Honor MagicBook 14 test: an ultra-portable device that evolves without changing the formula

Therefore, the MagicBook 14 in its Intel version uses the Huawei MateBook D 14 chassis that strongly recalls the design of a certain Apple brand. The case is aluminum with a blue bezel around the screen and stamped with the Honor logo in the same blue color.

It opens with a finger and allows a glance at the 14-inch screen in a matte finish with ultra-thin bezels, on the sides and at the top of the screen. The hinge extends almost the entire width of the MagicBook and allows the screen to be tilted 180 degrees.

Consisting of black keys with white backlight, the keyboard is discreet and efficient. Typing is pleasant, but its backlight is a bit too dim to our liking, so in broad daylight its activation is barely noticeable. There’s nothing to complain about, however, on the touchpad, it’s large and responsive, Windows gestures are well taken into account and even drag and drop is performed smoothly.

Note that the start button to the right of the keyboard also has a Windows Hello-compatible fingerprint reader. And like all Huawei laptops, the 720p webcam fits in a pop-up switch between F6 and F7. Its quality is very average and the viewing angle is really unpleasant.

The onboard connection of the MagicBook 14 – not updating the chassis – has started yet. Two USB ports, one in the USB 2.0 version, the other in USB 3.0, a USB-C port that serves as a charging port and an HDMI port. During our tests, we noticed that the USB-C port was particularly slow (44MB/s) while our external SSD is capable of hitting just over 900MB/s. After checking, the USB-C port and the correct USB port can’t get past 44MB/s, fortunately, the second USB 3.0 port (on the left) reaches nearly 450MB/s.
We regret that with the Tiger Lake processor, Honor did not install ThunderBolt ports, as they are usually part of the package with this generation of processors.

However, the wireless connectivity is up to date since Honor integrated the Intel AX201 chip normally associated with the 11th generation Intel processor. So it offers wifi 6 at 2400 Mbit/s and bluetooth 5.2.

Cooling remains relatively simple, one fan to the right of the keyboard and a very small cooler with two heatpipes.

After 15 minutes of encoding the video, the recorded temperatures are fairly low despite the somewhat light dispersal system. Thus, at the exit of the coolant, the temperature is at 42 ° C while the left part of the “hottest” keyboard remains at 38 ° C. Nothing to report, but this portends a relatively low processor thermal envelope, and therefore performance is in sufficiency.
However, there is an advantage in a lower thermosphere, where less heat is released from the fan spinning at a lower speed. This is especially amazing in our model because it never exceeded 37 dB, even after 15 minutes of encoding.

Disassembly is very easy with a Torx drill suitable for removing ten star screws. The clips holding the case can be removed easily as long as you are careful.

Even if the opening takes place without difficulty, there is very little evolutionary potential in the program. The memory and wifi card are soldered, on the other hand, the SSD and battery remain removable.

MagicBook has a 14-inch IPS panel with a matte finish of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The borders are particularly thin, but the tape between the screen and the hinge is still important.

The panel provides an almost perfect colorimetric as delta E was measured at 1.3 (below 3, the eye can no longer distinguish the drifts). Contrast (1176:1) is in the upper range of what an IPS panel can produce. The temperature is also well controlled with 6611K – when the ideal temperature is 6650K, finally, a maximum brightness of 353 cd/m2 and very low reflectance (17.4%) will allow you to work without worrying about being out of a window behind you. So its outdoor use will be appropriate.