HUAWEI MateBook 14 2020 - 14 Inch Laptop with 2K FullView Display, AMD Ryzen 5 4600H Ultrabook, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB PCIe SSD, Windows 10 Home, Huawei Share, Fingerprint Unlock, Space Grey

You must be interested in this ultrabook and came here to the reviews section to see what the catch is to get such specs for such a low price. I was skeptical too so here's my review to alleviate some of your concerns (or confirm them).Few things first: I went for the base model that doesn't have a touch screen, has got 8gb ram and 256 gb ssd. I would have liked more of the storage and ram but at time it was £650 for the base model and over £800 for the one above so I went for the bargain. My laptop shipped with uk keyboard layout and uk plug, I'm only mentioning this because I saw some early reviews complaining about these not being uk standard.The build quality is excellent that's the first thing you'll notice. It's aluminium all around and it just looks stunning. It's also very compact thanks to the 3:2 aspect ratio screen. See photo attached how much smaller the Huawei matebook is compared to the same 14" (16:10 aspect ratio) Chromebook. I will probably mention this Chromebook a few more times I know it's apples and oranges but this Chromebook made me want to buy an ultrabook as I loved the compact size and great battery but longed for performance and full Windows experience.Once you turn it on you'll need to finish the installation which is really simple and fast. All you have to do is answer a few questions and set your preferences anyone can do it. Windows has come a long way in this regard however if you have not done this setup in the past few years you might want to read the explanation for the different options to make sure you have the right level of privacy settings enabled. Speaking of Windows I love how this matebook gives you an almost clean install of that. No bloatware whatsoever just a few essential Huawei programs that are actually useful. No games and other nonsense that used to come with OEM computers. There is also a trial version of Microsoft office that I got rid of straightaway.The screen is gorgeous. The 2k resolution on this size really is stunning. The 3:2 aspect ratio is my new favourite. It's designed for work (my intended purpose) not so much for media consumption. Reading documents and web pages is a super experience on this screen as it can fit a lot more vertically. I can almost see the same amount of content than on a 23" size wide screen. And that's whole 9" more! I did watch a few movies on this and the aspect ratio works against you in this regard a little. You have quite chunky black bars on the top and bottom when watching a 16:10 or wider video on full screen. It doesn't bother me that much as I'm concentrating on the actual video not the black bars so I quickly forget about those but some people prefers the video to be actual full screen and cover the entire screen area. One thing I have to point out about the screen is the heavy backlight bleed. I'm not gonna lie it's there, see photo attached. BUT! You can literally only see this during the bootup or if you set a pitch black background. It's also visible when watching movies and you have the black bars at the top and bottom but as I said earlier I'm looking at the video not black bars. The screen is covered with a glossy finish which is quite reflective. This can be offset with higher brightness setting but that in turn drains the battery faster. I would have preferred a matte coating on the screen to make it a true work laptop but as this model is available with a touchscreen I can see how they save a ton of money by not manufacturing two different screen finishes for the touch and non-touch models.Enough of the screen what else we have here. The keyboard is decent. Every review is on about how superb this keyboard is but actually my 4 year old £200 Chromebook has a better keyboard in my opinion. It's still a good keyboard but I don't see the hype. I especially dislike the tab button which is something people press a lot of time and it just doesn't give me enough feedback. I do like the fn button which works as a toggle. You press it once to turn it on and don't have to keep pressing it. There is a neat led built into the button so you always know if it's on. Same goes for the caps lock btw. The keyboard is backlit, you have 3 options: off/low and high brightness. I like the touchpad even though it doesn't have glass surface just plastic. It works well for on the go work and as soon as I'm sitting down to a desk I just use a proper mouse anyway. The touchpad is rather large considering the size of the laptop and it supports different gestures too.The performance is really good too. Everyday tasks are never a problem the machine is always ready and responsive. I edited 13 pdf files each with at least 5 layers in the same time and I didn't even hear the fan. The only time I can get the fan to start up if I start a game. It's not a gaming laptop but it can handle a few titles in medium settings. I only tried one or two, popular multiplayer games they all ran well with a few stutters here and there. Nothing to hinder my gaming performance (apart from me being a noob haha) but it's not designed to run games anyway.Battery life is really good for a Windows pc but still doesn't come close to what a Chromebook can pull off (with android turned off!) But I say it's dependable, I use mine almost always in power saving mode because even than it has enough muscle to handle any task I throw at it. I don't turn off my computer just close the lid and when I open again I can pick up where I left off immediately. The battery drain is not significant. So standby consumption is good. The battery drains faster when you actually use the laptop (obviously) but I can easily pull off a 7-9 hr stretch from one charge which is enough for a day of intensive work. The included charger is fast but I have a minor complaint here. The power adapter is built into the plug which sounds great but it's quite wide! If you plug it into an extension lead you will need at least two but probably 3 sockets empty to have enough space for it. You definitely can't plug it in if you only have one socket free. Impossible. You need 2 free if it's at the end and 3 if you want to plug in the middle. Something to bear in mind. What I do love however is the fact that you can most probably use your phone charger if you can't find the laptop charger. I know I can, my phone uses an 18W PD charger and it works absolutely fine. According to Huawei support it's also safe to do so, what happens is your laptop will charge slower. That's it. If you're draining the battery intensely (gaming, video editing) a phone charger might not be able to keep up and won't be able to actually charge your laptop any more but it will still slow down your draining of the battery. It's best reserved for emergencies and you should stop your high battery drain use as soon as possible or find the supplied charger though.There aren't many ports on the laptop but it's hardly a surprise these days as everything is going towards cloud computing. The only painful omission is the lack of card reader. Come on phones are smaller and some still have them. It's not even expensive so I guess it's deliberately missing.The webcam is hidden between the f5 and f6 buttons. Its position will not provide with the most flattering angles I admit but I think it's blown out of proportion everyone seems to be complaining about that. I personally don't use it anyway so no drama from me.The Huawei share app would be useful but it only works with Huawei phones so I have no way of testing it.So all in all I have to say this is it I don't think there is a catch. Maybe the backlight bleed. But come on it's hardly noticable in real life scenarios. If you're noticing that you're not concentrating on your work :) but seriously I can't see it only on a full black screen. Besides there has to be some compromise. If this is a deal breaker you have other options with different compromises. Some will have poor battery, or cheap plastic finish, or loads of crapware that can't be deleted, or just weaker hardware etc. For this much you won't find a flawless machine (heck I don't even think they exist) and in my opinion this is the best price to performance ratio with minimal compromises. 5 stars from me.

