Honor MagicBook 14 (2022) Review: Practical Power

Value When Reviewed

Not accessible within the US

Honor inherited rather a lot from former dad or mum firm Huawei, however one underrated aspect of that could be a knack for quietly succesful laptops. 

The MagicBook vary is reliably succesful and inexpensive – by no means the plushest or most premium laptops round, however all the time glorious worth.  

That hasn’t modified with the 2022 refresh of the MagicBook 14, which delivers spectacular energy and longevity whereas skirting the decrease fringe of the premium worth bracket because of a no-frills design. 

Design & construct 

• Stable – however heavy – aluminium construct 
• Solely accessible in gray 
• Loads of ports 

If there’s a phrase best-suited to the MagicBook 14’s design, it’s most likely ‘practical’. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

I don’t wish to do the laptop computer soiled an excessive amount of, however in the end that is an aesthetic that tilts firmly away from kind, with out ever straying too far in direction of changing into unattractive. 

Solely accessible in a gray end, the MagicBook 14 is constructed from an aluminium alloy meaning it feels sturdy and stable by laptop computer requirements. The draw back is that at over 1.5kg it feels heavy for it – not a lot that it’s burdensome to hold in a backpack, however sufficient that you just’d hesitate to name it light-weight. 

A tapered design implies that the entire package deal nonetheless feels fairly slim and compact regardless of the 14in show, although the bezel around the show is somewhat thicker than you would possibly discover in some rivals across the identical worth.  

Ports are one other robust level right here. Alongside the left aspect you’ll discover a pair of USB-C 3.2 ports, both of which can be utilized for charging too, alongside the three.5mm headphone jack. Alongside there’s a welcome USB-A port (an rising rarity in laptops) together with an actual oddity: a full-size HDMI port. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

In the end, this can be a easy, stable, gray slab of metallic. It feels powerful and appears skilled, and for loads of those that will probably be greater than sufficient – however if you’d like one thing extra placing, you’ll should look elsewhere. 

Keyboard, trackpad & webcam 

• Wonderful, snug keyboard 
• First rate trackpad 
• 720p webcam 

One factor the MagicBook 14 affords is a extremely nice keyboard. 

Honor has kitted it out with a full-size board, and the 1.5mm journey distance on the keys retains them feeling quick and fluid. There’s a little bit of bounce to each press, however no clickiness or mushiness. It’s nice. 

The keyboard additionally contains a mixed energy button and fingerprint sensor, which lets you flip the laptop computer on and unlock it with a single button press. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

The trackpad is much less spectacular than the keyboard, although it’s not dangerous actually – it’s simply not all that particular. It’s a snug dimension, although smaller than the touchpads on some laptops today, but it surely feels prefer it’s created from plastic, not glass, which suggests there’s somewhat further friction as you swipe. 

Lastly, above the show you’ll discover a 720p webcam. That is about what you’d count on: it will get the job finished on a Zoom name, however high quality actually isn’t nice, particularly with brilliant lights or darkish rooms. There’s not all that significantly better on the market although. It additionally doesn’t assist Home windows Whats up facial recognition, which suggests you’ll have to make use of the fingerprint sensor or an old style password to sign up. 

Display & audio system 

• 14in, 1440p LCD show 
• 3:2 side ratio for productiveness 
• Twin audio system 

In case the identify didn’t give it away, the MagicBook 14 is kitted out with a 14in show. It’s LCD, quite than OLED, however that’s no shock at this worth. It’s additionally restricted to a 60Hz refresh fee, however once more, that’s not too unusual. 

The display screen’s stronger specs are its decision – an in depth 2160×1440 – and side ratio – the boxy 3:2 kind. This latter is more and more widespread in laptops, and offers you further vertical display screen area,  which is right for those who’ll largely be utilizing this to work on. The draw back will probably be further letterboxing while you watch films, so that is much less well-suited if it’s primarily for streaming Netflix in mattress. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Setting apart the core specs, the display screen right here seems fairly good. It’s not tuned for excellent colour-accuracy (it solely hit 72% of the AdobeRGB and DCI-P3 color gamuts when examined with our SpyderX) but it surely’s brilliant sufficient to make use of in direct mild, detailed, and can get the job finished in the case of primary inventive work or the aforementioned Netflix in mattress. 

The twin audio system right here aren’t something to put in writing house about, however they maintain their very own. For extended music listening you’ll positively wish to join headphones or a speaker, however these are crisp sufficient for a Zoom name or podcast, which is probably going the place they’ll see most of their use. 

Specs & efficiency 

• 12^th-gen H-series Core i5 chip 
• Optionally available RTX 2050 GPU 
• Sturdy efficiency all-round 

The MagicBook 14 this yr comes with a single CPU choice: a 12^th-gen Intel Core i5. It’s extra highly effective than it sounds although, as a result of the chip right here is the i5-12500H, which runs at the next wattage and clock velocity than the P- and U-series chips you discover in most non-gaming laptops. 

The result’s that that is truly able to outperforming some latest i7 laptops, and has posted among the greatest uncooked benchmark scores we’ve seen this yr. It is a highly effective laptop computer, and don’t let the i5 badge put you off. 

