HP OmniBook X review: a new breed of Windows laptop

In this age of Windows laptops, a transformation unseen before is underway. The catalyst, Apple’s transition to the Apple Silicon Arm architecture, set forth a revolution in performance and efficiency that hath stirred the industry.

Microsoft, in their wisdom, hath birthed Copilot+, a PC named for its new AI features. This marvel, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite Arm chipset, doth dare challenge Apple in both performance and battery life.

Hark! HP hath rebranded their laptops as the OmniBook, casting aside the Pavilion, Envy, and Spectre brands. The OmniBook X, HP’s first Copilot+ laptop, doth run on the Snapdragon X Elite, marking a new dawn in Windows on Arm machines. Though it may not vanquish the MacBook Air M3, it doth offer a compelling choice amidst the current sea of Intel and AMD laptops.

Behold, the Specs and configurations

Lo, the OmniBook X doth arrive in just two configurations. For $1,150, thou shalt receive the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 chipset, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 14.0-inch 2.2K IPS display. For but $100 more, thou canst upgrade to a 1TB SSD.

These prices are fair for a laptop of excellent performance and good battery life. Compared to their rivals, the Apple MacBook Air M3 and Dell XPS 13, these prices doth shine brightly.

Design of Ye Laptop

The talk of the town is the latest Windows on Arm, powered by the Snapdragon X Elite and new Copilot+ AI features, exclusive to Qualcomm’s sparkling chipset. The magic of AI, though still in its infancy, doth promise wonders. Enhanced Studio Effects, Live Captions, and Cocreator, features that beckon from the Snapdragon X Elite.

Yet, let us not be beguiled by AI. Our gaze must rest upon the OmniBook X as a laptop. And in this realm, it doth make a gallant start to HP’s newfound branding.

Lo, it is well-built, with an aluminum chassis and lid that doth stand sturdy – only falt’ring slightly under pressure. The Apple MacBook Air M3 doth suffer a similar fate, whilst the Dell XPS 13 stands more resolute. These are all noble machines. The OmniBook X, besides this, is of moderate size and weight, with the MacBook Air M3 being the lightest and thinnest. Aesthetically, the OmniBook X doth not forge new paths. Available in Meteor Silver and Ceramic White, it doth present a visage most agreeable. The MacBook Air M3 hath a elegance, whilst the XPS 13 doth hold a more modern appeal. Yet, on looks alone, none shall choose among them.

Keyboard and touchpad, A Play of Keys

The keyboard of the OmniBook X boasts a layout akin to HP’s premium offerings – generous keycaps, ample spacing, and bold lettering that doth shine golden in all lighting realms. The key switches, swift and precise, doth require a touch more force compared to others, such as the excellent Magic Keyboard of the MacBook Air. Whilst I, humble scribe, find the keyboard a trifle firm, most shall find favor in its design.

The mechanical touchpad is of reasonable size, yet lacks a touch of grandeur. Responsive it may be, yet room for growth doth lie in the palm rest. The clicks, firm and resolute, echo through the lands. The MacBook Air’s Force Touch touchpad doth surpass, as doth the touchpad of the Spectre x360 14. ‘Twould have been wiser to include such advancements herein.

The display, blessed with touch, is a boon. A feature the MacBook Air doth not proffer.

Connectivity and webcam, A Tale of Ports

Connectivity doth unveil itself in this 14-inch laptop. USB4, by its side, offering the fruits of Thunderbolt 4, alongside a legacy port. Alas, an SD card reader is nowhere to be found. Those seeking to remain current may upgrade to Wi-Fi 7 for wireless pleasures.

HP’s 5MP webcam, with Microsoft Studio Effects AI, doth smooth backgrounds and beyond. A Copilot+ feature, present in a lesser form on the previous ‘AI PCs’ running on Intel’s Meteor Lake and select AMD chipsets. An infrared camera, for Windows 11 Hello, doth rest as well. Beware, the infrared camera doth hold a penchant for ceasing mid-work, requiring a system reawakening to restore functionality. A quirk, indeed, awaiting amends.

