Honor MagicBook 14 2022 RTX review – a nice upgrade

In 2022, Honor is consolidating its independence from Huawei by making a significant move upmarket in its catalog of ultrabooks. This was the case with the MagicBook View 14 tested recently and this new edition of the Honor MagicBook 14 which offers a little more than a simple update this year (RTX 2050, Intel 12th gen., screen 3 :2…), enough to seduce a new audience in search of versatility. Let’s see if the bet is successful.

No doubt, it’s a MagicBook 14

What to say about the case of this MagicBook 14 that hasn’t been said before… Honor, Huawei, same fight, the whole range recovers more or less the same chassis, with a few details. We are therefore tempted to refer you to the MagicBook View 14 test to find out our opinion on the subject. Let’s say to sum up that we have here a very successful box from every point of view. THE aluminum surfaces are solid, well assembled, well finishedwith a gray design we can no longer neutral. What’s more, the template is contained (307.5 x 227.5 x 16.9 mm; 1.48 kg) for theeasily take with you.

On the connectivity side, the MagicBook 14 offers both two USB-C ports And one USB-A port classic, very practical for every day. You also don’t have to do without a HDMI output for your presentations. However, Honor has passed on the Thunderbolt 4, which is a little disappointing considering the price.

When you open the lid, you discover a screen passed to the aspect ratio 3:2 compared to the 16:9 standard on the previous MagicBook 14. The difference is immediately noticeable because we gain a lot of space in height, which offers more comfort for consulting documents or web pages. Video playback, on the other hand, recovers thicker black bands. We are on a shiny but non-touch screen resolution 2160 x 1440 pixels. On 14 inches, this represents 185 ppi, or a comfortable and detailed display finesse.

Honor mentions 300 nits brightness but we measured 375nits in peak, a sufficient value indoors but which will have a hard time countering the reflections on the glossy screen when the PC is placed in a bright environment. For the rest of the features, the sRGB space is covered in full (DeltaE 2.7), the contrast is correct (1673:1) and the white point at 6800K. The display frequency remains confined to the classic 60Hz unlike the MagicBook View 14 which benefits from a 90Hz screen.

Honor has definitely abandoned the webcam hidden under a keyboard key and that’s good. It is basic (720p) but the rendering is quite satisfactory, a bit above the lot. Windows Hello facial recognition is not present.

Let’s move on to the keyboard now, also typical of an Honor keyboard: effective. The keys are a good size (16.5×16.5mm) with 2.8mm space and a standard layout. In short, you will have no trouble adapting to typing, which is moreover rather silent, with a 1.2mm short stroke. The 120×73 mm touchpad did not inspire us with more reproach. Its smooth surface registers clicks well and follows movements without a jump. Perfectly integrated on the “On” key at the top right of the keyboard, identified by a small imprint, the fingerprint reader has never failed us.

GeForce RTX 2050 inside!

Don’t be fooled by the apparent discretion of the Honor MagicBook 14, it no longer has anything of the harmless little ultrabook of its early career. In France, it is offered in two configurations consisting of a Intel Core i5-12500H (12 cores) with 16 GB RAM And 512 GB SSD storage and optional dedicated graphics card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050. At a time when graphics processing software (editing, editing, etc.) increasingly relies on the GPU for processing, Honor offers us real added value.

This can also be seen quite clearly in the scores obtained during our various tests. In application, for creatives, this allows you to scrounge up precious seconds during exports or conversions, for example, even if the RTX 2050 does not equal the large caliber of the RTX 3000 in this field. To simplify, the RTX 2050 is the equivalent of an MX550/570 with the addition of Ray Tracing and DLSS support. It therefore opens on some quality game parts. count on 40 to 50 FPS in Full HD on average. We have often repeated during our previous tests the importance of the dedicated graphics card on a modern laptop PC which is intended to accompany you for several years and/or to support tasks a little more demanding than average (office use).

Good point, temperatures and noise are controlled with a CPU that climbs to 90°C/95°C under heavy loads and a GPU around 70/75°C in game. Fan blast amounted to 49dBA at the highest with peaks around 51dBA in perf. It is audible but the noise caused is not too intrusive and stops very quickly once the tasks are done to remain silent in everyday use.

Note that Honor offers via its “Honor PC Manager” utility a “Performance” mode which saves a few seconds but this remains anecdotal.

A word about the speakers of this MagicBook 14 2022. Two in number, they are located under the PC and emit a its better than average, well balanced. We stay on laptop speakers so don’t expect to set the mood with it, but for occasional music/film listening, it does the job.

Equipped with a 75Whr battery and a 135W charger in two rather bulky parts (80x75x30cm; 475g), the ultrabook does not hesitate to follow you during a busy day. And for good reason, we measured 10 hours of autonomy in current usea completely satisfactory result.

Our opinion on the Honor MagicBook 14 2022: a good multimedia laptop

We are used to being pleasantly surprised by Honor ultrabooks since their arrival on the French market. It is true that the Chinese manufacturer masters its recipe and also tends to serve it again with every meal, but still manages to infuse it with a little spice over the iterations. This is the case with this Honor MagicBook 14 2022 equipped with an RTX 2050.

Because if we salute without difficulty the quality of the laptop PC as a whole, in particular the solid chassis, the efficient keyboard or the generous autonomy, we particularly appreciate that Honor has placed there a dedicated graphics card which allows it to gain in versatility. and to lend itself to a fairly large audience.

As you will have understood, the dedicated GPU is, in our opinion, the key element of this Honor MagicBook 14 2022. So when it comes time to purchase, we cannot decently recommend the model without a dedicated graphics card displayed at 1099 euros, i.e. only 100 euros less than the one with RTX displayed in promotion at 1199 euros (September 2022). On good terms.

And if not Honor, it would be good to review the nomenclature of the catalog because currently, we have three MagicBook 14 which rub shoulders, inevitably creating confusion for the buyer.

The Honor MagicBook 14 2022 gets the score of 4/5

Compare the different available configurations of the Honor MagicBook 14 2022

Features of the Honor MagicBook 14 2022