CRISP. Tech: Honor Magicbook 14 Review

An affordable, portable productivity powerhouse.

Having made their name delivering impressive, affordable handsets for the youth market, Huawei’s offshoot Honor has turned their deft hand to laptops with the Magicbook 14.

The manufacturer’s first foray manages to wow in terms of looks, specs and pricepoint, delivering a realistic rival to more established ultrabook brands.

Size and specs

Price – £549.99.

Review unit specs:

Windows 10 Home Edition

FullView 1080p Screen

AMD Ryzen 5 3500U Mobile Processor

Radeon Vega 8 Graphics

256GB SSD + 8GB RAM

Pop-up webcam

65W Type-C Fast Charger

Dimensions – (H)214.8mm x (W)322.5mm x (D)15.9 mm, weight 1.38kg

Connectivity

USB Type-C x 1, USB 3.0 (Type A) x 1, HDMI x 1, 3.5mm audio jack, USB 2.0 (Type A) x 1

Design

Immediate first impressions are overwhelmingly positive.

The beautiful chamfered blue bezel of the Magicbook’s matte silver (or grey) body gives a luxurious sheen, and the all-metal tapered frame lends Macbook-quality vibes from the outset.

Light and slim, this 1.38kg laptop also feels premium without a sense of unwieldiness or heft – meaning it’s perfect for portable productivity.

The keyboard is a perfectly functional effort, with the shallower travel that has become the norm in ultrabooks.

Easy enough for touch typing, but a bit short of making tapping a breeze.

A nice broad trackpad below is responsive and smooth to the touch, more refinement normally reserved for upper-class laptops.

Another premium surprise is fingerprint recognition, with the power button doubling as a security measure.

A pair of stereo speakers are on the underside rather than flanking the keyboard which makes for a slightly more muffled sound, but still naturally loud and free of distortion – ideal for concert recordings and conference calls alike.

Software

Free from the political shackles troubling Huawei on the mobiles front, the Magicbook 14 runs Windows 10 Home Edition, featuring all the bells and whistles you expect.

 

Performance

Let’s get this point out of the way – this is a daily driver rather than a gaming powerhouse.

The Ryzen processor makes short work of productivity tasks and browsing, but we found running most popular titles a struggle.

A fantastic feature elevating the whole Magicbook experience is Huawei Share – a dedicated spot on the front of the device allowing NFC-style transfer of data with supported phones in a single tap.

This makes the usual hassle of moving pictures and files around a breeze, and hope to see this adopted widely.

Screen and graphics

The Honor Magicbook 14 sports a 14″ 1920 x 1080 LCD display, albeit not a touchscreen.

A narrow 5mm bezel surrounds three sides of the display, with a far wider footer sporting the Honor logo.

This razor-thin edge means that a pop-up webcam is recessed in the centre of the keyboard, making for a well-hidden – but rather unflattering – upward view of the user.

The display is clear and vibrant, more than capable for everyday use both indoors and under the glare of the sun.

What’s inside?

The review unit is powered by an AMD Ryzen 5 3500U Mobile Processor, looking to strike a fine balance between horsepower and battery life.

Storage was 256GB of SSD memory and 8GB of RAM.

Battery life is decent – a fair 8 or so hours of everyday use. Support for 65W fast charging is also available, giving 46% of juice in a mere 30 minutes.

Ports are functional, the majority are USB-A, with USB-C for the charging options above. A 3.5mm audio jack rounds out the selection.

Our Verdict

This is the laptop for everyone looking for a great home device, compromising on very few features (the pop-up webcam is a misstep), yet coming in keenly priced.

Its great size, premium stylings and connectivity options impress and make the Magicbook a mid-range choice which can be recommended with few reservations.

Provided you’re not expecting heavy lifting like modern gaming or multitasking, the Magicbook 14 makes for a strong debut from Honor.

The Magicbook 14 is also launching with a gift set, including a free HONOR MagicWatch 2 and backpack (worth £199.98), buy it here.

Hardware loaned by Honor for review.