Huawei Matestation S, analysis and opinion

At ComputerHoy we analyze practically all the top-of-the-range products in their different segments. It is true that with mobiles we get out of that trend and analyze everything, from the entry ranges to the super premium, but in the rest we have sinned by being somewhat ‘elitist’.

However, we have been changing the chip for a few months and analyzing more day-to-day devices with a better value for money, since they are the ones that, in the end, reach the general public. And, precisely there, is where this Huawei desktop is placed.

Next We tell you how about our experience with the Matestation S in this analysis in which we see how this computer behaves, for about 550 euros with several extras right now, you want to sneak into the living room, a student’s room or the office.

Sections of the analysis of the Huawei Matestation S:

A design that seeks to go unnoticed to sneak into any desk

We are going to start with the design, although really on this occasion there is not much to tell because what is there is obvious.

The Matestation S is a compact desktop PC that we will be able to put in any space.

Although its choice of colors does not suit me very well for a reason that I will now comment on, the truth is that this gray is the one that best matches any room, at least those to which the product is directed.

The front is made of plastic and has a design with parallel lines that, according to Huawei, simulates the trail left by the stars in the sky. They have gone from poetic, in my opinion, but it is true that it gives it a different touch.

On the front we have the Huawei logo and the power button, but also three very useful ports such as the 3.5 mm headphone jack, a USB-C and a USB-A 3.2. I appreciate that there are two fast USBs on the front, but I miss some more USB-C.

And it is that, in the rear we have more ports such as sound, HDMI and more USB, but two are 3.2 and the other two are 2.0. Honestly, I would have saved two USB-A 2.0 to put at least one more USB-C.

But hey, it really is that we have a team that is looking at a very specific type of user and the clue is given by both the VGA port and the Serial port, which is older than many of us.

I would have liked a white finish because, in this way, it would be something more elegant in certain setups, such as a desktop with a cuckoo monitor for the living room. This is very personal, of course, but what I would have seen as more useful is a horizontal placement mode.

And it is that, yes, we will be able to place the computer horizontally without covering the dissipation slot on one of the sides, but on the opposite side we do not have the typical rubber temples and I do not know very well why Huawei has not included them .

Oh well, it is a working computer intended for the room of a student who does not want to play, a library, an office or a living room for the whole family to use and, although it has that serious color, it is certainly not ugly.

The Ryzen 5 4600G demonstrates its good work in performance and temperature

Inside there is not much surprise since, basically, it is a normal PC. The processor is the AMD Ryzen 5 4600G, a SoC that manufacturers are mounting in OEM equipment like this Matestation S.

It has a six-core processor with twelve threads and a base frequency of 3.7 GHz. The TDP is 65 W and we can increase the clock up to 4.2 GHz, although in this case, considering the dissipation and the source, I think it is best to leave it as is.

speaking of this, the source is 300 W and the GPU is integrated. We have 8 GB of DDR4 RAM at 3,200 MHz and these are the results of the synthetic tests:

It is a computer, as we have said, to walk around the house, for the office or for students who do not want to play, but they will be able to play some titles that are not very demanding and at 1080p resolution in low graphics quality, generally.

It is a processor that I liked because for office tasks, job creation, use of Microsoft or Google suites, it works really well.

The fan does not make noise, which speaks highly of the efficiency of the processor and its temperature management thanks to both the aluminum heatsink, which is quite large, and the 7-nanometer lithography.

The SSD also accompanies with a speed that is not bad at all, especially when it comes to opening files, documents and programs. It has a read speed of 2,939.19 MB/s and a slower reading, but for the use that we are going to do it is satisfactory with its 1,200 MB/s.

If you want to be a little more creative, we have edited batches of RAW photos in Capture One without any problems, since both the processor and the speed of the SSD meet perfectly. Video you will not be able to edit, at least with reasonable times when exporting but, as I say, you will be able to play some video games.

So can it be expanded in any way? The truth is that yes, but it is quite limited. We have a PCIe slot in which we could put a GPU, but it must be one with a very, very small size and I think it would not be worth it, since we will not get more performance than with the integrated one and, in addition, the PC will consume more energy .

what yes we are going to be able to change is the M.2 NVMe SSD, which is 256 GB as a base and seems to me somewhat scarce, and RAM. One pickup is installed as standard, but we have room for another one.

Officially upgradable to Windows 11 and with a ‘magic sticker’

It would not make much sense to analyze the software of a non-gaming desktop, but here we have a couple of things to say.

The first is that yes, Huawei has all that trouble with Google due to the US veto, but they continue to mount Windows on their computers in a completely legal way and, in addition, with update support.

In fact, we have been using the Matestation S with Windows 11 during these last few weeks. With this, a question that I have found more than once on networks these weeks is answered.

Y, on the other hand, we have the NFC sticker on the top. It is the same as that of the MateBook X (in fact, when we connect the mobile, it is the PC that the mobile thinks we have) and this is used to have the screen of our Huawei mobile on the Windows desktop.

We can use all the mobile apps without having to pick up the phone and, in addition, we can copy/paste files directly in this way, dragging between the PC and a file folder.

Of course, as usual in these cases, it is a function compatible only with Huawei mobiles, for that reason of maintaining the ecosystem and all that. The one we have been using for this has been the Huawei Nova 9 that we analyzed a few weeks ago.

It seems to me a very interesting function and the truth is that it works very, very well. It is very convenient, for example, to have WhatsApp in this way instead of downloading the desktop app or viewing Instagram while we have a Windows app in another window.

An ideal mini-tower as a family computer or to study

We have reached the end of the analysis of the Huawei Matestation S and what we have found these weeks of use is a very basic desktop computer, but to do university work, as a home and office computer, it fulfills perfectly.

The Ryzen 5 4600G performs very well in both frequency and temperature and the truth is that with both Windows 10 and Windows 11, the experience has been fantastic.

Its design does not excite me and if it were white, I think it would square me a little more, because it would not look so much like an office or library PC, but it is… it is what it is.

I like the form factor, I like that it has a front USB-C, in addition to USB 3.2 also on the front and yes, having a Serial port does not fit me too much in the middle of 2022, but the VGA and the Serial port itself denote what type of user it is focused on.

If you want a home computer, but it’s not a desktop or you don’t want to spend too much money on an all-in-one, this Huawei Matestation S is a very, very good option.