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U HP The OmniBook Ultra Flip is a fantastic laptop that can transition from casual to professional workloads quite easily, and I had no trouble transitioning in my day-to-day use, taking over from the massively powerful Surface Laptop Studio as well. my “far from”. my desktop ‘PC.
Of the laptops I’ve used over the years, including the much-loved Surface models Dell XPS (now known only as Dell Pro Max), the OmniBook Ultra seems to tick the most boxes for me. It is definitely a contender for our list best laptops in australia.
A beautiful, touchscreen OLED display, mixed with a brilliant keyboard and processing power that can handle quite high-end games, HP’s latest laptop feels well accomplished in a world where Apple remains dominant for casual use and Windows is shaken by the advent of ARM pc.
But this does not mean that the laptop is simply good on all fronts. As is common with most Windows PCs, the laptop is stuffed with bloatware, including the latest HP AI tools. In our testing, we saw considerable performance gains after disabling unnecessary applications, including several HP processes.
Putting those resource-sucking included apps aside, let’s talk about what makes the OmniBook Ultra such an attractive option.
What is so Ultra?
It’s worth noting that HP hasn’t used the name “OmniBook” in decades. The original OmniBooks line was discontinued in 2002, and today the OmniBook name represents the brand’s wide range of computers – completely cutting out the Pavilion and Spectre titles. The Ultra Flip denotes the height of the laptop range (as Specter once did), but you’ll also find the Omni name plastered on HP all-in-one PCs and desktop computers.
The HP OmniBook Ultra Flip we reviewed is priced at $1,599.99 / £1,899.99 / AU$3,699, and includes a Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor and 32GB 16GB LPDDR5x RAM. Slightly tweaked options are available in the US and the UK, with prices quoted representative of the closest modified systems (for example, the 32GB, 1TB storage option is not available in the UK). The device features a 14-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 2880 x 1800 pixels, and 512GB, 1TB and 2TB storage options where available. The laptop can be folded into a tablet-like design, but you can also buy a cheaper, non-folding version (simply called the OmniBook Ultra).
It’s a brilliant combination of specs that make the OmniBook Ultra Flip capable of running a game like Cyberpunk 2077 at a decent 40fps (medium settings), and it scored extremely well in our benchmark tests. The January issue of APC, Australia’s PC magazine, includes many of our tests, but you’ll find a chart below detailing many of our results.
It is one of a growing number of laptops that feature an NPU, a subset of the processor that is dedicated to taking on tasks offloaded from the GPU and CPU, but is mainly reserved for AI and performing more efficient tasks (ergo that brings to a longer battery life. ). We didn’t see the NPU get much use during our testing, but it did see some use when blurring webcam backgrounds in the onboard ‘Poly Camera Pro’ app and when using the Live Translate feature in Windows. It’s good to have the NPU here with an eye to the future, looking at incoming Copilot features and increasing AI tools on board.
Bare stats aside, the OmniBook Ultra Flip is a winner in style. The sleek frame includes easy-to-grip plastic, and a tactile touchpad that simulates a click with a motor underneath. Unlike Dell’s flagship laptops, HP has kept the function row as real keys instead of capacitive touch buttons, a much better choice for me given that I prefer the tactile feel.
The laptop also includes the hallmarks of the previous Specter range, including the 360 design that allows you to flatten the display parallel to the back of the laptop, effectively creating a Windows tablet. This may be attractive to you if you like that form factor, but understand that there may be limited application support when folded as such.
The edges behind the display are sharpened, with a diagonal USB-C port located on each side (and another on the right side, plus a headphone jack on the left). I like this because it allows the cables to stay easily tucked away behind the screen, and I’m a sucker for a unique design.
But we can’t dwell on the design forever. My biggest takeaway from the OmniBook Ultra Flip was a glimpse into what innovation could really be in a stagnant market; simplify and remove unnecessary bloat.
Beware of swelling
When we talk about software bloat on the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip, we’re talking about applications like the following that are set to start automatically when the computer turns on:
HP AI Companion, HP One Agent Service, HpseuHostLauncher, Intel Connectivity Performance Suite, Intel Graphics Command Center Startup Task, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, Mobile Devices, myHPsystemtray, OMEN Gaming Hub Background, Phone Link, Poly Camera Pro and Xbox. There’s also McAfee Anti-Virus, but we uninstalled that quickly in our time with the laptop.
Many of these applications come standard Windows 11and others come standard with an Intel CPU, but that’s an issue for another day — on the manufacturer side, HP has added six separate startup apps into the mix. Many of these apps have a valid purpose that you’ll certainly miss if they’re not running in the background (such as apps that automatically update drivers or offer quick optimization settings), but they ultimately take away from your performance. base
Here is what the performance looks like when you have all the aforementioned applications enabled and disabled at startup (if necessary, they will be re-enabled when you open an application).
Keep in mind that we are talking about a powerful and universal laptop, and really this is not a problem limited to HP computers. Most other manufacturers include a huge amount of first-party software with their computers, although there are some that limit the bloatware in their systems (such as Microsoft with its Surface line and Framework configurable laptop company).
The manufacturers make the argument that their included software is optimized for system performance, but the results clearly indicate that there is a drop in performance with so much running in the background. You may not encounter such a difference during casual use, but under load, you will probably see a greater strain on your system with more active processes, such as when playing games or running high-end 3D applications.
It’s hard to see how some of these apps benefit your experience when they’re set to open at startup, like the OMEN app if you’re not a gamer, or the AI Companion app if you don’t want to interact with the program’s built-in GPT. -4th model.
The AI Companion app, for example, has its uses, which allows you to get general answers from the web, analyze documents, or even change performance settings on your computer without entering cluttered menus.
The last one was particularly impressed, which allows me to quickly change the basic settings by asking the chatbot to do so. But, more complex commands (such as “do not turn off the display when not in use”) resulted in confusion – instead of doing the steps explaining how it could be done. That said, there’s little reason for this app to be activated from startup rather than sitting in your start menu, taskbar, or desktop, waiting to be opened.
This result is a good reminder that if you want the most bloat-free laptop experience after buying a new device, it’s good practice to do a clean install of Windows and pick up the software you need as you go — even if you will miss the experience provided by the manufacturer.
A brilliant computer for a demanding user
We’ve often seen the HP Omnibook Ultra Flip on sale since it launched in late 2024, and if you can find a decent discount on a model of your choice, it would be hard to say no. This is a brilliant laptop that I have loved, and going forward it will probably continue to replace the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio in my daily use.
Light, small and very capable of heavy tasks, the Ultra Flip is a brilliant all-purpose laptop. It also has a sophisticated style, and with its unique USB-C device, it’s easily one of my favorite laptop designs.
Just be sure to check the programs you need and don’t need after taking them. The apps that run at startup may have their uses, but during heavy use, you may find yourself moving away from the experience.
