---
title: 'The OmniBook 5 Beats the MacBook Neo… But Should You Buy It?'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=d6-MKB71NmQ'
video_id: 'd6-MKB71NmQ'
date: 2026-08-03
duration_sec: 701
---

# The OmniBook 5 Beats the MacBook Neo… But Should You Buy It?

> Source: [The OmniBook 5 Beats the MacBook Neo… But Should You Buy It?](https://youtube.com/watch?v=d6-MKB71NmQ)

## Summary

The video reviews the HP OmniBook 5, a budget laptop, comparing it to competitors like the MacBook Neo and Dell XPS 13. It highlights the laptop's performance, battery life, design, and value, concluding that while the budget model is solid, the high-end model is overpriced.

### Key Points

- **Price Increase and Positioning** [00:02] — The OmniBook 5 now costs around $700 for the low-end model and up to $1000 for high-end, a significant increase from last year's $400. HP is trying to position it in a higher price bracket.
- **Verdict on High-End Model** [00:30] — The high-end OmniBook 5 is not worth the price; a MacBook Air or HP's own OmniBook 7RX are better buys. It should be about $200 cheaper.
- **Verdict on Budget Model** [01:11] — The budget model is solid, better than the MacBook Neo, but the Dell XPS 13 is better. Only buy if it's cheaper than the XPS 13.
- **Processor Performance** [01:50] — The OmniBook 5 uses a low-power Intel Core 5/7 processor, not Core Ultra. It's only suitable for web browsing and office work, performing similarly to a MacBook Neo with a 2024 mobile phone processor.
- **Graphics Performance** [03:24] — The GPU is poor, only suitable for basic games. An Acer Aspire 14 with Core Ultra 7 series 2 has a much better integrated GPU (140V).
- **Fan Noise and Heat** [04:04] — Occasional fan noise, but no heat on keyboard deck. Not as silent as MacBook Neo or XPS 13.
- **Battery Life** [04:29] — Excellent battery life, around 11 hours, clobbers the MacBook Neo which has a small battery.
- **Design and Build** [04:42] — Zoe comments that the design is boring, with flex on keyboard deck. Available in blue, gray, tan colors. Sturdy lid, stiff hinges.
- **Display** [06:04] — OLED panel with great color accuracy, 1920x1200 resolution at 60Hz, but dim at 300 nits. Touch screen, but has screen door effect and PWM flickering.
- **Keyboard and Trackpad** [07:27] — Keyboard feels good but mushy due to flex. Backlight is distracting. Trackpad is basic mechanical, smooth and accurate.
- **Ports and Speakers** [08:07] — Plenty of ports: 2 USB-A, 2 USB-C (10Gbps), HDMI 2.1, headphone jack. Speakers are loud but need a flat surface to bounce off.
- **Webcam and Upgradability** [08:58] — Webcam is poor, but has privacy shutter and Windows Hello. Storage and Wi-Fi card are upgradeable; standard is Wi-Fi 6, but Realtek cards may have issues.
- **Final Score and Recommendations** [09:48] — Scored 7/10. Holds up well against MacBook Neo, but XPS 13 is better. Only buy the budget model if cheaper than XPS 13. For more performance, consider Acer Aspire 14.

### Conclusion

The OmniBook 5 is a decent budget laptop with excellent battery life, but its high-end model is overpriced. The budget model is a good buy only if it's cheaper than the Dell XPS 13.

