Huawei MateBook D 14 vs. MateBook 14: What's the difference?

They may look alike at first glance, but their displays and performance couldn't be more different. We go over the major differences between the pricier MateBook 14 and cheaper MateBook D 14 to show what both systems have to offer.

More details on each model can be found on our dedicated review pages here.

Case

The MateBook 14 uses the same metal material for its chassis as does the MateBook X Pro for a stronger first impression than the MateBook D 14. Its base and edge-to-edge glass display are firmer and less flexible. Visually, however, both systems look similar even though one is clearly more rigid than the other.

The speaker grilles are positioned along the edges of the keyboard on the MateBook D 14 compared to the bottom base on the MateBook 14. 

Ports

Port options are identical between the two laptops albeit positioned differently.

CPU Performance 

The Whiskey Lake-U Core i7-8565U in the MateBook 14 is able to outperform the older Kaby Lake-R Core i5-8250U by 16 percent according to CineBench R15. Dig deeper, however, and the performance delta begins to shrink because of poor Turbo Boost performance on the MateBook 14. By running CineBench R15 Multi-Thread in a loop, we can observe that the i7-8565U drops quickly in performance to essentially match the i5-8250U.

GPU Performance

The 25 W GeForce MX250 offers up to 3x the graphics performance of the UHD Graphics 620 and about 50 to 60 percent better graphics performance than the Radeon RX Vega 8. This difference is crucial for video editors or casual gamers.

Display

The display on the MateBook D 14 is inferior to the MateBook 14 in almost every way. Brightness is dimmer, gamut is narrower, contrast is lower, response times are longer, and colors are less accurate.

Fan Noise

Both laptops are silent or very close to it during low loads like browsing or word processing. When gaming, the MateBook 14 can reach almost 45 dB(A) compared to just 33.6 dB(A) on the MateBook D 14.

Power Consumption

The MateBook 14 is more demanding overall by over 20 W when under high loads like gaming.

Webcam

Webcam placement is superior on the MateBook D 14. The very narrow top bezel of the MateBook 14 has forced Huawei to move the webcam to the keyboard for a poorer angle not unlike on the MateBook X Pro.

Battery Life

Internal battery capacities are identical between the two laptops at 57 Wh each. Runtimes are longer on the MateBook D 15 by 90 minutes on average since it carries a lower resolution display and no discrete GPU.

Verdict

The MateBook D 14 targets users on a budget who want a no-frills Ultrabook for day-to-day browsing and multimedia streaming. Meanwhile, the MateBook 14 targets users looking for a premium product with higher graphics performance and a more color accurate display. This comes at the cost of fan noise and battery life as one would expect given that their chassis designs are very similar.

CPU Turbo Boost performance is disappointing on the MateBook 14 much like what we discovered on the MateBook X Pro series. This is certainly one aspect that Huawei could improve upon for its future laptops to better distinguish between its flagship and budget laptop families.