Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
The model I tested isn’t the base configuration, which only features a 1920 x 1200 display. While that’s perfectly usable, the $60 upgrade to a 2880 x 1800, 120Hz display is a no-brainer. Unfortunately, HP also forces you to upgrade the CPU to at least a 12-core Snapdragon X2 Elite to get it. It’s a frustrating limitation, as the ideal configuration falls somewhere in the middle. This pricing structure is especially difficult to digest when you’re selling HP Budget laptops Such as OmniBook 5 and OmniBook 3 With OLED screens at half the price. In fact, this configuration pushes the price closer to… M5 MacBook Pro basewhich also includes twice the storage space.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Plus easily holds its own. Graphics performance has seen a huge improvement over the previous generation, even matching the M5 MacBook Air in benchmarks like 3DMark Steel Nomad Light. Although this doesn’t always translate into great real-world gaming, there’s a lot more power to it than you might expect. Multi-core performance outperforms the M5, which is a big plus for heavy multitasking. Combined with excellent color accuracy, this CPU’s power makes it a dream for photographers and graphic designers — even if the lack of a dedicated GPU keeps hardcore video editors at bay.
Photo: Luke Larsen
Battery life is impressive, lasting 24 hours on a single charge with local video playback. This is similar to Intel’s latest laptops and MacBooks.
The Snapdragon X2 Elite model adds more multi-core performance (with up to 18 cores), but costs significantly more and doesn’t add more battery life.
Regardless of the configuration you choose, the laptop comes with four built-in speakers and a 5-megapixel webcam. The speakers are surprisingly good, delivering full sound that makes music a pleasure to listen to, putting it on par with the 13-inch MacBook Air. However, the webcam isn’t quite as impressive. While the 5-megapixel sensor ensures a clear image, it struggles in harsh lighting. When I tested the camera with an open window nearby, it completely blew out the lights and had trouble retaining much detail on my face.
The MacBook Air is still hard to beat. It’s cheaper while still being incredibly round. The screen is sharper than the base version of the OmniBook Ultra, too. If you’re hesitant about choosing between macOS and Windows, I still recommend the MacBook Air.
However, the HP OmniBook Ultra 14 gets away with its higher price tag when compared to similar devices like the Dell XPS 14 and Dell XPS 14. Surface Laptop 7th editionwhich is hundreds of dollars more. Although I like all three options, the OmniBook Ultra 14 is more versatile, has a lower starting price, and is currently the only one to feature Qualcomm’s next-gen chipset.
