HP’s OmniBook 5 14-inch promises next-generation AI performance. In practice, its strengths are battery life, portability and value. It is a smart, efficient machine, as long as you don’t expect the AI branding to change your workflow. Review oringally posted in October 2025.

You can buy the HP OmniBook 5 14 for a shade under NZ$1500. It suits anyone who values portability and battery life over raw performance. Think senior school students, undergraduates or office workers.

It is also a good fit for journalists.

Performance is fine for web apps, office software, media streaming and light creative work. You will need to spend more for video editing or 3D rendering.

Despite the AI branding, battery life is the key feature. This is not a laptop for GPU-heavy tasks or demanding games.

Build quality

Build quality is serviceable rather than premium. It should cope with normal home or office use, but not rough handling.

It is less robust than Microsoft’s laptops and not as solid as an Apple MacBook.

Commuting is fine. A building site or farm may be a step too far. It is not ideal for users who are hard on their gear.

Even so, it represents good value. This is a well-balanced mid-range Windows laptop with strong battery life, a decent screen and a good keyboard.

You may find more powerful processors at this price if you shop around. Even so, this model deserves a place on a mid-range shortlist.

Snapdragon X Plus processor

HP uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus chip. The review unit has the base X1-26-100 model: an 8-core processor built on a 4nm process with a 45 TOPS NPU. It is tuned for efficiency rather than speed.

HP claims up to 34 hours of battery life. I could not verify that, but saw consistent results of more than 24 hours between charges.

That is still excellent for a Windows laptop.

The review unit has 16GB of Ram, which is at the low end for 2025. It will handle multiple apps, but heavy multitasking will slow things down. The 512GB storage is typical at this price and limits large media libraries.

Keyboard, trackpad, display

The keyboard is spacious and comfortable. Keys are close to full size and typing feels natural. This is as good as you will find at this level.

The trackpad works well, but does not match the smooth feel of a MacBook.

HP describes the display as “2K”, which is generous. In practice, it is a 1920×1200 OLED panel with a 60Hz refresh rate.

The screen is good for the price. Text is sharp, colours are strong and contrast is excellent. It is bright enough indoors, but struggles in direct sunlight.

Verdict: HP OmniBook 5 14

You get a lot for less than NZ$1500. Battery life is excellent, the keyboard is strong and the overall package is well judged.

What you do not get is high-end performance. That may matter if you are buying into the AI message in HP’s marketing.

Otherwise, this is a balanced, practical laptop for everyday use.

Worth knowing: do you need an AI laptop?

Most mid-range and premium laptops now come with some form of AI branding.

In practice, you may not notice much difference in day-to-day use.

Even so, this is the direction the market has taken. Unless you buy at the low end, your next laptop will almost certainly be sold as an AI device.

That is not necessarily a bad thing. These machines can offer good value. It does mean you should treat some of the marketing claims with caution.