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Huawei MateBook 14 2021 Review

Huawei MateBook 14

Huawei has been releasing laptops with a premium design and powered by Windows-based processors in the past two years. The release of the latest MateBook lineup, which includes the new MateBook 14, it embodies the series' DNA and takes it to a new level.

Huawei MateBook 14

The MateBook 14 is equipped with a fullview display, and a sleek design, and is optimized for productivity. Now that we've had a chance to use the new Matebook 14 as our everyday work laptop, it's time to give our hands-on experiences; you can also read our unboxing and initial thoughts here: Huawei MateBook 14 2021 UNBOXING AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Huawei MateBook 14 2021 Specs

Windows 11
14-inch 2K IPS display, 2160 x 1440 pixel resolution, 185ppi
3:2 aspect ratio, 90% screen-to-body ratio, 100% sRGB
TÃœV Rheinland Low Blue Light Certification
11th Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor
Intel Iris Xe GPU
16GB RAM
512 GB NVMe PCIe SSD
Full-size backlit chicklet keyboard
Multi-touch touchpad
Fingerprint power button
720p HD webcam
2x speakers, 4x microphones
Huawei Share
WiFI 6, dual-band, 2×2 MIMO
Bluetooth 5.1
1x USB Type-C (data, charging, DisplayPort), 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1, HDMI
Headphone jack
Dimensions: 307.5 x 223.8 x 15.9mm
56Wh Lithium polymer battery
65 W USB-C Power Adapter
1.49kg

Huawei Matebook 14 Design and Build Quality
The MateBook 14 2021 is a gorgeous laptop with a minimalist design. Its chassis is free of impediments or peculiar bumps or grooves. It has a darker grey/gunmetal color which makes it look more premium.



It isn't the thinnest or lightest laptop in this category. Its metallic design, though, makes it one of the best-looking laptops on the market today. At 1.38 kilograms and with its 322.5 mm by 214.8 mm by 15.9 mm dimensions, it's light enough for backpacks and other shoulder bags, making it easy to carry.

Huawei MateBook 14 2021

It features a prominent HUAWEI logo on the cover, making it easily distinguishable from the rest of the pack. The lid cover requires two fingers to open, which is a bit of a letdown given that some brands allow the cover to be lifted with a single finger.

Huawei MateBook 14 2021

Opening the laptop will reveal the gorgeous 2K display, the power button, keyboard, and the wide trackpad that feels nice and has a good soft tactile feel when pressed.

Huawei MateBook 14 2021

The laptop's power button in the upper right corner doubles as a fingerprint reader. This can validate your identity instantly upon Windows startup, enabling automatic login. We loved this feature since it made Windows login simple, quick, and reliable.

Huawei MateBook 14 2021

The keyboard features a well-spaced keys layout with a soft tactile feel and has two backlight lighting settings. The illumination activates when it's turned on and it only has one color that is not really bright but good enough to use in dark places. 

Huawei MateBook 14 2021

One notable feature of this laptop is the 720P HD webcam which is recessed and a part of the keyboard now is really cool implementation. The camera button is located at the first layer of keys and only appears when pressed, thus protecting the user's privacy.

At the back, there are multiple vents with two visible fans inside to keep the laptop cool, while the rubber strips help keeps it firmly in place when used on the table.

"The Matebook 14 has a more premium feel and appearance thanks to its dark gunmetal color and a smooth and pleasant-to-touch surface. It is also lighter than most other laptops, making it easy to transport in a backpack or shoulder bag. "

2K Fullview display
The 14-inch display is an IPS LED Touchscreen panel with a 2160×1440 resolution, and 185 pixels per inch. It has a 90% screen-to-body ratio, with extremely slim bezels measuring only 4.9 millimeters on the sides and at the top of the screen.

Huawei MateBook 14 2021

Color-wise, it has a 100% sRGB color gamut. The colors are as true as possible. The contrast ratio is 1500:1 and the maximum brightness is 300 nits.

