'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?
ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.
When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.
ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.
Honor MagicBook 14 (2022), hands on: A good-value 14-inch workhorse with discrete graphics
Honor MagicBook 14 (2022)
pros and cons
- 12th-gen Core i5 CPU
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 2050 option
- All-day battery life
- Competitive price
- 300 nits screen
- 720p webcam
- Disappointing speakers
Honor is known primarily as a smartphone manufacturer, but the Chinese company's portfolio extends to tablets such as the excellent Honor Pad 8, wearables (bands, watches and earbuds) and the MagicBook range of 14-inch, 15-inch and 16-inch laptops.
As the time of writing the Honor MagicBook 14 (2022) is not yet available in the UK, although French and German buyers can find it online with a starting price of €999.90 (~$1,064). This buys you a 12-core (4 Performance, 8 Efficient) Intel Core i5-12500H processor, integrated Iris Xe Graphics, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. A model with discrete Nvidia GeForce RTX 2050 graphics costs €1,199.99 (~$1,276). The MagicBook 14 is also available in China and Malaysia, but not officially in the US.
Left side (top): 2x USB-C, 3.5mm audio in/out. Right side (above): HDMI, USB-A.
The build is very solid, and the aluminium shell should prove resistant to knocks and scratches in the normal course of events. The 1.58kg weight, while on the high side for a 14-inch laptop, didn't trouble me as I carried this device around in my rucksack. At 16.9mm thick it's not super-thin either, but the chassis does allow room for a full-size HDMI port and USB-A on the right side, plus a pair of USB-C ports and a 3.5mm headset jack on the left. One of the USB-C ports is used to charge the laptop.
The 14-inch screen sits in bezels thin enough to earn a claimed screen-to-body ratio of 88.15%, and there's a 720p webcam above the screen. The screen's resolution of 2,160 by 1,440 pixels means content is sharp and clear although its 300 nits maximum brightness is on the low side. Still, I found it perfectly adequate for indoor working. The 170° viewing angle meant I could easily share content with someone sitting to one side of me.
Keys have 1.5mm of travel and there's a combined power button/fingerprint reader in the top right corner.
My review unit had a US keyboard layout, but otherwise I found it efficient and comfortable to use. There's 1.5mm of key travel and good bounce-back, and the gentle clicking generated by typing should suit those who like to work in relative quiet. There is a fingerprint sensor in the upper right of the keyboard, integrated into the power button. The touchpad is responsive and easy to get to grips with, and as large as the wrist rest allows.
The disappointing feature as far as the user experience is concerned is the speaker system. Their grilles are on the underside of the chassis, which muffles the sound when you're working with the laptop on your lap or any softer surface. Top volume isn't as high as it could be, and there's a fuzziness to the sound output that makes music listening a little disappointing. The speakers are fine for spoken-word content, but if you're looking for a strong audio performer for after-hours entertainment, you might want to look elsewhere.
The 75Wh battery is specified as good for 15 hours of 1080p local video playback. My experience during testing suggests that 10 hours of battery life might be closer to the mark. Still, that ought to be enough for a productive day away from mains power. Honor has launched a system called OS Turbo, which can recognise usage scenarios and adjust power consumption accordingly. According to the company, this can reduce power consumption by up to 20%. Honor provides a 135W charger, which it says can take the battery from empty to 100% in 80 minutes.
The Honor MagicBook 14 (2022) performed well for the mainstream knowledge-worker tasks I threw at it during testing, the array of ports is quite strong, and battery life was good. If you're looking for a workhorse laptop for everyday usage, and can find it on sale, the MagicBook 14 is worth considering.
Honor MagicBook (2022) specifications
| OS | Windows 11 Home |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-12500H |
| GPU | Intel Iris Xe Graphics, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2050 (4GB) |
| RAM | 16GB |
| Storage | 512GB |
| Display | 14-inch, 2160 x 1440 (3:2, 185ppi), 300 nits, 1500:1, 100% sRGB |
| Ports & slots | 2x USB-C (10Gbps), USB-A (5Gbps), HDMI, 3.5mm audio in/out |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) |
| Bluetooth | 5.2 |
| Keyboard | full size, 1.5mm key travel |
| Touchpad | 5-point multi-touch, 120mm x 72.2mm |
| Webcam | 720p |
| Fingerprint reader | integrated in power button |
| Audio | 2x speakers, 2x mics |
| Battery | 75Wh |
| Applications | Honor Magic-link/PC Manager |
| Dimensions | 307.51mm x 227.56mm x 16.9mm |
| Weight | 1.58kg |
| In the box | MagicBook 14, USB-C power adapter, quick-start guide, warranty card |
| Price | €999.90 (16GB/512GB/Intel Iris Xe Graphics), €1,199.90 (16GB/512GB/Nvidia GeForce RTX 2050) |
Alternatives to consider
RECENT AND RELATED CONTENT
The 27 best laptop deals you can shop right now
19 solid laptops for everyone on your holiday list (including one for $179)
The 13 best Dell deals available on laptops and PCs
This discreet dock transforms my laptop into a fully featured desktop PC
Read more reviews
- Microsoft Surface Studio 2+ review: Elegant, flexible all-in-one PC gets an upgrade
- This $200 gaming sound card gives you the best audio available for less
- Drop + Epos H3X Headset review: Best sub-$100 gaming headset. Period
- Hyperice Normatec 3 Legs review: Recharge like a pro athlete
- Amazon Kindle Scribe review: 7 ways it could be even more remarkable