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Honor MagicBook Pro 14 (2026): 30-second review
The Honor MagicBook Pro 14 (2026) is the latest release from Honor’s premium MagicBook line-up, and this latest iteration takes a leap forward in almost every way. Once again, the exterior features a metal finish, though Honour hasn’t specified whether it is aluminium or magnesium; the finish and perceived durability during the test were exceptional. Opening the lid reveals a bright 14-inch 3.1K OLED touchscreen with a glossy finish, which is prone to reflections, but the clarity and brightness make it viewable in all locations tested during the review.
Integrated into the keyboard in the top-right corner is the fingerprint recognition sensor, which enables fast, password-free access to the computer. Likewise, the trackpad at 124 x 80 is of a decent size and is responsive and precise in use.
As I started the test, I opened a selection of Microsoft Office applications, including Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, all three ran smoothly, and the 3.1K resolution really comes into its own, enabling plenty of space on the relatively small 14-inch screen.
Editing in Photoshop and Lightroom Classic was quick, with image files from a Hasselblad X2D II opening quickly in both applications, despite the RAW file’s 230MB size. Adjustments in Lightroom Classic were fast, and even adding Adjustment Layers in Photoshop proved well within the machine’s abilities. The only point worth noting is that, with files from this and many other high-resolution cameras, the 1TB SSD will fill up quickly.
The performance was once again impressive within Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve, with both applications running through the usual five-minute edit without issue. What was notable was that Premiere Pro and the AI-enhanced features responded particularly quickly.
While this laptop is business-focused – and a prime candidate for our best business laptop round-up – I completed the test with some light gaming, loading Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. And once again, I was surprised at just how well it ran, even when the graphics quality and HD resolution were pushed.
At the end of the test, the Honor MagicBook Pro (2026) proved to be a powerful and distinctly premium offering with superb build quality and performance. This is currently one of the best premium business-focused laptops, trailed closely by the Asus ExpertBook Ultra (2026) and the GeekBook X14 Pro.
Honor MagicBook Pro 14 (2026): Price and availability
- How much does it cost? Not released
- When is it out? 2026
- Where can you get it? Sign up for updates at the Honor website
Pricing and availability have yet to be announced, but I’d expect it to be in line with previous models in the range.
Expect to pay between $1199 / £1199 and $1699 / £1699 depending on your configuration. The Honor MagicBook Pro 14 will be available directly on the Honor website and from major online retailers.
I’ll update this review once prices are confirmed.
Honor MagicBook Pro 14 (2026): Specs
CPU: Intel Core Ultra 5 336H / 338H / Core Ultra X9 388H (Intel Core Ultra 5 338H tested)
Graphics: Intel Arc Graphics / Arc B370 / Arc B390 (Arc B370 tested)
RAM: 24GB / 32GB LPDDR5x (9600MT/s) (32GB tested)
Storage: 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD (Dual M.2 2280 slots)
Left Ports: Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1, USB-A 3.2 Gen1
Right Ports: USB-C 3.2 Gen2, USB-A 3.2 Gen1, 3.5mm combo jack
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1
Audio: Dual speakers, triple microphones
Camera: 1080p HD
Size: 319.8 x 231.8 x 15.9mm
Weight: 1.37kg
OS Installed: Windows 11 Home
Accessories: 100W USB-C Power Adapter
Honor MagicBook Pro 14 (2026): Design
As premium-styled laptops go, the MagicBook Pro 14 ticks all the boxes with its slim 15.9mm profile and lightweight 1.37kg design. While this is slightly heavier than some of the other slimline laptops that I have seen recently, such as the Chuwi CoreBook Air at 1.08kg and Geekom GeekBook X14 Pro at 999g, it does feel of a higher overall quality.
The outer casing, as with previous MagicBooks, is metal; although unspecified, it’s likely to be either aluminium or magnesium. Either way, this feels well-made and robust, perfect for day-to-day transport without worry.
Another point about the design is that power to the laptop is routed through USB-C, so while it is shipped with its own lightweight power supply rather than the more usual brick adapter that we see with these laptops, as long as you have a high-powered USB power supply at work, you’ll be able to charge and power this machine.
However, this is where the real USP of this laptop comes in, with a 92Wh battery, installed within. This is far larger than most; even the MacBook Pro M4 14-inch only features a 72.4Wh cell. This potentially means you can get a full day’s work done between recharges.
The size and weight are impressive for the power, with dimensions of 319.8mm × 231.8mm × 15.9mm, not including the slight additional height from the rubber feet. The total weight is listed as 1.37kg, with our review sample weighing 1.48kg, excluding the USB-C power cable and adapter.
