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6.5 / 10
SCORE HP OmniBook X Flip 16 $1,510 at HP Pros Beautiful 3K OLED display
Solid productivity performance
Lengthy battery life Cons Stiff price for a machine with integrated graphics
Drab design
Latticeless keyboard and mechanical touchpad are subpar
Gets hot and loud under load
A key factor distinguishing Windows PC laptops from their Apple counterparts is that PCs are, inevitably, a sum of their parts. MacBooks are designed inside and out by Apple, including its own M-series processors. In contrast, PC manufacturers rely on component OEMs to turn out the CPUs, GPUs and other pieces from which their machines are constructed. This means that one of the great arts of laptop design is choosing the right parts to marry, then creating a chassis to properly house and cool them.
Some machines achieve a gestalt, transcending the potential of their components individually. Others, like HP's 16-inch two-in-one, the OmniBook X Flip 16, fail to find the right recipe and end up being less than the sum of their parts. The OmniBook X Flip 16 is the larger version of the OmniBook X Flip 14, which CNET Senior Editor Matt Elliott found to be a stylish and well-priced midrange two-in-one. Sadly, I'm not nearly as high on its larger sibling.
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