HONOR MagicBook 14 2022 Review – Everyday Computing Magic

HONOR has been carving out a unique niche for themselves with a successive series of value-oriented laptops and their latest addition to the MagicBook line-up has a few unique tricks up its proverbial sleeves to stand out from the pack including the use of NVIDIA RTX 2050 discrete graphics and 12th Gen Intel H-series processors. Here’s our HONOR MagicBook 14 2022 review where we put their latest workhorse laptop to the test!

HONOR MagicBook 14 2022 review – Build and Design

In Malaysia, HONOR is offering their MagicBook 14 2022 laptop in two configurations that are otherwise identical in almost every respect save that one comes with just Iris Xe integrated graphics while the other comes with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 graphics card for a slightly higher price. Our HONOR MagicBook 14 2022 review sample is the former.

Specifications aside, our HONOR MagicBook 14 2022 review sample comes in a dark gunmetal grey finish across its aluminium top lid and keyboard tray as well as its polycarbonate underside. While the design is fairly conservative as laptops go, it’s nonetheless sturdily built with the smoothly rounded corners lending it a touch of class. There’s no chamfering on the edges though everything has been gently rounded to ensure that it’s relatively easy to grip.

The top lid is otherwise nondescript save a fingerprint resistant finish and the HONOR logo embossed right in the middle. There’s a slight bit of give in the centre portion of the lid though it’s a non-load bearing portion of the design while the rest of the lid is otherwise built in a sturdy enough fashion for daily use.

The underside of the laptop is primarily made of polycarbonate done up in a fashion that mimics metal though its nature is apparent when you give it a prod. Holding it in place are a set of 10 pentalobe screws which require a specialised screwdriver for access though there aren’t many aspects of the laptop that can be upgraded.

A set of grilles on the underside offer ventilation points for the twin underside 100-bladed cooling fans along with smaller grilles for the two downward firing stereo speakers and a set of rubber feet for elevation to ensure proper airflow.

In terms of I/O, our HONOR MagicBook 14 2022 review sample features a single USB Type-A 3.2 Gen1 port alongside a HDMI 2.0 port on the right side while the left features a pair of USB Type-C 3.2 Gen2 ports as well as a 3.5mm combo jack.

Charging is done via the USB-C ports and the provided 65W charger. In terms of ports, this covers the basics for most students and general computing needs with the ability to output to a 4K display though a Thunderbolt 4 port would have been welcome for faster data transfer speeds.

Flipping the laptop open is a mostly one-handed affair and the hinge is an otherwise proven design that’s wobble free. You get a compact chiclet-style white-backlit keyboard with a power button that doubles as a fingerprint reader and a 14-inch LCD display with a very unusual, taller 3:2 aspect ratio with 2.1K resolution and a modest 60Hz refresh rate which precludes its use for serious gaming. 

Unlike the more conventional 16:9 aspect ratio displays, the taller 3:2 aspect ratio lends the HONOR MagicBook 14 greater effectiveness for web browsing and paperwork.

On paper, the display is rated for 100% sRGB colour gamut which is approximately 75% DCI-P3. It will do fine for casual work and movie watching duties but content creators may not find colour rendition to be sufficient for professional work. Perched just on top of the display is a 720p webcam for video calls.

In terms of build quality, the HONOR MagicBook 14 strikes an attractive appearance with a premium build and quality that matches its intended price tag. The laptop also ships with a 65W charger along with a cable to keep it juiced.

HONOR MagicBook 14 2022 Review – Performance and Benchmarks

Our HONOR MagicBook 14 2022 review sample is the Iris Xe equipped variant which gives it a mission profile best suited as a general purpose workhorse for paperwork, web browsing and otherwise light computing tasks. 

You get a 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12500H processor paired with 16GB of LPDDR5 4,800MHz RAM that has been soldered in along with a 512GB SSD though there are no additional SSD slots so any additional storage upgrades will require a swap of the existing SSD. Here’s how our HONOR MagicBook 14 2022 review sample stacks up on paper:

Price	RM4,299 (Iris Xe), RM5,099 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050)
Display	14-inch 2.1K FullView display, 2,160 x 1,440 pixels resolution, 100% sRGB, 300 nits, 3:2 aspect ratio, 88.15% screen-to-body ratio, 60Hz refresh rate
Processor	12th Gen Intel Core i5-12500H
OS	Windows 11 Home
Memory	16GB LPDDR5 RAM / 512GB SSD
Graphics	Intel Iris Xe / NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 (variant)
Battery	75Wh w/ 65W charger (15 hours 1080p playback, quoted)
Size/Weight	16.9mm / 1.54kg

Under the hood, the laptop runs Windows 11 Home and has their own proprietary  installed that helps with system updates, facilitates Multi-Screen Collaboration with the HONOR PC Manager app another HONOR phone like the HONOR 70, allows for HONOR Share mode to share content rapidly to other compatible devices and allows you to toggle a High Performance mode that ramps up fan speed and processor performance. 

