HP OmniBook 5 challenges MacBook Neo to a duel. It entices with an OLED display and up to 42 hours of battery life

When Apple introduced the MacBook Neo this March, it gave Windows laptop manufacturers a clear target. After Samsung, HP OmniBook 5 is now also aiming at it, offering an OLED display, a slightly lighter body, and most importantly, a battery for similar money, which might make you leave your charger at home more often.

HP OmniBook 5 promises up to 42 hours of battery life

Its main weapon is a 60 Wh battery, which is almost two-thirds larger than in the MacBook Neo (36.5 Wh). HP promises up to 42 hours of video playback stored directly on the computer, while Apple states 16 hours of streaming for its laptop, and Samsung’s fresh Galaxy Book 6 is supposed to last 25 hours.

However, both numbers were not obtained using the same measurement. Playing video from the disk is one of the most power-efficient activities a laptop performs, so when working in a browser, during video calls, or in more demanding programs, the battery life will be significantly shorter. Independent tests will show by how much – we cannot verify the manufacturer’s data ourselves.

It has an OLED display, but it won’t catch up to MacBook Neo in brightness

The second trump card is the fourteen-inch OLED panel. There will be three variants to choose from – the basic one has a resolution of 1,920 × 1,200 pixels, the best one offers 2,560 × 1,600 pixels and a touch layer. Unlike the IPS display in the MacBook Neo, OLED will offer truly black color, and HP also promises full coverage of the DCI-P3 color space. The lid can also be folded flat with the table.

Brightness is more complicated. HP states up to 620 nits in its press release, but according to the specification sheet published by Notebookcheck, all three panels have a nominal brightness of only 300 nits. The higher number most likely refers to peak brightness for HDR content. The MacBook Neo manages 500 nits, so it will have an advantage outdoors or near a window.

What does the lighter body hide?

The aluminum laptop measures 11.77 millimeters in thickness and weighs 1.16 kg, which is 70 grams less than the MacBook Neo. The connectors are pleasing – in addition to a full-sized HDMI and a 3.5mm jack, it offers two USB-C ports, and both can handle data transfer speeds of 10 Gb/s. Apple’s Neo has a slower right port limited to USB 2. You can log in with your face via Windows Hello, whereas the basic MacBook Neo doesn’t even have a fingerprint reader.

Inside, power-efficient Intel processors from the Wildcat Lake series will operate in three variants: Core 5 315, Core 5 320, and Core 7 350. According to benchmarks, the most powerful of these at least partially approaches the A18 Pro chip from the MacBook Neo, but it will not arrive on sale until later in October. The basic configuration has 8 GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, which is sufficient for office work and browsing, but it doesn’t leave much room for more demanding multitasking in Windows 11.

Price and Availability

In the USA, the HP OmniBook 5 will start selling in October for $699.99, which is approximately 15 thousand Czech crowns without tax after conversion. It will be available in four colors – silver, blue, pink, and light green. Meanwhile, the MacBook Neo costs around $700 in the USA after a summer price increase, and on Alza, it can currently be bought for 17,490 Kč.

HP has not yet announced the Czech price or release date. However, previous generations of OmniBooks commonly appear at domestic retailers, so the new model should not be missing from the shelves of Czech stores.

Would you opt for the OmniBook 5, or stick with the MacBook Neo?

Sources: HP, Notebookcheck, Engadget