May 20, 2021,09:35am EDT|
Honor laptop 2021 Review: Slim Laptop With A Bit Of Flourish
Ben Sin
Contributor
Asia
I cover consumer tech in Asia
Honor MagicBook 2021
Ben Sin
In the computer reviewing space, the term “annual spec bump update” refers to a machine that mostly looks the same as a previous model, just with a newer processor. These spec bump updates, naturally, aren’t as exciting as a new product in a line or something with a redesign.
Honor’s latest laptop, the MagicBook 14, is a spec bump update over last year’s MagicBook Pro. But it’s more noteworthy than usual because it’s one of the first Honor products to be released after the much-publicized sale of the brand by Huawei. Meaning, this laptop is one of the first standalone Honor product.
I know the Huawei ties have been officially cut, because a Huawei smartphone can no longer connect to the laptop via NFC. Instead, a Honor phone is needed now for that connection.
Still, despite this, the Honor MagicBook still features many hardware similarities to a Huawei laptop (because these products generally have a product development cycle of 12-16 months). This isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Design and hardware
The Honor MagicBook 14 is a slim laptop with a silver aluminum body. It’s mostly a typical laptop design, except there’s a slight hint or flourish in the chamfered edges, which radiate blue when light hit at certain angles. This, along with the brushed aluminum finish gives the machine a classy yet slightly different vibe. As the name suggests, it features a 14-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080. It’s a good display panel at its roughly $1,000 price range, with accurate colors and a contrast ratio of 1000:1. Compared to pricier premium laptops like Apple’s MacBook Pro or Huawei’s own MateBook X Pro, however, the MagicBook’s screen noticeably doesn’t get as bright.
Honor MagicBook 2021
Ben Sin
The Honor MagicBook 14.
Ben Sin
The Honor MagicBook’s chamfered edges has a blue tint.
Ben Sin
The hinge is sturdy and can open 180 degrees (completely flat). On the bottom half of the laptop is an excellent keyboard with good key travel, a power button that doubles as a fingerprint scanner, and an above-average trackpad that supports Windows Precision Drivers. I’ve been spoiled by Apple’s trackpads on the MacBook Pros, which are miles better than anything in the PC space, so I can’t gush about the MagicBook 14’s trackpad too much. It’s fine and reasonably accurate. I’d still rather use a mouse if I can—only MacBook trackpads can make me forget the mouse.
One touch fingerprint scanner.
ben Sin
That aforementioned power button/fingerprint scanner combo works just like it does on Huawei laptops. You only have to press it once, even if the machine is turned off, it will boot up all the way to the homescreen ready to go, without requiring you to scan your digits or authenticate your identity separately like other laptops. The MagicBook 14 can go from the completely off state to homescreen in under 20 seconds.
Honor's new laptop has an aluminum finish with a subtle gradient trim
Ben SIn
In terms of ports, the MagicBook 14 offers two USB-A ports, an HDMI-output port, a headphone jack, and a USB-C for charging. The latter is only for charging and basic data transfer; it cannot output display to an external source—you need the HDMI cable for that.
On the right side is a USB-A port with a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Ben Sin
The machine when closed measures 15.9mm at its thickest point, and weighs 1.38kg (3.04lbs), so it’s a relatively lightweight and slim machine considering its 14-inch size.
Honor MagicBook 2021
Ben Sin
Internals and performance
Inside, the MagicBook 14 runs on an 11th-gen Intel Core i7-1165G7 CPU, this is Intel’s newest processor in this series, released just last November. It’s a quad-core, eight thread CPU that can handle any productivity task you throw at it, and handle some light gaming and video editing. I had no issues with performance throughout the week of testing doing mostly word processing, web surfing, YouTube watching, and Spotify streaming. I was also able to edit some 4K videos in PowerDirector and play the game Asphalt Extreme without the machine heating up too much.
Thermals are handled well thanks to Honor building not one but two heat pipes at the base, which along with the fan helps increase better air flow than most laptops at this price range.
If there’s one area of disappointment, it’s the laptop’s speakers. The bottom firing speakers can be easily muffled if the laptop is placed on a soft surface like a sofa or my thigh. At least there’s a headphone jack.
Honor MagicBook 14.
Ben Sin
Connectivity
The Magicbook 14 supports WiFi 6 for faster data speeds if the connection supports it; and as mentioned earlier, the laptop can connect with Honor smartphones via NFC. Once synced, the user can view their phone’s content directly on the smartphone screen. It’s a useful feature that I wish Apple would incorporate into the MacBook/iPhone.
Software
The MagicBook runs a mostly clean version of Windows 10 Home with the only addition being a “PC Manager” that is essentially an all-in-one app that allows computer novices to check their machine’s vital stats.
Conclusion
The Honor MagicBook 14 is already on sale in China since last month; this week it went on sale in Germany, France and the U.K. The model I tested, i7 with 16GB of DDR4 RAM and 512GB of internal storage, is priced at 1199 euro, while the i5 model (also with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage) will go for 849 euro. At this price, the Honor MagicBook 14 is a worthy consideration for those looking for a PC. There is, however, the MacBook Air running a more efficient/powerful M1 chip that’s actually cheaper at $999. But Apple’s MacBook becoming even more appealing in recent months is a problem for all PC makers, not just Honor.
Follow me on LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here.
Ben Sin
I'm a Chinese-American journalist in Hong Kong, covering consumer tech in Asia. Before focusing on this exciting beat, I was a general culture writer and editor with
…
