Honor MagicBook Art 14 (2025) Review (Translated)
Posted by Creative-Expert8086@reddit | hardware | View on Reddit | 31 comments
Originally from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/HBLD5Fi0GX0tL_jju358VQ
(translated & adapted from 笔吧评测室 / Laptop Commentary Studio)
Quick Specs:
- Intel Ultra 5 225H (Arrow Lake)
- 32GB LPDDR5x 8400 MT/s (soldered)
- 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD (1×M.2 slot)
- 14.6" 3120×2080 OLED, 120Hz, 100% DCI-P3, AR anti-reflective coating, touch-enabled
- 60Wh battery, 1.03kg chassis, 12.7–13.6mm thick
- Ports: TB4 (80Gbps, PD65W, DP2.1), USB-C (40Gbps, PD65W, DP2.1), USB-A 5Gbps, HDMI 2.0, 3.5mm combo jack
- Charger weight: 191g
- Price in China: ¥8499 ($1,170), with subsidy ¥6799 ($935)
Highlights:
- Extremely thin and light, premium build quality
- Excellent OLED panel with AR coating → better outdoor readability than typical glossy OLEDs
- Innovative magnetic clip-on webcam (screen bezels are ultra-thin, so camera is external)
Drawbacks:
- Runs warm under load (keyboard hot spot \~44°C)
- Keyboard surface picks up fingerprints
- Battery capacity is modest at 60Wh
Performance & thermals:
Dual-fan, vapor chamber style cooling.
- Stress FPU: CPU at \~81°C, \~26W sustained, P-cores \~2.4–2.7GHz, E-cores \~1.3–1.8GHz.
- Noise: \~43dB under full load.
- Keyboard center peak temp: 44.4°C (on the G key). Palm rest stays cooler at \~31°C.
Battery life: \~7h30m in simulated daily usage script.
Display quality:
- 120% DCI-P3 volume, 100% coverage, color-accurate (ΔE <1)
- Max brightness \~508 nits SDR / \~765 nits HDR (below Honor’s marketing claim of 1600 nits)
- Flicker: DC dimming above \~85 nits, 4320Hz PWM below that
Why Arrow Lake instead of Lunar Lake?
The studio notes that this chassis screams Lunar Lake (super-thin, low thermal headroom, LPDDR5X-only). But Honor went with Arrow Lake because:
- Lower cost – Arrow Lake reuses Meteor Lake board design with minor tweaks; Lunar Lake would require a new board.
- Roadmap risk – Intel has confirmed Lunar Lake has no successor. Investing in a one-off platform is too costly for Honor.
So from an OEM perspective, Arrow Lake = safer, cheaper, less risky.
My Verdict
Lmao, another classic Honor moment — basically copying Huawei. The Huawei MateBook Pro X was one of the best Windows ultrabooks in 2024, but with U.S. sanctions cutting off future models, Honor clearly wants to capture that displaced buyer base.
Arrow Lake does bring big efficiency gains over Meteor Lake, but this chassis is objectively a step down from Huawei’s 2024 effort — Huawei managed to stuff a larger 70Wh battery at a lighter weight with even better build quality.
Still, given the current ultrabook landscape, Honor did produce a solid contender:
- AR-coated OLED feels more comfortable than the sea of PWM-heavy Samsung OLEDs elsewhere
- The design is sleeker and more modern compared to Lenovo ThinkBook/ThinkPad at similar price points, which stick to a more rigid “classic business” aesthetic
If you want something that looks and feels closer to a MacBook but runs Windows, the MagicBook Art 14 (2025) is definitely worth a look — just don’t expect gaming performance or marathon battery life.
Lower-Computer9545@reddit
How does it compare to the MagicBook Pro 14?
Creative-Expert8086@reddit (OP)
Lighter, smaller battery
Bruce00782@reddit
They are instock in the UK Honor store as of yesterday, I have ordered and it's been dispatched so hopefully it's as good as it's looks.
I have a Lenovo X9 -15 Aura edition at the moment and can't stand the metal finish as it becomes very sticky in the heat and I also find the keys small. I used to have the Huawei Matebook X Pro 2024 so this should be an interesting comparison.
My major concer is the battery life and that trackpad is good as I found the Huawei one very skittish at times
Creative-Expert8086@reddit (OP)
Hopefully you have free return, the Huawei Matebook X Pro 2024 is better than this in every shape and form with the exception for the CPU.
Bruce00782@reddit
The battery was poor on the Huawei and the trackpad was horrific so we shall see.
I appreciate your positivity though, I hope yhour day gets better lol
CerveloUK@reddit
I have the Matebook x pro 2024 so will look forward to your thoughts.
Bruce00782@reddit
So initial thoughts after less than 24 hours, the keyboard is not quite as good as the Matebook as it has a matte finish so picks up marks / oil, maybe cause the keys were blue on the huawei I didn;t notice it so much and they keys are bigger and better than the lenovo x9,
The trackpad is better and more accurate than the huawei, also requires a lot less force than the Lenovo with similar accuracy.
