Things have changed though. Now: £1,499.99 (£300 off) That means that despite good peak brightness it still struggles in direct sunlight, as there’s not much you can do to avoid intense glare. In essence, the MacBook Air can keep up with whatever you throw at it. Huawei’s keyboards don’t quite reach the lofty highs of the best on the market – that’s the Dell XPS 13, for my money – but they’ve been quietly excellent for some time now, and the MateBook 14 is no exception. The trackpad at least is an unmitigated joy, with an expansive surface area and multi-touch support.

Now: $749 ($160.99 off) Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. That said, you’ll now find quick access to an Emoji keyboard, the Spotlight tool (though CMD + Space still works as an alternative) and Do Not Disturb on the updated keyboard. You also get a little extra if you use other Huawei devices, as the company works hard to build up its hardware and software ecosystem, principally through Huawei Share. Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Unfortunately, like all Huawei products, it’s not available in the US at all. Now: $619.99 ($100 off) It’s the same story in the port department, much to the disappointment to those hoping Apple would expand on the, ahem, minimal approach to ports on the MacBook Air.

Huawei has stuck to its tried and tested design language with the 2020 MateBook 14, which is basically an attractive, conservative design that still looks faintly like a MacBook. It’s bested by the Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered Samsung Galaxy Book S, which clocked in at an incredible 25 hours and 24 minutes, but it’s safe to say Apple’s MacBook Air is much more capable – as seen in our benchmark tests. What is disappointing is the return of the same low-res 720p webcam embedded within those bezels, especially at a time where millions of people are working remotely and relying on video calls to communicate.

I’ve comfortably used it for a full day’s work without stressing about the power cable – though bear in mind that I would expect battery life on the Intel versions to be a little lower. Bluetooth is also on the slightly older Bluetooth 5.0 standard, but that doesn’t matter so much. At that point you can drag and drop files between the two devices, work on phone files from the laptop, and mirror your phone’s display to the laptop screen so that you can actually use it like an app within Windows, using your mouse to click and your keyboard to type WhatsApp messages.

The MateBook D14 (note the ‘D’) is available from just £549. Helpfully it’s a compact charger, no larger than most phone ones, and since it’s USB-C it will handily also charge most phones, saving you carrying around separate plugs. Dom covers everything that runs on electricity, from phones and laptops to wearables, audio, gaming, smart home, and streaming – plus he’s a regular fixture on the Tech Advisor YouTube channel. Featuring Apple’s new M1 chipset, based on the architecture of its hugely powerful A-Series chipsets for iPhone and iPad, the MacBook Air with M1 should be a serious consideration for those on the market for a lightweight-yet-powerful laptop right now. When Apple released the Intel-based MacBook Air back in Spring 2020, everybody assumed that’d be it for another year – or possibly longer, if Apple’s track record is anything to go by.

The MacBook Air looks almost identical to its predecessor, measuring in at 212.4mm thick, and it’s almost identical dimensions to the new MacBook Pro, but Apple tapered the design of the MacBook Air to help shave off a bit of weight and give it the distinctive Air look that Apple has lent on for years. Now: £362.21 upfront or £30.34 p/m (Up to £234.12 off) If you mostly want a laptop to watch Netflix the screen may frustrate, as you’ll always have black bars above and below whatever you watch, but if you spend your days on email and Excel – or even more demanding creative or technical software – the extra scrolling space will quickly become your favourite thing about this laptop. Of course, you’ve got the option of picking up a USB-C hub to expand the offering, but there’s no disputing that the MacBook Air could certainly use another port or two – even if they are USB-C. It’s a convenient touch, but of course only useful if you already use a Huawei or Honor phone.

From: Laptops Direct It’s faster, more powerful and largely more capable too, but despite all this, there’s an increase in battery life too. While Apple claims it’s as simple as clicking a box for developers that wish to make their iOS apps available on Mac, not all apps translate well to use on a laptop – how will you play a game that requires motion controls or use a drawing app that requires the Apple Pencil, for example? Now: $499.99 ($50 off) Now: $599 ($360 off) Still, it’s not exactly heavy, especially when compared to Windows-based ultralights. Oh, and in case you were worried: yes, the MateBook 14 runs Windows 10, and you can access Google just fine.

