Friday, March 29

Honor MagicBook X 14 review: price is the key in a tremendously saturated range of models


Barely a year as an independent company has taken Honor to place a consumer laptop on the market where, above all, the value for money, grown even more with promotions that include different accessories from the company.

The Honor MagicBook X 14 it is a basic equipment that uses a balanced card with a correct screen and the search for your attention for the low price tag. But with that premise there is great competition in the market. In Xataka we have tried it to discover if it is really worth it.

Technical sheet of the Honor Magicbook X 14

Honor MagicBook X 14

Dimensions and weight

322.5 x 214.8 x 15.9 mm

1,38 kg

Screen

14″ FullHD 16:9

Processor

Intel Core i5-10210U

Memory

8 GB DDR4

Storage

512 GB PCIe NVMe SSD

Battery

56 Wh

Fast charge 65W USB C

connectivity

HDMI, USB-A 3.0 Gen1, USB-A 2.0, USB-C, 3.5mm jack, fingerprint reader, BT 5.0, pop-up webcam on keyboard

Price

699 euros

HONOR MagicBook X 14/ Intel® Core™ i5-10210U/ Windows 10 Home/ 8GB RAM/ 512GB SSD/ Space Grey

Nothing new in the design

Even if Honor It is already an independent company from Huawei, the design of its latest laptops maintains the simple and elegant line of the devices of the old parent company.

Honor Mateview X 14 Review Xataka Diseno Logo Casing

In the Honor MagicBook X 14 we thus have a Finished in aluminum alloy very well cared for, smooth lines in a discreet design that also, unfortunately, stands out from other brands and only offers a basic gray color as a tone option.

The Honor MagicBook X 14 is a light 14-inch laptop but with a very seen appearance already

The Honor laptop fixes its diagonal in the 14 inches, managing to do it in a design with well-controlled dimensions except for thickness. At its thinnest part we have 1.6 cm.

The appearance of thickness of the equipment is penalized by the rubber bands located in the lower part of the casing and that visually raise the equipment.

Honor Mateview X 14 Review Xataka Resource 3

The physical characteristic that we did like was the weight. The team, with a solid look and feel, is no more than 1,38 kg.

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Just in connectivity and with the webcam on the keyboard

Despite the fact that this Honor MagicBook X 14 is very recent in the Spanish market, its technical sheet has not been updated too much as we will see. And that is noticeable, for example, in connectivity, where we find a single USB-C port which is also not Thunderbolt 4.

Honor Mateview X 14 Review Xataka Ports

Other connectivity is limited to an HDMI port, two USB-A ports (one 3.0 and the other more basic 2.0), and the mixed headphone/microphone jack.

What Honor does not forget in this MagicBook X 14 is the fingerprint reader, located on the computer’s power button. Here there is no downside to being one of the fastest in operation on the market.

But since there is not one of lime without another of sand, this Honor Magicbook X 14 insists on a practice that does not convince us at all in a laptop: the hidden webcam in the last row of the keyboard.

The webcam remains on the keyboard, something that makes its use in video calls practically ruled out

is of type retractable, which is very good for privacy and security issues, but taking it to that place we already know implies that it is practically a useless element for making video calls.

Honor Mateview X 14 Review Xataka Display Resource

The large lower frame does not compensate for having removed the webcam from the upper one and with it, its usefulness when placing it on the keyboard

To make matters worse, although the upper frame of the screen is practically non-existent without the webcam, the size of the lower frame where we find the brand name means that removing the webcam from its natural place does not have advantages in terms of effective frame reduction. from the screen.

Matte screen, its great success

Failure with the screen is something that no entry-level laptop can afford today. There is so much and so varied competition that a mistake, no matter how small, makes a laptop stand out.

The 14-inch FullHD screen has a fair brightness but is offset by the matte finish that makes it much easier to view the environment in high light.

The screen of Honor MagicBook X 14 He was close to falling into that mistake. Not by diagonal, correct with its 14 inches, not even by resolution, a fair 1080p. I intended to do it for its overall quality, somewhat fair in brightness with only 250 nits although with good color reproduction and contrast, but the matte finish He has ended up offering him a decent start despite the fact that, like the rest of the team, it is not a particularly remarkable point.

Another detail that helps the correct visualization in different situations is that the hinge of the screen allows it to rotate up to 180 degrees, giving more flexibility to the user.

Honor Mateview X 14 Review Xataka Resource Screen

Despite having a screen format 16:9 ideal for entertainment, this time the sound does not just accompany this facet of the laptop. It is quite powerful but nevertheless it is metallic and flat. Much better to resort to headphones.

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One configuration to choose from

If you want to get your hands on an Honor MagicBook X 14, you only have one configuration option. Nothing to expand or RAM or choose another processor, much less alter the capacity of the SSD.