Huawei MateBook 14 2021

Huawei put a lot of effort into making sure that the display quality is top-notch. With its razor-sharp image and high-quality screen, it's excellent for use in the office, at home, or just for entertainment. The HUAWEI MateBook 14's 2K FullView display is definitely a feast for the eyes.

Huawei MateBook 14 2021

The screen's glossy finish makes images, texts, and videos look sharp and vibrant. It has Low Blue Light certification from TÃœV Rheinland, which reduces eye strain from long-term use. This is good for the eyes, particularly if you stare at the screen for extended periods of time every day.

However, If you are a gamer, the screen's low refresh rate, which is essential for gaming, is a drawback since other brands at this price point already use a 90Hz refresh rate or greater. But at 60Hz the MateBook 14 display's refresh rate is still sufficient for use in a professional work setting.

Its poor outdoor performance is the result of its glossy, reflective display and average brightness. Making this laptop not ideal to use outdoors or in direct sunlight. At maximum brightness, the details on the screen were barely visible.

The display is visually appealing, It's one of the best screens we've seen on a laptop. Additionally, even if you use the laptop for several hours, your eyes won't get tired and you can keep on having fun using it.

Ports and Connectivity
The USB Type-C connector on the left side of the laptop can be used to connect to other devices and charge the laptop using the 65W adapter. Huawei did not officially list Power Delivery (PD) or Quick Charge (QC) compatibility. However, it's compatible with numerous charging methods.

Huawei MateBook 14 2021

In addition, it has a combo audio jack, a full HDMI port, and two USB Type-A connections. Two USB Type-A ports are compatible with USB 3.2 Gen 1 devices with transfer rates of up to 5 Gbps. It's a bit disappointing that Huawei did not use USB Gen 3.2, which is the latest version that is capable of a 20Gbps transfer rate. These USB ports are not the fastest available but it's good to know that it has two standard USB ports.

Huawei MateBook 14 2021

It's great that Huawei equipped this laptop with a Wi-Fi 6 (Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax,160 MHz), which is capable of speeds up to 9.6 Gbps, which means it's faster than WiFi 5. Hopefully, this technology will be used in more wireless routers and networking equipment in the coming years. While using this laptop, we did not encounter any problems with connectivity. It also has Bluetooth 5.1 that supports low-power Bluetooth devices as well as older Bluetooth devices, which means you can use it with both new and old devices.

Hardware Performance
This laptop is powered by an 11th Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, with Intel Iris Xe Integrated graphics, 16GB of DDR4 3200Mhz DRAM, and 512 GB NVMe PCIe SSD. On the initial test, Its 2.7% lower score compared to the one with the Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor.

Huawei MateBook 14 2021

The 11th Generation Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor features four processing cores, which makes it more powerful than the Core G-series dual-core i3-1115G4 processor.

The Core i5-1135G7 models are more than capable of handling intense work, such as video editing, as well as the everyday routine and office computing tasks. Intel Iris Xe graphics, which are also faster than Intel UHD G4 in Core i3 processors, belong to the entry-level category in terms of gaming performance.
We tested the Matebook 14 2021 using PC Mark 10 benchmarking tools, which focus on CPU and GPU performance.

Benchmark Test:

PCMark 10 - 4175
Apps Score - 10622
Web Score - 7768
Writing Score - 6630
Spreadsheet Score - 5407
Photo Score - 7068
Video Score - 3738

You can find the details score here: https://www.3dmark.com/pcm10/75198253

Huawei MateBook 14 2021

In general, test scores indicated that the Matebook 14 2021 performed similarly to laptops with the same configuration.

The MateBook 14 2021 is a workhorse machine designed for daily use. It only takes a few seconds for the computer to boot up, and fingerprint authentication is likewise quick, secure, and reliable.

Huawei MateBook 14 2021

It can easily manage to multitask, working with spreadsheets, word documents, several tabs in web browsers, and running third-party applications simultaneously. It's also entertaining to use the laptop to watch K dramas on Netflix and videos on YouTube.

