The problem with buying a “portable” laptop is that portability often disappears once you put it in a bag with everything else you carry. A 14-inch notebook might look thin on a desk, but add the charger, phone, and cables, and those extra grams start to matter.
Price: ¥7,999 (About $1,180)
Where to Buy: Huawei
That is the problem Huawei is attacking with the HUAWEI MateBook Pro S. The new HarmonyOS laptop starts at just 798g and measures 11.9mm thick, while still fitting a 14.2-inch OLED display into the chassis. Pricing starts at ¥7,999 in China, roughly $1,180, with the Privacy and Collector’s Editions going on sale after the standard model.
What 798g actually means when you’re carrying it
The standard and Privacy versions weigh approximately 798g, the Soft Light version 805g, and the Collector’s Edition 825g. The first three measure approximately 11.9mm thick; the Collector’s Edition is 12.2mm.
Huawei gets there with lightweight alloys — part of the bottom cover uses magnesium-lithium alloy, while the A and C covers use magnesium-aluminum — plus a compact three-section motherboard, an ultra-thin cooling system, and a high-silicon-anode battery. Those are Huawei’s engineering claims rather than independent evidence of durability.
The practical point is simpler: a sub-kilogram 14-inch notebook should be considerably easier to carry through airports, between meetings, or around campus than a conventional laptop weighing several hundred grams more.
The screen has a trick for working in public
Huawei gives the MateBook Pro S a 14.2-inch flexible OLED touchscreen with a 3120 x 2080 resolution, 3:2 aspect ratio, and maximum 120Hz refresh rate. It advertises up to 1,600 nits of localized peak brightness, but reaching that figure requires privacy mode disabled, HDR mode enabled, and suitable HDR content, not the brightness you’ll see across the whole display during everyday work.
More interesting for commuters is the optional Lingdun Privacy Screen, available on the Privacy and Collector’s Editions. Huawei says the display uses separate pixel structures to allow normal viewing from directly in front while making the screen harder to see from the side. The laptop can also warn you when it detects someone looking toward the display, though Huawei notes detection varies with viewing angle and environment.
If you’ve ever angled your laptop away from the person sitting beside you, that solves a problem far easier to understand than another display specification.
HarmonyOS is both the attraction and the question mark
The MateBook Pro S runs HarmonyOS 6.1, not Windows. Huawei is pushing cross-device collaboration alongside Xiaoyi AI features for meeting transcription, research, and document work, supported by six microphones and 1080p front and rear cameras, the rear one intended to be tilted toward documents on a desk for scanning or AI-assisted queries.
But software compatibility is what buyers should investigate first. Huawei itself notes that some functions and cross-device experiences are still being adapted. If your work depends on a particular Windows or macOS application, confirming it runs properly on HarmonyOS matters more than almost any specification here.
Kirin XE90 and an 18-hour claim
Inside is Huawei’s Kirin XE90 processor, which the company claims delivers 23% higher single-core performance, 25% better energy efficiency, and 40% higher NPU performance than the Kirin X90, with cooling supporting up to 20W of output. Those figures come from Huawei’s own testing, not independent benchmarks.
The 54Wh battery carries another eye-catching number: up to 18 hours of video playback under Huawei’s test conditions, which shouldn’t be read as 18 hours of normal mixed productivity. Huawei also advertises 66W reverse SuperCharge for topping up compatible phones and tablets.
Wired connectivity is minimal: two USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 ports, with the right-side port supporting DisplayPort 1.2 video output up to 4K/60Hz, so anyone who regularly connects several peripherals will still want a hub. Wireless coverage is the stronger side of the equation, with a quad-antenna Wi-Fi 7+ setup.
Who is the MateBook Pro S for?
The MateBook Pro S makes its strongest case for frequent travelers, commuters, executives, and existing Huawei ecosystem users who genuinely care about minimizing what goes into their bag. Its 798g starting weight, 3:2 OLED touchscreen, optional privacy display, and cross-device features address recognizable mobile-work problems instead of simply adding bigger numbers to a spec sheet.
Price: ¥7,999 (About $1,180)
Where to Buy: Huawei
The catch is HarmonyOS. For anyone dependent on specific desktop applications, software compatibility should be checked before price, processor performance, or even that 798g weight. If HarmonyOS runs everything you need, this is the laptop for someone who has already decided the best laptop is the one they barely notice in their bag.
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