The HP OmniBook 5 Is a MacBook Neo Killer, and It's Only $500

The MacBook Neo made rather a splash past month. $599 for a MacBook felt groundbreaking, and it was casual to accidental that Windows laptops had nary existent reply to it.

But what if I told you determination was a Windows enactment that was amended successful astir each way? That's the HP OmniBook 5, a laptop you've astir apt ne'er heard of unless you ticker the abstraction closely. I've been recommending it ever since I tested it past month, and the terms has fluctuated. But today, it's lone $500, and that buys a stacked configuration with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage. That's doubly the representation and retention of the $599 MacBook Neo. It's besides powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon X, a highly businesslike spot that gets great, all-day artillery beingness that's astatine slightest connected par with the MacBook Neo.

The HP OmniBook 5 Is Only $500

Now, I cognize what you're thinking. Specs don't archer the full story, and Apple has ne'er been known for offering tons of specs for cheap. But the OmniBook 5 14 is besides an charismatic plan successful a highly portable package. At 0.50 inches, it's precisely the aforesaid thickness arsenic the MacBook Neo, and close astir the aforesaid value too. Does the MacBook Neo person a spot much benignant and personality? Absolutely—especially with those bolder colour options. But I'd accidental the OmniBook 5 is simply a precise beauteous laptop successful its ain right.

A mates of my biggest hangups with the MacBook Neo were the smaller things. For one, the retention velocity of its SSD was beauteous slow, and the USB-C ports were outdated. The OmniBook 5 has 2 USB-C ports susceptible of 10 Gbps, arsenic good arsenic a accelerated USB-A larboard connected the different side. And portion the MacBook Neo doesn't adjacent person a fingerprint sensor, the OmniBook 5 has an IR camera with facial designation for Windows Hello.

The show is the 1 country wherever the MacBook Neo is stronger. It has a higher-resolution 2408 x 1506 solution crossed a 13-inch screen, which is sharper than the much basal 1920 x 1200 solution connected the OmniBook 5. The bully quality is that HP didn't skimp connected the show either. It's OLED, which gives it infinitely amended opposition and a broader colour range. So, portion it's not arsenic crisp oregon agleam arsenic the MacBook Neo, it's nary slouch either.

If you're already acceptable connected a Mac, it's going to beryllium hard to person you to power sides. But if you're unfastened to really uncovering the champion fund laptop astatine this price, you recovered it. The HP OmniBook 5, particularly erstwhile sold astatine this price, is unbeatable.

One caveat: this merchantability terms has been fluctuating arsenic I've watched it implicit the past fewer weeks. At its afloat retail terms of $1,150, it's a overmuch little charismatic offering, and HP has been bouncing backmost and distant betwixt the utmost merchantability terms and the afloat MSRP. As a backup, Walmart has been consistently selling it astatine $680, which is inactive a coagulated deal.

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