The available model can be considered as basic within what the market offers. We have a core i5 processor (10210U) which remains in the tenth generation, so we mainly lose the good level of graphics performance of the Iris Xe.

Honor Mateview X 14 Review Xataka Core

They accompany you in your fair technical sheet 8 GB of RAM DDR4 and a 512 GB PCIe NVMe SSD, which is the most hopeful data for those looking for a solvent team for day to day without more pretensions.

In fact, in our performance tests with CristaldiskMark this SSD left us data higher than 3300 y 2700 MB / s in the reading and writing tests, respectively.

Screenshot 2022 01 13 101725

In raw performance, the Core i5 together with the 8 GB of RAM are enough for daily work to be solvent, but they are not figures that stand out against the competition or against equipment that is already easy to find on the market with the newest Intel processors.

Screenshot 2022 01 13 101136

In PCMark, in the Work and Home tests, this Honor MagicBook X 14 had to make do with scores of 4958 and 3856 respectively. In Cinebench, the tests left us with less than 3000 points in the multi-core test and just 800 points in the Single Core.

Without Iris Xe graphics or a dedicated GPU, the performance of this MagicBook X 14 suffers considerably. With data, in the 3DMark TimeSpy and Night tests we got a score of 445 and 5400 respectively.

The Honor Magicbook X 14, like other laptops in this price range, has active-type cooling, in this case made up of a single fan whose noise is appreciable although it does not have a very high sound level.

Honor Mateview X 14 Review Engadget From Above

The bad news is that it comes into operation easily and is easily maintained continuously, for example when making long file downloads and demanding more from it, it already begins to have a considerable noise level.

The positive is that neither in the lower part nor in the palm rests or the keyboard does the heat generated make the use of the equipment uncomfortable.

Without any bloatware, the Honor laptop has the Home version of Windows 10, but the computer comes prepared to install Windows 11 from the start. In fact, in the initial configuration there is already a step near the end in which we are urged to directly download Windows 11 and start using the computer with the latest version of the Microsoft operating system.

Autonomy

Part of the contained weight of the Honor MagicBook X 14 is due to the battery being planted in a 56Wh capacity.

But thanks to the low resolution and brightness of the panel, Honor’s basic notebook has lasted an average of between 5 and 6 hours in our usual use tests, focused in this case exclusively on a pure leisure environment, basic navigation and some office tasks with a clear student profile, the main destination of this team in our opinion.

Honor Mateview X 14 Review Xataka Recueso 5

The battery is charged exclusively via the USB-C port, using the standard charger that comes with it, which 65 W. With it, we can recharge 50% of the battery in 42 minutes according to our tests and reach the full battery capacity in 103 minutes.

Standard keyboard and touchpad

The Honor MagicBook X 14 features a full keyboard standard size and quite comfortable. The route is quite short and not very noisy in operation.

Honor Mateview X 14 Review Xataka Keyboard

Despite its price, the keyboard of this Honor MagicBook X 14 is backlit, with two possible brightness levels, both manually selectable with its shortcut key on the keyboard.

The good size of the keyboard and the 16:9 format of the laptop mean that the touchpad misses out on its generous dimensions. It is therefore only correct, with an elongated and narrow design but good touch and response to gestures. We would have liked a little less noise when clicking on it as long as you don’t touch it gently.

Honor Mateview X 14 Review Xataka Touchpad

NFC connectivity is integrated into the touchpad to make use of the Honor MagicLink system to transfer files directly with Honor smartphones as well as being able to have the phone screen on the laptop.

Honor MagicBook X 14, Xataka’s opinion and note

Separating from a parent company and getting back into the swing of the market has taken Honor about a year. And in this new Honor MagicBook X 14 It is a fact that is appreciated soon.

With a technical sheet where only the SSD is capable of standing out, the feeling after our analysis is just what I was commenting on: it’s a year late. However, if our idea is to find a balance at the best possible price in addition to a matte screen, the offers that accompany this Honor laptop are your lifeline.

8,3

Design8,5

Screen
8,25

Performance8

keyboard/trackpad8,25

Software8,75

Autonomy8,5

In favor

  • With brand offers, it is a team with good quality / price ratio
  • The matte screen greatly facilitates the use of the equipment
  • The SSD drive for capacity and speed

Against

  • The webcam on the keyboard is never a good idea
  • Discreet sound for a system destined for the home
  • Outdated technical data sheet compared to the competition

HONOR MagicBook X 14/ Intel® Core™ i5-10210U/ Windows 10 Home/ 8GB RAM/ 512GB SSD/ Space Grey

HONOR MagicBook X 14/ Intel® Core™ i5-10210U/ Windows 10 Home/ 8GB RAM/ 512GB SSD/ Space Grey

The device has been loaned for testing by Honor. Can inquire our policy of relationships with enterprises.



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