SCORE
PRICE £1,086 (£1,300 inc VAT) from consumer.huawei.com/uk
The Huawei Mate Book 14s is so nearly the perfect laptop. For a start, it's fast: a Core i7-11370H matched with 16GB of RAM is always a powerful combination, and so it proved here with results of 164 in the PC Pro benchmarks and 5,327 in PCMark 10. This isn't merely due to the core components but also the highly effective cooling mechanism.
Huawei also squeezes more out of Intel's Iris Xe graphics chip than any of its rivals, with a whopping 112fps in Dirt: Showdown at 1080p. That's not too far behind the HP Envy 14 with its GTX 1650 Ti graphics. When you switch to more graphically intensive games - even Metro: Last Light, where the MateBook's 56fps was far behind the Envy's 99fps - the Iris Xe chip will struggle, but this shows the Huawei is a fine all-rounder.
This story is from the April 2022 edition of PC Pro.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 2022 edition of PC Pro.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Robobutlers may never happen, but robot care workers are on their way
Do you hate loading the dishwasher enough to pay someone to do it remotely? Nicole Kobie wonders about the weird future of home robots
Technical debt
Cutting corners now means more work down the road - but Steve Cassidy asks whether that's always a bad thing
Zyxel ZyWALL ATP500
Zyxel delivers tough gateway security and advanced threat protection at a very appealing price
CREATIVE WORKSTATIONS
Intel and AMD both offer compelling CPU choices for workstations, giving us ten machines with the widest variety of specifications we've seen for years
ANDROID PHONES FROM £219
As this roundup of four affordable contenders shows, there's no need to spend a fortune on a phone
Amazon Echo Pop
If you want a compact Alexa smart speaker, the Pop is now the cheapest choice - but what does it really add?
Getac X600
A powerful alternative to the Panasonic Toughbook 40, with the bonus of optional Nvidia graphics
Amazon Fire Max 11
With its 2K screen and sleek design, this is Amazon's best tablet yet-but FireOS remains a hindrance
Google Pixel Fold
The Pixel Fold delivers with a thin and durable design, a wide front display, smart software and great cameras
Welcome to the Fediverse
Have commercial social networks had their day? Darien Graham-Smith looks at the free, community-run apps that could usurp Twitter, Reddit and the Meta empire