HONOR Magicbook X14 Performance Review: Awesome Screen, Powerful Processor But Boring Design

The mainstream laptop market, especially the price range under Rs 50,000, is a highly contested one. It is the budget most office professionals, students, and general users have. As of Q1 2022, the laptop market in India saw a huge uptick. By Q4 2022, this demand did die down a tiny bit. But market corrections aside, the laptop market in India, is set to see a further expansion in the coming future. 

With that said, the HONOR MagicBook X14 enters the scene as a really strong competitor. It is a 14-inch Windows laptop that clearly draws inspiration from the 14-inch Apple MacBook Pro. This is a compliment considering that every MacBook is built to last. It is not exactly available in under Rs 50,000 but comes does so every time there is a sale on Amazon. 

Currently, the Intel 12th Gen Core i5 “H” series powered variant of the HONOR MagicBook X14 with 16GB RAM costs Rs 51,000. With an additional Rs 2,000 bank offer, the price once again comes down to Rs 49,000. Needless to say, the HONOR MagicBook X14 is available in and around Rs 50,000 any time you wish to buy it. But is it worth it? Here’s the answer

Also read: 5 features of the newly launched Honor MagicBook 2023 series

HONOR MagicBook 14X Performance Review: Design, Keyboard, And Trackpad

“Fairly simple” is the term I’d use to describe the HONOR MagicBook 14X’s design. As I mentioned earlier, it looks like a 14-inch MacBook Pro. It features a 60% layout, just like the MacBook, a thin bezel display,

The MagicBook laptop stands out in the crowded market with its sleek and modern design. The first thing you'll notice is its stunning metallic finish, which gives it a premium look and feel. The laptop's slim profile, combined with its lightweight build, makes it a perfect companion for on-the-go professionals and students alike.

The keys are well-spaced and have a good travel to them offering a comfortable typing experience. The tactile feedback is just right, ensuring accuracy even during long typing sessions. The MagicBook doesn't skimp on connectivity options. It boasts a variety of I/O ports, ensuring that users can connect a range of peripherals without any hassle. The laptop features USB Type-C, USB 3.0, HDMI, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The inclusion of USB Type-C is particularly noteworthy, as it supports fast charging and data transfer.

Beyond its design, keyboard, and I/O, the MagicBook offers several other notable features. The anti-glare display ensures that users can work for extended periods without straining their eyes. The laptop also comes with a fingerprint sensor, providing an added layer of security. This feature ensures quick and secure access to the device, eliminating the need to remember complex passwords.

In earlier iterations, the HONOR MagicBook came with a pop-up camera placed on the keyboard. Needless to say, it wasn’t the best implementation out there and therefore now the webcam is back to its normal position. However, it is still limited to shooting in just 720P. The keyboard also has a 2-in-1 fingerprint sensor. Meaning, the fingerprint and the power button are placed in the same spot. The laptop is decently thick at 16.5mm and weighs around 1.43kg. The laptop has gained some size since its first iteration which debuted with an Intel 10th Gen Core i3 processor and that’s good. Because the new Intel 12th Gen “H” series chip needs that extra room. 

HONOR MagicBook X14 Screen And Speakers Review

The Honor MagicBook X14’s screen is very impressive in its price range. It comes with a 1080p FHD display. It has an 88% screen-to-body ratio meaning it has fairly thin bezels which makes the viewing experience immersive. Similar to many laptops nowadays, the display is in a 16:10 aspect ratio, which renders to height and in turn gives you more screen real estate. 

In terms of display specs, it incorporates an IPS LCD panel. It has a maximum brightness of 313nits, which is very good in this price segment. The screen also has 98% sRGB and 75% DCI-P3 coverage. Most of the internet content and the applications that we run, including games, use colours available in the sRGB colour range. Moreover, the laptop will also display those colours accurately because the display has an average delta E value of 1. Making it highly suitable for creating professional-grade content. 

The downward firing speakers on the other hand have a small sound stage and are not as loud as some other laptops in this segment. However, the speakers do not crack even at 100% volume. They are clear but lack bass. So overall, it’d rate the speakers as average. 

HONOR MagicBook X14 Performance Review: Battery And Charging Time

The HONOR MagicBook X14 with 100% screen brightness and in performance operating mode lasted 408 minutes in our extensive battery test. So that’s 6h and 48 minutes of continuous screen on time. For comparison, the Dell Vostro 3510 15.6-inch lasted close to 6h 8 min. And that too with a weaker processor. Suffice to say, the HONOR MagicBook X14’s battery life is great and won’t disappoint you. 

The laptop also comes with a 65W USB Type-C charger which charges the laptop 28% in 30 minutes. 

Also read: Best Laptops Under ₹40,000 in India (August 2023)

HONOR MagicBook X14 Performance Review: CPU And Thermal Management

An Intel 12th Gen Core i5-12450H powers the HONOR MagicBook X14. The chip is an octa-core unit with four performance cores and four efficiency cores. The 12450H also has support for up to 12 threads. And in terms of performance, the laptop scores well in single and multi-core tests. 

For example, in Geekbench 6, the Intel 12450H scored 2229 and 9820 in single and multicore tests respectively. The single-core performance here is very high in this price range. In Cinebench R23 as well, the Intel chip continued its high performance with a single core and multicore score of 1571 and 8641 respectively. 

And during intense testing, the peak surface temperature reaches around 35 degrees if you’re sitting in a non-ventilated room. But most of the time the peak surface temperature remains between 32-35 degree celsius. 

Further contributing to the HONOR MagicBook X14’s performance is its 512GB SSD, which has a maximum sequential read and write speed of 3357.45MB/s and 2773.5MB/s respectively. Objectively, the speed is more than good enough for files transfer, loading resource-heavy tasks like Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and more. 

Lastly, in PC Mark 10 Extended, the laptop’s overall performance was quantified in the score – 4243. During the test, the laptop scored well in Productivity and Essential tests. But it didn’t score that well in gaming tests because of the lack of a dedicated GPU. 

HONOR MagicBook X14 Performance Review: Verdict

The HONOR MagicBook X14 improves upon its older design with thoughtful design changes but retains the feature set which made it popular in the first place. The laptop’s old yet highly functional design, solid I/O port, and small form factor make it a highly portable device. And its powerful processor, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD make it a pretty powerful one as well. On top of that, the laptop’s highly colour accurate display doubles up its usage from an everyday work laptop to a creative machine as well. Its average speaker system and the lack of a GPU are some drawbacks that you should be aware of while buying this laptop.

For Rs 50,000, the HONOR MagicBook X14 is a great choice. If you’re looking for some alternatives in this price range then the Xiaomi is also a good option. Also if you want something with a bigger display then the ASUS Vivobook 16X, with a 16-inch display and performance grade AMD Ryzen 5600H, will set you back Rs 49,990 for the 8GB RAM variant but you can add another 8GB stick in the future.

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Yetnesh Dubey

Yetnesh works as a reviewer with Digit and likes to write about stuff related to hardware. He is also an auto nut and in an alternate reality works as a trucker delivering large boiling equipment across Europe. View Full Profile