Honor Adds Snapdragon-Powered Laptop to New Device Lineup at IFA 2024
Honor has announced that a new business laptop with Snapdragon technology is on the way.
After the Intel version of the Honor MagicBook Art 14 was released in China and officially launched in Europe yesterday at IFA 2024, the mobile company confirmed what internet rumors already suspected: there will be a version of the Honor MagicBook Art 14 with a Snapdragon X Elite processor.
The company has yet to announce a release date or pricing for the sleek laptop, but we’ll be keeping a close eye on this product.
What’s new from Honor?
Honor was busy at this year’s major tech event, unveiling the Honor Magic V3 (read our full review here), along with the MagicPad 2 and the MagicBook Art 14 to a European audience.
Now, just twenty-four seconds later, the company has confirmed that it’s packing Qualcomm’s mobile processor into its latest laptop, creating an entire ecosystem of devices and apps that work together seamlessly. With the Snapdragon processor, Honor expects the device to feature Wi-Fi 7 support, improved power efficiency, and better performance.
From what we saw here in Berlin, there don’t appear to be any other significant changes to the laptop, so expect the same specs as the Intel version with Windows 11. That includes 1TB of storage, a choice of 16GB or 32GB of RAM, and a sharp 14.6-inch OLED display. Better yet, unlike modern Apple devices, it features a good selection of ports for greater flexibility on the go.
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We got a chance to try out the MagicBook Art 14 with the Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor 155H at this year’s IFA, and while we weren’t able to push it to its limits, test out all the AI tools, or open a thousand tabs in Chrome, we did find it to be a speedy and efficient laptop with a pleasing design and build. Expect a real performance boost if it’s anything like the last MagicBook 14 we reviewed (read more about it here).
Being made from magnesium, with a titanium keyboard helps keep the device incredibly light – weighing in at just over 1kg and measuring 11.5mm at its thickest point, this is about as portable as it gets. And yes, it’s marginally lighter than a MacBook Air, which will please the company’s social media marketing team, who seem to exist to troll its uppity rivals.
There’s also a lot to praise about the display. At 14.6 inches, it’s a good size for business users who need a wide touchscreen display that’s not too heavy to carry around, with 700 nits of brightness and 100% DCI-P3, making it ideal for watching movies – though we’ll need to test it properly to see how it compares to the best laptops for video editing. We did find the screen a little too reflective in an admittedly well-lit exhibition hall, though, despite the plethora of eye-care tech built in.
The ultrabook is also impressively soft to the touch. It may not be, as Honor CEO George Zhao claimed, “as soft as a baby’s skin”, but it’s not far off, and it feels very comfortable in the hand, with an almost matte feel.
The real eye-catcher, however, is the detachable magnetic camera, which snaps into place and feels solid once it’s in place. It’s a fairly novel way of dealing with built-in webcams, which traditionally use sliders, covers or just a bit of Blu-Tack over the lens. It also has the added benefit of being reversible, if you want to show others what you’re looking at during a video call. While we’ve yet to have confirmation, we’d expect Honor to sell these separately for when the originals inevitably end up under the desk, never to be seen again.