Performance of CPU, A Dance of Cores

The OmniBook X Elite, housed within, doth possess the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 chipset. This gem, with all Elite X versions, boasts twelve cores – eight for prowess, four for efficiency. The X1E-78-100, the most fleetfooted, gallops at a peak of 3.4GHz, in contrast to the X1E-00-1DE, which canters at 3.8GHz. Lacking a dual-core boost mode, it falls short of the X1E-00-1DE’s sprint to 4.3GHz. The Adreno GPU, at 3.8 TFLOPS, falls shy of the 4.6 TFLOPS of the stellar X1E-00-1DE. The OmniBook X, though not bereft of fans, doth keep them to a whisper in their full fervor. The MacBook Air M3, fanless, reigns in silence.

The conundrum of assessing the OmniBook X’s mettle lies in the dearth of benchmarks for Windows on Arm. Only binaries native to the Arm chipset hath been documented, others run in emulation, and some refuse to run at all. In my humble tests, the OmniBook X proved swift, matching the stride of its Intel Meteor Lake and Apple Silicon bedfellows whilst traversing common tasks of the day. Scores from Geekbench 6 and Cinebench 2024, both ensconced in the Arm realm, herald the OmniBook X as slightly quicker than Intel Meteor Lake laptops and the MacBook Air M3 in multi-core prowess. Yet, the MacBook Air M3 doth soar in the realm of singular core feats, a realm of import in mundane tasks. The PCMark 10 Applications benchmark, running in emulation on Windows on Arm, doth sing a similar tune – the OmniBook X prevailing. A benchmark most pragmatic, revealing the OmniBook X as a steed swift enough for productivity endeavors, be they emails, webscapes, or office musings. Nigh surprising it be, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x, bearing the same chipset as the OmniBook X, doth steal the crown in briskness, a testament to the power of design.

The crux of the matter – the Snapdragon X Elite doth breathe new vigor into Windows on Arm. In days past, Windows on Arm bore the weight of dire performance penalties, now lifted. Despite boasts of the new chipset’s vitality, the OmniBook X doth not eclipse its rivals in tasks oft assigned to these laptops.

Behold, the MacBook Pro 16, with the M3 Max chipset, standing as a beacon of comparison. Though it may seem opportune to compare with the 14-inch model, both MacBook Pro brethren doth shine equally. ‘Tis clear, the M3 Max doth outshine the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100, even in the fiercest trials.

GPU performance, The Arcane Arts of Graphical Prowess

The query of the Snapdragon X Elite’s Adreno GPU and its mettle doth linger. Alack, we find ourselves constrained in our comparison against the MacBook Air M3. This query holds value beyond mere gaming – a realm where these integrated GPUs struggle to make merry. Microsoft and Qualcomm do tout the platform’s gaming grace, a sentiment that rings but hollow – declaring that these Windows on Arm laptops can match the might of laptops wielding Intel Arc and AMD Radeon, though the bar be set low. Even then, uncertainties hover o’er the platform’s gaming performance, even in running elder titles with rudimentary settings.

More pressing is the performance of the Adreno GPU in creative realms – realms where Adobe’s Premiere Pro and Photoshop beckon, relying on GPU acceleration. The MacBook Air M3 hath the upper hand here, courtesy of the M3 chipset’s optimizations, not solely by the grace of its GPU cores. Consider the Pugetbench Premiere Pro – a benchmark alive in real-time application.

The MacBook Air M3 doth score 3,633, outpacing the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 9 with its Intel Arc graphics, scoring but 2,349. Nigh unto the 8,046 scored by the MacBook Pro 16 with the M3 Max chipset – a realm beyond compare. This benchmark eschews Windows on Arm, yet gazing upon these scores, the OmniBook X may not soar as high as the MacBook Air M3. The MacBook, though swift, doth command respect not solely for its GPU, but to show that a discrete GPU on a Windows on Arm laptop be a boon for tasks such as video editing.

Lamentably, the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme test – wrought to test integrated graphics, including Windows on Arm – doth reveal the OmniBook X but slightly slower than the Intel Arc (and the MacBook Air M3). In other trials, the Adreno pales in comparison. These marks bode ill for the OmniBook’s prowess in arduous creative endeavors, where even the humble RTX 4050 on the Dell XPS 14 doth outstrip it – the Dell scoring 3,983 in the Pugetbench Premiere Pro benchmark.

The heart of the matter – the OmniBook X, among its Snapdragon X Elite kin, may not hold court over similar Windows laptops in matters of graphical might. None, it seems, stand as titans of gaming, and creators too shall tread with caution.