Honor MagicBook 14

Price: £669 (inc VAT) from fave.co/3m0gAOpa

2021-03-01 -

Honor has updated its MagicBook 14 and 15 – only released in the UK a scant nine or so months ago – with faster Ryzen 4000-series processors for a welcome spec boost. Not much else has changed, but given the quality of the original MagicBook, that’s really no bad thing.

The big question is really whether the late 2020 MagicBook 14 is worth the price hike that comes with the faster processor, or whether that tips it over the edge and away from being our top mid-range laptop recommendation.

DESIGN

The chassis of the MagicBook 14 remains unchanged from the previous model. What you’re essentially getting is a laptop that’s undeniably a mid-ranger, but is about as slick, polished and portable as you’re going to get without jumping up to a flagship notebook.

At 15.9mm thick it’s a pretty slim device, though not so thin that it can’t fit in two USB-A ports (one 2.0, one 3.2), USB-C (for charging), HDMI and a headphone jack.

Weighing 1.38kg it’s also portable, especially for a 14in laptop. Sure, it’s not in that sub-1kg space where a laptop begins to feel weightless, but it’s comfortably light enough that you won’t do your back in lugging it around all day. Combined with the aluminium build, that bit of weight it does have also helps it feel reassuringly solid and sturdy.

In the UK the only colour available is Space Grey, which comes with my favourite MagicBook touch: a barely noticeable blue chamfered edge around the lid. It’s just enough to catch the light every now and then for a striking effect, but not so in-your-face that it ever seems garish or flashy.

DISPLAY

In case the name doesn’t give it away, the MagicBook 14 has a 14in panel – though there’s also a larger 15in model for the same price, so you can really just pick which size you prefer.

The panel is IPS LCD, with an HD resolution of 1,920x1,080. That’s honestly nothing special, but at this price it would be unfair to expect OLED or a 4K resolution – though I wouldn’t mind the option for a touchscreen, sadly not available here.

So this isn’t a world-beating display, but it’s crisp and colourful enough for day-to-day use, light work and watching Netflix. With 63 per cent sRGB coverage and 47 per cent AdobeRGB & DCI-P3 (tested using a SpyderX Elite sensor) this won’t do for serious creative work, but then it’s really not intended to.

Peak brightness is also limited – I only hit 220 nits in my testing – but

since the finish is matte rather than glossy, this isn’t really an issue, and you shouldn’t have to worry about glare except in extremely bright direct light. Throw in strong viewing angles and slim bezels (admittedly with a plastic border, rather than the metal of the rest of the build), and the display is a very solid package all round.

KEYBOARD

This is really a tale of two parts. The MagicBook 14’s keyboard is pretty much a slam-dunk. It has short travel, but it’s full-size, backlit, and both quick and comfortable to type on. There’s really not a huge amount between this and the best laptop keyboards around, and I’d be shocked if you found a better keyboard anywhere near this price.

As for the trackpad... it’s not bad, per se. But it’s definitely a weak spot. Made from plastic, rather than the more premium glass, it’s got the sticky, frictional feel of most cheap plastic touchpads. It’s a good size though, and works perfectly well. You won’t hate it, but it’s one of the few cues that gives away that the MagicBook 14 is still a bit of a budget buy.

Beyond the keyboard and trackpad, you’ll find a fingerprint sensor embedded into the power button, just offset from the keys. This is fairly fast and reliable, though you’ll probably have to re-scan your fingerprint every now and then.

Still, that’s likely to be your preferred biometric option, as while there is a webcam it’s not set up to be convenient for Windows Hello login. Like on all Huawei and Honor laptops, the 720p webcam is found hidden within a fake key in the Function row. This is great for security and privacy – it’s physically blocked from view – but the obvious downside is the least flattering viewing angle known to man.

PERFORMANCE

Here’s where Honor has given the new MagicBook 14 upgrades – some obvious, and some less so.

The big change is the jump from a Ryzen 5 3500U to the Ryzen 5 4500U. That might not sound like a game changer, but there was a significant year-over-year performance jump in AMD’s silicon, and it bears out in the benchmarks – this updated model sees a roughly 50 per cent performance boost in the CPU-focused Geekbench 5 benchmark, with more modest gains in the GPU-intensive 3DMark test.

