Laptops are just about as important in our daily lives as smartphones are, but you don’t exactly see groundbreaking releases every year like you do smartphones. Unless you’re gunning for the top-of-the-line gaming laptops or workstations, laptops probably all look and work the same for you.
HONOR, whose laptop lineup never struck a chord with me, released the new HONOR MagicBook Art 14 very recently. At first glance, the paper specs were pretty impressive, though there was not much to write home about, considering its price tag of RM 5,999. However, now that I’ve spent some time with it, I’m properly impressed.
Editor
Jennifer chevron_right
Table of Contents
Design & Build
The HONOR MagicBook Art 14 is an ultra-lightweight laptop—at just 1 kg, it’s much lighter than the MacBook Air 15.3". Carrying it around feels like a breeze, especially when I’m used to lugging around heavier laptops.
Despite the lightness, it feels sturdy and not at all flimsy. Design-wise, it has a magnesium alloy body coated with Satin Enamel Spraying Technology, which is a fancy way of saying that it has a matte surface that feels amazing in hand.
The MagicBook Art 14 only comes in Emerald Green in Malaysia, which is a unique but not flashy colour, a good choice for cafe-working.
The best part of the design is the webcam—or rather, the lack of it, at least on the bezel. The MagicBook Art 14 has a detachable magnetic webcam that stores neatly into the body when not in use. This allows the laptop to have an incredibly slim bezel—only 2.2mm, which gives it an overall screen-to-body ratio of 97%. More about this camera later.
Display
Over on the display, arguably the most important part of a laptop. The MagicBook Art 14 sports a 14.6" OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, which is pretty brilliant. It has a resolution of 3.1K, which means that everything looks bright and sharp, from watching shows and browsing websites to casual gaming.
Besides that, it also has 700 nits brightness, which is bright enough for working outdoors. The laptop also features different display profiles—sRGB, P3, and native—which are perfect if you need to adjust your colour accuracy for specific tasks like photo editing.
One thing HONOR does for all its devices is eye care, and the MagicBook Art 14 isn’t an exception. Featuring 4320Hz PWM Flicker-Free Dimming and HONOR’s Dynamic Dimming technology, the MagicBook Art 14 can help reduce eye strain after long usage.
In a similar vein, the laptop also has an eBook mode for extended reading on the laptop. It mimics a paper-like reading experience for eye comfort. This is a feature that I use all the time on the HONOR Magic V2, but honestly, I don’t see myself using it much on the laptop. For one, it would be a waste of the brilliant OLED; for another, I mostly read on my phone, anyway. Still, it’s a nice option for anyone who likes to read long articles or ebooks on their laptop.
Keyboard & Trackpad
If I’m being honest, the keyboard didn’t win me over. The keys are shallow, with some tactile feedback, but not quite enough to make for a pleasing typing experience.
On the flip side, the trackpad is a win. It’s large and blends seamlessly with the rest of the laptop. It also features practical gestures like swiping along the edges to control volume or brightness and knock-to-screenshot (just like on your phone!).
HONOR’s port selection on the MagicBook Art 14 is solid but with one small drawback: there’s only one Thunderbolt 4 port. Other than that, it has x2 USB-C, x1 USB-A, x1 HDMI 2.1, and x1 3.5mm audio jack.
Performance
Now, on to the performance. The HONOR MagicBook Art 14 is powered by an Intel Core Ultra 5 and comes with 16GB of RAM. On paper, it sounds great, and to be fair, for most day-to-day stuff, it handles things just fine. For me, I mostly use the MagicBook Art 14 for heavy browsing (think 50+ Chrome tabs open at a time) and word processing. It handled those really smoothly with no lag at all, as it should.
That said, this isn’t a powerhouse, and it’s not pretending to be. If you’re into light video editing, like cutting 1080p footage or maybe even some basic 4K editing, you’re going to be okay—but don’t expect miracles. As for gaming, it can run casual games just fine, but not AAA titles like Hogwarts Legacy, as it only has an integrated GPU. It’s not a gaming machine, and that’s pretty obvious once you try to push it.
