Honor is also taking advantage of the IFA to draw a new laptop : the MagicBook 14. The device continues in the line of other models launched by the former subsidiary of Huawei, to offer good performance in an elegant chassis.
If you are running after a revolution, it is not on the new MagicBook 14 that you will have to look for it. The device still promises to give us our money’s worth and will be the first to natively benefit from OS Turbo technology. This novelty, which Honor promises to deploy on all of its laptops, was originally developed for the brand’s smartphones.
OS Turbo technology: a little software boost to improve battery life
Behind this mysterious name hides a system of dynamic allocation of resources allowing to optimize the performance of the operating system, to ensure what Honor describes as ” hardware and software synergy and above all to improve the autonomy of the laptop. In this case, the manufacturer promises reduced energy consumption of just over 20% compared to the previous generation of MagicBook ultraportables. We will see in test what this gives concretely, but the promise of Honor has the merit of arousing attention.
Apart from this software peculiarity, the MagicBook is a fairly common 14-inch ultraportable PC. It can nevertheless count on a balanced and recent technical sheet, with an Intel Core i5-12500H processor coupled or not (depending on the version chosen) to a dedicated NVIDIA RTX 2050 graphics card.
As a reminder, the Core i5-12500H is a mid-range mobile CPU launched at the start of the year. It packs 12 cores (4 high-performance cores and 8 high-efficiency cores) and 16 threads clocked at a maximum of 4.50 GHz, 18 MB of unified cache and a thermal envelope of 45W… although it would make sense for Honor to limit it at 35 W to avoid heating in the compact chassis of the MagicBook 14.
A little too expensive laptop?
On the cooling side, Honor evokes the addition of a system based on two fans with a new shape of blades supposed to improve dissipation by 33%. For the rest, the MagicBook will draw its energy from a 75 Wh battery allowing up to 15 hours of local video playback, or 10.5 hours of autonomy in office use. The device can also be supplied with a 135 W charger offering rather efficient fast charging: 3.5 hours of battery life recovered in 15 minutes on the mains and a full battery charge after 80 minutes.
As for the screen, Honor is finally putting on a 14-inch IPS panel displaying a 2.1K definition consistent with what the brand offers on its other laptop models. The MagicBook 14 also has a full aluminum chassis, similar to what was found on the very good MagicBook View 14 at the start of the year.
The MagicBook 14 is available for pre-order today. Honor does not yet specify a launch date for its new laptop, but indicates that it will be available at Amazon and on the official website of the brand: Hihonor. Finally, here is the price of the two expected configurations:
- MagicBook 14 with Intel Iris Xe iGPU and 65W charger: 1,099 euros
- MagicBook 14 with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 dedicated graphics card and 135 W charger: 1,299 euros
A tariff placement which seems a little too ambitious to us as it stands. As a reminder, Huawei’s MateBook D16 (16-inch format with Core i5 of 12e generation) starts at 999 euros, while the MacBook Air M1 (still in Apple’s catalog) starts at 1,199 euros, offering not only a perfectly silent working experience (no fan), but in addition the solid performance of the M1 chip, longer battery life and display quality similar to that expected on the MagicBook 14.
Source: press release, Honor briefing
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