Now: $24.98 ($24 off off) This doesn’t affect our editorial independence. But for just about anything else, you won’t find much more power than this in a laptop, and certainly not in one this compact. Now: $59.95 ($40 off) Huawei has once again delivered tremendous bang for your buck in the 2020 MateBook 14, especially in the UK’s overhauled AMD models, which will outpace some laptops at double the price – so long as you don’t need a GPU.

Only the best deals on the best products handpicked by our expert editors If that resolution sounds a little odd, it’s because this screen is in the 3:2 aspect ratio, rather than the more familiar 16:9. A Midnight Blue MacBook Air sounds enticing, right? Sadly that’s not the case this time, with Apple opting for the same Gold, Silver and Space Grey colour options it has offered for the past few years. There’s more travel under your finger, and the click isn’t quite as satisfying as that of a mechanical keyboard, but there’s a nice feel to it.

If you’re opting for AMD, the choice is between the powerful H-series Ryzen 5 4600H or the Ryzen 7 4800H CPU, while Intel users get to pick between an i5-10210U and an i7-10510U. Learn more. As I said above, Huawei’s laptop line is currently unaffected by the ongoing US trade ban, thanks to a special exemption for Microsoft. Of course, it’s what’s inside that makes this MacBook Air especially interesting. There’s a headphone jack, two USB-C ports and… nope, that’s it.

Now: £1,299 (£200 off) It’s certainly nice enough to use the MacBook Air to knock out articles and write long emails as I have been for the past couple of weeks. This is largely down to personal preference – I actually adjusted my keyboard brightness regularly on older models – but I’m sure there’s something here for most Mac users. You can take a look at our benchmarks below to see how the MacBook Air compares: Now: £899.90 (£100 off) The design is slick, modern, and unfussed, bolstered by an excellent display and a good array of ports, and it’s fairly thin – if a little heavy for a laptop its size. The MacBook Air comes with macOS Big Sur out of the box, offering a much-needed facelift and bringing the Mac software more in-line with that of iOS with the introduction of features like Control Centre and advanced features within the Messages app. The blistering performance of the MacBook Air is backed up by our benchmarks, besting not only the Intel-based MacBook Pro from early 2020 but many of the best ultralight laptops available right now.

Expect a boost not only in performance but battery efficiency too, with very little trade-off. The logic is sound, but while the MacBook Air can ramp up performance when required, the bladeless design of the laptop means it can’t sustain it over long periods. The only downside is that the performance can’t be sustained over long periods thanks to a bladeless design, meaning those wanting to do 6hr+ video edits may be better off with the M1-based MacBook Pro or Mac Mini. In the UK Huawei is only releasing an AMD-powered version of the 2020 MateBook 14, which is what I’ve been testing, though elsewhere in Europe you might have an Intel option. There is a workaround on how to connect two external monitors to an M1 MacBook but it involves downloading DisplayLink software.

From: Virgin Media Let’s talk about the panel. Keyboard mechanism aside, the more eagle-eyed might also notice a few icon changes along the top row of keys – it’s one of the only differences compared to the older Intel-based MacBook Air. On a desk that’s fine, but if you’re using the MateBook 14 on your lap or in bed, audio quality noticeably suffers. The magic means you think you’re clicking like you would on a normal trackpad, without the added danger of Apple having to integrate actual moving parts that could fill with dust and other debris and become clogged over time. Despite the huge jump in performance compared to the Intel-based model released in early 2020, the MacBook Air starts at the same £999/$999 as its predecessor, making it the cheapest laptop in Apple’s range, although the more powerful model costs a little more at £1,249/$1,249.

But as with these things, there is a catch: not all apps will be available on Mac. Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Was: £596.33 upfront or £49.94 p/m Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. The chassis is essentially unchanged from the 2019 model, though that’s no bad thing. It’s a shame there’s no microSD card slot, but otherwise you’re getting just about everything you could hope for in a laptop this size.

