Honor MagicBook 16 review: A solid laptop offering

The latest Magic Book series products from Honor still exist and are the most valuable displays.

The former Huawei-owned brand still reflects the sensibilities of Chinese tech giants in terms of performance and design.

The 16 is a higher level in the MagicBook range and is a bit above the MagicBook 15 in both size and performance. If you’re a student or regular user looking for a laptop that won’t break your bank, the MagicBook 16 might be a good option for you.

Priced in the UK at £50,850, the Honor MagicBook 16 is currently available in a single configuration with an AMD Ryzen 5 5600H processor, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of memory.

There is no doubt that Honor has a similar aesthetic to Apple’s MacBook, but its price was less than უნ 1,000.

The full aluminum body looks and feels solid, but there’s only one color, space gray.

For a 16-inch laptop, the MagicBook isn’t that heavy at 1.84kg, but for those with a finicky Macbook Air, it’s still a bit bulky for further travel. Of course, it’s not ideal if you want to take it to a coffee shop for work.

Is a 16-inch screen worth it? Honor did very well with a 1920 x 1080 pixel IPS (a flat screen switch that provides a better viewing angle) with a non-touch matte LCD screen.

The maximum brightness of the MagicBook 16 is quite adequate for laptops in this price range. The 16:9 aspect ratio is a safe choice for Netflix, but it’s not good enough for photo editing.

A matte finish is also helpful when working in direct sunlight. There aren’t many in the UK, but I was able to work in a sunny living room with no problem. But looking at something darker can make you feel bad.

The MagicBook has a fingerprint sensor that acts like a power button that’s easy enough to install and use.

Still inspired by Apple’s Macbook, the shallow keyboard is quiet, easy to type on, and has built-in lights that are always welcome.

No matter how good the keyboard is, the trackpad feels a bit dented and reduces the experience.

The MagicBook 16 also has two upward facing speakers on either side of the keyboard, but the sound is average.

In terms of connectivity, the laptop has an HDMI port, two USB 3.2, two USB-C, 3.5mm headphone jack, and a microphone jack. There are no SD card slots and no Ethernet, but they don’t interfere with transactions.

The 56W USB-C charger that comes with the MagicBook 16 takes about an hour to charge the battery to about 85%, from about 90 minutes to 100%.

Honor claims that the laptops can run for about 8 hours while playing HD videos, which has been tested.

It’s also a silent machine, so it’s quiet to type and view millions of tabs in an open document.

Honor has also resolved one of the biggest complaints about the original MagicBook Pro, the webcam under the keyboard.

The MagicBook 16 has a webcam where it should be, so your colleagues don’t see you at the wrong low angle during a morning Zoom meeting.

The MagicBook 16 may not be the best choice for professionals, but for everyday users and students, this laptop will check all the fields.

If you’re looking for a laptop that can handle tasks like light gaming, streaming, surfing the internet, making video calls, working with word processors and spreadsheets, it’s fine.