Honor has yet again refreshed its MagicBook 14, and this time, you can get it with an Intel Core i7. The new performance is awesome, but what this laptop needed the most was a new design.
It’s been just over a year since I was first sent a MagicBook laptop from Honor, but I’ve already had the chance to review three others since then. The last one I reviewed, the Intel-based MagicBook Pro, was an odd release for me, because it featured outdated specs when Honor had already released a more powerful MagicBook 14 in China at that point. Now, that MagicBook 14 is available worldwide, but it comes with some caveats. The Chinese variant packed an Nvidia GeForce MX450 GPU in addition to the latest Intel processors, but internationally, we have to make do with the integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics. While that is a compromise, I’m still more than happy with the performance this new iteration offers, but sadly, what this laptop needed the most was a new design. (1) USB Type-C with 65W fast charging (1) USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A (1) USB 2.0 Type-A (1) HDMI 3.5mm combo audio Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 Fingerprint reader The configuration Intel sent me has an Intel Core i7, but you can also get it with a Core i5-1135G7 in some markets. It also has double the RAM of the previous MagicBook 14 models I reviewed, and it’s much more expensive than previous models. Ever since my first review of a MagicBook, my main complaint has been the design, specifically in regards to the webcam placement. Now that we’ve been in a pandemic for over a year and I’ve pointed this out in four reviews, I think it has to be said loud and clear that it’s well past time we moved on from this design. Instead, it’s exactly the same. Even before this situation, I took a lot of video calls, and this is just inconvenient and awkward. If I need to type something while on a call, my fingers block the camera, and when I don’t, it’s pointed at an angle where it can be hard to stay in the frame. If I use the laptop on my lap, the camera just captures my neck. It’s not like Honor refuses to make laptops with proper webcams; last year it launched a gaming laptop in China with reasonable webcam placement. I just don’t get why it doesn’t do that for its other laptops. Everything else about the design is also the same. The keyboard layout is the same, as is the touchpad and the fingerprint sensor built into the power button. The fingerprint sensor works well enough, and it actually remembers your fingerprint when you turn on the PC, so you don’t have to touch it again when you get to the Windows 10 login screen. The 14-inch display is surrounded by black plastic bezels and the hinge itself is also plastic, which contrasts with the otherwise metal body. The lid features the Honor logo and chamfered edges, all featuring this cool blue sheen that gives the laptop a bit more flair – a very welcome feature in an otherwise relatively boring design. The ports are all the same, too, and despite having an Intel processor, there’s still no Thunderbolt here. On the left, you get a USB Type-C port that supports 65W charging with the included charger, a USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1 port, and an HDMI port. On the right, there’s another USB Type-A port, but this one just has USB 2.0 speeds. There’s also a combo audio jack. That’s it, and while it’s usually enough for my use cases, it’s also not super impressive. As before, the speakers on this PC are on the bottom of the chassis, and the microphones are on the small cutout that’s meant to help you open the lid more easily. The bottom of the laptop also has air intake vents, with it being expelled through vents ridden in the hinge. At 1.38kg, the MagicBook 14 is not super heavy, but you can also find lighter devices in this category. It’s still pretty easy to carry around, though.
