The Honor MagicBook Pro looks nice, runs like a dream, and isn't too expensive either. What more could you want?
- Reference: 1599470260
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/09/07/honor_magicbook_pro/
- Source link:
It's a curious beast, with Honor explicitly targeting the device towards the segment of the Venn diagram where gamers and young professionals meet, though it's arguably best suited to the latter.
As a work machine, this kit is sublime. The display isn't the highest resolution going (standard 1920x1080), but it's bright and wide. As is the case with other premium laptops we've seen, the webcam is embedded within the keyboard, giving the display a 90 per cent screen-to-body ratio. Slack and Word can comfortably coexist together side by side without things feeling cramped, not impeding day-to-day productivity.
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Meanwhile, Honor has seen fit to bestow a bevy of ports on the MagicBook Pro. In addition to a USB-C port for charging, there's also three USB-A sockets and a full-sized HDMI port. In practice, this means you can connect the computer to the usual collection of peripherals – a keyboard, mouse, and external display – without having to use a cumbersome dongle. And this cacophony of connectivity doesn't come at the expense of ergonomics; it's as thin and light as you'd expect from a modern-day ultraportable.
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Another virtue of the MagicBook Pro is its excellent keyboard and trackpad, which makes it a delight to bang out code or write a lengthy laptop review. Although this machine comes with the largest display Honor has ever shipped with a laptop, the firm omitted the numpad so the keys are individually large and well-spaced. There's also plenty of travel, which makes it comfortable to type for long sprints.
Amusingly, the review unit sent to El Reg came with a German keyboard. I'm not quite sure how that happened, but it made us smile nonetheless.
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Under the hood, the MagicBook Pro comes with a Ryzen 5 4600H processor, which uses the 7nm Zen 2 architecture. There's no discrete graphics card, but it does come with AMD's Vega integrated graphics. Separately, there's 16GB of RAM and 512GB of flash storage.
But can you upgrade it? To an extent. The innards are hidden behind the laptop backplate. To remove this, you just need to unscrew 10 Torx screws. The rest of the components – including fan, battery, and logic board – are screwed in with standard Philips screws, making disassembly a doddle.
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The flash storage uses standard M.2 NVMe chips, which can be replaced. There's also a slot-loaded PCIe Realtek Wi-Fi card, which appears to be replaceable. However, sadly, with no SO-DIMMs to be found, it appears the RAM is soldered to the logic board.
As mentioned, Honor is hinting towards this being a gaming device. With no dedicated graphics card, AAA titles won't exactly run or look the best. Nonetheless, I was able to comfortably play Civilization VI at medium settings, and with anti-aliasing turned on. Meanwhile, the built-in speakers, which run parallel to the keyboard, elevated the already-spectacular orchestral soundtrack.
The Honor MagicBook Pro [7]retails at £849.99 in the UK. The entry-level Dell XPS 15 9500 costs almost double that, despite coming with half the RAM and a slightly smaller display. I'd even [8]recommend it over the Dynabook Portégé X30L-G , which offers a similar level of connectivity, but isn't the most comfortable to work from.
As a gaming laptop, there are more performant machines in the same pricing neighbourhood. But as a machine for getting things done, this reviewer can't think of a better computer in its price category. ®
Get our [9]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2019/08/27/huawei_smartphone_sales/
[2] https://www.hihonor.com/unitedkingdom/product/honor-magicbook-pro
[3] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/09/04/honormagicbookpro1.jpg
[4] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/09/04/honormagicbookpro2.jpg
[5] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/09/04/honormagicbookpro3.jpg
[6] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/09/04/honormagicbookpro5.jpg
[7] https://www.hihonor.com/unitedkingdom/product/honor-magicbook-pro
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/03/dynabook_porteg_x30lg/
[9] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
How much does it weigh?
If you want to make a notebook expensive, try and make it light. 16" screen at only FHD is certainly usable but will also tax the battery, though maybe a bit less than a 4k one does. But, in any case, a 16" is likely to be too heavy to want to lug around a lot. I generally recommend something smaller and lighter that you can easily connect to a larger external screen when its on your desk. And if you don't need mobility, don't buy a notebook.
Re: How much does it weigh?
1.7Kg apparently...
