Huawei MateBook 14 2020 laptop review: 3:2 clamshell convinces both with Intel and AMD CPUs

[Redaktion]

Huawei offers its MateBook 14 both with AMD and Intel processors. Completely identical on the outside, they are very different laptops internally. We have tested and compared both versions of Huawei's 3:2 mid-range device.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Huawei-MateBook-14-2020-laptop-review-3-2-clamshell-convinces-both-with-Intel-and-AMD-CPUs.508467.0.html

[Fazal Majid]

I had ordered one (the UK got them before most other countries) but I had to return it because it had the god-awful UK keyboard layout (the product photos on their site showed the US ANSI layout, and I didn't think to confirm).

Is it available anywhere with a US layout? I'd wipe Windows and replace it with Linux, so it doesn't matter if it ships with a Chinese version of Windows.

[Dorby]

These ports are deal-breakers for me.
USB-A 2.0 is useless, and when you charge your laptop, you don't have a USB-C port available for use.

At the minimum I need these 3 ports: 1 USB-A 3.2 10Gbps, 1 USB-C 3.2 10Gbps with PD, and 1 USB-C 4.0 40Gbps (TB4 with Intel 11th Gen), and I would still need to carry a dongle because there are no full sized UHS-III SD Card slot and breakout ethernet port.

[ZODD]

The price is outrageous considering you can buy  a Zenbook 14 with AMD and MX 350 for $ 550 regularly on sale.

[justatest]

Wifi surfing test should be done with nvidia discrete graphics on/off also. UHD620 is slow when scrolling up/down some sites but mx350 is not.

Can the AMD battery life be improved by disabling cpu cores?

[justatest]

Wifi surfing test should be done with nvidia discrete graphics on/off also. UHD620 is slow when scrolling up/down some sites but mx350 is not.

Can the AMD battery life be improved by disabling cpu cores?

I wanted to further study the power efficiency in games.

Calculating Watt/frame from The Witcher 3 results (fps from medium settings, power use from ultra settings) the approximated differences are:

i7 + mx350 = 1.33 Watt/1 Frame
4800h + vega 7 = 2.7 Watt /1 Frame

The intel+nvidia system is essentially a 55 Watt system when loaded, and the amd is 45 Watt, the expected frame difference is only +22%, very different from this result.

With watt measurement and fps on equal graphics settings for the most accurate result you could provide a new metric: Watt/Frame (or Frame/Watt).

[Mohd Yousef]

Can you please share with us the ICM file for the calibrated matebook 14 AMD ?!
I am not sure if i understand wright, but i can use the file directly correct ?!

[jason916]

Hi, there's another version of matebook 14 which comes out in 2021. The specs are slightly different with i5 1135G7 11th gen cpu, and different heat pipe design. The rest of the specs look quite similar on paper. Not sure about the internals. The price is significantly more expensive than the 2020 AMD version. Is it possible to do a review on this newer model to see whether it's worth the extra money? Thanks