Honor has unveiled a new MagicBook laptop, a device that looks slick. The notebook has a novelty in store: a removable webcam.
The Honor MagicBook Art 14 (2024) is a slim laptop (it weighs just over 1kg and is 13mm thick). Its sleek lines and 14-inch OLED display with thin bezels mean you don’t need a built-in webcam.
That’s because, as mentioned, the webcam is removable and can be stored in a slot on the side of the laptop (like a thick SD card). As seen in an unboxing video highlighted by Tom’s Hardware (see below), you simply take the webcam out of its storage space and attach it (magnetically) to the top of the laptop lid. And you’re done.
The MagicBook Art 14’s specs include an OLED display with a sharp 3,120 x 2,080 resolution (yes, it’s a 3:2 aspect ratio) and a 120Hz refresh rate.
The laptop also packs an Intel Core Ultra 5 125H or Core Ultra 7 155H CPU (Meteor Lake, 14 and 16 cores respectively) and a 1TB SSD, with speedy LPDDR5X system RAM. It’s no slouch, to say the least, but the downside is that, as Tom notes, the Honor MagicBook Art 14 will only be available in China.
That said, it could eventually release in other countries as well, or more importantly, the idea of a detachable webcam that it introduces could appear on other laptops as well.
Analysis: Removable reality
We like to see a laptop with an innovative idea, and the MagicBook Art 14’s webcam certainly delivers.
It’s a solution with a few advantages. Firstly, when detached, the webcam doesn’t ruin the premium look of the Art 14, as mentioned earlier. Secondly, in terms of privacy, you can rest assured that you’re safe from prying eyes when the camera is removed and stored away (no ugly black tape required). Thirdly, there’s the versatility of having a front or rear camera as desired, as you can mount the unit in either direction.
The obvious downside to this idea is that a removable camera is also a loseable camera. That said, if you’re diligent and always put the webcam right back in its storage slot after you’re done using it, it shouldn’t ever get lost. In theory, anyway.
All in all, we think this is a smart idea and we are curious to see whether it will catch on with other notebook manufacturers as well.