What I do appreciate, though, is how quiet and cool this thing runs. Even after a full day of work, the fan doesn’t kick up much noise, and it doesn’t overheat—something that drove me crazy on my Dell Inspiron 14.
The HONOR MagicBook Art 14 also integrates into the broader HONOR ecosystem, especially with the newly released HONOR Magic V3 and HONOR Pad 2. The connection is powered by Magic Ring, which ties all these devices together, offering seamless file transfers, data tethering, and screen-sharing across your HONOR devices. It’s a bit like Apple’s ecosystem, and if you’re someone who uses multiple HONOR products, it’s definitely convenient.
The feature I personally found the most useful was Connected Input. This allows you to use the laptop’s keyboard and trackpad to control your Magic V3 or Pad 2, or both at the same time, so there's no need to move between different keyboards to work on three devices.
However, the downside is that these features only work if you’re fully invested in the HONOR ecosystem. If you don’t own an HONOR phone or tablet, these perks are pretty much useless. It feels a bit restrictive—while it’s great for those already committed to HONOR’s devices, it does limit the appeal for people using a mix of brands.
To be honest, for a laptop that is almost RM6K, I wouldn’t call the performance the best in its segment. It handles the essentials, and you can do some creative work and light gaming without much hassle, but push it further, and you’ll face some issues. For what it is—an ultraportable for everyday tasks—it holds its own.
Camera
This is the first time I’ve included a Camera section in a laptop review, but the MagicBook Art 14 does require it. As promised: the magnetic camera, which is perhaps the most unique feature of the MagicBook Art 14. It’s a 1080p camera that neatly tucks into the left side of the laptop near the USB-C ports. You press it, and it pops out, and you can magnetically attach to it to the top of the screen, giving you a webcam only when you need it.
That means you don’t have a webcam built right into the bezel, and you don’t need to use tape or anything to block your personal FBI agent from spying on you.
But here’s the thing: the magnetic camera is cool and all, but I have to be honest, my first thought was, "This is going to get lost". I mean, it’s detachable, which makes it super easy to misplace if you don’t put it back where it belongs once you’re done with it. I can already see that little camera disappearing somewhere in the Narnia of my backpack when I inevitably forget to stow it away.
Luckily, replacing it isn’t a big deal, as you can easily get a replacement at the HONOR service centre for RM136.
As for the camera quality itself, it’s... okay. It’s not terrible, but it’s not going to win any awards either. It’s your standard 1080p webcam, so don’t expect crystal-clear video. You won’t look like a potato on Zoom calls, but if you’re hoping for something that makes you look like you’re shooting with a DSLR, think again.
Battery
With a 60Wh battery, I managed to get around 7 hours of real-world usage on the MagicBook Art 14, which included browsing, watching YouTube, and doing a lot of work in Google Docs. It’s enough to get you through most of a workday, but you’ll probably need to plug it in if you’re planning on working late or doing more intensive tasks.
Now, what I found interesting is that even after I got the 15% battery warning, I could still squeeze out about an hour and a half before it completely shut down. That’s a nice safety net if you forget your charger or need a little extra time to finish what you’re doing. It’s not the longest-lasting laptop out there, but it’s reliable enough if you’re mostly doing light tasks.
Charging is relatively quick. From empty to full, it took about two hours, which is fairly standard for a laptop of this size.
Verdict
At the end of the day, the HONOR MagicBook Art 14 is a solid ultraportable laptop with a lot going for it. It’s light, the OLED display is absolutely stunning, and it’s packed with enough power to handle most of your everyday tasks. The detachable camera is cool, though I wouldn’t call it a must-have, and the .
Basically, if you’re looking for a portable, stylish laptop that gets the basics right and throws in a few unique features, the MagicBook Art 14 is a good choice. It’s not perfect or particularly affordable, but for everyday users or professionals on the go, it’s more than capable of keeping up.