Huawei Matebook 14 2020 Review - AMD Ryzen 7 Beast!

The Huawei Matebook 14 2020 model is a compact powerhouse pc with some awesome features. Just to be clear when I say powerhouse what I mean is you can use this laptop for Photo & heavy Video editing & for some serious gaming. With that said before we get onto what I consider the most exciting features of the Matebook 14... let's take a closer look at the design.

Let's start with the chassis which is made from an Aluminium alloy. The top and bottom covers are also metal and the sides are some form of reinforced plastic. All of which are finished in Huawei space grey color. At its thickest point it 15.9.mm thin. I am big a fan of the CNC milled chamfered edges around the trackpad and power button. It certainly adds a bit of prestige to the Matebook 14. 

The power button is a 2 in 1 as it is also a biometric fingerprint reader. The trackpad also has double functionality, as just beneath its surface is a Huawei Share tag. With Huawei Share being an exclusive feature for HMS devices. More on that later. The Matebook 14 has a chicklet keyboard with backlighting. They have a good amount of travel & a nice tactile feel and sound.

Now check this out, the pop-up camera. I love this feature. I am one of those people who cover the cameras on my computers... And that's why I love this... the camera is 720p HD quality. This camera is specifically for video chat.... and Huawei has built 4 microphones into Matebook 14 to make sure you get the best possible audio when on those live calls. On the topic of Audio, there are dual 2-watt speakers built into the base of the laptop for audio playback. For movies, I'd suggest pairing the Matebook 14 up with some Huawei Freebuds Pro. 

Now let's address what's staring us right in the face. The 3 by 2 2K Full view IPS display. Thanks to the camera module being hidden in the Keyboard. Huawei has been able to keep the bezels minimal. The 3:2 screen format is nice. Especially when it comes to editing photos and videos, it's always a luxury to have more screen real estate. The resolution of the display is 2160x1440 and 185ppi which makes everything displayed on it nice & detailed 

& The fact that it can reproduce 100% is the sRGB colour space is big deal too. Again this comes in handy with graphic design and editing. The display also has a very respectable 15000:1 contrast ratio and 300nitts of peak brightness. So viewing the Matebook 14’s screen in bright conditions shouldn't be a problem for most people. So that's pretty much all the external hardware. Now let's take a look at all the inputs and then we'll get into the internal hardware details.

So we have two USB 3.2 ports and a single USB C port which is a hybrid input/charging port. The notebook also has a analog headphone jack which can also be used as an external mic input. So when it comes to ram and rom. There are a few configurations of the Matebook out there...but this one I have here has 256GB SSD storage & 16GB DDR4 ram.

There are versions of the Huawei Matebook 14 with the AMD Ryzen 5...but this one has the flagship AMD Ryzen 7. Which is the equivalent of an Intel i7. Although AMD says it's better than the comparable i7 when it comes to graphics performance and also multithread performance. So like I said before this is a powerhouse.. and it is a beast when it comes to gaming and demanding software. 

So the graphical firepower is certainly up to scratch but all of this is pointless without a solid battery performance. And Huawei does not disappoint here. I sides the Matebooks Aluminium alloy frame is a 56Wh lithium-polymer battery. Which can deliver up to 10hrs of continuous video playback.  Now, here's what I consider to be the most awesome features on the Huawei Matebook 14.

So when you have a Laptop that can handle heavy-duty tasks, you need a heavy-duty cooling system. Of course, this is tricky to do in a compact form factor. But Huawei has done something special here with its dual shark fin heat dissipation system. So thanks to Huawei's expertise in mobile tech the motherboard has been manufactured using a 7nm process... which helps when it comes to thermal efficiency.. but they have also added 6 sensors inside the laptop to monitor temperature and adjust the cooling system dynamically & those dual fans have unique s-shaped blades that help achieve 38% better airflow than a traditional laptop fan. Also, Huawei has managed to make these fans incredibly silent...so in my opinion dual shark fin fans...awesome feature.

Now, this is big deal and a truly awesome Huawei ecosystem feature. If you own a Huawei smartphone you make use of Huawei share. You can simply drop your phone onto the trackpad and it will automatically connect to the Matebook. From there you can control your phone on your desktop. You can drag and drop files, you can share your clipboard. Essentially making the collaboration between phone and laptop way more seamless. One useful feature is when using the matebook if your phone is connected you can use the quick menu to toggle on the mobile hotspot on your phone.