HP OmniBook Ultra 14 review: Ryzen AI 300 delivers again

Sign When Reviewed

$1,689

Excellent Costs On the present time: HP Omnibook Ultra 14

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 is a “next-gen AI PC” thanks to its AMD Ryzen AI 300 collection processor. However, whereas this machine has a neural processing unit (NPU) for local AI capabilities — plus Copilot+ PC capabilities coming soon — AI isn’t the plump record right here. Look past the “AI” trademarks on this machine and you’ll glean a solid laptop that gets long battery life and mighty performance in real-world utilize thanks to AMD’s most modern hardware.

First, a observe about the name: Serve in Might per chance 2024, HP announced a rebranding of its total PC lineup, dumping names love “Spectre” and “Dragonfly.” The observe “OmniBook” right here procedure right here’s a shopper laptop. If this used to be supposed for industrial users, HP would call it an “EliteBook” or “ProBook.” (Nevertheless, HP will quiet utilize “Omen” to consult gaming PCs).

Additional reading: Excellent laptops 2024: Top price, funds, gaming, 2-in-1s, and extra

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 comes with an AMD Ryzen AI 300 collection processor. This hardware involves a neural processing unit (NPU) with as a lot as 55 TOPS for local AI capabilities. That’s why HP is positioning this as a “next-gen AI PC” — it will soon be smartly suited with Copilot+ PC capabilities, in contrast to old-generation “AI PCs” with hardware love Intel’s Meteor Lake.

There are lots of variations of this PC. HP loaned us a “top of the line” mannequin with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 CPU, 32 GB of RAM, and 2 TB of solid-issue storage. This kit is on hand at Excellent Aquire for a retail mark of $1,689.ninety nine.

About a varied variations are additionally on hand, with basically the most cost-efficient one being a AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 processor, 16 GB of RAM, and a 512 GB SSD. This is on hand via HP’s online retailer for $1,349.ninety nine.

• Mannequin quantity: HP OmniBook Ultra 14-FD0023DX
• CPU: AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375
• Reminiscence: 32 GB LPDDR5 RAM
• Graphics/GPU: AMD Radeon 890M
• Philosophize: 14-lunge 2240×1400 IPS point to with 60Hz refresh price and make contact with display
• Storage: 2 TB PCIe Gen 4 solid-issue power
• Webcam: 9MP 1440p webcam with physical privacy shutter
• Connectivity: 2x USB Form-C (Thunderbolt 4, USB4 40Gbps), 1x USB Form-A (10Gbps), 1x combo audio jack
• Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
• Biometrics: IR camera and fingerprint reader
• Battery ability: 68 Watt-hours
• Dimensions: 12.41 x 8.96 x 0.65 inches
• Weight: 3.47 kilos
• MSRP: $1,689 as examined

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 is a broad computer. It’s sturdy and smartly set collectively — and, most importantly, it has an AMD Ryzen AI 300 collection processor. These just have greater performance and longer battery life than Intel’s Meteor Lake chips.

HP OmniBook Ultra 14: Invent and connect quality

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 is a smartly-designed, solid portion of mostly silver steel on the components of the laptop you’ll contact. (There are just a couple of plastic aspects, love the bezel.) Whereas HP has changed the branding of its client laptops, there’s lots of the “Spectre” assemble language right here. The angular corners the set the purpose to meets the bottom tray of the laptop are straight away and recognizably HP.

The 14-lunge OmniBook Ultra 14 feels love a solid machine. At 3.47 kilos, it’s a tad heavier than some “skinny-and-light” laptops, however it has an correct weight distribution and it’s a really cheap size and weight. The hinge is sturdy.

The charger HP bundles is unusually nice, too — it has a nice braided cable. As many of us have seen with phones, braided USB charging cables have a tendency to lengthen greater over the long whisk.

Whereas HP is pushing the “AI PC” perspective right here — total with an “AI” imprint below the left side of the keyboard and on the lend a hand of the hinge — endure in tips that this machine received’t win Copilot+ PC capabilities till Microsoft rolls them out in November 2024. Nevertheless, those Copilot+ PC capabilities aren’t too attention-grabbing yet anyway.

HP does bundle an “HP AI Partner” app with this machine. This app integrates a diversity of AI tools that utilize the machine’s NPU to research recordsdata in recordsdata, shall we reveal, and to recordsdata you via altering varied PC settings. It’s correct to peep PC manufacturers embody tools that gift the vitality of the AI hardware they’re pushing, but this isn’t life-altering application that will develop you like to must look for out an AI laptop.

There’s reasonably of bloatware installed right here. The noisiest one is McAfee antivirus, which nags you to establish it up, but that you just might without misfortune uninstall McAfee. There’s additionally a Dropbox promotion, as well to Adobe offers and Google necessities apps within the Originate menu. It’s no longer the cleanest setup out of the sphere, however it’s easy to uninstall what you don’t desire.

