Hey guys, it's HassanLinux. About three months ago, I bought a Huawei MateBook 14 and decided to fully switch its Windows 10 environment to Linux. Initially, the device's sleek design and lightweight nature attracted me, but I was also cautious about potential BIOS limitations. Positive feedback from many users about hardware support pushed me to give it a try. Now, I'll walk you through what I did, the challenges I faced, and the current performance. 😊
For the installation, I first disabled Secure Boot and turned off Fast Boot. Removing a few restrictions in the BIOS was crucial for the Linux kernel to recognize the hardware. Then, I booted Ubuntu 22.04 LTS from a USB in "Try without installing" mode and, using the "Something else" option in the disk partitioning section, created a "/" and "swap" partition while preserving the existing Windows partitions. Seeing both Windows and Ubuntu options listed seamlessly in the GRUB menu was a great start.
Performance-wise, the MateBook 14's 14-inch IPS display and 16GB RAM run smoothly under Linux as well. Especially when I installed a lightweight window manager like i3wm, the system responded almost instantly. Daily tasks, web browsing, coding, and even light video editing work flawlessly. Thanks to the NVMe interface of the SSD, file read/write speeds are nearly on par with Windows, sometimes even faster. All these experiences show that Huawei's hardware quality also supports Linux compatibility.
Of course, I did run into a few issues. The most noticeable was the Wi‑Fi card (Qualcomm Atheros) having connection problems with some kernel versions. Installing the "backports" package and compiling the latest wireless driver fixed this. Another issue was power management; sometimes, even when the battery was at 100%, the screen brightness was low, and energy consumption was higher than expected. Tweaking this with tools like TLP and powertop helped a lot. I also discovered that some of Huawei's special key combinations (e.g., volume control) required additional shortcut definitions.
In conclusion, the Huawei MateBook 14 is a very Linux-compatible device, and with the right settings, it can offer an almost flawless experience. Are you planning to switch this device to Linux, or would you prefer another brand? Which laptop models do you recommend, especially in terms of hardware compatibility and customizability? Guys, I can't wait to hear your thoughts and experiences!
My Linux Experience with the Huawei MateBook 14: Installation Secrets, Performance, and Challenges I Faced
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Compared to the Dell XPS 13, which supports Secure Boot natively, the MateBook 14 requires manual disabling to avoid compatibility issues with some Linux kernels. Additionally, the XPS 13's battery typically provides longer standby time compared to the MateBook 14.
I ran a similar migration on a MateBook 14 (2020 model) last year, and a few quirks are worth noting before you dive into the install. First, the UEFI firmware ships with Secure Boot enabled and a locked BIOS-level TPM that can’t be disabled from the UI. The workaround I used was to flash a custom UEFI driver (the “MokManager” approach) and enroll a Machine Owner Key, which lets you keep Secure Boot active while still loading the signed Linux kernels. If you don’t need the TPM for disk encryption, you can also disable it via the “Advanced → Security” menu, but you’ll lose the hardware-backed BitLocker-style guard.
On the driver side, the integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics in the newer 11th-gen CPUs is supported out-of-the-box by the 5.15+ kernel, though you’ll get the best performance with the latest Mesa (23.1 or newer). The touchpad uses an I2C-HID controller that occasionally flickers under the default libinput config; adding `Option "TapButtonMap" "1 3 2"` to `/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf` usually steadies it up. The Wi-Fi module (Qualcomm Atheros QCA61x4) also needs the `ath11k` driver and the firmware blobs from the `linux-firmware` package—nothing exotic, but make sure your distro’s firmware package is up to date.
Battery life is pretty respectable once the power-management quirks are ironed out. The `tlp` package combined with a custom `profile` that sets `CPU_MAX_PERF_ON_AC=80` and `CPU_SCALING_GOVERNOR=ondemand` gave me around 7-8 hours of mixed work. If you want to squeeze the last bit of runtime, enable the `intel_pstate=no_hwp` kernel parameter; it forces the CPU to use the older scaling governor, which is sometimes more conservative on power draw.
Finally, keep an eye on the fingerprint sensor. The built-in `fprintd` driver only supports the newer Goodix sensor via the `libfprint` 1.90+ branch, so you’ll need to upgrade that library or build it from source if you rely on biometric login. With those tweaks, the MateBook feels as snappy as a native Windows install, and you get the usual Linux flexibility without sacrificing the thin-and-light chassis. Good luck, and feel free to ping me if you hit any specific roadblocks.
Hello and welcome, Hasan! Honestly, I tried the same thing on the MateBook 14 before, and it was pretty much the same story. First, I went into the BIOS to disable Secure Boot and enable Legacy mode—no issues there—but you have to be careful with BIOS updates because some older versions don’t support the new kernel properly. After installing Ubuntu 22.04, I found that the Intel Iris Xe graphics driver worked excellently, and even the hybrid GPU setup between Intel and NVIDIA (in the model with it) worked smartly thanks to `prime-run`. The Wi‑Fi (Realtek RTL8822CE) needed a bit of tweaking in the `rtl8822c` driver, but after adding `rtw89` from kernel 5.15, everything was smooth. The touchpad and fingerprint reader also worked well with `libfprint`, but you’ll need to add `fprintd` and link it to PAM. Overall, the performance was really fast, and even the battery lasted around 7–8 hours under normal use—pretty close to Windows. If you run into any other issues, let us know the details, and maybe we can find a solution together. Good luck!
I also tried converting a Huawei MateBook 14 to Linux around a year ago, and the experience was similar to what you described. The first thing I did was update the BIOS to the latest version from Huawei's website because the old version blocked the Secure Boot option and made USB booting difficult. After disabling "Fast Boot" and "Secure Boot" in the BIOS, I used a "USB 3.1" port to install Ubuntu 22.04, doing a standard install with the "Install third-party software for graphics and Wi-Fi" option selected.
This time, the Wi-Fi (Huawei HiLink) worked right away without needing additional drivers, but the NVIDIA MX250 required installing the "nvidia-driver" from a PPA to manage the card properly.
In terms of performance, I noticed a big difference in memory usage compared to Windows: with Ubuntu, RAM usage was under 1 GB in light mode, and the system responded quickly to daily tasks. The only issue I ran into was setting up hibernation; because of the hybrid sleep support in the BIOS, I had to add `GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash resume=UUID=..."` to the `grub` file for it to work properly. Once I fixed that, I could use sleep mode without any problems, and the battery lasted about 8 hours in normal use.
If you want more details or help with the setup, just let me know!
Hello and welcome, Hasan! I'm Olga from the Mobile department, and I love testing systems on mobile devices before moving to the keyboard. About a year ago, I bought a Dell XPS 13 and decided to replace Windows with Pop!_OS. When I first booted the device, I found the BIOS locked in Secure Boot mode, so I had to enable it and disable Fast Boot to be able to load the flash drive. After that, the installation process went smoothly, but I noticed that some of the keyboard backlight keys weren't compatible with the system, so I had to add some Xmodmap configurations to get the backlight working again. Overall, the performance was excellent; the Intel i7 processor and 16GB of RAM provided a very smooth experience, and the battery lasted around 8 hours under light load. If you need any additional tips or guidance on modifying GRUB on Huawei devices, I'm here to help!