MagicBook
Are the G and I printed really small?
Decimated
I read that Huawei's business has been decimated. Is that exactly 10%, or is it thereabouts?
Re: Decimated
One day the pedants will learn to use a dictionary.
Collins:
To decimate something such as a group of people or animals means to destroy a very large number of them.
Mirriam-Webster
3a: to reduce drastically especially in number
b: to cause great destruction or harm to
Lexico.com (Oxford Dictionary)
1Kill, destroy, or remove a large proportion of.
Re: Decimated
You're correct, meaning is use. Latin roots don't determine modern sense - nobody expects a dilapidated garden shed to have stones falling off it.
The problem is that deci isn't just a random Latin root, but a prefix with a mathematical meaning. A made-up unit such as a decihelen is clearly the level of beauty required to launch 100 ships.
So decimate will always cause cognitive dissonance, not least because its meaning has been inverted. Best to avoid it altogether and use a synonym.
And the software?
Clutter free Windows 10 installation, or buckets of inexplicable (or possibly untrustworthy) Beijing bloat?
Re: And the software?
As opposed to unstable Windows 10 installs, pre installed Redmond bloat and self activating (and just as untrustworthy) telemetry?
People's preference for 16:9 over 16:10 or 3:2 is up to them. Huawei offer 3:2 screens on their Matebook series.
A second charge-capable USB C socket would be nice, since it adds reduncy should one fail (though I get the impression USBC sockets are more reliable than some laptops' barrel connectors).
Being AMD, I don't suppose it supports Thunderbolt, though for many people that's no big deal. Being able to use an external GPU is a nice concept, but it still appears to be niche.
Intrigued
I was intrigued. So I went to take a look and sure enough it says keyboard is Chinese. As for value at £1700 it's probably cheaper than a apple but since Donald Trump so fond of saying you should learn to speak Chinese.
I've seen worse. A bean counter ordered a number of laptop's thinking they were good value. One problem was imminently obvious the all came with US keyboards. This is why IT budgets should left in the hands of IT people not in the hands of bean counters.
Re: Intrigued
IT budgets should left in the hands of IT people not in the hands of bean counters
And definitely not senior managers. Had an MD of a company I dealt with many years ago buy a flashy Sony Vaio from Dixons/PC World/... instead of sticking to the corporate recommendations. 13 months later I had to scrap it due to total unavailability of drivers or support. They'd been bought as a job lot by Dixons direct from Japan so Sony UK weren't interested, the supplier wouldn't help as it was out of warranty and the components must have come from either the obsolete bin or some very obscure supplier.
"What more could you want?"
I want Linux, of course. Would it work?
Re: "What more could you want?"
Does this answer your query?. Laptops will run Linux however NVIDIA display cards can cause kernel panics. Research,Research,Research.....
Description:
HUAWEI Honor MagicBook Pro 2020 16.1 inch 90% Ratio Display Intel i5 / i7-10210U MX350 16GB 512GB SSD 100% sRGB Fingerprint Notebook
The 2020 latest HUAWEI Honor MagicBook Pro Laptop is more powerful and larger than ever before.
Featuring the Intel 10th generation i5 / i7-10210U and the popular NVIDIA Geforce MX350 is easier to handle more multitasking progress and graphics shaping. Adopted in 16.1 inch 100% sRGB color gamut with more than 90% ratio full view screen for capturing wider horizons and more vivid color while gaming or watching. Large in 16GB RAM 512GB SSD, safe with fingerprint technique and amazing on 56Wh Battery, the brand new HUAWEI MagicBook Pro 2020 will be in your budget to offer more performance.
Re: "What more could you want?"
Erm, if you haven’t read the article then the review is of a Ryzen 4600U based machine with integrated VEGA graphics. Full AMD stack, not an Intel or nVidia part in sight.
Fruity look
Looks very similar to a fruity based laptop
I for one will be looking at for any lawsuits from said fruity company about copying looks with interest to see how that progresses.
Saying that, it does look really good based on the specs and looks like they're trying to undercut everyone else in the market
I’d say a lawsuit for trademark violation seems quite inevitable.
Where? China? Yeah, good luck with that.
Wanne be careful about banning Huawei the lads, you might miss out on some good cheap kit.