I replaced my MacBook Pro with the Honor MagicBook Pro 16 – here’s what happened

Honor has made some pretty forgettable laptops in recent years, but that’s all changed with the MagicBook Pro 16, something I discovered when I used it as my daily driver instead of the M3 Pro MacBook Pro.

When it comes to targeting one of the kings of Apple’s aluminum slab-shaped laptops, you have to get three things right: design and ergonomics, display and speakers, and great performance with energy efficiency. It’s a tall order, but Honor gets so close to the point that it finds a delicate balance between sleek styling, raw power, and (oddly) gaming prowess.

This 16-inch machine manages to meet most of these criteria, thanks to the internal pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 7 and RTX 4060, a fantastic keyboard, a bright and vivid 16-inch 3K panel with a 165Hz refresh rate, along with some of the best. Speakers I’ve heard out of a MacBook Pro.

That does not mean all He can face the Cupertino team; Some of that is a double-edged sword. That 115W TDP gives you solid performance, even during more intense workloads, but that 75Wh battery drains quickly. In white with those dynamic edges, this laptop looks really stylish… well, it would be if the lid didn’t stain so easily. Seriously, I’m a clean freak and that slight yellowing was already present when I received this system.

Then there’s the webcam, where I’ve grown accustomed to the inevitability of every little trigger on top of a laptop looking like a potato, no matter how much AI you throw at it. But with these issues in mind, it’s clear that Honor has taken a giant step in the right direction. The MagicBook Pro 16 fails to prove itself the ultimate nemesis of the MacBook Pro, but there’s a lot to love.

Honor MagicBook Pro 16: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? This is a powerful multipurpose laptop that enables professional consumer work, AAA gaming, and content consumption.
• For whom? I’d recommend it to creative professionals with power under the hood, but those gaming credentials could make it a good choice for gamers, too.
• How much does it cost? We don’t know the global price yet, but we can draw some conclusions based on the cost in the Chinese market. With a base model with Intel Core Ultra 5 at CNY 8,999 ($1,250 / £1,000), and the model we tested priced at CNY 9,999 ($1,400 / £1,100), this could be quite competitive.
• That we like? It works well, feels great to type on, and has a stellar screen/speaker combo for all your streaming/gaming needs.
• What don’t we like? Battery life isn’t too great when under pressure, the webcam is off, and the white finish on the lid stains easily.

Honor MagicBook Pro 16: Specifications

Honor MagicBook Pro 16: the advantages

So we’ve got a lot to unpack here, because the MagicBook Pro 16 can be many things to many people, whether they’re creative professionals, multitasking wizards, or even gaming gurus.

Screen + speakers =

It all starts with probably the most powerful combination of the entire laptop: a pine display and stellar speakers (I promise I’ll stop alliterating now).

Up top, the 16-inch 16:10 display sounds relatively standard with IPS LCD technology, but the colors are nicely balanced to inspire confidence in the accuracy of each and every creative work, while also bringing out the vibrancy. of any game you play. he. Plus, the strong 500 nits brightness with that matte coating on top makes it easy to read in bright lighting conditions.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the smooth 165Hz refresh rate. Of course, this can be spotted more easily in games that run with that slickness you know and love from some of the best gaming laptops, but even In your daily life, your eyes will thank you for the greater fluidity.

And then we turn our attention to the Honor Spatial Audio system: a combination of six speakers that make this the first Windows laptop to feature this technology.

While the actual surround effect is a somewhat dubious claim, what this cluster of tweeters and a subwoofer really achieve is a sound quality that practically matches my MacBook Pro in terms of impressive detail in the highs and mids, along with a nice warmth in the bass. While there may be small ways to improve this (i.e. giving us an OLED display), the formula on offer here makes this a tremendously satisfying machine for content consumption.

Solid performer in every sense

This is backed up by surprisingly good performance. It’s not that Honor has surprised the world here: the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, RTX 4060 and 32GB of DDR5 RAM mean it will always be a speed demon. But rather this configuration and the high TDP of 115W give it more advantage in gaming than you think.