I’ve been testing the common mannequin, which makes use of Intel’s built-in Iris Xe graphics. If you happen to want extra energy you may decide to purchase a mannequin with an Nvidia RTX 2050 included, which ought to add sufficient oomph to make this a succesful machine for video modifying and the like. 

Whichever mannequin you go for, it comes with 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB of storage – you don’t get any choices right here, although at the least that retains issues easy. 

As for wi-fi connectivity, the laptop computer consists of Wi-Fi 6 (however not the more moderen 6E) and Bluetooth 5.2. 

Battery & charging 

• Improbable battery life 
• Quick charging – but it surely varies by mannequin 

Let’s begin with the unambiguously good: battery life on the MagicBook 14 is superb. When it launched the mannequin, Honor claimed the laptop computer would run for 17 hours. We had been, understandably, somewhat sceptical. 

So think about my shock once I ran our customary battery benchmark – taking part in a 720p video on loop at a set show brightness – and the laptop computer lasted for a full 17 hours and 32 minutes. Honest play Honor. 

In fact you don’t usually spend your time watching movies on repeat, however the battery holds its personal in additional typical use circumstances too. That’s more durable to measure after all, however I’ve discovered the MagicBook 14 greater than able to lasting a full workday with juice left within the tank, which is absolutely the brink that issues. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Charging impresses too, although there’s some variation right here, as a result of Honor ships a special charger relying on the mannequin you purchase. Decide up the usual MagicBook 14 and also you’ll get a 65W charging brick, however for those who improve to the RTX GPU then Honor will in flip improve you to a a lot sooner 135W charger. 

Even this slower charger is quicker than most laptops although – I acquired 39% of the battery again in simply half an hour, and Honor says a full cost would take 95 minutes. 

Higher nonetheless, the laptop computer helps sooner charging whichever mannequin you purchase, Honor merely doesn’t provide the quick charger. So for those who already personal a extra highly effective USB-C charger from one other gadget, or purchase a third-party charger, you may benefit from the sooner speeds from that with out spending a whole lot further for a GPU you might not want. 

Software program & options 

• Ships with Home windows 11 
• Straightforward file and screen-sharing with different Honor units 

The MagicBook 14 ships with Home windows 11 Residence, the newest model of the Microsoft working system, so that you’re just about getting the most effective software program expertise you may count on from a Home windows laptop computer. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Honor doesn’t intervene with the expertise an excessive amount of, however does add in its personal PC Supervisor software program. This has two important features, the primary of which is to streamline firmware and BIOS updates for the assorted laptop computer parts. 

The second is to allow simple file-sharing and screen-streaming with different Honor units, like telephones or tablets. Meaning with a easy NFC faucet you may share recordsdata or deliver your telephone show up on the laptop computer in its personal window. 

It’s nice tech, and straightforward to make use of, however the large draw back is that it solely works with different Honor {hardware}. So to get the profit you’ll should go all-in on the corporate’s ecosystem – for those who’re not able to additionally decide up an Honor telephone or pill then you definately gained’t get a lot use out of it. 

Value & availability 

The MagicBook 14 is obtainable now in “choose European markets,” which at the least in the intervening time doesn’t embrace the UK – although regulate Honor’s UK website. It’s additionally unavailable within the US, and is unlikely to ever launch there. 

The bottom mannequin of the laptop computer will set you again €1,099 (round $1,070/£960), whereas the improve to a discrete GPU and sooner charging raises the worth to €1,299 (roughly $1,270/£1,130). 

By MagicBook requirements that’s costly, although for the ability on supply that is nonetheless a reasonably aggressive worth. It’s actually premium, however by staying nearer to 1 grand than two, it undercuts just a few different choices in the marketplace. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Try our rating of the most effective laptops in the marketplace to see what else we’d advocate, or our extra particular guides to the most effective enterprise laptops and greatest laptops for college kids.

Verdict 

The MagicBook 14 will show a superb choice for employees on the go who want robust efficiency and a prolonged battery life and are prepared to forego some luxuries to get them in a comparatively inexpensive package deal. 

If you’d like a laptop computer that may flip heads then this isn’t it, however with a superb port choice and loads of energy (in each senses) that is an eminently sensible choice, with loads to advocate it. 

Specs 

• Home windows 11 Residence 
• 14in 2160×1440 LTPS touchscreen, 185ppi, 60Hz 
• Intel Core i5-12500H processor 
• Intel Iris Xe Graphics or Nvidia RTX 2050 GPU 
• 16GB LPDDR5 RAM 
• 512GB SSD storage 
• 720p webcam 
• 2x USB-C (information, charging) 
• 1x USB-A 
• 1x HDMI 
• Headphone jack 
• Fingerprint energy button 
• Twin-band Wi-Fi 6 
• Bluetooth 5.2 
• Twin audio system 
• Twin microphones 
• 75Wh battery 
• 65/135W charger 
• 308x228x16.9mm 
• 1.54/1.58kg 
• Area Gray