Bought back in October – not an impulse buy – it took weeks, on and off, researching laptops. Last two laptops have been Acer, lost the screen on one and my last – the hinge broke, gradually, the keyboard element began peeling away from the base.The old laptop had 4GB ram, 750GB HDD and a 15.6 inch screen. Didn’t really need a 15 inch screen, discovered after 7 years of use I had only filled 60GB of the HDD and the main criteria was the “hinge mechanism”. Software – no, I didn’t need Microsoft Office – more than happy with Libre Office – so basic Windows would be fine.Never bought a laptop “online” before – I was concerned about how a laptop would fare being delivered into a home made box at the end of a track, however, didn’t want to face a 100 mile round trip to the nearest big name store. Decided to chance an online buy.Obviously checked Acer – huge shame, very little appears to have changed with their casing design, time to move on. Ultimately choice fell to Asus, Huawei or Honor. Read every comment under numerous versions of each laptop, watched hours of unboxing videos online – settled for Huawei as past reviews were good.Very large package was delivered – safely – to the box at the track end. It was similar to a Russian doll – package inside package inside plastic wrap – so, extremely well protected.Seriously “thin” - thinner than the base of my old laptop – doesn’t weigh much – figured the packaging weighed as much, if not more than the laptop – it is possible to sit this laptop on the palm of one hand and walk around – try that with the old one and you might break your wrist.This is one impressive laptop. Keyboard is excellent. Trackpad (twice the size of the old Acers’) is excellent, super sensitive in comparison, so go carefully until you get the hang of it.Screen – fabulous colour depth – apparently measured in NITS – whatever – it way exceeded expectation and it really is almost edge to edge.Hidden camera apparently has some complaining – doesn’t bother me, never used the camera on the old laptop, doubt I will on this one. If you are concerned about someone looking up your nose – raise the laptop up – it’s light enough.Fingerprint identification – yes, some complaints in comments/reviews. It does take a while to set up – follow instructions on screen, be patient – once set up, it works fine – you just have to lightly touch your finger to the button. If the reader fails to recognise you after 3 attempts it offers alternative log ins - via a PIN or by the old fashioned password. Both of which you will have set up when first booting the laptop.Ports – Read a number of complaints about how few there were – come on people, this is a portable laptop – how much “clutter” do you carry with you that needs plugging in? Using on a desk top and need multiple USB connections – buy an extra device – there are solutions. There is a headphone socket – this is now missing on some laptops – use bluetooth – fine – that’s in the laptop too.Speakers – read comments about preferences for speakers being on the keyboard side– or under the body – does location really matter? Sound quality on this Huawei Matebook is outstanding – from 2 speakers, under the body on either side – can’t fault them. Microphone – never used on old laptop, only used on this Matebook to tell Cortana to b****r off. Seems there are 4 tiny microphones just under base by the track pad – Cortana got the message, so they work fine.Fan noise – what fan noise? I haven’t heard the fans once, so can’t tell you anything.Battery – charges fully in a little over an hour, from a charger that is light and portable – not at all brick like or weighty as my old laptop charger. Battery life – wow – equally impressive. My old laptop offered me a choice of conserve battery or consume power for some super hungry bit of software and at best gave about 4 hours of battery life. This Matebook offers a sliding scale and best of all – tells you how many hours you have left – move the cursor over the battery icon at the foot of the screen and up the info pops – 11 hours remaining… For most people, I reckon one charge is good for an average days use working off battery.Build quality – outstanding – looks like a Mac in many ways – can’t fault it.What I didn’t like – Windows 10 – coming from Windows 8, I found Cortana wanting to “help me set up” highly frustrating, Microsoft wanting me to switch on my GPS (so they could better provide me with a weather report ?) and use their cloud as a way to log into my laptop – frustrating and rather intrusive. It is possible to remove that Microsoft Account under settings by the way.For me – great laptop, highly impressed.