I still have the OEM huawei folio case and expected it to fit in however it won't as it's too wide. If anyone knows of an official honor case a link would be appreciated ;-)
On the desk and photos they look the same size but the Honor is wider, the screen size difference compared to the lenovo x9 15.3 is not that much, Tomato Tomarto depending on if you want height or width, probabaly prefer the height on the Honor
Battery is very early to say I used to get 10-12 hours on the Lenovo so will report back in a couple of days if anyone is interested
CerveloUK@reddit
Thanks for the update. How does the screen quality compare? As it was outstanding on the Matebook x pro 2024.
Bruce00782@reddit
the screen quality is great, however the power managment is horrific, the fans on constant, then stuttering on battery
I changed the bios to performance and it said 4 hours, worthless as a work laptop, I am back on the lenovo x9 and hate the keyboard but this lasts 12 hours vs 5 on battery
CerveloUK@reddit
I guess the wrong cpu really for the device to be power efficient.
Bruce00782@reddit
to be honest the 258v I have in the lenovo feels snappier, I think it's badly optimised and there is no way to control it as Honor have locked the bios and have now TDP control,
I will go back to the drawing bad and carry on with the x9
CerveloUK@reddit
I looked at the X9 as an option to upgrade from my Matebook x Pro 2024 but had concerns the screen wouldn’t be as good.
em1ke@reddit
What keyboard do they have in Uk? A global one?
Bruce00782@reddit
It had the Uk keyboard with full size return key
CerveloUK@reddit
I have the Matebook x pro 2024 so will look forward to your thoughts.
logosuwu@reddit
How does the subsidy actually work?
maarcius@reddit
Weight to screen size ratio is very nice. 3:2 screen ratio is great. Wonder how oled pixels layout is for reading, probably not so good. And price is significantly higher in europe (excluding vat). Even on aliexpress it is 1700 euros...
Creative-Expert8086@reddit (OP)
The OLED pixels are not a concern — Honor and Huawei have been using them for years in their phones and now their laptops. They’re among the few companies globally that put BOE touchscreens on their machines, with no ugly grid lines like you still see on Lenovo and HP. As for the inflated price, that’s classic European markup — especially for Windows and Android devices where middlemen pile on their cut. At that kind of price point, honestly, you might as well just go for Apple.
Soggy_Association491@reddit
What is that subsidy?
Creative-Expert8086@reddit (OP)
State subsidy program, per person can be used once per category for laptops, phones, tablets, washing machines etc, laptop is at 20% cap of 2000discount. Provided your region still have this subsidy.
Soggy_Association491@reddit
so like apple student program but only for Chinese?
Creative-Expert8086@reddit (OP)
Yes, it can be put that way — the central government is footing the majority while local governments chip in a token share. The entire point is to artificially pump demand in a sluggish electronics market and push people to scrap perfectly serviceable products earlier than they should, all thanks to a manufactured sense of FOMO. Many local governments have already suspended and restarted the program over the past few months, depending on how much more juice they think they can squeeze from it.
user3170@reddit
How separate are Honor and Huawei these days? Some of their products still look very simila, a bit suspiciously so
Creative-Expert8086@reddit (OP)
Although Honor and Huawei are technically two separate legal entities, Honor absorbed a massive part of Huawei during the split—most notably the original Honor crew and one of Huawei’s two premium design teams. They essentially inherited Huawei’s full design establishment, which is why their products often look nearly identical. Under George Zhao’s leadership, this tendency became even more blatant. He gained a reputation for deliberately mimicking Huawei’s mainline designs, trying to make consumers feel as if the two brands were still one. Just look at the Honor X50 and X60—they’re practically carbon copies of Huawei’s models. The MagicBook Art 14 still carries the 2024 chassis from Zhao’s era, so it’s no surprise Honor is once again blurring the line on purpose.
RealisticMost@reddit
I got the Snapdragon version and it really is superb. Fans are dead silent and the device is cool all the time. I like the responsiveness of the OS.
Creative-Expert8086@reddit (OP)
Oh, this is the intel version, the SNAPDRAGON is good if were cheaper
Appropriate-Ad-2884@reddit
Thinking about getting one but split between this one and the Lenovo yoga 7i slim. Any thoughts?
Both costs about the same in my region
Creative-Expert8086@reddit (OP)
This is better in every way if you don’t care about resale value or global warranty. Lenovo’s Yoga line isn’t even considered high-end anymore (with ThinkBook and ThinkPad positioned above it). It might not be worth the price if compared head-to-head with the X1 ThinkPad, but it’s definitely better than the Yoga.
Appropriate-Ad-2884@reddit
Thanks!
X1 is out of price range unfortunately, but X9 might fit. Would you say the art is still preferable over the X9?
Creative-Expert8086@reddit (OP)
I posted about the X9 just now, worth having a read.
Creative-Expert8086@reddit (OP)
X9-14 is trash, X9-15 aura is GOAT, the battery life is very stunning for that