HP OmniBook Ultra 14: Keyboard and trackpad

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 has a beefy-size keyboard with a backlight that you just might toggle on and off. It’s placed effectively at the guts of the laptop, and the keys feel broad to fashion on. I don’t have in tips them soft at all. I used to be ready to fashion accurately at excessive speeds.

And naturally, since right here is an AI laptop, it has a Copilot key to the ethical of the ethical Alt key on the keyboard.

This machine has smartly-size trackpad sitting centered ethical below the keyboard, too. It’s an correct size for the laptop —  no longer too minute and no longer too neat. Palm rejection worked excellently smartly typing. The bottom felt at ease and responsive, whether I used to be fascinating the cursor with a finger, scrolling with two fingers, or the utilization of multi-contact gestures.

The trackpad’s click on action additionally felt pleasantly responsive, though I’ve been notorious by haptic touchpads love those on the Surface Pc 7 and would like to peep extra laptops utilize them.

HP OmniBook Ultra 14: Philosophize and audio system

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 involves a 14-lunge IPS point to with 2.2K possibility —  that’s 2240×1400 pixels. This is a 60 Hz point to with as a lot as 400 nits of brightness, and it’s additionally a touchscreen. The display looks correct, though it will also provide extra brightness. For a productivity-focused laptop love this one, it works smartly. For productivity and overall web-trying and media consumption, I used to be completely glad with it.

Serene, the boundaries are obvious, even on paper: 400 nits on the low side for brightness, and some folks might per chance per chance even desire extra. A refresh price sooner than 60Hz is continually nicer, too. OLED displays are unheard of extra exquisite, but they’re additionally costly and have a tendency to make utilize of extra vitality, cutting back battery life. The display is additionally reasonably of smooth, and an antireflective coating, greater brightness, or a matte have might per chance per chance even be preferrable. That’s as a lot as you and the procedure in which you will must make utilize of your laptop.

This laptop’s quad-speaker setup is one of many upper speaker configurations I’ve heard on a 14-lunge productivity laptop. It has an correct quantity of quantity, a slightly wide soundstage, and extra bass than the common 14-lunge laptop — which, I’m conscious, isn’t announcing unheard of! Pc audio system will constantly be fighting an uphill battle, but these are solid audio system. These aren’t the cheap tinny audio system you’ll unfortunately seek for on many low-priced laptops

HP OmniBook Ultra 14: Webcam, microphone, biometrics

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 has a nicer webcam than most laptops — no longer lower than on paper. It capabilities a 9 megapixel 1440p webcam — most laptops I overview have a tendency to have 1080p webcams at most. The image looks obvious in a diversity of lights stipulations, though I could per chance’ve anticipated it to seem for a tad sharper. You additionally have win entry to to a diversity of AI effects for tweaking your webcam video via House windows Studio Ends as well to HP’s bundled application.

There’s additionally a physical shutter switch above the webcam, which that you just might hump to block the webcam. That’s constantly a broad feature to have.

The OmniBook Ultra 14’s constructed-in micropho ne did an correct job of selecting up my insist, though I agree with love I’ve heard clearer audio from some varied laptops. Between the webcam and microphone, right here’s a completely sexy laptop for online meetings, though I agree with the ProBook and EliteBook laptops HP is targeting at educated users might per chance per chance even need upgraded webcams and microphones.

This laptop capabilities both an IR camera for facial recognition and a fingerprint sensor. The fingerprint sensor is integrated into the blue vitality button at the dwell-ethical nook of the keyboard. You might per chance well per chance utilize both or both with House windows Howdy. Each and each facial recognition and fingerprint recognition worked smartly, hasty letting me mark into the laptop.

HP OmniBook Ultra 14: Connectivity

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14’s port selections are little. On the ethical side, you’ve got two USB Form-C (Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 40Gbps) ports — one of which is on the angled edge. It in actuality works very effectively with the laptop’s hang vitality cable.

HP used to be proud to portray me that right here is the first AMD-powered client laptop the corporate has launched with Thunderbolt 4 ports. Serve in tips that you just will utilize such a ports to price the laptop, leaving one port free whereas the laptop is charging.

On the left side of the laptop, you’ve got a USB Form-A port (10Gbps) and a combo audio jack. This isn’t a dreadful collection of ports — some stylish laptops are ditching USB Form-A ports and even the audio jacks. However, if it’s foremost for you to have extra USB Form-C ports, extra USB Form-A ports, or capabilities love a microSD reader or HDMI out port, you’ll must look for in varied areas or win a dongle.

Since this machine is the utilization of AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 collection hardware, it offers both Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 wi-fi connectivity. It’s a broad futureproof hardware setup.

HP OmniBook Ultra 14: Performance

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 delivered mighty performance in desktop productivity apps thanks to its stylish AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 processor combined with 32GB of RAM and a 2TB solid-issue power. AMD’s fresh hardware is no scoot.

As constantly, we ran the HP OmniBook Ultra 14 via our typical benchmarks to peep how it performs in extra detail.

First, we whisk PCMark 10 to win an thought of overall machine performance. This benchmark is designed to measure overall machine performance, however it’s particularly desirous about CPU performance.

