CES 2021: Honor launches first MagicBook Pro laptop with Intel chipset after a split with Huawei

The 2021 MagicBook Pro is moving to Intel chipsets, which are not as efficient as the AMD ones used in the predecessor, at least on paper.

Honor MagicBook Pro 2021.

Honor's MagicBook Pro, which was showcased at IFA Berlin in 2020, got a positive response from critics mainly due to it's processor. There was a 7nm Ryzen 5 4600H chipset along with Vega Radeon RX Vega 6 GPU. But until last year, the company was a sub-division of Huawei, which has been banned by the US government as a result of US-China trade war. But while the laptop was said to be a good one, what kept it from reaching the shelves around the world was its limited availability. The product was limited to some European markets.

Now, things have changed and Honor is no more with Huawei. This also means that it can use components coming from US firms. This may also let the brand sell its laptop in more markets including US and India. But there's a downside to all this. The 2021 MagicBook Pro now uses Intel's chipset, which is not as efficient as the AMD ones used in the predecessor, at least on paper.

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The new laptop uses Intel 10th-gen Core i5 10210U CPU and NVIDIA GeForce MX350 GPU. And this 14nm-based processor is said to be less efficient than the 7nm Ryzen 5 4600H, which was there in last year's model. In 10210U, you get a four-core, eight-threads with a max TDP of 25W whereas in 4600H you get six-core and 12-threads along with a 45W TDP. This means that the Intel processor in newer MagicBook has lower Thermal Design Power, less cores and fewer threads, something fans don't want to hear.

As for the rest of the specs, the 2021 MagicBook Pro includes three USB-A ports, one USB-C port, and a single HDMI connection in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. There is also a 16.1-inch FHD screen with 100% sRGB coverage. The device is claimed to run for 11.5 hours on a single charge using the 56Wh battery. Priced at $1000, the laptop is said to arrive later this year.