Why I Traded My MacBook Air for a Laptop You’ve Never Heard Of

I’ve used the M2 MacBook Air since its launch and it has been a dependable laptop computer. It isn’t excellent although. I want the display screen was higher and the laptop computer was lighter as I’ve had experiences the place my carry-on ended up being heavier than anticipated. And each of those are issues that the M3 MacBook Air would not even handle.

What I did not know, nevertheless, was that these needs might come true in a extra feature-packed laptop computer that most individuals have by no means heard of. I’m speaking about Honor MagicBook Artwork 14 powered by Snapdragon X.

Honor launched it earlier this 12 months at IFA 2024, nevertheless it solely went on sale a couple of weeks in the past in Europe. It is priced greater than the MacBook Air (and never out there in North America), however after utilizing it for 3 weeks, I have never seemed again since.

Surprisingly gentle and robust

The Honor MagicBook Artwork 14 Snapdragon includes a 14.6-inch bezel-less OLED show and gives a 120Hz refresh charge in a laptop computer physique that weighs simply 2.25 kilos (1.02 kilograms).

That is 0.5 kilos (220 grams) lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Air and 1.1 kilos (490 grams) lower than the 15-inch MacBook Air. The distinction is noticeable as quickly as you get it. It is surprisingly gentle for its measurement and might simply slip into the slimmest of laptop computer pockets, due to its 0.45-inch (11.5mm) thickness. That makes it nearly as skinny because the MacBook Air, surprisingly.

The skinny and light-weight profile means no compromises in different facets. You get a 14.6-inch OLED touchscreen show with a 120Hz refresh charge and a decision of 3120 x 2080 pixels, making a 3:2 side ratio. The taller display screen kind issue continues to be fairly unusual and is simply utilized in choices just like the Floor Laptop computer seventh Version. It is sharp, vivid and helps 100% of the DCI-P3 coloration gamut. Honor has additionally included a much-loved characteristic from its telephones – 4,320Hz PWM flicker-free dimming to cut back eye pressure. There is no such thing as a different laptop computer that gives that type of portability in such a high-end laptop computer.

The show can also be fairly shiny, reaching as much as 700 nits in HDR, making watching Netflix and Prime Video very pleasant. The one minor inconvenience I encountered was when working outdoor as a result of the display screen could be very reflective. This drawback will be mitigated to some extent by turning the display screen to most brightness, which is greater than that of the Apple laptop computer. Nonetheless, a much less reflective display screen would have made it excellent.

That mentioned, it is nice for working indoors, in espresso retailers or airport lounges. I like having a much bigger, brighter, bolder display screen in a lighter design.

The elephant within the room

In line with the corporate, the MagicBook Artwork 14 Snapdragon gives a 97% screen-to-body ratio. One of many first belongings you’ll discover is the dearth of a webcam. It isn’t on the prime, backside or hidden inside a perform button – as an alternative, it is a separate module fully. That is one thing that many laptops have tried to do, however Honor’s answer could be very distinctive.

The 1080p modular digicam is a removable unit positioned contained in the left facet of the laptop computer, proper subsequent to the ports. By way of high quality, it’s helpful. It pops out with a press and magnetically attaches to the highest of the laptop computer.

I had my doubts about its performance after I first noticed it at IFA, however the software program acknowledges the webcam immediately and the method is clean — simply be sure to’ve granted the mandatory permissions. The expertise is healthier than anticipated. I stay skeptical about it being the very best answer, however principally as a result of I am clumsy and have a tendency to overlook modular expertise. Regardless, it is a sensible design selection and I’ve loved having a notchless display screen that is a pleasure to eat content material on.

The Snapdragon X Elite expertise is nice

Honor MagicBook Artwork 14 is powered by Snapdragon X Elite X1E80100 processor. It options 12 bodily cores, 42 MB of complete reminiscence, a multi-core frequency of three.42 GHz and a most clock velocity of 4.0 GHz, coupled with 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB of cupboard space. It runs Home windows 11 and helps Microsoft’s Copilot.

My three weeks with him have been good. I encountered no issues putting in the appliance, although most Home windows software program is constructed for Intel chips working x86 code. Apple’s transfer to Arm confronted related challenges, which had been principally solved by way of emulation. Qualcomm is addressing these points in a similar way with its Snapdragon X chip.

My use case consists of apps like Chrome, Groups, Asana, Slack, Photoshop and Lightroom. The final two initially had issues with Artistic Cloud, however after reinstalling, they labored wonderful. When you depend on particular standalone software program, it is value checking whether or not the corporate helps Arm laptops earlier than investing in a single. We have finished a variety of testing to point out how good the Snapdragon X chips are, even in comparison with Intel’s newest.

General, my expertise with the Honor MagicBook Artwork 14 Snapdragon has been nice. I skilled no lags or crashes, even when working the aforementioned apps concurrently with a minimum of 10 Chrome tabs open. The machine wakes up rapidly and unlocks with the built-in fingerprint sensor and would not eat a lot battery on standby, which is an enormous win.

Honor additionally gives an Apple-like ecosystem known as Honor MagicRing, which permits for seamless connectivity between Honor gadgets. I related the laptop computer to the Honor Magic V2 and MagicPad 2, and like Apple’s ecosystem, you should utilize the keyboard and trackpad on all gadgets. It really works effectively in actual life use.

For what it is value, Honor additionally sells an Intel Core Extremely Sequence 2 model of the identical laptop computer.

The remainder of the {hardware} and battery life

As somebody who writes for a dwelling, I discover the MagicBook Artwork 14 Snapdragon keyboard to be dependable. The 1.5mm key journey feels excellent and the soft-touch keys are glorious. The massive trackpad helps gestures and is exact to make use of.

You can too transfer to the left and proper facet of the keyboard to regulate the brightness and quantity respectively. It is a good contact, nevertheless it takes a little bit of getting used to, and I by accident enabled these actions a couple of occasions whereas writing.

The Honor laptop computer options quite a few ports, together with two USB-C (3.2) ports on the left, which may also be used to cost the machine. On the proper facet, there’s a USB-A 3.2 port, an HDMI port and a headphone jack.

The MagicBook Artwork 14 Snapdragon has a 60 watt-hour battery that is rated to last as long as “9.5 hours of each day workplace work.” In my expertise, it persistently lasted about seven hours with Chrome, Asana, Slack, and Groups working within the background. My utilization was principally in balanced energy mode with 50% display screen brightness and a 120Hz refresh charge.

You may prolong battery life by decreasing the refresh charge to 60Hz and utilizing darkish mode, after all. Nonetheless, I anticipated it to last more, because the M2 MacBook Air provides me about 10 hours of battery life on a single cost. Nonetheless, I am unable to have as many Chrome tabs open or apps working within the background on my 8GB mannequin.

The MagicBook Artwork 14 Snapdragon’s battery life will seemingly final you a whole day, however a bit further headroom could be good.

Honor MagicBook Artwork 14 Snapdragon Worth and Availability

The Honor MagicBook Artwork 14 Snapdragon is now on sale for €1,700 ($1,770) in some European international locations. Nonetheless, you possibly can declare a €200 ($208) low cost coupon to carry the value right down to €1,500 ($1,562). This additionally features a free Honor Pad 9 (8GB/256GB) together with Microsoft 365 Private or Honor X6 headset, relying on the area.

As of now, the MagicBook Artwork 14 shouldn’t be out there within the US, which is a disgrace. However for me, I could not be happier to proceed utilizing this as an alternative of my outdated MacBook Air. The mix of a high-end show and portability just like the MacBook Air make it the proper laptop computer for me — and I do not suppose I am the one one.