.jpg "The Best Time to Drink Coffee for Productivity (and When Not To)")
HP has announced a revamped lineup of OmniBook productivity laptops at CES, including its latest AI-focused flagship Ultra model. While pricing and availability haven’t yet been revealed, we know the upcoming HP OmniBook Ultra 14 is ditching its previous AMD Ryzen AI 300-series CPUs in favor of Intel’s Panther Lake and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 series processors, which are expected to provide a hefty performance boost to AI-related tasks.
The top-line 18-core Snapdragon X2 Elite X2E-90-100 features a neural processing unit that HP has rated at 85 trillion operations per second (TOPS), for example, higher than the up to 55 TOPS provided by the OmniBook’s AMD-powered predecessor. HP hasn’t specified which next-gen Intel processor options will be available, so comparable TOPS figures for those models may be shared at a later date.
The OmniBook Ultra 14 can now be configured with up to 64GB of RAM instead of the previous 32GB cap, with storage maxing out at a 2TB SSD. Both the Intel and Snapdragon options will rely on integrated graphics rather than a dedicated GPU, and will be adding the first OmniBook “compact vapor chamber” cooling system to help prevent the laptop from overheating from all the AI tasks that HP presumes you’ll be doing with it.
It’s still only available in a 14-inch size option, but at 2.8 pounds, it’s a smidge lighter than the older 3.5-pound OmniBook Ultra model, and is slimmer than the current-generation MacBook Air. The display resolution has jumped from 2240 x 1400 pixels to 2880 x 1800, and it now uses an OLED panel instead of IPS. There are several small flourishes to the design, too, such as a haptic touchpad that can be used to control audio volume and display brightness.
Battery life is another improvement — while the previous model provided up to 16 hours and 30 minutes on a full charge, HP says the upcoming OmniBook Ultra 14 will last up to 20 hours, or even 30 hours on some of the Qualcomm configurations.
We’re also waiting on several other OmniBook laptop launches, with pricing and availability all coming at a later date. The new OmniBook 7 will be powered by next-gen AMD processors, while the OmniBook 5 will provide a choice of Intel or AMD CPUs and come with an OLED display as standard. Both models will be available in 14-inch or 16-inch sizes. The OmniBook 3 provides even more variety, with 14-inch, 16-inch, and 17-inch size configurations and a choice of Intel, AMD, and Snapdragon processors.
The OmniBook X rounds off the smattering of update announcements, and it will be available in both a flip and a traditional clamshell form factor. There are options for Intel or AMD configurations, but the 14-inch and 17-inch clamshell versions will be Intel-only. The OmniBook X will be available with LCD displays to start, with OLED options launching in the future, though HP says those OLED screens won’t be coming to the clamshell-style models.
