Honor MagicBook 15: Super charging, solid internals at tempting price

The ongoing pandemic and work-from-home scenario has seen laptops flying off the shelves irrespective of the brand. From large companies to SMBs and individuals, a good, sturdy and powerful notebook is something that never occurred to millions of us as laptops have always been a secondary device at home after a smartphone.

Not anymore.

Keeping the demand in mind and sensing the big opportunity, several new players like Xiaomi and now Honor have entered the segment dominated by the likes of HP, Lenovo, Dell and Asus, among others.

Smartphone brand Honor has now brought MagicBook 15 to India that comes with 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, a hidden pop-up webcam, 2-in-1 fingerprint power button and a compact 65W fast charger.

Launched at an attractive price point of Rs 42,990, the laptop with AMD Ryzen 5 3500U mobile processor with Radeon Vega 8 Graphics is sleek and lightweight (weighs just 1.53 kg and is only 16.9 mm thick which makes it one of the lightest 15-inch laptops).

Let us see what it offers to the Indian market.

For working professionals and multi-taskers, it is a real good deal. The MagicBook 15 is packed with the AMD Ryzen 5 3500U mobile processor and houses Radeon Vega 8 Graphics for better performance.

The laptop is equipped with an ultra-fast PCIe NVMe SSD storage drive with reading speed five times faster than previous generation.

It comes pre-installed with Microsoft Windows 10 and a 1-month free Microsoft 365 Office trial package (which is now a usual offering with new laptops).

During the review, we found that long working hours (at home, obviously) went smooth, lag-free.

The main USP for working professionals is a super battery back-up.

MagicBook 15 is equipped with a Type-C charger and supports 65W fast charging capability. The battery reached nearly the half-mark in just about 30 minutes or a tad more.

The charger weighs just 160 grams and looks like a smartphone charger, making it easy to carry.

The cable with two Type C plugs also serves as a cable for data transfer and supports charging for multiple devices, making its convenient for consumers to travel with only one charger for multiple devices.

Now the design.

The logo positioning is stunning and will catch quick eyeballs. The 39.6cm (15.6-inch) FullView Anti-Glare IPS Display allows 178 degree viewing angle and 87 per cent screen-to-body ratio with 5.3mm ultra-thin bezel.

Available in Mystic Silver colour, MagicBook15 also has a fingerprint scanner power button and a pop-up web camera but those are just for grabbing a mind share rather than being productivity tools.

Although for millennials, such tools are important add-ons.

The pop-up webcam is discreetly hidden underneath a camera button on the top row of the laptop's keyboard. One can simply tap on the button to make the webcam popup when you need it.

The machine also offers a Magic-Link feature with multi-screen collaboration capability.

The device houses a Shark Fin 2.0 fan and 49 per cent more blades that help the device from getting heated up during long usage.

Conclusion: Times are such that a good laptop is the need of the hour without making a hole in your pocket, as kids too need a sturdy laptop for online learning so one needs to buy multiple devices nowadays.

MagicBook 15 fits the bill here. The wannabes can also avail no-cost EMI options up to 12 months starting at INR 3,583, along with an exchange offer of up to Rs 20,000 at the time of purchase.

Good battery life along with quick charging technology, solid internals and good display are the USPs of this new entrant.