Geekbench 5 (multi-core)

Honor MagicBook 14 (late 2020): 4,802

Honor MagicBook 14 (early 2020): 3,007

Honor MagicBook Pro: 5,569

Huawei MateBook 14 AMD (2020): 6,614

LG Gram 14: 2,959

Dell XPS 13 (2020): 4,772

3DMark Sky Diver

Honor MagicBook 14 (late 2020): 9,079

Honor MagicBook 14 (early 2020): 8,318

Honor MagicBook Pro: 10,447

Huawei MateBook 14 AMD (2020): 10,576

LG Gram 14: 5,558

Dell XPS 13 (2020): 9,248

That’s mostly down to the CPU gain, though Honor has also opted for slightly faster 2,666MHz DDR4 RAM (up from 2,400MHz last time round), though it’s still capped at 8GB. Storage has been given a bump to, jumping up to 512GB from 256GB before.

The MagicBook 14 always punched above its weight when it came to performance-per-pound, and the jump to the 4000-series has only made that more true. It’s now comfortably able to keep pace with Intel laptops that cost twice as much, making this an easy recommendation for anyone who wants a laptop able to keep pace with modern multi-tasking and productivity.

SOFTWARE

Speaking of which, a word of reassurance: the MagicBook 14 ships with Windows 10 Home, and it runs exactly how you expect it to. You may have heard that Honor phones don’t support Google services, as they’re impacted by the Huawei trade ban, but the same doesn’t hold for its laptops, which have full Windows support. Including access to everything Google.

There’s one additional perk to an Honor laptop: Magic-link. This tech lets you tap a compatible Honor or Huawei phone to the Magic-link tag next to the touchpad, and then seamlessly connect

the phone to your laptop. Once paired you can send files back and forth, directly work on phone files from the PC, take audio or video calls over the laptop, and even bring the phone display up as a movable window on the computer so that you can directly use your phone from the PC. It’s a very neat software trick – but of course only helpful if you also own one of the company’s phones.

BATTERY LIFE

Power management is another clear strength for Honor. The new MagicBook 14 lasted over 13 hours of continuous video playback in my testing, which in practical terms meant it was also perfectly capable of lasting a full work day of Slack, video calls, light photo editing and maintaining a million Chrome tabs at once.

Charging is just as impressive. The included 65-watt USB-C charger (which is compact enough to carry around and will also charge most phones, conveniently) topped the MagicBook 14 up by 44 per cent in half an hour, making it among the fastest charging laptops we’ve tested.

Battery life (video loop)

Honor MagicBook 14 (late 2020): 13 hours, 31 minutes

Honor MagicBook 14 (early 2020): 10 hours, 43 minutes

Honor MagicBook Pro: 12 hours, 53 minutes

Huawei MateBook 14 AMD (2020): 10 hours, 5 minutes

LG Gram 14: 8 hours, 31 minutes

Dell XPS 13 (2020): 12 hours, 1 minute

Charge in 30 minutes

Honor MagicBook 14 (late 2020): 44%

Honor MagicBook 14 (early 2020): 32%

Honor MagicBook Pro: 46%

Huawei MateBook 14 AMD (2020): 45%

LG Gram 14: 19%

Dell XPS 13 (2020): 29%

VERDICT

The Honor MagicBook 14 once again represents phenomenal value, with welcome spec upgrades justifying the modest price hike and a design that expertly balances aesthetic and practical considerations. Lighter users will be just as happy with the cheaper 3500U model, but the extra power here will more than justify the purchase to power users, or to anyone looking to guarantee strong performance for years to come. Dominic Preston

SPECIFICATIONS

• 14in (1,920x1,080) Full HD Display

• Windows 10 Home

• AMD Ryzen 5 3500U/AMD Ryzen 5 4500U Processor

• AMD Radeon Graphics

• 8GB DDR4 Dual-channel RAM

• 512GB SSD

• 1x USB-C

• 1x USB 2.0

• 1x USB 3.2

• HDMI out

• Honor Magic-Link 2.0