First Impressions: Honor MagicBook Art 14
Hands-on with a seriously slim and light laptop that doesn't skimp on performance
First Impressions
The thin and lightweight nature of the MagicBook 14 Art is impressive, especially with a high-end 14.6-inch screen and pretty powerful internals packed within. It looks like a great ultralight option, but I’ll reserve my final thoughts for the full review.
Key Features
- Modular webcamWith a modular webcam, you can remove the webcam when not in use and store it within the chassis. This not only adds an extra level of privacy, but it means that the screen’s bezels are very thin!
- Ultra thin and light designAt just 10mm thick and a smidge over 1kg, the MagicBook Art 14 is about as portable as they come.
- AI smartsHonor has worked with Microsoft to bring several key AI features to the MagicBook Art 14, including live transcription and summarisation, and there’s a dedicated CoPilot shortcut on the keyboard too.
Introduction
Honor has lifted the lid on its latest laptop, the MagicBook Art 14, and it’s a lightweight treat.
Measuring in at just 10mm thick and a smidge over 1kg, the pixel-packed 14.6-inch laptop looks to be the ideal portable workhorse, especially when combined with the Intel Core Ultra 7 SoC alongside ample RAM and storage. There’s also a huge focus on AI, with a dedicated CoPilot button and a collaboration with Microsoft to bring a suite of AI tools to the laptop experience.
It also has a pretty cool modular webcam design that lets you remove the webcam completely when not in use, allowing for impressively slim 2.2mm-thick bezels on three of the four sides of the screen while also massively boosting privacy.
So, it’s safe to say that the MagicBook Art 14 is an interesting ultralight laptop – but should it be your next purchase?
While I’m not yet ready to deliver my final thoughts on Honor’s premium laptop, I have been using it as my daily machine for just over a day, and here are my early impressions ahead of a full review coming very soon.
Design
- Impressively thin and light
- Variety of ports to use
- Detachable webcam
I don’t think it does the Honor MagicBook Art 14 any justice to simply say that it’s thin and light; you really have to see it and pick it up for yourself to understand just how mind-bogglingly lightweight it is for a 14.6-inch laptop, let alone one that packs in a plethora of high-end tech.
In fact, at just 10mm thick and 1.03kg, it’s an absolute joy to carry around, even one-handed. It’s a laptop you won’t notice in your rucksack, which should be ideal for both work and school purposes, with its new svelte dimensions representing a 15% slimmer and 30% lighter build than the regular MagicBook 14.
However, like other ultralight laptops like the LG Gram 16, there’s a fair bit of flex with the MagicBook Art 14’s chassis, particularly the lid, which can be bent with one hand and, honestly, not a lot of effort. I’m not sure this laptop would survive more than a slight drop unscathed, but that’s just pure speculation on my part at this early stage.
Upon opening the laptop, you’ll likely notice just how slimline those screen bezels are – so thin, in fact, that Honor couldn’t fit a webcam there. Rather than opt for an annoying in-keyboard camera like Huawei did a few years back, Honor uses something way more innovative.
On the left side, you’ll find an indented space just above the twin USB-C ports. That’s actually where the camera lives. Whenever you need to use a webcam, you just press in to pop it out and place it on top of the screen, where a combination of magnets and POGO connections hold it in place and bring it to life.
What’s more, you can flip the webcam to show your surroundings, making it more versatile than your average laptop webcam. I also like that I can just get rid of it whenever it’s not in use, negating the need to use a webcam cover.
The keyboard is pretty much full-size aside from the numpad, and it has offered a pretty satisfying typing experience during my time with the laptop so far, with great sizing and a nice actuation that also helps dull the sound of the keys when typing. I’m sure that’d be appreciated in a busy office environment.
The trackpad, which lives just below the laptop, is absolutely huge. In fact, Honor claims that it’s the biggest trackpad of any 14.6-inch laptop available right now, complete with gesture support control and haptic feedback for satisfying click feedback and a matte finish for extra grip.
I’m not usually a huge fan of trackpads generally, but I’ve found myself using this one more often than not during my time with the laptop so far, with ample space to swipe my way around Windows 11.
For such a slim laptop, the MagicBook Art 14 comes with a surprisingly varied selection of ports. Along the left side, you’ll find a regular USB-C alongside a Thunderbolt 4 port, while the right side houses a full-size HDMI port, a USB-A port and a 3.5mm headphone jack – no need for a USB dock here!
Honor has gone all-out on colour options too, sporting a nice Emerald Green finish, as well as an understated Starry Grey and Neon White. The latter sports a nice, almost pearlescent effect with slight pink and purple highlights on a largely white case, but it’s very much a static design, not one that’ll shift in the light as a proper pearlescent finish would.
Screen
- 14.6-inch OLED touchscreen
- 3.1K resolution
- 4320Hz PWM dimming
Despite the svelte dimensions of the MagicBook Art 14, Honor has packed in some pretty impressive display tech.
The lid houses a 14.6-inch OLED panel, with a super smooth 120Hz refresh rate, touch screen support and even Honor’s 4320Hz PWM dimming tech usually seen on its flagship smartphone collection to help reduce eye fatigue over longer periods of use.
The sheer size of the laptop lends itself well to work and play, comfortably able to display multiple windows within its 14.6-inch canvas with room left to spare. It feels super spacious, while still maintaining a lightweight, portable design.
There’s a pixel-packed 3.1K (3120 x 2080) resolution that makes everything look super detailed – it has been a joy to use it over the past day or so, anyway. I also like the rounded corners of the screen, which again leans more into traditional smartphone design than what you’d usually find on a laptop.
It’s not the brightest panel around, capping out at 700nits where rivals like the Huawei MateBook X Pro (2024) cap out at 1000nits, but it’s still plenty bright for most conditions. You likely wouldn’t enjoy using it in direct sunlight all that much anyway, given the screen’s rather reflective, glossy finish.
Features and Software
- Powered by the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
- Windows 11 out of the box with Copilot support
- Handy Honor ecosystem features
The Honor MagicBook Art 14 will likely be available in a handful of configurations once it officially launches in the UK, but the specifics are pretty light on the ground at the time of writing. The laptop sports the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, a 4.8GHz SoC, while the sample I’ve been provided offers 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage split across two drives.
There’s also an Intel Arc eGPU that Honor claims boosts graphical performance by 2x, though I’m not quite sure what exactly that’s compared to as there’s no previous MagicBook Art 14 to compare to.
Honor has also worked with Microsoft to bring quick access to Copilot via a dedicated Copilot button in place of the right CTRL key often seen on keyboards. The AI assistant can help with real-time transcription and summarisation, the ability to generate images and answer general knowledge queries, though it’s not quite up to the standard of ARM-based CoPilot Plus laptops.
Elsewhere, the MagicBook Art 14 comes with Windows 11 out of the box, with bonus features available if you’ve got another Honor product handy.
The smattering of Honor-exclusive features include Workspace which lets you use your Honor Magic V3 (or supported Honor tablet) to extend your laptop’s display, as well as the ability to quickly transfer files between Honor products and even the ability to access your phone apps via your laptop.
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Early Thoughts
In terms of design, Honor is largely onto a winner. The thin and lightweight nature of the MagicBook 14 Art has to be held to be believed, especially with a high-end 14.6-inch screen and pretty powerful internals packed within.
There are some early concerns, especially with durability with noticeable flex in the chassis, but that – and full benchmark testing – will be properly addressed in our full review, coming very soon.
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Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
