Huawei MateBook 14s i7 First Look

Huawei has been making several inroads towards the ultraportable market and their soon to be released MateBook 14s laptop. looks like their most impressive offering yet. Here’s our Huawei MateBook 14s i7 first look where we give it an initial once-over of its specifications, design and theoretical performance.

Huawei Malaysia was gracious enough to issue us a review sample with specifications mirroring a retail unit for Malaysia save for a few minor exceptions and let us have a crack at it.

Huawei MateBook 14s i7 First Look – Specifications

In Malaysia, the Huawei MateBook 14s comes in two major variants that primarily vary in terms of what processor they have, their RAM and storage. Both have a similar chassis, battery capacity and a 14.2-inch FullView touchscreen display with a 3:2 aspect ratio. Our review sample is the higher specced MateBook 14s i7 variant.

Our higher end Huawei MateBook 14s i7 sample features a 14.2-inch LTPS touchscreen display which has 2.5K resolution and, interestingly enough, a fast 90Hz refresh rate.

Seeing its intended audience of paperwork crunchers, Huawei has added in certifications from TUV Rheinland for low blue light and for a flicker-free display. Accompanying the display are not two but a whopping quad speaker array that consists of a pair of downward firing tweeters and a pair of woofers tuned by Harman Kardon for superior sound reproduction.

Under the hood, our Huawei MateBook 14s i7 review sample uses an 11th Gen i7-11370H CPU paired with 16GB DDR4 RAM and a 1TB SSD as well as Iris Xe integrated graphics.

What elevates it over the norm is that the Huawei MateBook 14s i7 has a vaunted Intel Evo certification which means that it’s rated for all-day battery life, fast USB-C charging, and superb performance for work scenarios.

The lower-specced version features an 11th Gen Intel Core i5-11300H CPU, 8GB RAM and a 512GB SSD as well as Iris Xe graphics though this variant does not have Intel Evo certification.

Both versions feature a 60Wh battery which is rated for 13 hours of 1080p playback as well as WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity.

Huawei MateBook 14s Specifications

Here’s the basic specifications of the Huawei MateBook 14s

Huawei MateBook 14s i7 Review – Specifications

Huawei MateBook 14s i7 First Look – Build and Design

Out of the box, our Huawei MateBook 14s i7 came with the bare minimum of accessories and extras. Along with the laptop itself wedged between a sheaf of styrofoam inserts was a 90W USB-C fast charger which will also appear in the MateBook 14s i5. The charger itself supports Power Delivery so it’ll handily fast charge the majority of other USB-C powered kit like smartphones, tablets and more.

The external chassis comes in a matte dark gray paint job dubbed as Space Grey. The i5 version also comes in a light greenish shade called Spruce Green on top of Space Grey too.

Our Huawei MateBok 14s i7 first look revealed a fair selection of ports that also include a HDMI port and a pair of USB-C ports, one of which is a Thunderbolt 4 port.

In keeping with its aspirations as a laptop for the corporate elite, our Huawei MateBook 14s i7 looks pleasantly businesslike with clean angles, slight chamfering around the keyboard base and slightly rounded edges that look good in any office setting.

The top lid is primarily made of aluminium along with elements of the palm rests though large parts are hewn of polycarbonate for weight savings. Weighing in at 1.43kg and being just 16.7mm thin, the laptop is pleasantly man portable and is light enough for all day carry in a backpack.

In terms of connectivity, the Huawei MateBook 14s i7 is pleasantly well equipped indeed. The right side of the laptop features a USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port while the left side has a 3.5mm combo jack, a HDMI port, a Thunderbolt 4 USB-C port and a USB-C port though both are able to charge via the provided USB-C 90W Fast charger. This effectively means that the MateBook 14s i7 is fully capable of outputting to two 4K displays simultaneously via the Thunderbolt 4 and HDMI port.

The hinge itself is weighted for one-handed opening and a slight notch cut in the base allows for easy opening. Flipping the lid open reveals the 14.2-inch touchscreen with slim side and top bezels along with a white chiclet-style backlit keyboard. This time around, Huawei has employed the usual 720p webcam up in its traditional position on top of the display and has also added in a power button that doubles as a fingerprint reader.

The MateBook 14s i7 first look certainly looks promising, with its 2.5K display, 11th Gen Intel i7 CPU and Intel Evo certification and we’ll give you our full review after we’ve put it through its paces. According to Huawei, it will be launching in Malaysia in the near future and their local MateBook 14s page is already live which you can view here. Stay tuned for our full review soon!