Taking a look at the ports, on the left side, there’s an HDMI 2.1 TMDS that supports 4K at 60Hz, a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps), a Thunderbolt 4 and a 3.5mm stereo headphone/mic jack. On the right side are two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps), providing plenty of options for a laptop of this size.
The monitor is a 14.6-inch OLED touch display with a nice, thin bezel and a glossy finish. Whilst the monitor doesn’t lie completely flat to the table top if tilted back, it does tilt back further than most, which makes it comfortable to use on your lap as well as positioned on the desk.
The keyboard is full-sized and offers one of the nicer typing experiences for a laptop of this style, with 1.5mm actuation. This is complemented by the large force-sensing glass touchpad, which measures 124 x 80mm.
Honor MagicBook Pro 14 (2026): Features
The MagicBook Pro 14 is one of a growing number of business-focused laptops to feature the latest Intel Core Ultra processors.
My review unit is the mid-range model, featuring the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H CPU and the Intel Arc B370 GPU. This configuration also features Intel’s AI Boost, which enhances the performance of applications’ AI features and drives the impressive AI Honor X technology, which manages power allocation, along with Honor’s own software solutions.
Another feature that impresses is the storage: while the laptop in this review was limited to 32GB of LPDDR5x clocked at 9500MT/s and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD, the RAM is soldered, but a second M.2 2280 SSD can be installed.
One of the headline features of the laptop is the 92Wh lithium-polymer battery, which Honor states will last 15.5 hours in standard use. This, at any level, is impressive, and even more so as you delve into the laptop’s performance. This battery size can take some time to charge, so it’s great to see that the laptop supports 100W USB-C fast charging as well as 80W reverse charging for compatible devices. This essentially means that the laptop will reach half charge in 30 minutes and a full charge in 68 minutes from flat.
The screen is highly specified considering the price point, with a resolution of 3.1K (3120 x 2080), 258 PPI pixel density, and 100% DCI-P3 coverage with true 10-bit colour, making it a good solution for content creators and business use. The screen is fully touch-responsive with 10-point multi-touch support. The screen has a 3:2 aspect ratio, which is quite traditional and works well for office and creator use, giving you plenty of height as well as width on that 14-inch display. The display also offers a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and a refresh rate of up to 120Hz, again excellent for both content creation and gaming.
Finally, the monitor features include the TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light (Hardware Solution) certification, which ensures your eyes are protected for hours of use.
The inclusion of the Honor Turbo X AI power allocation software is also a hidden AI-enhanced feature. This software works behind the scenes, learning and allocating resources as and when needed.
Alongside the background tasks, Honor includes its own software suite, Honor WorkStation, which offers several productivity enhancements, especially if you use other Honor products such as phones and tablets, and essentially syncs tasks and options across them.
More interesting if you don’t own other Honor products you can use the Honor Share application. This software can be downloaded to other devices and enables you to quickly share documents and files and will work across devices, including Apple devices, once the Honor Connect App is installed.
Honor MagicBook Pro 14 (2026): Performance
Benchmark scores
CrystalDiskMark Read: 6950.77 MB/s
CrystalDiskMark Write: 6113.47 MB/s
Geekbench CPU Multi: 13988
Geekbench CPU Single: 2818
Geekbench GPU: 48079
PCMark Overall: 8814
Cinebench CPU Multi: 16191
Cinebench CPU Single: 2038
Fire Strike Overall: 12814
Fire Strike Graphics: 14765
Fire Strike Physics: 27496
Fire Strike Combined: 4590
Time Spy Overall: 6579
Time Spy Graphics: 6138
Time Spy CPU: 11107
Wild Life Overall: 40288
Steel Nomad Overall: 1279
Windows Experience Overall: 8.8
Display Benchmarks
Display Colour Gamut Coverage: 100% RGB, 90% Adobe RGB, 100% P3
Gamut: 5 / 5
Tone Response: 4 / 5
White Point: 3.5 / 5
Contrast: 5 / 5
Luminance Uniformity: 4 / 5
Color Uniformity: 4.5 / 5
Colour accuracy: 4.5 / 5
Overall rating: 4.5 / 5
As ever, the first step is to finish off the Windows install, which involves the usual tick-box routine of signing into Microsoft and then Google. Once completed, the usual range of benchmarking software was installed to test the machine’s performance using 3DMark, PCMark, Cinebench, and Geekbench, alongside the Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Creative Suite, and a small selection of games.
Due to the SSD’s small size, benchmarking applications and games had to be installed and uninstalled as needed to free enough space for the test.
Starting with Windows 11 Home and Microsoft Office, it was apparent that all applications ran smoothly, with little strain on the machine’s processing power. Spreadsheets of some size and complexity were handled with ease, and the major point beyond the processing power is the ample screen space provided by the 3.1K resolution.