Only the best deals on the best products handpicked by our expert editors Key travel is relatively short, but it’s comfortable, quiet, and satisfyingly tactile. A fingerprint sensor is embedded in the power button, and it can scan your print while you turn the machine on – so that theoretically, pushing the button once should both boot the PC and unlock it. More on what that actually does down below. It might not make a difference to everyone, but if you’ve got an existing multi-display setup that you hook your MacBook into, it could be a dealbreaker. Apple has had a bit of an uphill struggle with its laptop keyboard reputation, with older MacBook users still wary after the butterfly mechanism debacle.

AMD’s integrated graphics tech remains surprisingly robust, and so the MateBook even holds its own on the 3DMark graphics benchmark, but the limitations are clear – it was actually outperformed by last year’s model, with a Core i7 and MX250, despite comfortably beating that model on the PCMark computing test. It all looks very vibrant and colourful, but with a maximum brightness of 388nits during our tests, there are certainly brighter laptops on the market – Apple’s new MacBook Pro for one, which Apple claims maxes out at 500nits. It actually features the same 44.9Wh battery as the MacBook Air released in early 2020, but it lasts six hours longer, clocking in at 18 hours on average compared to 12 on the Intel-based model – according to Apple, anyway.

Learn more. These features are available to any recent Mac, but there is one feature exclusive to the M1-based MacBook Air: the ability to natively run iOS and iPadOS apps. It also boasts what’s become a Huawei trademark: a hidden webcam. Combine that with the 7/8-core GPU and you’ve got serious power under the hood, with Apple’s claims of 3.5x jump in performance compared to the Intel-based MacBook Air largely ringing true to my experience with the new MacBook Air over the past few weeks.

While some may be apprehensive about the idea of switching from Intel to an Apple-designed chipset, it’s worth remembering that Apple has been developing its own chipset for the iPhone and iPad for years with great success. From: Laptops Direct It’s not as slender or light as the company’s flagship MateBook X or X Pro, but it’s also substantially cheaper than either, and packs in more ports too. Now: $599.99 ($200 off) Now: £899.90 (£100 off) As for other connectivity, there’s Wi-Fi of course, but no support yet for the new Wi-Fi 6 standard. The benefits of the new M1 chipset extend to power efficiency, and that’s proven with the MacBook Air’s battery life. Below the keyboard you’ll find the same large trackpad featured in the past few iterations of MacBook, and it works just as well as you’d expect, providing ample space to swipe, tap and click away.

Now: $379 ($60.99 off) I think the design improvements and extra performance here justify the upgrade for those who can afford it though, especially anyone with serious productivity in mind – the combo of the H-series Ryzen chips and that 3:2 display are hard to beat. Huawei installs its webcam below a fake function key, which pops up when you press on it. Now: $279 ($120 off) Either way, RAM is either 8GB or 16GB, though AMD models use DDR4 while the Intel models still use the slower DDR3 standard. There’s a 90% screen-to-body ratio, with particularly slim borders around the top and sides – though there’s a chunkier bottom bezel where the Huawei logo sits.

Now: From £21 per month As for charging, the included 65W charger topped the battery back up by 45% in half an hour – so it would probably take an hour or so for a full day’s charge. The MacBook Air is one of the most powerful lightweight laptops available right now, thanks to the Apple-designed M1 chipset. Now: £499 (£100 off) I’ve been reviewing the top-spec UK model, with a Ryzen 7, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB storage. The full-size keyboard reaches almost from edge to edge, and looks as sleek and simple as the rest of the design. For transparency, we’ve been supplied with the more powerful 8-core variant of MacBook Air with 512GB of storage, which Apple claims is 12% faster than the 7-core variant.

Now: £37 Clubcard Price (£13 off) Huawei has once again delivered tremendous bang for your buck in the 2020 MateBook 14, especially in the UK’s overhauled AMD models. Huawei has also managed to move the Huawei Share tag underneath the trackpad, which saves you from an unsightly sticker and feels more streamlined. Of course, that will depend on the app in question, as there may be a difference in complex actions like export speeds in Intel-based creative apps compared to those that run natively on Apple’s M1 chipset, but I’m confident that most popular apps will run natively on the M1 within a year – there have already been plenty of new additions since the MacBook Air launched back in November.

