HONOR Magicbook Pro First Impression The must-buy Affordable Laptop in 2020

A brand new laptop from HONOR Huawei equipped with an AMD Ryzen 5 4500H processor, the HONOR Magicbook Pro, is launched on 4th September 2020 at IFA Berlin. It’s the must-buy affordable laptop in 2020, with 16GB+512GB comes at £849.99. It features a 16.1-inch display and weighs only 1.7kg.

The same model was released on 23rd July in China. Taking advantage of this review, let’s take a look at whether this new laptop worth the money from 5 aspects as below.

One minute review

Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 4600H

Graphic: Radeon™

Size of display: 16.1’, IPS, 1,920 x 1,080

Screen-to-body ratio: 90%

Display Colour gamut: 100% sRGB

Display Luminance: 300 nits

Dimension: 369 mm × 234 mm × 16.9 mm

Thickness: 16.9 mm

Weight: 1.7 KG

Body Material: Metal

Battery: Up to 12 hours of battery (TBD)

Charging: "65W, Type-C connect, PD supported"

Power button: One-touch fingerprint power button

Keyboard: Backlit keyboard

Interfaces: 3. 5 mm Earphone jack

U S B 3 . 0 * 3 (one on the left, two on the right side)

Type C

HDMI

Multi-device Magic-Link

HONOR Magicbook pro is mainly designed for study and working use, instead of pure gaming use. This laptop is fully compact with 16.1-inch display 90% screen ratio and the weight is only 1.7kg. It’s powered by AMD Ryzen 5 4600H chipset and Radeon™ graphic card. Similar to former generations HONOR Magicbook 15 and 14, this laptop features pop up a web camera, fingerprint power button, magic link superfast file transferring, and PD superfast charging.

Compared with laptops of other brands, like Lenovo, Apple, and dell, HONOR Magicbook pro is an affordable choice with high performance. Except for AMD Ryzen 5 4600H chipset, what cannot be ignored is the 100%s RGB gamuts. The use of this high technology guarantees the display effect of the display.

Price and release

Released together with HONOR 9X and HONOR band 5 in China, HONOR Magicbook Pro was priced at 4299RMB. Even long before its launch, users could book in advance as early as 16th July 2020 from the main online sales platform, like Vmall, Tmall, and Suning. One of the keywords for this laptop in media and user reviews in China is affordable.

The HONOR Magicbook pro 16GB+ 512GB is priced at £849.99 in the UK with free shipping. Currently pre-order from the Hihonor store is available and beginning from 8th September, open sales start. Subscribe and register here to be a VIP member at the HIHONOR store, you can get the new HONOR * GS pro in Advance and with an early bird price.

Design

Lightweight 1.7 kg with a 16.1-inch screen

Metallic feel logo increased the style

Fully compact with a pop-up web camera and fingerprint sensor

The components of the HONOR Magicbook Pro are dressed in a stylish metal chassis, similar to the former generations, HONOR Magicbook 14 and 15. The main difference is, the gradient color logo HONOR is changed to a metallic feel one on the new laptop, thus further improve the overall style. In China, 3 colors are available, space grey, blue, and silver. It’s heard that only the space grey color is available outside of China market.

An image of HONOR Magicbook pro with metallic feel HONOR logo

The loudspeakers of HONOR Magicbook Pro are placed at the left and right side, beside the keyboards. Compared with other laptops that placed the speaker at the back of the laptop, this new design from HONOR largely improves the sound quality. Supporting Dolby Atmos, the sound effect is brilliant when playing video and audio. The sound is loud and clear. It’s pretty powerful even if you play low-frequency audio or video, which further improves the entertainment effect.

An image of HONOR magicbook pro’s speakers left and right side of the keyboards.

Embedded into the right side loudspeaker, there is a power fingerprint sensor. After setting up, it’s very convenient to use, fast and accurate. You can simply touch the button to power on or off your laptop without any delay. The time to type in a password is saved and safety is guaranteed.

An image of the fingerprint sensor and speaker in one

On each side of the frame of HONOR Magicbook Pro, users can find 3 ports. On the left it’s Type C port for charging and connecting to a phone, then HDMI port and a USB 3.0 port. On the right side, there are two USB 3.0 ports and one 3.5mm headphone jack. And yes, there is no Ethernet port. I tried to get internet from my phone through the type C port. It worked great.

An image of HONOR Magicbook pro, type C, HDMI, USB 3 on the left. 3.5mm headphone jack, two USB 3 on the right

Same as the former generation HONOR magicbook 14 and 15, HONOR Magicbook pro features a pop-up camera is that placed in the function key between F6 and F7 keys. You can simply press to use the camera, and press again to hide it. This design in the first place is to increase screen ratio, but in the end, also improves security. It’s impossible for some mistakenly installed software on the laptop to use the camera without your knowing it.

An image of the pop-up web camera of HONOR Magicbook pro

All the above design makes this laptop a truly compact one. The size of it is 369 * 234 * 16.9mm, with the weight 1.7KG. Notice that the thickness again is the only 16.9mm. But how compact is it when compared with other models, for example, ASUS VivoBook S15, Acer Aspire 5, Lenovo Thinkpad E15, and Macbook Pro? You can refer to the below two comparison images.

