Huawei MateBook 14 (2024) review: There’s no better value compact laptop

Despite how highly I’ve rated the new Matebook 14, it’s tough not to feel a little sorry for Huawei. A few years ago it was building an impressive business selling some extremely competitive smartphones and laptops. Then fears that the People’s Liberation Army was earwigging on our online activities resulted in the mother of all US trade embargos throwing a major spanner in the works.

As a result, Huawei has been exiled from the Google Android ecosystem and no longer has a supply licence for Intel’s new Core Ultra chips. Once it’s used up the inventory it already has in hand, it’s goodnight, Irene.

But while Huawei’s smartphone sales have dwindled to almost nothing in the West, it’s still punting some decent laptops into the global market, such as the impressive MateBook X Pro and now a 2024 update of its well-regarded MateBook 14.

Huawei MateBook 14 (2024) review: What you need to know

The MateBook 14 has long been a favourite here are Expert Reviews. We gave the 2022 model five stars and called it “Huawei’s best compact laptop”. As a blend of quality, style, performance and price it was a hard act to follow. But follow it Huawei now has.

The 2024 model boasts (almost) the latest Intel Core Ultra silicon and features an OLED touchscreen rather than an IPS affair like all previous MateBooks. It’s also smaller and lighter than its forebears.

Huawei’s laptops have always offered solid value, but the latest models go a step beyond thanks to some very generous discounts. Despite its travails with its US component suppliers, this may be the perfect time to buy a Huawei laptop.

Huawei MateBook 14 Core Ultra review: Price and competition

Configuration tested: Intel Core Ultra 7 155H CPU, Intel Arc Graphics GPU, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, 14.2in, 120Hz, 2,880 x 1,920 OLED display; Price when reviewed: £975

The MateBook 14 (2024) is available in two forms. One, built around the Intel Core Ultra 155H CPU with 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, is available for £1,000 – down from an RRP of £1,199 – while the other, featuring the Core Ultra 5 125H processor and a 512GB SSD, can be yours for £750 (down from £950).

For what is by any estimation a premium ultra compact, those are very attractive prices and seriously undercut most of the obvious competition:

• The LG Gram SuperSlim, a seriously lightweight 15.6in laptop that weighs a mere 820g. With three Thunderbolt 4 ports, 2TB of storage and a bright OLED screen, it’s a very practical laptop. It isn’t cheap at £1,899, but it squeezes a lot into a small and light package

• The pick of the new Snapdragon-powered CoPilot+ Windows laptops, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 15in is one of the most easily repairable laptops on the market, has a great 2.5K IPS touchscreen, and epic battery life. It’s solid value at £1,249 for the 512GB version

• The daddy of ultracompact laptops is the Apple MacBook Air 13.6-inch, which with 1TB of storage will set you back £1,499. Again, that isn’t cheap, but for your money you are getting a supremely desirable and capable laptop with great battery life that’s super-slim

• Arguably the prettiest laptop on the planet, the new Lunar Lake Asus Zenbook S 14 weighs just 1.2kg and has a sumptuous 14in 2.8K OLED display. Battery life is epic but at £1,750 for the top end model it’s not the cheapest option

Huawei MateBook 14 (2024) review: Design and key features

• Smart, light and compact package
• Fingerprint-proof paint finish
• Zero upgrade options

The 2024 MateBook 14 is an altogether more svelte affair than its predecessor, measuring up at just 312.6 x 226.8 x 14.5mm and weighing a little under 1.3kg. The MacBook Air is still the one to beat when it comes to thickness at just 11.3mm but in all other ways, the new MateBook compares well, especially when you recall that it has a larger 14.2in (vs 13.6in) screen.

As with previous generations of MateBook 14 the chassis is made from CNC-milled aluminium alloy and it feels very sturdy. Both the body and lid valiantly resisted my efforts to twist them and solicit a creak or a groan.

