLED enhances the contrast of the screen, while also increasing the max brightness -
Touchscreen supportOne of the few modern laptops to offer 10-point touch control -
Up to 19 hours video playback By increasing the capacity of the laptop, Huawei believes it can last for up to 19 hours playing video.
Introduction
This week, Huawei announced several new devices including two laptops: the Huawei Matebook 14 (2024) and the Huawei Matebook X Pro (2024).
The X Pro will certainly steal the spotlight thanks to its physics-bending lightweight shell, but underestimate the less ambitious Huawei Matebook 14 (2024) at your peril, as it may well be the better option for most people.
Huawei has made some subtle yet smart improvements to its MacBook Air challenger. It’s boosted the performance, upgraded to an OLED panel, slimmed down the design and even introduced a trendy green colour option.
It’s an impressive-looking laptop at first glance, and with a reasonably affordable price of just £1199 for 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, the MacBook Air has serious competition. After spending a few hours with the upcoming laptop, here are my first impressions.
Design
- Extremely slender screen bezel
- New green colour option is a delight
- Slightly slimmer than previous version
Here’s a bold claim: I think Huawei makes the nicest-looking Windows laptops on the market right now. There is clear inspiration from Apple’s MacBook series, but there’s a reason why those laptops sell so well.
The 14.2-inch screen is surrounded by a slender black bezel, all of which sits behind a single sheet of glass. I quite like how the black keys stand out from the metal chassis too, especially with the gorgeous green colour option photoed here. I’m a big fan of laptop makers adding a splash of colour, as it gives it a little more personality than what the standard silver and black designs can offer.
While Huawei has used a magnesium-alloy for the Matebook X Pro (2024) in order to make the laptop as lightweight as possible, the company has instead used the more conventional aluminium metal for the Matebook 14 (2024).
The laptop is still pleasingly light, making it dead easy to lift with one hand, but it’s just not quite as remarkable as its more luxurious sibling. That said, the use of aluminium helps to keep the price lower, while also making the laptop feel sturdier – a few taps on the chassis results in reassuringly solid thumps.
I reckon Huawei could be a little more creative on the laptop’s lid, which simply has the company’s name in bolded capitalised letters. Many laptop makers have moved onto subtler logos instead that feel a little trendier, whereas the Huawei’s lid just feels like an advert.
I didn’t spend too much time with the keyboard during my hands-on session beyond the odd poke. The keys feel fine enough, but lack satisfying feedback. A fingerprint scanner is embedded into the power button on the top-right portion of the deck.
The port selection is fairly impressive, especially compared to the MacBook Air. You get a HDMI port, which is a surprise for such a compact laptop, as well as 2x USB-A, 1x USB-C and a headphone jack. I would have preferred to have one extra USB-C connection though, especially since it will be taken up by the power adapter when charging.
Screen
- New OLED upgrade
- Boosted to 120Hz refresh rate
- Still features a touchscreen
The new OLED screen is arguably the biggest upgrade for the Huawei Matebook 14 (2024) compared to its predecessor. While I didn’t have enough time to fully test the screen, I was still left impressed by the vibrancy of the blues and yellows on the desktop wallpaper.
OLED allows individual pixels to be completely switched off when producing deep, dark blacks. This results in an outstanding contrast, therefore making bordering colours appear bolder and brighter by comparison.
The move to an OLED screen has also allowed Huawei to increase the brightness from 300 nits (which is average for a laptop) to a more impressive 450 nits, bringing it closer to the peak brightness (500 nits) of the MacBook Air.
Huawei also says it has upped the resolution to 2.8K, while retaining the 3:2 aspect ratio which is optimised for productivity use and viewing websites. The touchscreen also remains, which is becoming a rare luxury for a laptop at this price. While Huawei’s M-Pencil stylus is supported, it does not come bundled with the laptop.
Impressively, the Huawei Matebook 14 (2024) will feature a 120Hz refresh rate, allowing for smoother scrolling. This is a feature that isn’t even available on the MacBook Air, with Apple reserving the technology for the MacBook Pro series instead.
Specs and performance
- Powered by Intel 14th Gen chip
- UK model features 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD
- Battery expanded to 70Wh capacity
As with the majority of laptops of 2024, the Huawei Matebook 14 (2024) has been upgraded to the 14th Generation of Intel Core processors. Not only do these new Intel chips provide a performance boost, but they also enhance the AI skills of this laptop – at least once more AI apps finally become available.
Huawei is shipping the Matebook 14 (2024) with both the Intel Core Ultra 7 and Ultra 5, although only the former will be available in the UK. I think that’s a great shame, as most people probably don’t need the added power of the Ultra 7.
That said, it’s hard to complain too much with Huawei claiming to be offering the Core Ultra 7 chip, along with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, for just £1199. On paper, that looks like outstanding value. I’ll have to wait until I can fully test the laptop to determine whether the performance lives up to the specs.
The Matebook 14 will have a 70Wh battery capacity, which is a notable increase on the 56Wh cell of the previous entry. Huawei claims this will extend the battery life up to 19 hours of video playback, which is one hour more than Apple’s claim for the MacBook Air.
However, laptop makers tend to exaggerate a little when talking about battery life, so I’m going to reserve judgement on the Huawei Matebook 14 until I can test it properly. The bundled power adapter is rated at 65W, which is more than double the power of the 30W MacBook Air charger. So far, Huawei hasn’t indicated how long it takes to charge up the Matebook.
Early Verdict
The Huawei Matebook 14 (2024) may not be as eye-catching as its new Matebook X Pro sibling, but it looks to me like the better value laptop. An Intel-flavoured performance boost, OLED screen upgrade and the embrace of a more stylish and slender design all help the Matebook 14 become a serious threat to its ultrabook rivals.
The MacBook Air is the obvious key competitor, but Huawei actually trumps it in several areas thanks to the OLED panel, 120Hz refresh rate and touchscreen support. And with Huawei suggesting that a configuration with 16GB of RAM and 1TB storage will be made available for just £1199, it could represent outstanding value too.
Of course, I’ll need to test the performance and battery claims to make sure the Huawei Matebook 14 (2024) lives up to its billing, but it’s certainly one worth keeping an eye out for, and could be a serious challenger in our Best Laptop and Best Ultrabook rankings.