I bought Huawei Matebook 14 2020 Amd about 3 weeks ago. So far I really like it. Display is great, the keyboard is really good and the design looks and feels premium. People don't like the position of the camera but since I rarely use it, it doesn't bother me at all.

Weight, shape, colour all very sleek. Quality of screen and colours are the best I’ve seen for a long time!

Hi I wanted to wait to write a review of this laptop until I had lived with it for a month or more to do it justice and I have to say by and large I am pretty happy with it. When I first got it I turned in on and the speakers crackled and I thought oh dear here we go but since the it hasn't done it again. The machine is quick, very responsive and nice to use, the keyboard is great to type on all in all I have been impressed by this machine.If I had any complaints it's that the battery is no where near as long at is claimed the blurb states 14hrs this is a pure flight of fancy I haven't really tried a full charge to zero run to see how long it takes but have seen the battery indicator drop from 5hrs to 1hr in about 20-30 mins but like I said I haven't done a hard check of the numbers but 14hrs nope not even remotely close. It's does however charge incredibly fast with the included 60W charger.There is one thing that is amazing on this laptop and it's the display it's pin sharp and crystal clear I have to say it's its most impressive feature by far watching a movie or youtube on it is a joy the pixels just disappear.Overall this machine is quick, sounds great and has an amazing screen just keep your charger with you :P

Amazing device worth all the money.