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 posted an overall PCMark 10 gather of 7,801. That’s a tad within the lend a hand of the extra costly, creator-focused Asus ProArt PX13which has a the same Ryzen AI 300 collection CPU. Nevertheless it’s effectively earlier than Intel Meteor Lake-powered laptops.

Next, we whisk Cinebench R20. This is a heavily multithreaded benchmark that specializes in overall CPU performance. It’s a hasty benchmark, so cooling below prolonged workloads isn’t a component. However, because it’s heavily multithreaded, CPUs with extra cores have a substantial advantage.

With a multi-threaded gather of 7,582 in Cinebench R20, the HP OmniBook Ultra 14 conducted smartly. It’s reasonably of within the lend a hand of the Asus ProArt PX13. However, all over again, it’s effectively earlier than Intel Meteor Lake laptops.

We additionally whisk an encode with Handbrake. This is one other heavily multithreaded benchmark, however it runs over an prolonged interval. This demands the laptop’s cooling kick in, and tons laptops will throttle and decelerate below load.

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 took 896 seconds — that’s just below fifteen minutes — to total the encode process. That’s a plump longer than the Asus ProArt PX13, but all over again beats those Intel Meteor Lake-powered laptops.

Next, we whisk a graphical benchmark. This isn’t a gaming laptophowever it’s quiet correct to evaluate how the GPU performs. We whisk 3Dmark Time Witness, a graphical benchmark that specializes in GPU performance.

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 and its Radon 890M graphics delivered a gather of 3909 in 3DMark Time Witness. A lot of the quite lots of laptops we’re evaluating this machine to have discrete Nvidia graphics, so which that you just might seek for how foremost discrete graphics are. However the Radeon 890M graphics are a nice step up over the older Radeon graphics within the older Asus ZenBook 14 OLED machine we’re evaluating it to right here.

Overall, the HP OmniBook Ultra 14 delivered mighty performance. It’s no longer reasonably as immediate as the Asus ProArt PX13 in our benchmarks, however it handily beats the same programs powered by Intel Meteor Lake processors. And not utilizing a doubt, this methodology doesn’t have discrete graphics, so it’s no longer supreme for gamers and of us that need extra 3D horsepower for educated capabilities.

HP OmniBook Ultra 14: Battery life

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 involves a 68 Watt-hour battery. This has AMD’s fresh Ryzen AI 300 collection hardware. Whereas our benchmarks exhibit it is per chance no longer as long-lasting as Intel Lunar Lake or Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite hardwareit is AMD’s most modern hardware that delivers extra vitality efficiency than lots of the laptops you’ll glean on the shelves.

To benchmark the battery life, we play a 4K reproduction of Tears of Metal on repeat on House windows 11 with airplane mode enabled till the laptop suspends itself. We spot the display to 250 nits of brightness for our battery benchmarks. This is a easiest-case scenario for any laptop since local video playback is so efficient, and real battery life in day-to-day utilize is continually going to be lower than this.

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 lasted 1,091 minutes, which is simply over 18 hours. That’s a broad result — and it beats the Asus ProArt PX13 along with those Intel Meteor Lake-powered programs. However tons of laptops put up excessive numbers on this benchmark only to drain sooner in day-to-day utilize.

Synthetic benchmarks apart, I’ve found that Ryzen AI 300 collection laptops — both this machine and the Asus ProArt PX13 I reviewed — lift long battery life in typical desktop utilization with the productivity apps I utilize. (For me, which procedure capabilities love Google Chrome, Microsoft Discover, Slack, OneNote, Excel, and varied desktop capabilities). This machine lands within the ballpark of all-workday battery life for my utilization — though, again, it in actuality is determined by the capabilities you’re the utilization of, the display brightness you to determine, and so on.

HP OmniBook Ultra 14: Conclusion

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 is a broad computer. It’s sturdy and smartly set collectively — and, most importantly, it has an AMD Ryzen AI 300 collection processor. These just have greater performance and longer battery life than Intel’s Meteor Lake chips. Plus, in contrast to with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite-powered laptop, you don’t must distress about compatibility concerns.

Due to that, I’d happily steal this over an Intel Meteor Lake-powered laptop. The unsuitable mannequin begins at $1349, which is an reasonably priced mark for this fresh hardware — and it will likely be reasonably an correct mark might per chance per chance must you glean it on sale.

Serene, it’s no longer for all people. Some folks will desire a extra exquisite OLED point to, shall we reveal. Or it’s doubtless you’ll well per chance even be hunting for discrete graphics so which that you just might sport or utilize educated tools that require that hardware. Or, per chance you merely need extra ports and aren’t waiting for the dongle life.

The plump set a query to is Intel’s Lunar Lake. When Lunar Lake laptops have taken Meteor Lake’s plan available within the market, it’s doubtless you’ll well per chance even have many extra alternate choices for this roughly performance and energy efficiency.

Serene, right here’s a broad laptop at a magnificent mark — if this hardware is what you’re hunting for.

Excellent Costs On the present time: HP Omnibook Ultra 14

Creator: Chris HoffmanContributor