Honor is well-known for its affordable yet elegant smartphones, but the company has also dipped its toes into the laptop market. The Honor Magicbook 14 is a shining example of it and certainly one of the best Windows 10 laptops. This is a budget laptop with promising specs that you could get at an affordable price.
Honor Magicbook 14 is a well-balanced laptop that is ideal for both entertainment and productivity. This is a lightweight 14-inch laptop that is easy to carry around and fits the bill. Whether you are a professional or a student, it can easily handle your everyday computing tasks without showing any lags. The best thing about the Magicbook 14 is that you can get it on a deal.
You can avail Honor Magicbook deals and can either get it on a discounted price or with a Microsoft Office bundle. If you are looking for the Best Deal of 2020, you can get it for just £549.99. Continue to read if you want to know more about its design, specs and other features.
Specs sheet
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5-3500U (Quad-Core) / 2.10GHz Max. Turbo Speed 3.70GHz
Display: 14-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) Resolution
RAM: 8GB Storage: 256GB SSD
Graphics: AMD Radeon Vega 8 Integrated
Battery: 56Wh
Weight: Around 3.0lbs (1.38kg)
Operating System: Windows 10 Home
Design
Honor Magicbook 14 spellbinds you the very first time you set your eyes on it. This is an ultra-portable, slim laptop that is easy to carry around and only weighs around 3.0lbs (1.38kg). Although this is not the lightest device in the 14-inch class, you will find it among the top ones.
The model we evaluated for this review came in silver colour, which we found alluring and eye-catching. The lid looks elegant but requires a second hand to lift, while the silver colour extends to its keyboard deck. The keyboard and bezels area around the display is black in colour. On the upper right corner, there is a fingerprint scanner which also works as the power button and offers additional security.
Keyboard
The backlit keyboard on this business laptop is an absolute delight, which we found easy to type on. The travel distance is just perfect, while the keys produce a nice tactile feedback upon pressing. This is a solid keyboard that we found helpful for business users, IT professionals and writers as well.
Furthermore, Honor has added three different illumination options: dim, very dim, and super dim. Thus, making it an ideal pick for professionals who like to work on the go and at night. The touchpad is super-responsive, adequately wide, and quickly responds to the commands. Thanks to the Windows Precision, we found it accurate and receptive while we swiped down with three fingers to test the gesture control.
Display
The model we reviewed came with a 14-inch display and a 1080p screen that was surrounded by thin bezels. The LCD panel came with a matte finish and we found the display on this Magicbook to be bright and lively. Its screen delivers crispy images with sufficient accuracy and without the blueish tint.
The maximum screen brightness it delivers is 279 nits, which is acceptable considering the modern standards. However, we were unable to look at the display under bright light and the direct sunlight.
Connectivity
Honor has added all the essential ports on this 14-inch business laptop. The laptop houses a Type-C USB port, one USB 3.0 port and one traditional USB 2.0 port. Additionally, there is a 3.5mm headphone/mic combo jack and a full-sized HDMI output port. The USB-C port is also used for quick charging, which makes it a future-proof office laptop.
Performance
Honor Magicbook 14 is equipped with powerful AMD hardware, including Ryzen 5-3500U CPU and Radeon Vega 8 GPU. The quad-core processor on this 14-inch laptop can deliver a clock speed range from 2.10GHz to 3.70GHz. Furthermore, there is an 8GB DDR4 memory that ensures high-speed performance by pairing with the 256GB NVMe SSD storage drive.
This is a decent office laptop that can deliver solid performance and carry out day to day computing tasks. You can use it for word processing, office programs and to run light media editing software. It can stream high-quality videos and you can even watch 4K videos at 60fps. However, this isn’t a gaming laptop and you can only enjoy casual gaming with low settings.
Battery life
Honor as added a 56Wh battery on the MagicBook 14 and claims that it can offer up to 10 hours of battery life. Of course, the claim depends on what you are doing and how you are using the laptop. We tested this claim and were able to extract around 8.5 hours of battery life on a single charge. For a 14-inch laptop, this is a good performance, while we performed some light tasks, such as writing and web browsing.
Verdict
In a nutshell, Honor MagicBook 14 lived up to our expectations and delivered a solid performance. If you are looking for a sleek laptop to accomplish daily tasks but don’t want to spend more than £500, this is the device for you. You can avail the best deal of 2020 and have a laptop for your everyday computing needs.