Honor MagicBook X 16 hands-on impression: Low cost household enjoyable

In between Honor making purses and foldables, the corporate’s discovered time to crank out a number slot of laptops, and the MagicBook X 16 is what I’d name the quintessential “household laptop computer.”

Now geeks, earlier than you roll your eyes at that, let me clarify. It’s truly a fiercely aggressive class — extra so than your gaming laptops that search probably the most energy, and ultrabooks that gun for final portability.

That’s as a result of the method is a finely tuned stability that may be tough to drag off: the correct quantity of energy for everybody’s elementary wants, a good show for a window into your content material, ergonomically sound for work, and a durable-yet-sleek design — all at an inexpensive value.

So, does Honor stick the touchdown? Largely, sure. Let’s get into it.

Honor MagicBook X 16 value and configurations

Fast very first thing out of the best way — you’re going to battle to purchase the Honor MagicBook X 16 if you happen to reside within the U.S. Shifting over to pricey previous blighty, you’ll be able to choose this up for £554.99 RRP, although proper now it’s discounted to £499.

That’s the identical value because the Asus Vivobook 16X, and oddly, the Huawei MateBook D 16 is £200 extra with equivalent specs.

Honor MagicBook X 16 design

So in terms of household laptop computer design, the one phrase I can use is “protected.” There isn’t actually something that’s going to look daring or “on the market” with a slab like this — only a easy, utilitarian design with the Honor emblem emblazoned throughout the lid.

The intense silver end compliments this primary shell and provides it a productive aesthetic that manages to each stand out with a stately visible entrance, whereas mixing into the background on the identical time.

Conserving it family-friendly although, that full metallic end retains issues good and sturdy too. The laptop computer feels premium to the contact, and you may wipe any stains off simply. Moving into the nitty gritty, you’ll see this lands soundly in the course of its competitors dimension-wise.

It’s nothing particular to jot down residence about, however the MagicBook X 16 does the job and appears fairly good doing it.

Honor MagicBook X 16 ports

The MagicBook X 16 retains issues easy with the port array. On the proper, you’ll discover a USB-A 3.2 port and a 3.5mm audio jack.

Flip it to the left, and that’s the place the true celebration begins: HDMI 1.4b, one other USB-A 3.2, and a USB-C port for charging and knowledge switch as much as 10Gbps.

It’s restricted for positive. I’d have beloved to see an SD card slot, however for easy productiveness makes use of, that is versatile sufficient. If you’re on the lookout for further ports, try the greatest docking stations and greatest USB-C hubs.

Honor MagicBook X 16 show

You’ll by no means guess by the identify, however in fact this MagicBook packs a 16-inch show — particularly, a 1920 x 1200-pixel decision LED backlit IPS panel with a 16:10 facet ratio (nice for productiveness), and a 300-nit brightness. With 15-inch laptop-esque dimensions, the screen-to-body ratio is spectacular and makes for a pleasant, uninterrupted canvas to your work.

Whereas I don’t have the particular devices to measure the brightness and shade accuracy, I can affirm from private expertise that very like its opponents, the show is ok. It’s not going to blow your thoughts, but it surely does the job.

You may have a good crispiness with admirable shade copy, which brings a pleasant vividness to my favourite present on Apple TV+, Swagger. The sharp orange hue of the basketball pops off the display screen because it’s bounced throughout the court docket to among the most offensive dunks I’ve ever seen (critically, watch it).

Brightness-wise, it will get to a decent degree for many indoor use conditions, and the matte coating over the show does assist with lowering reflective distractions. However it’s not vibrant sufficient for outside use in anyway, or going subsequent to a window on a vibrant day. Direct daylight is Honor’s enemy right here.

And to my fellow night time owls. For those who get a late night time urge to get stuff executed, the panel has been TÜV Rheinland licensed for its low blue gentle and flicker-free expertise.

Honor MagicBook X 16 keyboard and touchpad

The typing and clicking expertise is a blended bag right here, however not for the explanations that you simply suppose. Let me clarify.

You see, the keyboard is basically good to sort on. With a 1.5mm of journey and a full numeric keypad, every keystroke has a pleasant quantity of depth and feels intentional. Typing away feels good. However there appears to be a slight spacing problem right here that you’ll have to acclimatize to.

I imply it’s nice to see full-size arrow keys, however the sacrifice is for certain punctuation keys are half width. Attempting to hit the @ key and by chance hitting # was a daily prevalence for me for some time till I managed to get my head round it. As soon as you work it out, it’s all gravy, but it surely’s nonetheless a bizarre design alternative. This hit me hardest when doing a 10FastFingers.com take a look at — hitting 75 phrases per minute, which is a good quantity slower than my common of 80-85 WPM.

