HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 Offers 2-in-1 Traits For The Business Folks
HP used to be like any other traditional PC brand for many years but the company has overhauled its lineup and branding in recent times. The OmniBook Ultra Flip is a part of this strategy and as the name tells you, you get a 2-in-1 with the latest AI chops that the whole market is intent on selling. The new era of AI processors from Intel and Qualcomm have shown us early promise and now companies are combining them into hardware that caters to different users.
The OmniBook Ultra Flip essentially targets the business segment but its sleek profile and 2-in-1 manners make it usable for others as well. But does it stand a chance to be on your list for over Rs 1.80 lakh in the market. We decided to take the heavy load to find out.
The 2-in-1 Premium Design
For a convertible, the OmniBook Ultra Flip is extremely sleek and weighs just 1.3 kg which was comfortable to have before we switched to our primary unit later. The design is classic HP style with its metallic body, the blue shade that we got to test, and the HP branding on the front giving it the minimalist appeal.
The hinge construction doesn’t feel like it will wear off quickly and better not, especially at the price that you pay to get one of these. You definitely notice a curve lining on the edges which houses ports (yes, for connectivity) but nicely blends in when you flip and use the Ultra as a screen-based tablet.
The lid opens with some effort which could be improved with a bigger gap for the finger to slot inside. But on the whole, the OmniBook Ultra Flip has the right build and design aesthetics that screams premium.
The OLED-y Display Touch
HP has gone with an OLED panel for the 14-inch display which supports touch input and has a stylus for the company as well. The screen is sharp and crisp with deep blacks and punchier colours, all the traits that we have become accustomed to with the OLEDs. However, the glossy side of these panels can become annoying at times and you have to explore the best viewing angles to watch or even read content.
We also didn’t like the thick bezels on the screen for a premium laptop and feel that trimming them down will enhance the viewing experience further. It is possible the lines have been broadened to accommodate the webcam with the privacy shutter which is a good addition but definitely can be looked upon for the future versions.
Sleek But Not Functional
HP has made a business laptop with design and weight in mind but the sleekness has come at the cost of ports. You get two Thunderbolt and two USB C ports. And two of them are placed around the cutout at the back. Business users would ideally need an HDMI port to connect with an external display, and even though you can do that with these ports, the lack of other options like the USB 3.2 port is also worth pointing out.
It does have the headphone jack which is good but the overall drawback of these sleek laptops need to be kept in mind. The audio unit on the Flip was a surprise and the sound quality was good enough to keep you engaged without relying on a more powerful external unit all the time.
The Work-Style Performer
HP has built a solid 2-in-1 laptop with the Intel AI Core Ultra processor that isn’t suited to gaming and strictly focuses on people who work long hours, which means they need a reliable workhorse machine that can run for a long time. In that case, the OmniBook Ultra Flip ticks most boxes, and it even handles casual games if you feel like taking a break during your work day which became evident when we ran intense graphics tests like 3DMark and Cinebench on the system.
The cooling system does a good job of keeping the machine in good health, however, Delhi’s winters are not the best time to give a clear verdict on that aspect.
The processor does support AI features which you get from HP with its own suite that has editing tools, and a companion app to summarise documents. These features will get better as they evolve with time but good to see them coming to the table.
The keyboard layout on the Flip is well spaced out with the big keys and the travel feedback gives you a comfortable typing experience. The giant trackpad is intuitive and very receptive to your inputs with almost instant response. Having a blue-coloured fingerprint sensor allows you to easily differentiate it from the other keys which is usually not the case in our previous tests.
And finally, any talk about being a workhorse is complete with knowing its endurance levels. The Flip is more than capable of running for the whole day of work and gets a lot more extra juice out of the battery if you put it on standby overnight, where we saw the number drop in single digits.
The HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 has the premium attributes baked into a 2-in-1 machine that delivers long battery life and has a crisp OLED display to keep you entertained. However, the lack of ports and less-than-powerful hardware means the use case is basic, because of which the price tag might be an issue for some buyers.