## Transcript

king. I bought one last year for $400. Now, for that money, it was a great buy. good enough for basic web browsing and office work. Its cons were its middling performance, which really limited you to basic web browsing and office work. It
also was just rather heavy. Well, this year, laptop prices have just gone through the roof, and HP are now trying to do something sneaky. They're trying to slot their much worse Omnibook 3 into the space that this one filled. With
this change in pricing, it means that the Omnibook 5 now seems to range for around $700. That's for the configuration that we have with a very low performing core processor up to $1,000 for models with a better Core
ultra processor. Look guys, I have value your time. I'm not going to make you watch this entire video to find out whether you should buy an Omnibook 5. when it comes to the high-end model, absolutely not at this price point. A
MacBook Air is just a much better buy. In fact, you can get HP's own Omnibook 7RX for that kind of money, and those are better, too. This OmniBook 5, it really needs to be about $200 cheaper than those. When it comes to the budget
configuration, that's the model that we have. It is a very solid one to get. I think it's actually better than the MacBook Neo, but Dell's new budget XPS 13 is just better than both of them. So, only buy the Omnibook 5 if it's cheaper
than the XPS 13. That's assuming the XPS 13 has the same 16 gig of memory as the Omnibook 5. Anyway, as usual, all the recommendations will be listed below this video as well as on our website, bestlaptop.dals.
Over there, we track prices right across retailers to ensure you're getting the best discount possible because that's very important right now. Let's get into the video. Performance-wise, the Omnibook 5 that we have, it uses a very
lowowered Intel Wildcat processor called a Core 5 or Core 7. Do not confuse this a Core 5 or Core 7. Do not confuse this with a Core Ultra 5 or Ultra 7. This one is worse. Since, as I said, there is a more expensive Omnibook 5 with a Core
Ultra processor. We've actually added the XPS 14 to our graphs. It has that chip, so you can see how that one might perform. I've also added a bunch of other processors in laptops you will find in this price range. Now, since
processor names are so ludicrously confusing right now, on our website, bestlaptop.dals, to help you out, we've just grouped them into four buckets. Max performance, good performance, basic, and poor. This core processor delivers
only suitable for web browsing and office work. If you are a student, fine for studying law, med or liberal arts, those disciplines, they don't require a lot of computing power. If on the other hand you are studying STEM, you'll at
power like the Core Ultra 7 that I'm showing you here. As you can see from common performance tasks that you may do on your laptop, this Omnibook 5, at processor, performs around the same as a MacBook Neo. That one uses a mobile
phone processor from 2024. You can clearly see that the Omnibook 3 with Qualcomm Snapdragon X processor that's from the Gen 1. It performs a little bit better as do laptops with Intel's Ultra 5 and Ultra 7 processors, even ones from
their series 2 from last year. In Cinebench, which tests the max performance a laptop is capable of, it's a similar story. Here you can see the Omnibook 5 is a little faster than the Neo, but it's still not a powerful
processor. Now, over to graphics performance. Just like CPUs to make your laptop on best laptop. Deals, we classify all GPUs into those four performance categories. The one in this laptop is again poor performant. There
is an Acer Aspire 14 available around this price point with a Core Ultra 7 series 2 Luna Lake processor and that one has a much better integrated GPU, the 140V. So obviously buy that one if you want graphics performance. This
means only the most basic games are really going to be playable on this if you're expecting to do any creative work like say photo or video editing. Now, rounding up performance, the only other thing that I did want to draw your
attention to is on occasion you will hear some fan noise with this laptop. It's not often, but it does happen. This is just not a completely silent laptop like say the MacBook Neo. The XPS 13 that I talked about earlier too, that is
much quieter. On the positives, you don't feel any heat on the keyboard deck. Battery life is very good on this laptop. It should get you through a full day of office work. We measured around 11 hours. This is one area where this
laptop, guys, it completely clobbers the MacBook Neo. That laptop has a very small battery. Now, I got something cool for you. Since this is clearly a laptop more suitable for basic home or office use, and absolutely students, I thought,
why not get Zoe in to share her thoughts, so be nice to her. This is her first time on camera. >> The Omnibook 5 looks pretty boring. It looks like a laptop my grandma would hand me. They've got the classic HP logo
as the logo on the more expensive Omnibook Ultra. There are other colors depending on the configuration and where you buy it. There's a light blue, a dark gray, and a tan color that all look a lot more interesting than this Glacier
fives in those colors, so we're going to show you the Omnibook Ultras in those instead, but the material is a little bit different, so it probably varies in real life. I think I'd probably go for the blue one. But in terms of how sturdy
the laptop is, it has a bit of a flex in some areas. Minimal flex on the lid and stiff hinges so that the screen doesn't flop back. Unfortunately, there is some flex on the keyboard deck, which you may notice when you're typing. One of the
