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The HONOR MagicBook View 14 is the latest laptop from HONOR, and we’re here to review it. I’ve been using this thing for the past couple of weeks, and it sure did perform as expected. This is a high-end laptop, basically, so I didn’t really expect anything else. It comes with Windows 11 out of the box.. I’ve reviewed the HONOR MagicBook 14 (2021) a while back, and truth be said, it’s not much different than the MagicBook View 14.
There are some differences between the two devices, sure. This one has a newer version of RAM, Windows 11 instead of Windows 10, a considerably better selfie camera, plus there are some other, smaller differences. For the most part, though, you’ll get the same performance, and a very similar feeling all around. The easiest way to differentiate the two is the placement of the HONOR branding on the device. It is centered on this laptop, while it’s a bit to the side on the MagicBook 14 (2021). That being said, let’s talk more about the HONOR MagicBook View 14, shall we.
Excellent design which both looks and feels extremely premium
I loved that feeling of pulling all-metal smartphones from the box for the first time. That cold metal feeling, it just felt so premium. Well, I had a similar experience with the HONOR MagicBook View 14. This laptop is made mostly out of metal, its chassis is made out of aluminum. The device feels quite premium in the hand, even before you open it. It’s also the ideal size for a laptop, at least in my opinion. It measures 310.28 (width) x 226.6 (height) x 14.5mm (depth/thickness). It also weighs 1.48, which means it’s not heavy at all.
The bezels are quite thin
Despite the fact it’s so compact, HONOR managed to fit in a 14.2-inch display here, which we’ll talk more about in the next chapter. The bezels surrounding that display are quite thin, which is always good to see when it comes to laptops. You’ll notice tiny HONOR branding below the display, and a larger one on the back of the display. There is a large touchpad placed below the keyboard, and the keyboard itself is quite good too. We’ll talk about that in a minute.
The camera is now in the right place
You will notice that a camera is a part of the top bezel. The top bezel is slightly thicker than the rest of them, which is something you may or may not notice. HONOR opted to put that camera inside the bezel, in the usual place, rather than including it inside a key on the keyboard, as it did on the MagicBook 14. Do note that there is still a camera key on the keyboard, though, but it only acts as an on/off switch for the camera, nothing else.
Its keyboard is well spaced out, and quite tactile
First and foremost, the global model of this laptop won’t have Russian letters on the keyboard. A regular keyboard is available, but in addition to Russian letter, as this variant is made for the Russian market. Now that we got that out of the way, let’s just say that the keyboard is excellent. I expected no less from this laptop after reviewing the MagicBook 14 a while back. I love that keyboard, and I got the same feeling here too.
These are chicklet keys, but even if you prefer mechanical ones, do note that these do have enough travel overall. They won’t feel like the keys on a mechanical keyboard, of course, but they do offer more travel than it seems. I love chicklet keyboards, though, so I really did enjoy this one. It basically never fails to register a tap, and I was able to type in my regular speed, this keyboard didn’t obstruct me in any way.
A fingerprint scanner is included, and it’s really accurate
You will notice that there is a fingerprint scanner icon on one of the keys. Yes, that is a physical button with a built-in fingerprint scanner for security, it doubles as a power button. It is actually a part of the keyboard this time around, HONOR did things a bit differently on the MagicBook 14. It works great, though, it registers my finger perfectly every time, after the initial setup, of course.
There are plenty of ports here, and all the right ones
This laptop is well-equipped when it comes to ports. In addition to the charging port, you will get a 3.5mm headset and microphone 2-in-1 port. An HDMI port is also available, and the same goes for a USB-A 3.2 Gen1 port. There is also a USB-C 3.2 Gen1 port, and a Thunderbolt 4 port. Everything you may need is included here, basically, well, except an SD card reader, but that’s not something you’ll usually find on HONOR laptops. An actual SD card reader is quite affordable these days, so that’s not exactly a big problem.
The display is excellent, much-improved in comparison to the MagicBook 14
The HONOR MagicBook View 14 offers a 14.2-inch LTPS display. That display has a resolution of 2520 x 1680, and a 90Hz refresh rate. Do note that the default refresh rate is 60Hz, though, you’ll need to hit the Fn+R keys to switch to a 90Hz mode. It is also TÜV Rheinland certified, for low blue light emission. Yes, this display is also touch-sensitive, as it supports up to 10-point multi-touch points. That is one big difference between the MagicBook View 14 and MagicBook 14, the latter doesn’t have a touch-sensitive display.
It’s touch sensitive, and quite responsive
Using the touch function feels good, though to be quite honest, I didn’t use it that much. I treated this laptop as… well, a laptop. Its display doesn’t exactly rotate all the way around, so I couldn’t use it as a tablet, nor would I want to. When I needed to use the touchscreen, to get something done quicker, it worked really well, as expected. So, that’s a nice addition, regardless of whether you want to use it or not.
It’s bright enough
The display brightness is 400 nits, which is more than enough, to be quite honest. It may be an issue to use it in direct sunlight, but other than that, it’s much brighter than most other laptops I’ve used. The glossy surface doesn’t help, so keep that in mind. It’s more than usable outdoors, but it won’t be ideal. Other than that, the display does offer really vivid colors, and in general, I don’t have that many complaints here. It’s more than sharp, and it also offers a high refresh rate on top of that.
