What do most people look for in a new laptop? Nice design, solid build quality, good price and great performance. A Windows laptop can offer all this but can easily take a hit when it comes to battery life, especially in the mid-range category. Going against the grain is Honor MagicBook X14 Pro (2024), which is affordable as well as versatile.

Clean design

There is good key travel and the trackpad is responsive

In terms of design, there is nothing out of the world that we haven’t seen before but that’s not a bad thing at all. Keeping it simple is something many tech companies fail to do. Honor has kept it classy by crafting it with using high-quality aluminium. It has a robust feel and is a fairly lightweight package. The MagicBook 14 wouldn’t look out of place in an office environment, trendy coffee shops or being thrown in and out of a student’s bag, thanks to its weight of only 1.4kgs.

You have the ‘Honor’ logo on the top and there are two parallel grilles for the fans underneath and each of those work well to dissipate heat. You also have the speakers at the bottom, which I would have preferred to be upward firing; nonetheless, they are not shabby at all, giving you just about enough loudness.

Looking at the ports, there is one USB-C, two USB-A connectors, an HDMI port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. That’s not the ideal choice of ports in 2024 because the USB-C port gets occupied while charging the machine and USB-A ports are slowly becoming redundant. You can opt for a USB hub but that means carrying an accessory in the bag.

On opening the laptop, you are greeted with a lovely 14-inch display with narrow bezels, making content viewing an immersive experience. The IPS display with a resolution of 1920x1200 pixels delivers sharp text and a good colour gamut. I had no issues streaming films indoors. The peak brightness may not be the highest but it’s enough for indoor work. The matte finish on the screen does a good job in reducing glare, making the display shine in well-lit surroundings.

Staying on with the design, the full-size keyboard comes with two-levels of backlighting while the palm rest is adequate for most users. There is good key travel and spacing, plus the trackpad is big enough. The fingerprint scanner managed to deliver without failing even once during the two-week review period.

There is only one USB-C port on the laptop

Punches above its weight

Powering the machine is a 13th Gen Intel Core i5-13420H processor. It operates at 2.1GHz and works well under most loads, even a good degree of demanding games. It’s a processor we have used before and you get balanced performance, excelling in various programming tasks.

Honor MagicBook X14 Pro (2024) comes across as sturdy and smudges are hardly seen

I won’t necessarily say that this is my choice of laptop for gaming but that’s not the target group Honor is looking at. When it comes to office work or research, this is a great machine. I have even tried some simple video editing and have come away happy. Editing photos also work well even though this is an IPS panel.

There are two modes the CPU can switch between (hit Fn+P) — balanced and performance. If you move into performance mode, it will use up a little extra battery but there is a nice boost to the overall output. I used this mode quite a bit but had kept the laptop plugged into the wall charger.

As for charging goes, there is 65W fast-charging technology and unlike most mid-range Windows laptop, you will get a good seven hours of screen-on time on a single charge; it’s quite a leg up from the usual four-five hours. However, I must point out the charger in the box can be slightly bulky. As for the 720p HD webcam, it’s just about enough for video chats.

Should you buy it?

The charger is on the bigger side, adding to the weight of the laptop

The laptop has a few quibbles, like the limited options when it comes ports and screen brightness but, at the same time, you get excellent battery life and a premium design. For an office-goer, Honor MagicBook X14 Pro (2024) checks all the boxes and comes out on top as a competitive option. For day-to-day performance, it’s speedy and cool.

At a glance

Device: Honor MagicBook X14 Pro (2024)

Price: ₹54,490

High notes

Speedy performance

Lightweight and good screen quality

Excellent battery life for a Windows laptop

Good typing experience

Muffled notes

Only one USB-C port

Display could have been brighter for use under direct sunlight