Checking out Word first, and again with the 3:2 aspect ratio, you have plenty of vertical space, making it ideal for typing with the keyboard’s quality and the screen’s resolution really come into their own.
Likewise, Excel and PowerPoint are handled with similar ease, and, most notably, PowerPoint handled image-dense slides without issue during file creation and during presentations, aided by the full-size HDMI port compatible with most projectors and screens. Across the Microsoft Office suite of apps, there were no performance issues, reflected in one of the highest Windows Experience scores to date at 8.8.
Taking the demands on the laptop a step forward, I installed three applications from the Adobe Creative Suite: Adobe Lightroom Classic, Photoshop and Premiere Pro. Using both Lightroom Classic and Photoshop, the machine handled image files from the Hasselblad X2D II with relative ease, despite their RAW file sizes.
The 100% P3 and 90% Adobe RGB quality of the display reflected in the real world use and for most enthusiast photographers and professionals working on non-colour-critical projects, this laptop is a great solution.
For professionals, the 90% Adobe RGB coverage from the display is better than most, but for high-end photography, especially if working on colour-critical work such as fashion or print, then connection to a calibrated screen with a wider colour gamut would be required.
As a compact laptop in the field, the performance is outstanding, not quite workstation class, but still more than powerful enough to handle both applications. However, I would recommend a decent portable SSD, such as the Lexar ES5. Switching to Premiere Pro for video editing again requires a decent portable SSD, and the LaCie Rugged SSD Pro 5 is a superb choice. Adding an M.2 SSD 2280 is another option; I used the Samsung 9100 Pro in this review.
Again, the performance of the MagicBook Pro 14 impressed, with no issues handling 4K C-log files shot on the Canon EOS R5 C. The fact that the machine can handle these and grade them so easily is impressive, though the fans and the external portable SSD are required to store the data and keep the CPU and GPU cool. As the edit progressed, the machine’s limits became apparent as render times increased and fan noise grew, yet with a heavy, if short, 4K edit, this is impressive.
Just to reinforce the video creation potential, I took the edit to DaVinci Resolve, and again, the performance was excellent, showing this machine is ideal for 1080p editing and light 4K editing. The multi-core result from Cinebench of 16191 highlighted this performance, while the impressive Geekbench GPU score of 48079 just reinforces the real-world experience.
To finish off the real-world test, I sat back for an hour or two of gaming with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, hooked up through the HDMI to a 4K monitor. The play at 1080p was excellent, with the settings ramped up to maximum, which was a surprise.
However, as the resolution increased, while still very playable for the most part, when the action picks up, the screen glitches and fans kick in at full blast. The best balance was at the lower resolution with mid-quality settings. A quick dip into Hogwarts Legacy, and again, the same is true with the settings. Play at 1080p and keep the settings at the mid-range for the best gameplay.
Before finishing the test, the creative performance had really stood out, so to check its suitability for professional creatives, I also looked at the monitor’s quality. Here, the results are also impressive, with 100% RGB and P3 colour gamut; it is the 90% Adobe RGB that really impresses, and while this isn’t the 100% you would want for high-end photographic work, out in the field, it will still be useful.
Honor MagicBook Pro 14 (2026): Final verdict
The Honor MagicBook Pro 14 (2026) is one of the latest generations of ultra-powerful laptops featuring AI-enhanced CPUs and GPUs. The performance and display results are impressive, especially given the price and performance compared with many market leaders. My review sample of the MagicBook Pro 14 is especially well-balanced and delivers outstanding performance across the board. One feature that stood out to me is this is one of the few laptops where some upgrades are still available, with the dual internal SSD slots.
This laptop has plenty going for it, and to match the power and expandability, Honor has also ensured outstanding battery life with one of the largest capacity batteries for this size of machine. They’ve also thought hard about what business users need, and the Honor software and ecosystem further reinforce this, with Honor phones and tablets forming a well-thought-out business solution that, in practice, seems as solid and powerful as Apple’s.
One of the features I liked here is that Honor has enabled broad compatibility outside its ecosystem, so dropping files between computers, even Apple computers, is easy once the right software is installed.
As a genuine alternative to the MacBook Pro, the Honor MagicBook 14 is a great choice and looks to be considerably cheaper than much of the competition.
Should I buy the Honor MagicBook Pro 14 (2026)?
|
Value |
Excellent value for money for a premium quality laptop with plenty of power and potential |
4.4 |
|
Design |
Slim, metal build and robust, with the ability to add additional internal storage |
4.5 |
|
Features |
Huge battery capacity, OLED screen and plenty of connectivity options |
5 |
|
Performance |
Excellent processor and GPU combo, enhanced by the integration of AI |
5 |
|
Overall |
A great choice for business and creators with more power than you’d expect from this size of laptop |
5 |
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
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