In the meantime, the touchpad has a pleasant clean floor for some good gliding motion, and help for all of your multitouch gestures. However at 4.7 x 2.8 inches, this can be a comparatively small floor given the dimensions of the laptop computer itself, and on prime of that, the clicking is relatively spongey.

In order that’s what I imply by it being a blended bag. The MagicBook X 16 does some issues effectively, however there are some issues Honor must work on for its subsequent household laptop computer foray.

Honor MagicBook X 16 audio

The stereo speaker setup on provide right here is fairly primary in sound high quality, which does make it advantageous for informal listening. However you’re gonna need to spend money on some wired or wi-fi headphones for something higher.

At larger volumes, they do distort barely, as seen when the bass via the subtleties of Deliver Me The Horizon’s “StrAngErs,” which is essentially unsurprising on a laptop computer of this value.

Honor MagicBook X 16 efficiency and graphics

Let’s get into the nitty gritty. The Honor MagicBook X 16 packs an Intel Core i5-12450H CPU, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage. In apply, the top result’s a good quantity of energy for getting the easy duties executed, which borders on sufficient for some extra intense duties like Photoshop enhancing RAW pictures. It’s sufficient for the entire household.

Placing it via the typical day-to-day for a household: working a number of Google Chrome tabs with some 1080p movies on YouTube and a Twitch stream, alongside having Microsoft Phrase open to sort this and Spotify taking part in music within the background, there was no slowdown in anyway.

Going additional, Adobe Photoshop can gradual issues down a bit, however every process is executed with no overt points or crashes — outperforming the Intel Core i3-1220p within the Vivobook 16X. Nevertheless, we’ve bought to speak about gaming as a result of the UHD built-in graphics do crumble underneath strain.

However let’s be sincere. You’re not shopping for this laptop computer for gaming, and also you’d be a bit daft if you happen to did. Nevertheless, for primary video games like Two Level Hospital, you’ll be able to flip these graphics settings right down to low and get a good 30 frames per second.

There’s sufficient underneath the hood for all of the necessities of a household, and the very fact this has a H-series processor for the worth you pay reveals spectacular worth for cash!

Honor MagicBook X 16 battery life

Whereas I wasn’t capable of run Laptop computer Magazine’s subtle battery life take a look at, I may give you my impressions, that are a strong center of the highway. The 60Wh battery on board is greater than what you’ll discover within the Vivobook 16X, however the elevated energy dependency of the Intel Core i5-12450H CPU does put it underneath some stress.

Beginning my work day at 9 a.m. (that features a number of Chrome tabs, some gentle Photoshop work, and a YouTube-filled lunch break), I managed to get via to round 12:30 p.m. That signifies a lifetime of roughly 3.5 hours if you happen to use this as meant, which is clearly not the longest battery life we’ve ever seen in a laptop computer.

Be sure to have your charger with you if you happen to do take this out and about, which is able to charging to round 45% after half-hour. However for your loved ones laptop computer use circumstances across the residence, likelihood is you aren’t worrying a lot about that.

Honor MagicBook X 16 webcam

Not solely is the 720p webcam a potato, but it surely’s not a helpful one both with out IR for Home windows Hi there help.

As you’d anticipate, it’s a mushy image with severe fuzziness when positioned underneath troublesome lighting situations. I like to recommend trying out our greatest exterior webcams for a digital camera you received’t be embarrassed to make use of for the likes of informal streaming.

Honor MagicBook X 16 warmth

Whereas we are able to’t provide you with precise temperatures of the MagicBook X 16, I can affirm Honor’s thermal administration is exemplary— warming up solely to temperatures which can be snug sufficient in your lap.

This comes courtesy of twin warmth pipes and followers with extremely skinny 0.2mm fan blades. Oddly, the positioning additionally brags about 29,700mm-squared of cooling fins too… What did Honor stuff a complete server farm’s value of cooling on this factor?

Unusual website brags apart, this technique retains its cool.

Honor MagicBook X 16 software program

Honor’s PC supervisor software program shares lots of traits with Huawei’s choice, which suggests an impressively slim quantity of bloatware, and a effectively laid out app that offers you entry to key settings, firmware updates, and your guarantee.

This retains the laptop computer good and clear so that you can add no matter antivirus apps or further software program you need. As for {hardware} help itself, Honor provides with a one-year restricted guarantee.

Backside line

All-in-all, to most of you nerds studying this, the Honor MagicBook X 16 is a blended bag. However for the entire household, this can be a strong large display screen laptop computer for productiveness and binge watching. There’s sufficient horsepower for working all of your primary wants, and thermal administration that retains all the things cool.

The keyboard and touchpad might do with some work, and we desperately want a greater webcam for these Zoom calls. However on the value you’re paying, that is an admirable effort from Honor.

So set your expectations accordingly. As a home-based laptop computer for the dad and mom and children alike, it will handily do the job.