Mobile World Congress 2020 (MWC2020) has been cancelled and we are still mourning a little bit. That does not deter brands from launching some of their biggest mobile products of the year though. One of them is HONOR, a familiar name in the smartphone community.
Honestly, we are a fan of the brand with their value proposition. We loved then HONOR 8 and HONOR 9 when it came out. That was because we also agreed with HONOR that flagships should not cost an arm and a leg to own. Smartphones should be a fuss free experience with online marketplaces and great value proposition.
Over the years, the brand has come to more than just a smartphone maker. They are also now a smartwatch maker. For this year, they are also a PC manufacturer.
It does make sense, they do know how to make great devices at prices lower than what you can expect from brands like Samsung, for example. So what do they have up their sleeves for the world of notebook PCs? The MagicBook 14 and 15 is here.
Both pack the same things within the lightweight and thin body construction. The only differentiation between the two models are the screen sizes at 14-inch and 15-inch. Of course, different screens also means differing body sizes and slight difference in weight.
The MagicBook is powered by a powerful AMD Ryzen 5 3500U processor. That processor comes with an integrated Vega GPU, which is proven to be quite a performer as well. This means, at the right temperature, the AMD powered MagicBook could work its magic on video editing. To be sure of that though, HONOR fits the MagicBook with up to 8GB of dual-channel RAM for optimum memory usage. You might be able to upgrade that DDR4 module to even more RAM. Its 256GB SSD may not sound like plenty, but because it is SSD, the HONOR MagicBook should feel quick.
To top it all of, the 14-inch display is Rheinland certified and is coated with an anti-glare coating. That also helps you work in bright light environments without the lights firing back at you from the display. Keeping everything powered up and ready to get going is a 56Wh battery that is quoted for 10 hours of continuous battery life. It charges via a USB Type-C cable at up to 65W, very fast. Still there is more than just one USB Type-C port on the MagicBook. It also has a USB 3.0 port and a USB 2.0 port for maximum flexibility.
There is one interesting feature on the MagicBook that would really appeal to existing HONOR smartphone owners though. There is something called Magic Link. It works just like HUAWEI Share except for HONOR devices only. With Magic Link though, you can control your smartphone from the display of the MagicBook instead. That also means you can check your messages, reply emails, and open browser on your smartphone but on the notebook PC. The best part, you can just drag and drop files from and to the device without ever needing to connect a cable from the PC to the smartphone.
The HONOR MagicBook will be available March 2020 onward in selected markets; Malaysia not one of them yet. It will be priced at EU€ 599 in the launching markets. That is about approximately MYR 2,751. While that may not sound like much, we are expecting prices to be a little lower in Malaysia. How much, we do not know for sure yet. There will also be a 512GB storage version of the HONOR MagicBook 14 and 15 later on.