HP OmniBook Ultra review: Beauty, battery life and Snapdragon X2 Plus in one thin package

HP has been making some really good laptops lately, and design is always one of the best parts about them. Now I have the HP OmniBook Ultra for review, and this is the first laptop I am testing with the new Snapdragon X2 Plus chip. Starting at ₹1,89,900, it also brings an OLED display, a 70Wh battery and an incredibly thin 1.27kg body, so I was really curious to see how well this new Snapdragon platform performs in everyday use.

HP OmniBook Ultra specifications

HP OmniBook Ultra: Design and build

The first thing that impressed me about the OmniBook Ultra is just how thin and light it is. At its thickest point, it measures only 10.7mm and weighs 1.27kg, making this one of the thinnest and lightest laptops I have reviewed this year.

The entire laptop uses a metal chassis with a sandblasted finish, and I absolutely love the subtle Stone Blue colour. It is a very faded blue, but looks fantastic when light hits the surface. The finish also does a good job of keeping fingerprints away, so the laptop continues to look clean even after being handled a lot. HP says the chassis has been tested against 20 MIL STD durability tests, which is reassuring for something this thin.

The engraved OmniBook Ultra branding on the deck looks premium, while the polished edges give the laptop a more premium appearance. But my favourite design element is the pair of rubber feet underneath. Instead of using rubber feet, HP used whole strips to make the laptop super stable on the desk.

The port selection, however, is not nearly as impressive as the design. You get three USB-C ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack, and that's it. There is no USB-A, HDMI or even a card reader, which is a bit disappointing for me.

HP OmniBook Ultra: Keyboard and trackpad

The keyboard is another part of the laptop that I really enjoyed using. HP has kept the deck clean, with just a single sticker, which I appreciate because I have complained about this in several laptop reviews before. I really don't understand why manufacturers need to cover a premium laptop deck with stickers when they can simply put those details underneath.

The keys have good travel, the typing experience feels comfortable, and the slightly bevelled key design looks great. It also remains fairly quiet, so this is a laptop I could easily use in an office or during a meeting without constantly hearing the keyboard.

But the trackpad is the real star here. It is huge, has a glass surface and uses haptic feedback, and this is easily one of the best haptic trackpads I have used on a Windows laptop. The only thing I would change is the feedback at the lowest setting, which feels slightly stronger than I would like.

Still, the overall experience is excellent, and HP has done a very good job of making the trackpad feel like an important part of the laptop rather than just another component.

HP OmniBook Ultra: Display

The OmniBook Ultra comes with a 14-inch 2K OLED touchscreen with a 1920 x 1200 resolution. The panel delivers the kind of colours and contrast you would expect from an OLED display, and it looks fantastic for watching videos, editing photos and simply working on the laptop.

The colours are vibrant but also accurate, and the touchscreen is a useful addition. HP also uses Gorilla Glass over the display for added scratch resistance. There is one major thing missing here, though: a high refresh rate. This panel is limited to 60Hz, and after using 120Hz and higher refresh rate displays for so long, you can notice the difference immediately. At this price, I really think HP should have offered at least 90Hz or 120Hz.

Brightness is another limitation. The panel is rated at 300 nits, and that is fine indoors, but it isn't particularly bright for an OLED laptop. I used it outdoors as well, and reflections are definitely an issue. The anti-reflective treatment helps reduce them slightly, but it doesn't eliminate them.

Still, I really like the display overall. The OLED panel delivers excellent colours and contrast, and for most indoor use, it is a very good screen.

HP OmniBook Ultra: Speakers

The speakers are another strong part of the OmniBook Ultra. HP uses a quad speaker setup, and the sound has good volume and enough depth to make movies and YouTube videos enjoyable. I wouldn't call this the best-sounding laptop I have ever tested, but the overall sound quality is good, and there is enough fullness here that I rarely felt the need to connect my earphones to the laptop.

