But 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD in an okay laptop for around $500? That counts as good news in 2026.<\/p>\n
$516<\/p>\n The Good<\/p>\n The Bad<\/p>\n The entry-level OmniBook 3 I tested has an 8-core Snapdragon X processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD, and a 16-inch 1920 x 1200 anti-glare IPS LCD. And the OmniBook 3 is fairly portable for a larger laptop with lots of ports. It\u2019s barely heavier than a 14-inch MacBook Pro, and at a maximum thickness of 0.63 inches \/ 16mm it\u2019s decently thin. This big laptop doesn\u2019t feel big. And despite a plastic chassis and low price it doesn\u2019t feel too cheap either.<\/p>\n As much as I would like to see more cheap Windows laptops with the sleek looks and sturdy all-metal build of the MacBook Neo, I wouldn\u2019t mind if more of them were like the OmniBook 3. Its screen, keyboard, trackpad, and webcam are all at least passable to decent. There isn\u2019t anything special here, but unlike the Chuwi UniBook there\u2019s also nothing that feels like a punishment.<\/p>\n The 1920 x 1200 \/ 60Hz screen isn\u2019t high-quality or bright enough to combat the sun when taken outside (it maxes out at 300 nits of brightness and covers a paltry 62.5 percent of the sRGB color space), but it isn\u2019t washed out or bleeding light at its edges. The mechanical trackpad has a basic diving board-style hinge, but a confident and decent-feeling kachunk-y click. The 1080p webcam is actually fairly sharp, and it does a good job handling backlight from a bright window \u2014 with only a hint of green color cast. But hey, at least it has Windows Hello face unlocking. And at least this not-too-large large laptop has lots of ports and charges via USB-C with a very compact 65W GaN charger.<\/p>\n Just one USB-A and an audio jack on this side.<\/p>\n But another USB-A, two USB-C, and HDMI over here.<\/p>\n The left-aligned keyboard and trackpad allow for a generously sized numpad.<\/p>\n My biggest gripe is the dual speakers (unsurprisingly), which lack bass and sound too treble-y, but they\u2019re just tolerable enough to live with. My next biggest is the keyboard (surprisingly). I usually like HP keyboards, but this one feels too stiff. If you\u2019re the type to hammer your fingers down and you love a generously sized number pad you might be fine, but I get more typos than I\u2019m used to from keys not registering. I could learn to live with it, but I\u2019d still prefer not to have to.<\/p>\n What I can totally live with is the performance. The OmniBook\u2019s 8-core Snapdragon X processor is a little slower than the one in the $950 Surface Laptop I tested, but the OmniBook\u2019s day-to-day performance is better because it\u2019s not starved for RAM and its larger SSD is a little faster. Like other lower-end Snapdragon laptop chips it\u2019s not going to wow you with graphics performance or tackle heavy content creation in Adobe apps, but it\u2019s perfectly adequate for everyday multitasking work. Even when running several apps with a couple dozen Chrome tabs left open, including a video podcast playing, I didn\u2019t feel it slow down the way the Surface Laptop or Chuwi UniBook, each with only 8GB of RAM, did.<\/p>\n And while a Snapdragon chip means this Windows laptop isn\u2019t ideal for gaming, it does make it great on battery. You can pretty easily get around 12 hours of mixed web usage with a bit of music or video streaming.<\/p>\n It feels like the money went into the core specs of the OmniBook 3, and HP just barely stuck the landing on the right compromises elsewhere. As much as I adore the build quality of Microsoft\u2019s Surface Laptops, if I were spending my own money I\u2019d choose the OmniBook 3, never worry about how much RAM is in use, and save over $400.<\/p>\n 1\/8<\/strong>The screen is bright enough to use it near a big window, but outside it\u2019s difficult to see even in the shade.<\/p>\n If we reviewed the OmniBook 3 a year ago I might feel different, but it\u2019s been a tiny breath of fresh air to use something this cheap and mostly think, \u201cNot too bad!\u201d Especially coming right after I tested the $450 Chuwi UniBook. An employee being issued this laptop for work shouldn\u2019t feel like their IT department totally hates them. And while I think a MacBook Neo would still be a better all-around experience for a school-age kid, I\u2019d totally understand saving nearly $200 to get the OmniBook 3 if a budget can\u2019t be stretched.<\/p>\n My only worry is that the OmniBook 3\u2019s price will go up like everything else. While there are more sub-$800 laptops coming, and I\u2019ll be testing more very soon, the OmniBook 3\u2019s price \u2014 and that of the OmniBook 5 I reviewed back in December<\/a> \u2014 feel anomalous right now. The RAMageddon storm could eventually ruin them like it did many other laptops and devices. But, for now, there\u2019s some safe harbor with this lowly OmniBook.<\/p>\n HP OmniBook 3 16 specs (as reviewed)<\/p>\n Photography by Antonio G. 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<\/a><\/p>\nHP OmniBook 3 16 \/ Qualcomm Snapdragon X X1-26-100 \/ 16GB \/ 512GBMacBook Neo \/ Apple A18 Pro \/ 8GB \/ 256GBChuwi UniBook \/ Intel Core 3 304 \u201cWildcat Lake\u201d \/ 8GB \/ 256GBMicrosoft Surface Laptop 13-inch (2026) \/ Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus X1P-46-100 \/ 8GB \/ 256GBAcer Aspire 14 AI \/ Intel Core Ultra 7 256V \/ 16GB \/ 1TBLenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x \/ Qualcomm Snapdragon X X1-26-100 \/ 16GB \/ 256GB<\/tr>\n \n CPU cores<\/td>\n 8<\/td>\n 6<\/td>\n 5<\/td>\n 8<\/td>\n 8<\/td>\n 8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n GPU<\/td>\n Adreno X1-45<\/td>\n A18 Pro (5 GPU cores)<\/td>\n Intel Graphics (1 GPU core)<\/td>\n Adreno X1-45<\/td>\n Intel Arc 140V (8 GPU cores)<\/td>\n Adreno X1-45<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Geekbench 6 CPU Single<\/td>\n 2142<\/td>\n 3402<\/td>\n 2385<\/td>\n 2348<\/td>\n 2769<\/td>\n 2137<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Geekbench 6 CPU Multi<\/td>\n 10593<\/td>\n 8508<\/td>\n 6187<\/td>\n 9421<\/td>\n 10930<\/td>\n 9728<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Geekbench 6 GPU (OpenCL)<\/td>\n 9577<\/td>\n 19798<\/td>\n 6019<\/td>\n 9554<\/td>\n 28556<\/td>\n 9689<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Premiere 4K Export (lower is better)<\/td>\n 12 minutes, 8 seconds<\/td>\n 8 minutes, 30 seconds<\/td>\n 1 hour, 9 minutes, 29 seconds<\/td>\n Crashed<\/td>\n 7 minutes, 28 seconds<\/td>\n 12 minutes, 59 seconds<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Sustained SSD reads (MB\/s)<\/td>\n 5017.12<\/td>\n 1735.91<\/td>\n 2394.57<\/td>\n 3804.31<\/td>\n 6391.51<\/td>\n 5738.86<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Sustained SSD writes (MB\/s)<\/td>\n 4370.35<\/td>\n 1684.05<\/td>\n 2092.66<\/td>\n 3310.94<\/td>\n 5524.22<\/td>\n 2801.02<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Price as tested<\/td>\n about $520<\/td>\n $699<\/td>\n $449<\/td>\n $949.99<\/td>\n $1,049.99<\/td>\n $749.99<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n
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