than last year's, around 2.9 instead of 3 and 1/2. Budget laptops tend to be on Omnibook 5 way easier to carry around if you have it in like a tote bag or like a backpack or something. But it is bigger than the MacBook Air in thickness and in
size and much bigger than the Neo. If I just cared about looks, I'd probably sick of seeing the same three or four colors cycle through laptops. Windows laptops tend to follow the trends set by Apple. Apple came out with a MacBook Air
in the light blue color and now HP has one. Unlike other laptops, the Neo looks attention grabby, which supposed to be good. I think the display looks good. It's an OLED panel with great color accuracy. This kind of panel is kind of
rare on a budget laptop. It has a 1920 x 1200 resolution that refreshes at 60 Hz. resolution on a 14-in screen looked pretty normal to me. However, when it's definitely tell that the Small Text looks a lot sharper on a higher
resolution display. This additional sharpness of the Air means you can see sharpness of the Air means you can see more on its smaller 13.6 in panel. The by thinking a bigger screen means that you can see more content on it. The
screen's resolution, brightness also matter. This screen is a bit dim, 300 nits. Most people find it good enough for indoor use, but in bright reflections, you'll find yourself mashing the brightness key. The Neo and
the Air do get much brighter. Unlike those laptops, this one has a touch screen. I do like to use a touchcreen and I use it in tandem with the keyboard tend to have the screen door effect, and you can see it when you get close to
flickering used to control the brightness. I've never noticed either the screen door effect or the PWM flickering before, but if they bother you, good news, the MacBooks don't have either. The keyboard feels good to type
feels nice, responsive, and it doesn't feel super low travel. However, because of its back flex, it feels kind of mushy to type on. The keyboard backlight isn't very useful in its intended purpose in a dark environment. I feel like it would
be kind of distracting because more light kind of escapes around the keys letters. The key characters block too much light and if you leave the blends in with the keyboard and makes it kind of hard to decipher. The trackpad
is sort of basic mechanical which means that it physically clicks with smooth tracking, good accuracy, and it's not too deep, not too loud, which is nice and it isn't distracting. Thanks, Zoe. Just rounding out the rest of this
laptop. The ports are solid. You've got a lot of them and a wide variety. Two USBA ports, one that is 10 GB, two type-C ports that are also 10 GB, and There is also an HDMI 2.1 port and a headphone mic combo jack. Clearly, you
can see a huge amount better when it comes to its ports than the MacBook Neo. Now, I wouldn't say they are the clearest, but they do get quite loud. That's if you use the laptop on a flat surface like this desk here. That's
and they need something to bounce off of.
like on the new Omnibook 5. It's not a good one, as you can clearly see. It privacy shutter. And it does have Windows Hello facial recognition to get you locked in fast. If you're just using dimmer house lights, not the studio
lights that I was using before, it looks even worse. Getting the back off the laptop is easy. Storage is upgradeable, as is the Wi-Fi card. The standard one is only Wi-Fi 6, but I think that's fine for a laptop with this kind of
performance. You can customize it when you buy it from HP with Wi-Fi 7, but you may want to just upgrade that yourself. That's because both the Wi-Fi cards are real tech ones. In the past, some people have reported issues with those. I want
to be clear, we had no issues with this laptop in any kind of Wi-Fi scenario, and we used it in a bunch of different places with a lot of different routers. Nonetheless, Intel Wi-Fi cards do tend to be preferred for maximum stability.
All right, let's wrap. The Omnibook 5 got a 7 out of 10 in a laptop scoring. This is a new feature we just launched on our website. And unlike Amazon scoring, which is ridiculously boosted, where anything under 4.2 stars is
terrible, seven, it's a pretty good score. I think the Omnibook 5 holds up very well against the MacBook Neo. The Neo, it does look prettier. As Zoe already said, it comes standard with a brighter, high resolution display, and
it has no fan noise at all. But the Omnibook 5, it has longer battery life. has a keyboard backlight. It can come with 16 gig of memory, and Zoe didn't cover this, but over at HB store, you can customize it with a high resolution
can customize it with a high resolution display, but everyone at this company thinks the XPS 13 is just better than both of these. So, only buy the Omnibook course referring to the lower-end core model of the Omnibook 5 that I reviewed
today. If you need more performance at that price point, well, Asus Aspire 14 with a Core Ultra Series 2 chip. That's the way to go. that will perform a lot better, particularly its GPU. But it does look and feel cheaper and its
screen is worse. When it comes to the upper end model of the Omnibook 5, that's the one with a Core Ultra processor. I can see you paying $800 for price, guys, there are just better laptops on offer like a MacBook Air or
HP's own Omnibook 7 or X. We'll list some down below. And do keep in mind, laptop prices are just fluctuating like a freaking yo-yo. One day this laptop might be $500, the next a,000. On our website, we do not tolerate this kind of
crap. We specifically call out when a laptop's current price makes it a good or great deal, and we track prices historically so that we can tell you this. Big thanks to Zoe for doing her first video. Until next time, we'll both
first video. Until next time, we'll both catch you later.