Huawei MateBook 14 laptop (i7-1165G7) test: An affordable MacBook-Air competitor with 3:2 touchscreen

Huawei also equipped the new MateBook 14 with practically the same high-quality case as the predecessor models. According to our measurements, the very fast Intel Core i7-1165G7 is hardly throttled in the very compact ultrabook, while the temperatures remain cool and the dual fans stay mostly silent. Together with 16 GB of soldered-in DDR4 3200 RAM, a 512-GB capacity PCIe 3.0 SSD, and the integrated Intel Xe G7 (96 EUs) GPU, the subnotebook does a good job, even if there is no dedicated graphics chip - or in the case of the AMD model no 45-Watt CPU - anymore. Its design is similar to the MacBook, including the Space Grey color.

In terms of the connections, the midrange laptop that previously still had a USB-2.0 port has now been completely raised to the USB 3.2 Gen 1 standard, while still keeping HDMI and USB-C with DisplayPort. On the other hand, the battery life has decreased significantly for the sake of performance. Lasting only 9:22 hours in the Wi-Fi test with 150 cd/m² brightness, the affordable MateBook 14 with the Core-i7 CPU drops out 3.5 hours before the previous model. However, this value is still okay for the 14-inch laptop.

Subjectively, the keyboard with the short to medium stroke feels spongy and too easily triggered, but it still performs in the top midrange. The touchpad, on the other hand, is very good. The real highlight is the glossy touchscreen with a 2160 x 1440 resolution in the work and web friendly 3:2 format offering a 97% coverage of the sRGB color space. The very slim bezels result in a very attractive screen-to-body ratio of 90%.

Our test unit is currently available on sale for 949 Euros (~$1026) from notebooksbilliger.de. It is also worthwhile to take a look at the Huawei store, where you can find massive rebates from time to time. Amazon currently sells the Core-i7 model for 888 Euros (~$960), and the AMD-Modell for 799 Euros (~$864) in Germany. But in the end, AMD makes the Intel model obsolete, since it dominates in almost all the CPU applications while still producing lower emissions. As another close competitor, Apple's MacBook Air from 2020 also still runs very fast.

Find out whether the Huawei MateBook 14 is able represent a Windows-based alternative to the MacBook Air in the ultrabook segment by reading our extensive review with numerous benchmarks and details.