Desktop applications load in seconds, and switching between programs is quick and snappy as well. We tried opening multiple browsers such as Safari, Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Firefox with multiple tabs, and we were able to easily navigate between them and load the web page in just seconds.

Huawei MateBook 14 2021

For file storage, it has a 512GB PCI-E NVMe SSD (solid-state drive). Performance is snappy, silent, and capable of loading applications and starting Windows in seconds. The major disadvantage is that there is just one SSD slot, therefore increasing storage capacity requires replacing the existing drive.

Huawei MateBook 14 2021

The Huawei PC Manager is a notable application that allows you to connect to other Huawei devices easily. You can connect your smartphone to Huawei PC Manager and use its features, such as syncing files to your MateBook, using multi-screen collaboration, and AI search on the MateBook's screen. You can even use your smartphone to capture a screenshot of the desktop and start screen recording.

Gaming Performance
The Matebook 14 2021 is not intended to be used as a gaming machine. Even though the Intel Core i5-1165G7 is a powerful processor, the Intel Iris Xe is not a dedicated gaming GPU. Even Intel doesn't claim that the integrated Iris Xe graphics can handle top-tier games. However, if you are going to play games even those with lower system requirements, the lowest possible settings should be used.

Huawei MateBook 14 2021

We attempted to play PUBG on a Matebook 14 2022, but the results were disappointing. While Valorant a first-person shooting game with modest system requirements played well at above 100-110 FPS with maximum settings and 1080P resolution.

Battery
There are a lot of battery drain methods that can be used, one of which is the continuous playback of a video loop until the battery is depleted. but no one will ever do this in the actual world. The simplest way to test a laptop's battery life is to actually use it everyday.

Huawei MateBook 14 2021

The MateBook 14 2021 is equipped with a 7330mah/56Wh lithium-polymer battery and a 65W USB-C power adaptor. In addition, it also features a dual copper heatpipe architecture with two Sharkfin cooling fans that are both silent and effective at maintaining a cool temperature within the laptop.

On an average day to day use, we're able to get a good 7 hours of screen time, which is quite impressive given that our typical day use consists of editing spreadsheets and documents, running multiple programs, having Spotify running in the background for music, watching videos on break time and opening web browsers with multiple tabs at once for work productivity. Additionally, we have WIFI connected, Bluetooth turned on, and the brightness set to medium.

The 65W Huawei SuperCharge charger can fully charge the battery in less than two hours, which is quite fast. Also, the charger is compatible with a variety of USB Type-C devices, including Huawei smartphones. However, Huawei is notoriously selective when it comes to accessories, and we do not know which certification should be used if you wish to try third-party chargers. We attempted to use the Ugreen 100W GaN 4 Port Fast Charger, and to our delight, it worked just fine.

Overall, we are impressed by the MateBook's ability to manage our daily work requirements, such as simultaneously running multiple applications, without showing any lag. We enjoy how silently it operates and how it doesn't become too hot, which makes it fairly comfortable to use on our lap.

PROS
Premium solid build
Subtle metal case design
Impressive 2K screen
Top-notch performance
Quick Windows Bootup, fast and stable loading of programs
Battery life is above average
Comfortable keyboard
Large trackpad
Good connectivity ports

CONS
It's not a gaming laptop
Webcam placement is a bit awkward

Final Thoughts
In terms of productivity, the Huawei Matebook 14 2021 stands out as one of the best laptops in its class. It has an amazing vibrant display, premium sleek metal design, a comfortable keyboard, a battery that lasts for hours, and fast charging to name just a few of its best features. Gaming is not a strength of this laptop, but this laptop perform well on productivity task and it even under will full load, it operates fairly quietly and cool. If you are looking for a laptop that can handle every task you need, does not strain your eyes, and allows you to watch clear and crisp videos, then the Huawei MateBook 14 2021 is the best option for you.

The HUAWEI MateBook 14 2021 is priced at ₱ 59,999 and it's now available in all HUAWEI concert stores, online stores on Lazada, Shopee, and partner retailers, as well as on credit card installment.

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