HP OmniBook Ultra: Performance

Performance is where the Snapdragon X2 Plus really makes sense. The OmniBook Ultra feels extremely smooth during normal use, and I noticed this particularly with app launches and waking the laptop from sleep. Applications open very quickly, and the laptop comes back from sleep almost instantly.

My regular workload included Chrome with multiple tabs, YouTube, WhatsApp, Word and Google Docs, email and occasional Photoshop work, and I never felt the laptop struggling. I also did not run into any compatibility problems with the applications I installed and used.

This is worth mentioning because Snapdragon laptops still make some people nervous about Windows on ARM compatibility. In my case, that simply wasn't an issue.

I also ran Geekbench, Cinebench and PCMark to test the CPU and overall system performance. You can check out the scores in the attached image. The biggest surprise for me was the SSD. The PCIe Gen5 NVMe storage is extremely fast, and I think this is one of the reasons the laptop feels so responsive when launching applications and waking from sleep.

HP OmniBook Ultra: Gaming

This is obviously not a gaming laptop, but I still wanted to see how far the integrated Adreno GPU could go.

I tested Fallout 4 at the laptop's native resolution with the graphics settings pushed to the highest possible level. Most of the time, I was getting around 60fps, while the biggest drops took the frame rate into the 40s.

That's actually pretty impressive for something this thin and light. You are obviously not buying the OmniBook Ultra to play demanding AAA games, but casual gaming is absolutely possible, and older or lighter games should run without much trouble.

HP OmniBook Ultra: Cooling and software

One of the most impressive things about the OmniBook Ultra is how quiet it is during normal use. During my everyday usage, I never heard the fans even once, and I also never felt the laptop getting noticeably warm. It only started getting hot when I was running games or heavier applications. HP's compact vapour chamber cooling system also plays a role here.

Windows 11 is also surprisingly clean on this laptop. There isn't a huge amount of unnecessary software installed, which makes the overall experience feel much better.

The interesting part is the AI functionality. HP has built several AI features around the camera, including gesture controls. You can use hand gestures in front of the laptop for things like playing or pausing content and adjusting volume. It isn't always perfectly reliable, but it works well enough to be genuinely useful, and I actually think this is one of the more interesting AI features I have seen on a laptop.

The webcam itself is nothing special, though. It is fine for video calls, but the AI features are what make the camera interesting.

HP OmniBook Ultra: Battery life

I reviewed multiple laptops last year powered by ,Snapdragon chips and I expected a good battery life, but it exceeded my expectations.

With my usual workload of Chrome, YouTube, WhatsApp, Word, Google Docs, email and some Photoshop work at around 60% brightness, I could comfortably stretch the laptop across two days of use. That doesn't mean two full days of continuous heavy usage, but for normal work spread across the day, the endurance is genuinely excellent.

HP also deserves credit for finally including a proper GaN charger in the box. The 65W USB C charger is small, lightweight and much easier to carry around than the bulky chargers that still come with many premium laptops. HP says it can take the 70Wh battery to around 50% in 45 minutes.

HP OmniBook Ultra: Pros and cons

Pros

• Beautiful, premium metal design
• Extremely thin and lightweight at 1.27kg
• Excellent haptic glass trackpad
• Comfortable keyboard
• Excellent battery life
• Very quiet and cool during normal use
• 65W GaN charger included

Cons

• 60Hz display feels dated at this price
• 300 nits brightness is low for outdoor use
• Limited port selection
• Expensive

HP OmniBook Ultra: Should you buy it?

At ₹1,89,900, the HP OmniBook Ultra is expensive, but I can see exactly why someone would spend that money on it. The design is fantastic, the laptop is incredibly light, the trackpad is excellent, performance is more than enough for everyday work and the battery life is one of its biggest strengths.

The 60Hz display and limited ports are the two things I would think about before buying it. But if portability, battery life, a premium design and a great everyday Windows experience are your priorities, the OmniBook Ultra is one of the most impressive thin and light laptops I have used this year.

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