is a reviewer covering laptops and the occasional gadget. He spent over 15 years in the photography industry before joining The Verge as a deals writer in 2021.
You know what I love more than OLEDs? Cheap OLEDs. And that’s exactly what drew me to the 14-inch HP OmniBook 5. It’s a $700 Windows laptop with a Snapdragon X Plus processor and an OLED screen. That means it should have great battery life and a beautiful screen. I consider these important in any laptop, so color me intrigued.
You’re probably familiar with the phrase “good, cheap, fast — pick two.” I wasn’t fond of the higher-end OmniBook I reviewed last year. It was fast, but it had a dim IPS screen, terrible speakers, and cost $1,200. But what if we’re now talking a much nicer screen, even better battery life, and for $500 less? The OmniBook 5, expectedly, has flaws. But for the right price, much can be forgiven.
HP’s OmniBook 5 laptops come in 14 inches and 16 inches, either as traditional clamshells or 2-in-1s, and with chip options from Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm. I’ve been testing the cheapest one: a 14-inch with a lower-end Arm-based Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and — surprisingly for the price — that OLED, all for $699.99 .
Component report card Screen: B
Webcam: B
Mic: C
Keyboard: B
Trackpad: C
Port selection: C
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