It’s immediately noticeable as a MacBook Air, that much is certainly true. The one downgrade compared to the Intel-based MacBook Air isn’t with the main display but external ones; the new MacBook Air can only support a single external display (up to 4K 60Hz with HDR enabled), compared to the multi-display support on offer from the Intel-based version. With the same limitation on the M1-based MacBook Pro, it seems to be tied to Apple’s chipset rather than a lack of graphical power. For those unaware, the keyboard mechanism used on Apple’s laptop range from 2015 to 2019 suffered from performance issues when dust and debris got under keys, resulting in mispresses and other headaches you wouldn’t expect from premium laptops. And since their latest handsets don’t support Google software, unfortunately the odds are that you don’t.

It means you get a fairly slim, petite machine despite the 14in display, at just 15.9mm thick and a weight of around 1.5kg. Now: $99.99 ($50 off) Apps designed for the M1 chipset open near-instantly, Apple Arcade games run flawlessly, the laptop feels responsive, and even Intel-based apps that use Apple’s Rosetta 2 wrapper to run manage to do so without a noticeable difference compared to native apps. Under the hood is where things get more interesting. Now: Up to $550 off (With free Galaxy Buds 2) Now: £1,499.97 (£400 off) Huawei has also used the AMD chips as an excuse to redesign the MateBook 14’s cooling setup, and with impressive results.

As I mentioned above, this tech has now been moved under the trackpad. The bulk of the body is made out of an aluminium alloy (though the hinge and port covers are plastic), and it’s finished in a dark Space Grey (though some countries get a lighter Mystic Silver option), for an end result that isn’t exactly eye catching, but looks sleek and modern. Apple ditched some of the lesser-used keys, like Launchpad and keyboard brightness settings, replacing them with functionality that better reflects how modern Mac users work and play. It may not look that different physically, aside from a few new keyboard shortcuts and P3 wide colour gamut support on the display, but it’s a complete transformation on the inside. Now: £1,149.99 (£399.01 off) More specifically, there are two variants of MacBook Air to choose from, and there’s a slight difference in performance.

In my mind, there’s no better ultralight laptop on the market right now than the M1-based MacBook Air, especially at the £999/$999 price point. That’s much longer than the older MacBook Air’s 12 hours 28 minutes, unsurprisingly, and bests even some of the best Windows-based laptops. Now: £649 (£150 off) Both are available from Apple right now, along with the likes of Currys in the UK and Best Buy in the US. Only the best deals on the best products handpicked by our expert editors For one, other manufacturers have shrunk webcams down to fit above screens without compromising the design; more importantly almost all of us now spend much more time on camera than we used to, and an upwards-facing webcam that gets blocked by your fingers when you type has gone from minor annoyance to genuine grievance.

The bezels do run a little thick compared to some Windows alternatives in 2021, but that’s true of most of Apple’s Mac line-up right now. By Lewis Painter, Senior Staff Writer | 18 Jan 2021 It’s also appropriately light for an Air-branded laptop, weighing in at 1.29kg. At this price, honestly the main competition is from Huawei itself. The display itself is bright, with good contrast and colour range, though like Huawei’s other laptops it suffers from an especially reflective finish.

It’s restrained enough to seem professional but slick enough that you’ll still want to show it off a bit. Though frustrating for power users that’ll have to pay extra for the fan-cooled MacBook Pro for a portable creative workstation, it does mean that the MacBook Air is truly silent in operation. But hey, there’s always the 2021 model to look forward to… In fact, the M1 chipset is based on Apple’s latest A-Series processor for mobile devices, the A14 Bionic.

Now: £1299.99 (£499.99 off + freebie) It’s a taller, boxier display that gives you extra vertical real estate – a particular boon for productivity, which is really where the MateBook 14 feels focussed. It does feel a little heavy though, especially compared to rival devices from Acer and Asus – likely thanks to Huawei’s choice of materials. It’s one of the smallest features of Apple’s MacBook range, but one that never ceases to amaze me. And yes, it still features the frankly mind-blowing integration of haptic feedback that tricks you into thinking the completely static trackpad moves when you click.

Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Ultimately, if you’re looking for a device for graphically intensive tasks – be that gaming, video editing, or complex 3D modelling – you should probably look elsewhere. It helps that with slim bezels the screen almost always looks the part. That means the MateBook 14 ships with Windows 10 and it runs just like any other Windows laptop, with all the same software, security, and access to Google services. The bottom line is that performance is fantastic, especially considering the price, and the MateBook 14 will comfortably handle most things you throw at it.

It sports a slightly slower U-series Ryzen processor, and the design and display are definitely less premium, but for many the D14 will suffice. The H-series Ryzen chips deliver the best performance you can find in a laptop for the time being, and will outpace the silicon in some laptops at double the price. See our roundup of the best USB-C hubs, or for even more ports our recommended USB-C docking stations and best Thunderbolt docks for MacBooks. It’s not a dim display by any means, but if you’re looking to work in brightly lit environments – or even outside – then you’ll want every nit you can get.

For context, Apple does claim that the MacBook Pro lasts a little longer at 20 hours, even with a fan system to power – but it does have space for a larger battery, after all. But rather than being another simple spec bump, the new MacBook Air has been truly transformed – on the inside, anyway. The 2020 MateBook 14 is available for either £749 or £949 in the UK, and you can buy it direct from Huawei, or from Amazon, Very, AO, or Littlewoods.

Like Apple’s mobile chipset, the CPU is split into two: you’ll get four performance cores and four power-efficient cores, allowing the CPU to deliver serious power when required and run in a much more power-efficient way when it isn’t.

Huawei MateBook 14 2020 AMD review

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p>By Dominic Preston, Deputy Editor | 07 Oct 2020 A few years ago this felt like a smart way to save space on the display bezels and ensure privacy, hiding away a rarely used feature. Even at full whack it runs quiet and cool, meaning there’s not much cause for concern around performance throttling – or around using it on your lap. Apple had a colourful 2020, launching not only the iPhone 12 in a range of colours but the iPad Air too, so there was part of me hoping Apple would give the same treatment to the MacBook Air range.

For iOS apps and games that are available on the Mac App Store, including Kitchen Stories and runaway success Among Us, they work exactly the same as they would on your smartphone – aside from using a mouse to simulate touch input. The AMD CPUs are undeniably stronger performers, but there is a tradeoff: if you opt for Intel you’ll get an Nvidia GeForce MX350 GPU too, while the AMD options are limited to integrated graphics only. Ever since the first MateBooks arrived with strong specs and an attractive – if familiar – aesthetic, Huawei has been steadily refining the design and building up a range of laptops that are competitive at almost every price point. Yes, you read that right, sharing the same architecture as the A-Series means you can finally run your favourite iPhone apps on your Mac. Now: £1,117 (£132 off) Though the display might measure in at the same 13.3in and sport the same high-res 2560 x 1600 display as its predecessor, there is one improvement to the M1-based MacBook Air: it now offers P3 wide colour support.

Considering one of those two USB-C ports is used to charge the laptop, that’ll leave you with a single USB-C port at your disposal when tethered to the wall. The M1 chipset does provide improved image processing so the webcam feed is slightly better looking, but it’s in desperate need of an upgrade. Huawei’s smartphone struggles are well publicised, but the company’s tremendous success in the laptop space sometimes goes unnoticed. Both sport the same 8-core CPU, based on the latest ARM architecture, along with 8GB of RAM, but the entry-level variant with a 256GB SSD sports a 7-core GPU while the more expensive 512GB model boasts an upgraded 8-core GPU.

If you’re curious about how the MacBook Air compares to the competition, take a look at our selection of the best laptops. If you hadn’t guessed by now, Apple has ditched Intel and has decided to use its own chipset – the M1 – in its latest laptop line, and it’ll eventually expand to the whole Mac collection in future. In our battery benchmark test, performed by looping a 720p video at 120nits brightness until the laptop died, the MacBook Air managed to last an impressive 16 hours 34 minutes. £749 gets you a Ryzen 5 with 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage, while £949 gets you the faster Ryzen 7 with double the RAM and storage – that’s the model I’ve been testing.

The only real downsides are that unfortunate webcam placement, the lack of a GPU option in the AMD models, and the fact that its coolest software feature – Huawei Share – is inevitably of limited use since you’re probably unlikely to pair it with a new Huawei phone. The only real pain right now is that it’s hard to discover new iPhone and iPad apps in the Mac App Store, although this could be changed fairly easily in a future software update. You can run your mouse along your toolbar, opening each and every app, and it won’t break a sweat.

