Honor MagicBook 14 Hardware Review – The Perfect Gaming Laptop?

Occasionally we cover hardware on iFanzine, and that’s no exception when it comes to laptops that we consider to be great fit for gamers. The Honor MagicBook 14 falls squarely into that bracket.

No, it’s not specifically made for gamers – but it certainly ticks all the boxes. Boasting the latest 11th Gen Intel Core processors and Intel Iris Xe graphics it handled most of what we threw at it. The quad-core Intel Core i7 1165G7 processor under the hood is a massive improvement from the previous MagicBook too.

With games we had to occasionally pare back the resolution to get more modern titles to run smoothly at 60fps, but this was rare. It’s also very quiet even when playing the most visually of demanding games.

For the price it boasts a hugely impressive FullView Display as well, boasting a two-stage backlight. There’s also a 15.6in iteration called the MagicBook 15, which has a larger screen but offers less in the way of battery power.

In any case there’s very little physical difference between this laptop and Huawei’s MateBook X Pro. That’s not a bad thing however as this is a lightweight laptop – but one that never feels cheap.

There’s an aluminium alloy body and the dark Space Grey casing looks very swish. We experienced no issues with the trackpad, and the keyboard has so far stood up to hours of hardcore typing.

The battery life is also impressive, with our mileage roughly between the 10 and 11 hour mark – which can’t be sneezed at.

What is also welcome is that you can mirror your phone display thanks to the NFC chip in the palm wrest. One issue is that Huawei and Honor phones are the only type that work with the feature, which is more than a little frustrating.

Another disappointment include the lack of ports, including a Type-A port that’s only a USB 2.0 and the Type-C one doesn’t support DisplayPort video out. And we really don’t know what they were thinking with the webcam placement.

To sum up, the Honor MagicBook 14 is certainly not a perfect piece of kit – and could never be called revolutionary – but if you’re looking to play Desktop/PC titles on the go then there are few better options for the price.