The Honor brand at the end of last month introduced another laptop called the MagicBook 14 based on the 11th generation Intel Core-i7 processor. There are two modifications: with a chip 1165G7 and 1135G7.
I will try to reduce the review to a minimum, since for the last year Honor has been able to make very good “cars”, but they all look alike, only processors and, probably, storage manufacturers are subject to change.
MagicBook Appearance
Only one color will be on sale – silver. Device options are 14 inches and 15 inches. The difference, as you know, in size is minimal. But in this case we are talking about a device with a screen of 14 inches.
Its dimensions are 322x214x16 mm, weight is 1.38 kg. I double-checked the last parameter – indeed 1379 grams.
Body material – metal. The edges and logo on the lid are machined on an automatic diamond machine and shine in azure blue. This is noticeable in any light source and viewing angle. Below there are two rubberized legs and one long, almost the entire body of the device.
Connectors
Left:
- USB-C
- power indicator
- USB-A
- HDMI
On right:
- USB-A
- 3.5mm for microphone or headphone
Keyboard and touchpad
The keyboard is membrane, island type with a small distance between the keys (2.5 mm). The buttons are 16.5×16.5 mm in size. The symbols on the keys are painted in white: the Latin alphabet is slightly larger than the Cyrillic alphabet. The function keys are the same color.
Keys are backlit. It has two levels of illumination. Visible only in complete darkness. The backlighting of the top row of function buttons is a little blinding, as if the LEDs are located there in some other way than on the rest of the keyboard.
The key travel is about two and a half millimeters. Medium hard, detent action with a slight spring-loaded effect. The area under the keyboard when pressed is almost not pressed through.
Typing on the keyboard is very convenient, so I easily typed a couple of reviews on the Honor MagicBook 14.
Below the keyboard is a large touchpad: slightly recessed into the body, large dimensions – 121×64 mm. Pressing habitual, mechanical – right and left. The higher, the more pressure you have to apply. When touched and pressed, the touchpad does not play – good.
The power button, combined with a fingerprint scanner, is located at the top right, and is separate from the keyboard. It looks a little strange: a lone button on an empty space.
The camera is again located under the keyboard: when you press a special button, the camera rises. The solution is excellent, but in this position you remove your chin, and you cannot adjust the angle of the camera with the top cover.
Screen
I think even by the name of the device it is clear that the laptop has a 14-inch screen diagonal, physical size 310×173 mm, aspect ratio 16:9. IPS-type matrix, standard resolution – 1920×1080 pixels, refresh rate – 60 Hz. The last parameter, it seems to me, will be increased to 90-100 Hz in future laptops. Even if you are not going to play, such a high frequency is more comfortable when interacting with the device.
For example, now I am writing about the experience of using the Philips 346P1 monitor (unboxing was here ) with a screen diagonal of 34 inches and a frequency of 100 Hz. So, there is a difference between 60 Hz and 100 Hz. In the latter case, the interface becomes as smooth and natural as possible. This is especially true, as I found out later, with large display diagonals.
The maximum brightness is 270 cd / m2, which is 40 units higher than the previous generation MagicBook 14. It uses Eye Comfort eye protection technology. In addition, the matrix is capable of displaying 100% sRGB color gamut. True, only in the version with 16 GB of RAM. I don’t know what data devices with 8 GB of RAM have.
Especially for users who spend a lot of time in front of the screen, the updated Honor MagicBook laptops have 50% reduced blue light exposure (TUV Rheinland certified to reduce blue light), eliminate screen flicker (TUV Rheinland certified to reduce flicker), and apply technology to reduce brightness – this provides comfort to the eyes even when working with a laptop for a long time.
MagicBook 14 battery
Built-in battery Honor MagicBook 14 is called HB4792Z9ECW-22A, 56 Wh, 7.64 V, 7330 mAh. Consists of 4 elements. The previous generation used the HB4692Z9ECW-22A battery (by the way, this is what is displayed in the MB14 2021 screen parameters of the AIDA64 application, which is strange). But the other parameters are the same.
If you strain the device with an office routine (working with documents, a little web surfing and a backlight brightness of about 20%), then the MB14 is discharged in about 10-12 hours. It’s better not to talk about games and a heavy load like video encoding: MB14 copes with this task in 2 hours and goes to zero.
The device is charged from a typical network adapter, which comes with almost all Honor laptops, in 2 hours and 20 minutes.
But what I liked was the slow discharge when the laptop was idle. Typically, such devices are discharged in a couple of days. And the MagicBook 14 “lived” for a week, and the battery sat down by only 30%.
Memory, processor and performance
The previous generation of RAM had 8 GB, the new one added another 8 GB and received 16 GB of memory running at a clock frequency of 2666 MHz. It is no longer possible to increase this volume.
Is there a difference between 8GB and 16GB RAM? Yes, there is, but only in very complex tasks. For example, you need to encode 4K video. On a machine with 8 GB, I had to unload everything possible from memory, otherwise Premiere just crashed when encoding. In the case of 16 GB, everything is more or less stable. Although the laptop puffs to its fullest.
The built-in drive has become much faster for reading: 3400/1040 MB / s. The previous generation used the WD SN530, the new one uses the Western Digital SN730. If desired, it can be replaced with any other. There is such a possibility on the board. There is no space for an additional SSD in the laptop.
As for the processor that the manufacturer is proud of, this is the Intel Core i7-1165G7 with integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics. Frankly, I did not feel the difference between the AMD Ryzen 5 4500U (in the last generation) and the Intel Core i7-1165G7. This year’s MagicBook 14 added an extra 6mm tube to cool the chip without changing the heatsink or cooler.
However, in my opinion, the novelty is still heated as if not in itself. The temperature at the maximum is around 47 degrees Celsius at the top right and about 50 degrees below. The noise is low, pleasant to the ear.
If we’re talking about gaming performance, the MagicBook 14 isn’t designed for anything like that. Of course, the simplest toys will work, but they will show low FPS values. For example, the 2020 Honor MagicBook Pro with Radeon RX Vega 8 graphics averaged 23fps in the Unigine Engine test, while the 2021 Honor MagicBook 14 averaged 12fps there as well.
In the CineBench R23 test, the previous generation “knocked out” 5800 PTS in MultiCore mode. In a similar program, MagicBook 14 2021 displays 4700 PTS.
In a single core test, a 2020 laptop is 1100 PTS, a 2021 laptop is 1400.
Somehow, my friends. In other tests, the readings jump: either the device is slower in performance than the previous generation, or the same.
e speakers here are stereo, loud, sound clear and pleasant. The stereo base is wide, you can watch movies with pleasure.
The camera in Honor MagicBook 14 is 2 MP. Shoots video 720p 30 fps.
Impression
In my subjective opinion, the Honor MagicBook 14 is a little overrated.
I think it was worth conjuring on the appearance so that the new product differs from its predecessor. It was necessary to add a couple more USB-C ports, since in this case one connector is occupied by power.
Otherwise, there are no questions: the drive is fast, there is enough RAM to work with heavy applications or Adobe Premiere projects, the screen is bright and finely tuned to 100% sRGB coverage. The keyboard is great! It is convenient and pleasant to type large texts on it.