The MacBook Neo made quite a splash last month. $599 for a MacBook felt groundbreaking, and it was easy to say that Windows laptops had no true answer to it.
But what if I told you there was a Windows option that was better in almost every way? That’s the HP OmniBook 5, a laptop you’ve probably never heard of unless you watch the space closely. I’ve been recommending it ever since I tested it last month, and the price has fluctuated. But today, it’s only $500, and that buys a stacked configuration with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage. That’s twice the memory and storage of the $599 MacBook Neo. It’s also powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon X, a highly efficient chip that gets great, all-day battery life that’s at least on par with the MacBook Neo.
The HP OmniBook 5 Is Only $500
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Specs don’t tell the whole story, and Apple has never been known for offering tons of specs for cheap. But the OmniBook 5 14 is also an attractive design in a highly portable package. At 0.50 inches, it’s exactly the same thickness as the MacBook Neo, and right around the same weight too. Does the MacBook Neo have a bit more style and personality? Absolutely—especially with those bolder color options. But I’d say the OmniBook 5 is a very pretty laptop in its own right.
A couple of my biggest hangups with the MacBook Neo were the smaller things. For one, the storage speed of its SSD was pretty slow, and the USB-C ports were outdated. The OmniBook 5 has two USB-C ports capable of 10 Gbps, as well as a fast USB-A port on the other side. And while the MacBook Neo doesn’t even have a fingerprint sensor, the OmniBook 5 has an IR camera with facial recognition for Windows Hello.
Photograph: Luke Larsen
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