The MateBook is available in two colourways: Green and Space Grey. Both paint jobs have a matte finish and are completely immune to greasy fingerprints. The MateBook 14 may be not as drop-dead gorgeous as the Asus Zenbook S 14 with its stunning “ceraluminum” finish but it’s still a very pretty bit of kit.

I’m not entirely sold on Huawei’s choice of ports for the new MateBook 14, though. On the left side, there is a single 10Gbits/sec full-function USB-C port, a 5Gbits/sec USB-A port, an HDMI 2.1 video output and a 3.5mm audio jack. That’s grand, but on the right, there’s just a single 5Gbits/sec USB-A.

Given that you need that single USB-C for charging duties, Huawei really should have added another one or two USB-C ports or stuck with the previous MateBook layout of two USB-C ports and one USB-A. It’s not as though there’s no space for an extra port or two next to the USB-A that sits all alone on the right hand side.

Getting inside the MateBook 14 is easy enough but, once in, all you can do is swap out the SSD. Everything else is soldered directly to the motherboard.

Surprisingly, Huawei has opted for the Intel AX201 wireless card. It’s a proven piece of technology, but it doesn’t support 6GHz Wi-Fi and the Bluetooth iteration is the rather long-in-the-tooth 5.1. The MateBook X Pro supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 so presumably, this was a conscious decision by Huawei rather than an issue of access to Intel’s AX211 card.

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Huawei MateBook 14 (2024) review: Keyboard, touchpad and webcam

• Satisfying, spacious keyboard
• Clackety touchpad click action
• No support for Windows Hello facial ID

Huawei has ditched the old MateBook 14’s recessed keyboard in favour of one that sits flush with the surrounding deck, which I prefer from a position of both usability and aesthetics. The keys themselves have a pleasant matte finish, a smooth 1.5mm of travel and a solid end stop and there’s a two-stage backlight to help with low-light legibility.

There is some give in the centre of the keyboard, but you have to press down hard to notice. It’s nothing you’ll notice while typing.

The layout of the keyboard is perfectly conventional; only the use of the key between F6 and F7 to launch Microsoft’s voice typing system distinguishes it from any other Windows laptop. The fingerprint scanner-cum-power button is still positioned in typical MateBook style in the top right corner of the deck, away from accidental triggering.

The touchpad is less worthy of praise. At 120 x 72mm it’s not particularly big and, while the surface is smooth and it’s responsive to taps and swipes, the mechanical click-action is poorly engineered, feeling loose and abrupt, while also making a hollow, loud clicking noise that is certain to attract disapproving glances in quiet surroundings.

Finally, the 1080p webcam is a good performer, generating colourful and nicely balanced images in most lightning conditions. It doesn’t support Windows Studio AI special effects but most of the same tricks and tools can be accessed via the Huawei Control Panel. Less forgivable is that the camera doesn’t support Windows Hello IR facial recognition which is disappointing but you do have that fingerprint reader in the power button for convenient biometric login.

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Huawei MateBook 14 (2024) review: Display and audio

• Limpid, accurate 2.8K OLED panel
• Fluid 120Hz refresh rate
• Mellifluous speaker system

Judging by the code number, the MateBook’s 2,880 x 1,920 OLED panel is made by Everdisplay Optronics and comes with a touch interface, 3:2 aspect ratio and a sharp 243ppi pixel density. That’s not a name with the same cachet as Samsung or LG, but you needn’t worry because, technically, the panel is a cracker.

Colour reproduction is healthy at 124.3% of DCI-P3 and the display is accurate, too. Select the Pro colour profile, which is Huawei’s name for Display P3, and you get a Delta E variance of just 1.06, which is as close to perfect as the human eye can distinguish. If you want a more super-saturated look there’s also a “native” colour profile. I watched both Dune films back-to-back in native mode and they looked stunning.

In SDR mode, the screen brightness peaked at 443cd/m² in my tests, while in HDR that jumped to 520cd/m² from a 10% area. The display doesn’t have an official VESA HDR rating but that’s not an issue because HDR content still looks tip-top. Even with the brightness turned down a few notches, there were no issues with reflections, either.