With such great performance on offer, you might be tempted to get a MacBook Air in place of a MacBook Pro to edit video or run other graphically intense apps – it is cheaper after all! Now: $549.99 ($150 off) It’s certainly an all-day device that you’ll feel comfortable using without fear of it dying mid-email, although it will admittedly vary depending on what you’re doing – you won’t squeeze 16 hours out of it if you’re rendering video, after all! Using the laptop to work from, with Chrome, Microsoft Word and other apps open, I managed to squeeze around 10-11 hours out of the laptop before it’d need topping up. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices The Apple-designed M1 chipset, based on Apple’s A-Series processors, offers a significant improvement on the Intel-based MacBook Air from early 2020 in just about every way. Now: £529.99 (£220 off) Once the laptop begins to heat up, it’ll throttle performance to cool things down, making it less than ideal for video editors and creatives that want to work for 6+ hours at a time. Both models get up to 512GB of SSD storage. It’s one of the first laptops on the market to do so, with Intel still rocking the 10nm process, and the benefits – especially in terms of battery life, which I detail later – are immediately apparent. Like the mobile chipset, it’s based on TSMC’s 5nm manufacturing process, boasting impressive power efficiency without skimping on performance.

If you can afford it, you’ll definitely see a noticeable performance bump from the pricier version, but both offer impressive value for money. Featured in the newer MacBooks, the iPad Pro’s Magic Keyboard cover and now the M1-based MacBook Air, it’s an immediately noticeable improvement over the older butterfly-based keyboard – even on keys that do still work properly. It offers synchronicity among Apple devices, with the ability to make and receive both calls and texts from your iPhone on your Mac, quickly switch between audio input when using AirPods and sharing files using AirDrop is a doddle too.

While you could set your watch to Apple’s yearly iPhone release, Apple’s update schedule is a little bit more chaotic when it comes to its Mac range. Now: $749.99 ($200 off) It’s a 14in touchscreen IPS display – so no OLED – at a resolution of 2160×1440. The 56Wh battery in the MateBook 14, combined with the power efficiency of the AMD chips, basically makes it an all-day device. Now: $649 ($340 off) Now: $69.99 ($29.99 off) So, when Apple announced another MacBook Air, people were confused.

Our resident Apple expert, Lewis covers everything from iPhone to AirPods, plus a range of smartphones, tablets, laptops and gaming hardware. That means that if you own a compatible Huawei or Honor phone you can now hold it over the trackpad briefly to connect it to the laptop. https://jiji.ug/71-pigeons As is fairly common in laptops, the speakers are located on the underside of the body. Now: $129 ($70.99 off) You’ll also find him on the Tech Advisor YouTube channel.

Ports are another strong suit. Now: £649 (£150 off) You’ll find two USB-A 3.2 ports, one USB-C (used for charging), an HDMI port, and a 3.5mm headphone/microphone jack. This mostly works, though occasionally I did have to re-scan my finger to log into Windows. It’s worth noting that you can expand storage up to 2TB on both models, but at a serious premium. Throw in the ability to run iPhone and iPad apps on the laptop and you’ve got a great, powerful ultralight laptop.

Now: £1,499.97 (£400 off) Now: £679 (£120 off) So we come to the 2020 MateBook 14, which looks much like last year’s model but packs in more power, jumps from Intel to AMD, and improves Huawei Share support. For more options, check out our ranked guide to the best laptops we’ve reviewed. That’s great news for creatives that want to use the MacBook Air for graphic design, offering a more accurate representation of colour, but the benefits extend to simpler tasks like watching movies and TV shows on the laptop. Only the best deals on the best products handpicked by our expert editors That’s the same as the Intel-based MacBook Air, a slight surprise considering Apple has ditched the built-in fan system on the newer M1 model – but more on that later.

The good news is that Apple fixed the issue earlier this year with the Intel-based MacBook Air that released back in Spring 2020, swapping the problematic butterfly mechanism for the improved Magic Keyboard.