The HONOR MagicBook View 14 offers high-end hardware, and high-end performance
What about its performance, does it deliver? In short, well, yes. Do note that this is not a gaming laptop, though. I just wanted to get that out of the way. It does not have a specifically powerful graphics card (Intel Iris Xe), though you can play some not super demanding games on it without a problem. It does come with a really powerful GPU, though. The model we received for review sports the Intel Core i7 11390H processor. Needless to say, this is quite a powerful chip. Do note that the Intel Core i5-11320H variant is also available.
Both SoC variants come with 16GB of RAM
Both of those SoC variants come with 16GB of LPDDR4x Dual-Channel RAM. All that, in combination, works great for this laptop. This can easily be your work machine, regardless of whether you’re doing some light typing and browsing, or you’re utilizing programming tools, etc. It can also be a great tool for designers, thanks to its touch-sensitive, high-refresh rate display. It’s quite a versatile device.
512GB of SSD storage is also included
I’ve used it mostly for typing, web browsing, image editing, and consuming multimedia. It did great in all those areas. I didn’t test games much, as this laptop is definitely not made for gaming. Some light, arcade games that I’ve tried, ran great, though. If you do plan on installing plenty of programs on this laptop, well, you can, as it comes with 512GB of internal storage (PCIe NVMe SSD).
Windows 11 comes out of the box
Now, something that a laptop can’t do without is software, of course. This one comes with Windows 11 Home out of the box. That is Microsoft’s latest version of Windows, and it’s actually not bad at all. I’ve had my fair share of issues with Windows 10 on several devices, for years, and was pleasantly surprised with Windows 11. I didn’t have any issues since upgrading a while back, and the same goes for my experience with the MagicBook View 14.
Windows 11 is a step in the right direction for Microsoft
Windows 11 looks a lot better than Windows 10 in my opinion. Microsoft finally tackled the issue of menus, which were horrible on Windows 10, in my humble opinion. There is also a useful strip with programs / apps at the bottom of the display, similar to what you get on Chrome OS and macOS. The UI has been improved in general, and I didn’t really stumble upon any bugs during my 2-3 week usage. I’m talking specifically about the HONOR MagicBook View 14 here, of course.
There’s not much more to talk about here. Those of you who used Windows know what to expect. If you haven’t used Windows 11, but you used previous versions of Windows, well, this is a step in the right direction, for the most part.
Good battery life and 65W fast charging
HONOR included a 60Wh battery inside of this laptop, which is a good size for the hardware you’re getting here. It turns out that the battery life is quite good. HONOR did share some of its projections for the battery life, but you’re probably more interested in real-life use. I was able to get around 12 hours of usage out of this laptop, with mixed usage. I typed up some articles on it, sent plenty of emails, watched YouTube, a bit of Netflix, browsed a lot, edited some pictures, and so on.
One thing worth noting is that the vast majority of my usage played out indoors. It’s winter here, so I’m not really keen on using a laptop outdoors for prolonged periods of time, not at all. The manual brightness was set to around 40-percent most of the time. That should give you some idea as to what to expect. Do note that gaming, video editing, and other graphically-demanding tasks will deplete this battery quicker, of course.
65W charging can replenish the battery rather quickly
What about charging? Well, this laptop offers the same 65W charging as the HONOR MagicBook 14. It comes with a 65W charger, actually, and that charger can recharge this thing fairly quickly. I was able to hit a full charge (from a completely dead state) after around an hour and 20 minutes. It took it around an hour to reach 80-percent, which is great. Whenever you’re running low on battery, this charger can do the trick quickly.
It includes a much-improved wide-angle camera
The HONOR MagicBook View 14 brings another major improvement over the MagicBook 14, we’re talking about its camera. This thing comes with a 5-megapixel wide-angle camera with a 90-degree view. HONOR also included an ISP chip inside. Truth be said, this camera is much better than what you’d usually get on laptops, at least most laptops. Those cameras will seem really bad after you try this out.
This camera did great for me during meetings
The wide-angle lens on its own does the trick, but this camera does seem sharper overall. I don’t use cameras on my laptops for much, to be quite honest, only for Google Meet conference calls, and sometimes I chat over Facebook Messenger. In both of those regards, though, this camera did the trick. I also appreciated that the angle of it is right this time around, I wasn’t a fan of the camera on the MagicBook 14 which was built into the key. The viewing angle wasn’t the best, to say the least.
The speakers are good, and up-firing
What about the audio? The HONOR MagicBook View 14 comes with a built-in 3.5mm headphone jack. You can easily hook up your headphones that way, or use Bluetooth, whatever suits you best. Speaking of which, the MagicBook View 14 comes with Bluetooth 5.1. In addition to that, the device also has a set of speakers which are up-firing. They’re located on the left and right sides of the keyboard, and they’re quite good. These are not the best speakers I’ve stumbled upon on a laptop, but they’re quite good. The sound is rather sharp, and they even provide some bass. I’m just happy they’re not bottom-firing.
The HONOR MagicBook View 14 is an excellent ultrabook, plain and simple
So, is the HONOR MagicBook View 14 worth it? Well, if you’re looking for a laptop of this caliber, then yes, very much so. HONOR really did an excellent job with the design here, while the display is good enough. It is also touch-sensitive, not to mention that it supports a 90Hz refresh rate. The camera has been much-improved, and it’s great for meetings, while the fingerprint scanner works great. The sound is good enough, while this is a powerful laptop, with powerful internals. On top of everything, even the keyboard is quite good, and so on. The HONOR MagicBook View 14 is an excellent Windows 11 laptop, which steers clear of major flaws. HONOR basically fixed all of the complaints I had for the MagicBook 14. I highly recommend it.