Outside of the MacBook Pro, I’d say the MagicBook Pro 16’s closest competition is the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra and, well, Honor comes very close to its more expensive siblings and, in some circumstances, manages to beat it outright.

Of course, this comes at the expense of battery life (more on this later), but my theory is that the Intel Core Ultra 9 and the RTX 4070 in the 4 Ultra are limited to 80W TDP, while the machine Honor can go up to 115W; Much more performance is extracted from these components.

Nothing from Intel is going to touch what the M3 line of silicon is capable of, but for the most things you can do on a Windows machine, aside from the MagicBook Pro 16’s easy price-to-performance ratio, Honor has Nos surprised with a real beast, whatever you throw at it.

Stellar ergonomics for productivity

Then you get to work on this machine and are greeted by a generously sized keyboard with a numeric keypad. The 1.5mm key depth of these tactile switches makes every keypress feel intense and you’ll love gliding across this board if you’re a fast typer. The subtle backlighting gives everything a nice, calm glow when working (or playing) at night, and although this is a plastic build, there’s no telltale curve on the top deck that could distract you with a cheap, cheap feel. sticky

Complementing this is a vast touchpad with a beautifully smooth surface that has subtle friction to give you more precise control. I would have preferred to see a vibration-driven click like with the Force Touch trackpad on the MacBook Pro; instead, here you have the standard bottom left and right clicks. But the speed of said clicks is enough to forgive this missing element.

Once you get into your flow, the Honor MagicBook Pro 16 stays there with you.

Honor MagicBook Pro 16: The disadvantages

Given the price of this machine, Honor has made some tough decisions: going out of its way in certain aspects to tell the story of who this laptop should be for, while making compromises in other aspects. One thing, however, is a small own goal.

Whiter than the family computer

You know what kind I’m talking about, right? Either that or I’m showing my age really poorly here. The off-white family computer that took pride of place in the living room, ready for you to play a bunch of flash games and download “LiNkInGpArK-nUmB.exe” on Limewire for the impending wave of 24 viruses.

The pure white finish of the Honor MagicBook Pro 16 reminds me of those days, and not in a good way, as the lid can discolor very quickly. By the way, this is coming from a clean freak. There is no way I would approach this machine with a snack in hand and you can still see the slight yellowing on the lid.

Let me be clear. This is not a problem about the physical design. I love the sharp edges with that brushed metal sheen, along with the sensible port layout that keeps the desktop tidy. But it desperately needs some kind of color treatment to prevent it from losing its white shine, and without it, you’re left feeling a little disappointed.

Webcam could be better

There’s not much to say here. The 1080p camera doesn’t really feel like FHD, as the images feel a little soft in quality and really increase noise when lighting conditions aren’t perfect.

Plus, it’s not the most useful camera either, as the lack of IR functionality means Windows Hello is limited to the fingerprint sensor. It’s fast, but the face scan would have been much faster.

Battery life is a disappointment.

We don’t have lab-tested battery life scores yet, but I’ve always expected this – looking at the maximum TDP and the size of that 75Wh cell inside. Something has to give and that is battery life. If you use casual use, you can get through a full work day with about 10% left. But if your workload includes more than just a couple of tabs in Chrome, make sure you have that beefy charger on hand to keep it charged.

Then, when you throw a demanding game like Cyberpunk 2077 at it, you’ll be lucky to make it past the hour. I understand the choice to focus on performance, but I hope that with continued improvement of power efficiency in these chips and a larger cell in the next generation system, we can overcome this. Either that or, more immediately, some kind of more granular control over system power may be a good solution.

Honor MagicBook Pro 16: verdict

And that’s the story of one of the most surprising laptops of 2024, one that shows Honor is finally gaining ground in the laptop space. If the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is Tony Polanco’s new favorite Windows laptop, the MagicBook Pro 16 is the cost-effective alternative.

Because of course, compared to my MacBook Pro M3 Pro, it’s missing some key things, like a premium aluminum unibody case, ultra-fast performance, and legendary battery life.

But Honor’s goal is to be all things to all people: a powerful consumer device during the day and a powerful entertainment machine at night. And you know what? I think once the issues were taken into account, I think the team just went and solved it.