8 PCWorld AUGUST 2019NEWS ARE HUAWEI LAPTOPS SAFE?
The answer likely depends on whether
you care about Huawei’s future as a PC maker,
or if you only care about your particular future
with a Huawei laptop.WHAT THE U.S. BAN ON
HUAWEI MEANS
The ban on Huawei, enacted in May (go.
pcworld.com/hwbn), essentially forbids U.S.
companies from doing business with the tech
giant. Obviously, if Huawei is unable to buy CPUs
from Intel or AMD, or graphics chips from AMD
or Nvidia, let alone memory and storage from
other U.S.-based companies, it likely means the
future of Huawei PC laptops are in limbo.
More important for consumers is what
happens to the Huawei laptop in your hands,
or the Huawei laptop sitting on the store shelf
in front of you.MICROSOFT
AND INTEL WILL
SUPPORT
HUAWEI LAPTOPS
The best news for potential
buyers of Huawei laptops
(and those who have them
already) is Microsoft’s
promise that those all-
important Windows Updates
will still get to you.
“We remain committed
to providing exceptional
customer experiences,” a
Microsoft spokesperson said
in a statement given to PCWorld. “Our initial
evaluation of the U.S. Department of
Commerce’s decision on Huawei has
indicated we may continue to offer Microsoft
software updates to customers with Huawei
devices.” The company didn’t detail any more
of its policy, but that should ease fears that
your Huawei laptop will develop unpatched
security holes.
Security risks can happen at the
motherboard level, too. With scary-sounding
exploits like Zombieload (go.pcworld.com/
zmld), you may be wondering whether
firmware updates for the UEFI/BIOS will also
be available for a Huawei laptop.
The news there also looks good, as Intel
has confirmed with PCWorld that it will
provide security updates and drivers to end
users running Intel chips.Huawei’s Matebook 14 has one of the most unique ways ever to
hide a camera in a laptop.