Unfortunately, High Performance mode isn’t selectable when the laptop is under its own power and you need to have the laptop plugged in for it to work. Interestingly enough, the laptop is capable of supporting up to 100W fast charging if you have a compatible 135W charger though you only get a 65W charger out of the box.

With High Performance mode activated and our HONOR MagicBook 14 2022 review unit plugged in, it yielded the following benchmarks which represent it at its fullest potential.

3D Mark Time Spy	1,586
3D Mark Time Spy Extreme	736
3D Mark Fire Strike	4,417
3D Mark Fire Strike Extreme	2,151
3D Mark Fire Strike Ultra	1,103
3D Mark Night Raid	16,221
GeekBench 5 Single core	1,625
GeekBench 5 Multi core	9,366
GeekBench 5 OpenCL	15,551
GeekBench 5 Vulkan	15,683
Cinebench R23 Multi Core	10,247
Cinebench R23 Single Core	1,677 6.11x MP ratio
PCMark 10 Extended	4,229
PCMark 8 Battery Life (Creative)	N/A (1080p video – 6 hours 15 minutes)

The provision of a proven 12th Gen i5 H-series CPU, a full brace of 16GB RAM and Iris Xe graphics ensure that the MagicBook 14 is easily able to tackle its intended tasks with a markedly better performance envelope in benchmarks that exceed a similarly configured 12th Gen i5 H-series, Iris Xe equipped laptop albeit one with 8GB less RAM.

When subjected to a general use profile of web browsing, Windows Office suite, Google Docs and a smattering of Netflix as well as retro gaming, the MagicBook 14 did not disappoint. The full brace of 16GB RAM means that the laptop is easily able to tackle its intended general purpose work profile without the need for expensive upgrades after the fact and it was easily able to swap between a dozen apps without issue while the Iris Xe graphics lend it the ability to tackle photo editing tasks and light 1080p video editing duties.

The tall 14-inch 60Hz display offered good brightness for indoor use and fair visibility outdoors though you’ll need to crank brightness to maximum. Colour rendition on the MagicBook 14’s display is decent for general usage with punchy colours and deep blacks for movie watching and the occasional YouTube video though professional content creators will find that colour rendition isn’t exactly flawless especially for demanding trades like video and photo editors who require absolutely accurate colours. 

Of note is that the tall 3:2 aspect ratio means that the MagicBook 14 is markedly better for paperwork and web browsing which lends it an edge against more conventionally equipped laptops with 16:9 displays. Another feature that is of particular value for desk jockeys is its TÜV Low Blue Light Certification and TÜV Flicker Free Certification which makes the display a pleasant affair for extended work sessions. Even with a full day of work, I encountered minimal eyestrain.

The provided downward firing stereo speakers are fairly typical examples of their kind, with fair volume and detail for casual use though bass is understandably modest at best.

Keyboards are typically an afterthought in laptop design but the HONOR MagicBook 14 surprisingly lavishes quite a bit of attention on them with concave keycaps that have a 19.05mm key pitch and 1.5mm key travel that make typing a pleasant affair.

The fairly standard ultrabook keyboard layout works in its favour and there’s a minimal learning curve needed to get accustomed to it. When typing this review out, the comfortable keyboard yielded a decent 90wpm and more seasoned typists will likely get faster speeds.

In terms of battery life, the HONOR MagicBook 14 has fair but unremarkable endurance. Oddly enough, the PCMark battery life benchmark consistently crashed during testing but it was able to loop a 1080p video for about 7 hours and 15 minutes before draining the battery dry.

Under practical usage conditions with moderate screen brightness and balanced performance settings, it should last the better part of a day though you’ll still need to judiciously carry the provided 65W charger with you. WIth the bundled 65W charger, it was able to get fully charged in about 1 hour and 40 minutes.

Should you buy the HONOR MagicBook 14 2022?

The HONOR MagicBook 14 2022 stands out from the plethora of competing designs with similar specifications on account of several unique factors, chief among them its tall 3:2 aspect ratio display that makes it ideal for paperwork.

Add in its proven 12th Gen Intel H-series processor, full brace of RAM and otherwise solid build quality and you have a sound investment for those looking for a general purpose workhorse laptop.

HONOR MagicBook 14 2022 review sample courtesy of HONOR Malaysia. To purchase and for more details please visit https://www.hiHONOR.com/my/laptops/HONOR-magicbook-14-2022/buy/