Images to compare the display size, weight, thickness of HONOR Magicbook Pro, ASUS VivoBook S15, Acer Aspire 5, Lenovo Thinkpad E15, and Apple Macbook Pro

Display

6.1 inch LCD IPS display, 1920 * **

90% screen ratio with 100%s RGB gamut

The HONOR Magicbook pro features a 16.1 inch LCD display and 1920 * 1080 megapixel, with the screen ratio as high as 90%. The wide frame with a small screen is a thing of the past, because of this.

More than this, its 100%s RGB gamuts effectively eliminate color differences, thereby ensuring full compliance with Adobe’s 100% sRGB coverage standard. This makes it a good choice for photo and video editors. Even if you never edit photos or videos on the laptop, this technology can guarantee the best visual effect when watching TV series or movies. If you don’t quite understand how this matters, just remember that without this, two similar but different colors will be displayed on a laptop as the same color.

An image of HONOR Magicbook pro’s 16.1-inch screen with 90% screen ratio

Storege

16GB+512GB (SSD) available

Memory enough for working and study use

In China, the HONOR Magicbook pro comes in one option when it comes to ram and rom. Only the 16GB+ 512 GB variant is available for customers. The hard drive type is the same as former generations, SSD. The storage of the notebook that I currently use in the office is also 512 GB. After two years, still, only about 60% of the storage is used. So as far as I can see, 512 GB is enough for working or study use but just remember don’t store big video or audio on the laptop.

Battery and charger

56WH battery lasts for 11 hours

PD superfast standard charger support phone and tablet as well

An image of HONOR Magicbook and PD superfast charge

The HONOR Magicbook pro is equipped with a 56WH battery and it meets PD superfast charge standard. The adapter that comes in the box, support 5V/2A, 9V/2A, 12V/2A, 15V/3A, and 20V/3.25A output. It means you don’t need to bring an extra charger or cable with you when traveling. One charger is enough for your laptop, tablets, and also your smartphones.

When the brightness is 150 nits, the fully charged battery can last for as long as 11 hours if you play 1080 P video stored on the laptop. Using the laptop a full day without a charger connected is not a problem.

Overall Performance

AMD Ryzen 5 4600H chipset

New heat dissipation design ensures performance

Study and working use, Game good as well

Multiple screens, magic link supported

In terms of hardware, the HONOR Magicbook pro features an AMD Ryzen 5 4600H processor and Radeon Graphic card. The former generations released in February 2020, are equipped with AMD Ryzen 3500u chipset instead. Among laptops at the same price range, performance of the chipset equipped by this model, HONOR Magicbook Pro is at the top of the performance list, if not the best.

Considering it’s an affordable laptop, the HONOR Magicbook Pro is a perfect choice for study or working use. So if you are a student considering which model to buy, it’s one of the best choices.

An image of the double cooling fan of HONOR Magicbook pro

When it comes to heat dissipation, I can say that other manufacturers should learn from the design of HONOR Magicbook Pro. Unlike the Lenovo ThinkPad E15, with a heat dissipation port at the back of the laptop (the side that touch the desk), the HONOR Magicbook pro places the air inlet at the back, while the air outlet beside the screen axis. Also, it’s equipped with double cooling fans, and at the same time, you can barely hear the noise.

I have also tried to play games with this new model, though mainly it’s designed for study and working use. It loads relatively fast without obvious delay. Compared with HONOR Magicbook Pro with AMD Ryzen 3500u, the display response performance is much better. After around an hour, I started to feel the heat from the keyboards, mainly in the middle part. The heat is bearable and as I continued the game, the temperature didn’t further increase. So from my perspective, it’s good for the game as well. Since as mentioned in this review, it’s not designed for gaming, I didn’t spend a lot of time testing the gaming performance of this laptop.

Transferring files from HONOR or Huawei phones to the laptop is made convenient like never before. With Magic link, you can simply open the file that you want to transfer to the laptop on your phone, then place the phone beside the laptop to get the file transferred. Without an internet connection or wifi, it’s not a problem anymore!

An image of transferring a photo from phone to HONOR magicbook pro

Other than this, with multi-screen technology, the phone could be connected to the laptop easily without you even notice it. When the phone screen appears on the homepage of the laptop, you can edit the files stored on the phone, as simple as if you are editing a file stored in the laptop itself. You will also have access to the apps that you have installed on the phone from the laptop. Other than that, you can simply drag the files between the phone and laptop to get it saved in the other device.

Conclusion

The HONOR Magicbook pro is one of the lightweight laptops that worth your money. Five but not limited to five reasons why you can consider this laptop are listed as the below:

Reason one:

The amazing design used by the HONOR Magicbook pro makes it one of the most lightweight 16.1-inch display laptops, with weight only 1.7 kg.

Reason two:

The HONOR Magicbook pro features 16.1-inch big display with a screen ratio as high as 90%. Also, 100%s RGB gamut ensures the best image display effect.

Reason three:

With 16GB+512GB, HONOR Magicbook pro’s storage meets working and study use with the affordable price offered.

Reason four:

The 56WH battery support one day use while the PD standard charger with different power input could work with smartphones and tablets.

Reason five:

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600H chipset, Radeontm Graphic card, and new heat dissipation solution guarantee its reliable performance.

Overall, the HONOR MagicBook Pro is the best buy for those who are getting to start your new semester or those office white collars who get to crush their productivity. The most important reason for the laptop to be the best buy is the affordable price. In the end, what’s the point of paying extra money for a noticeable price if it’s not competitive at all?

Do you have a chance to get hands-on the HONOR Magicbook pro already? Will you buy this model if you are considering a new laptop? Share with us your opinion in the comment section and questions are welcome if you want to know more about it.