To What Do We Owe The Honor? Huawei Spinout Breaks Silence With Two Pro Ultraportables

The Reg hasn't heard much from Honor since it broke away from parent company Huawei last November. Save for a fitness band here, or a China-exclusive phone there, it's been rather quiet on the Western Front.

But now, nearly six months after it flew the nest, the Chinese vendor has brought out two new pro-oriented laptops in the UK: the MagicBook 14 and 15*.

The numbers trailing at the end of each product name refer to the screen size. Fairly self-explanatory.

The 14-inch machine has been configured with two flavours of 11th-generation Intel chippery, an i7-1165G7 and an i5-1135G7. This is accompanied by 16GB of DDR4 RAM (although it's not clear whether this is soldered in place, as we've seen with previous Honor laptops), 512GB of NVMe M.2 storage, and Intel Xe graphics.

Charging comes via the USB-C port, which is accompanied by a solitary USB-A adapter and HDMI port. The machine's 56Wh battery can purportedly reach 44 per cent charge in just 30 minutes when using a 65W charger, according to Honor, and delivers 10.5 hours of continuous runtime.

Paradoxically, the 15-inch variant hasn't been kitted out with better innards, and is virtually identical to the MagicBook 14 in specs.

There's just one CPU option on offer – an Intel i5 1135G7 – and the same amount of RAM and internal storage as its dinkier brethren. It also has the same port configurations, and a slightly smaller 42Wh battery, which promises 7.6 hours of continuous runtime.

Both MagicBook models are loaded with the same pop-up webcam design found on earlier Honor and Huawei laptop designs.

On one hand, it permits for a decent screen-to-body ratio. However, it does mean your Zoom calls will be conducted with a camera positioned at a somewhat unflattering angle, with the lens squarely facing your jowls.

Honor has said it will release the MagicBook 14 and 15 in the UK, Germany, and France. The 14 has a price of €1199.90 for the i7 flavour, and €849.90 for the i5. UK pricing was not immediately available.

The Honor MagicBook 15, meanwhile, has a ticket price €949.90. ®

*For the sake of completeness, Honor released a variant of the MagicBook Pro 16 earlier this year, although this was virtually unchanged from its predecessor, save for the inclusion of a slower 10th-generation Intel i5 CPU at the expense of the previous (faster) Ryzen 5 4600H chip.