That’s impressive, considering the screen has a glossy finish and I was also impressed with the screen’s 120Hz refresh rate, which looks great, whether you’re gaming or scrolling through text and web pages.

As far as audio goes, that’s also pretty good. The speaker system isn’t the loudest I’ve encountered in an ultracompact. In my tests, it generated 73.7dBA measured against a pink noise source at a distance of one metre, but the soundscape is warm, bold and detailed with plenty of bass. The speakers do a good job of projecting the focus of the sound above the keyboard, too, which makes for an immersive audio experience.

Huawei MateBook 14 (2024) review: Performance and battery life

• Strong all-round performance
• Quiet fans
• Solid battery life

Shovelling the coal inside the new MateBook is a 16-core Intel Core Ultra 7 155H CPU with Intel Arc graphics and a neural processor to run local AI tasks. You’ll search in vain for the CoPilot button that’s appearing on all modern Windows laptops like a rash but the MateBook can still carry out all the same things as any other Core Ultra notebook.

In our bespoke 4K media conversion benchmark the MateBook scored an excellent 303 points, thumping the M3 Apple MacBook Air and even beating the Asus Zenbook S 14 with its new Lunar Lake Core Ultra 9 200V CPU. Turning to the GeekBench 6 test, the Huawei was bested only by the Qualcomm-powered Surface Laptop 7 in the multi-core test and the M3 MacBook Air in the single-core test.

Given the price advantage the MateBook has over all three of those competing machines it has to be concluded that in terms of performance-per-pound, it’s a clear winner.

Intel’s Arc iGPU continues to impress. It’s capable of running some serious games if you are prepared to turn the detail and resolution settings right down and Ray Tracing off. Cyberpunk 2077 ran at an average 44.2fps at 720p while Shadow of the Tomb Raider ran at an average 50fps at 1080p. Less demanding titles such as Serious Sam 4 ran at a very comfortable 99fps on average at 1080p.

Running both the CPU and GPU as hard as possible, the CPU dropped to around 30% utilisation after 15 minutes thanks to thermal throttling but the GPU continued to run at 100%.

More importantly, the thermal management system meant that fan noise was never remotely intrusive and the casing never got more than slightly warm to the touch. It all makes the MateBook 14 (2024) a very easy laptop to live with in the real world.

The Western Digital 1TB SSD in my review sample went like the clappers, recording average sequential read and write speeds of 4,341MB/sec and 4,255MB/sec respectively. Only the LG Gram SuperSlim has the legs on the new Huawei and then only in the sequential read test.

As is typical of laptops aimed more at the Chinese market the SSD is subdivided into a 200GB Windows partition and data partition. Yes, you will forget about this and, yes, you will inadvertently fill the Windows partition with games applications and then wonder why on earth Windows is saying you’ve run out of space when you still have almost 800GB free.

Battery life is as impressive as performance. In our standard run-down test using the VLC media player, the MateBook’s 70Wh battery lasted just under 13hrs 20mins before needing to be plugged back into the mains. Six months ago that would have earned the little Huawei a prize, but times have changed.

The stellar run times being delivered by the latest Intel Lunar Lake and Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered Windows laptops are leaving even Apple playing catch-up so the MateBook can only be classed as good rather than great on this front.

Huawei MateBook 14 (2024) review: Verdict

The ace up the 2024 Huawei MateBook 14’s sleeve is the value it offers. Given the quality of the display and speaker system and the performance of the Core Ultra CPU, the asking price of £1,000 is a pittance. I’d argue that the model built around the 14-core Core Ultra 5 125H CPU is even better value at just £750. Both are well-made and stylish premium laptops at mid-range price points and, as such, can be strongly recommended.

If either model sounds like your cup of tea, though, I’d suggest buying it sooner rather than later because it’s likely that Huawei is quickly chewing through the pile of CPUs it purchased before the US withdrew the supply licences for the Core Ultra chips back in May 2024. Once they are gone, it may be a case of arrivederci to the entire MateBook range. It will be sorely missed.