It’s rare (and kind of weird) to call a laptop “sexy.” But I must admit, opening up and holding the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 did have me feeling some kind of way. Like, I haven’t felt like saying “damn this is gorgeous” about a laptop since the original MacBook Air, and HP’s done it again here.
So I ditched my M3 Pro MacBook Pro and switched to this as my daily driver for a month, and...well... As the saying goes: "looks aren't everything." I ran into many moments where I was wishing for more — watching it drop off the best laptops list in my mind. Let me explain.
FYI: The configuration we got weighs in at $1,899 (discounted to $1,449 right now on HP’s website).
It all started so well...
HP just pulled off the “blue steel” on the entire laptop market of 2025 and proved that utilitarian does not have to mean boring. The aesthetics are seriously eye-catching, from its matte black finish (that is surprisingly fingerprint resistant) to the subtle details like the curved front corners and angular back edges, the design team really pulled it out the bag for this one.
And not only that, but the company's managed to make it thin and lightweight all the same. Make no mistake about it — if design is one of your key motivators in buying a laptop, this will show up the rest of your coworkers.
The connection deepens
The more I pulled this out of my backpack, the more I continued to be blown away by that 3K 120Hz OLED display up top — it's a true visual stunner with fast, responsive multi-touch.
And while you’ll like using it in tent mode for all your Netflix binging, the standard laptop mode gets a whole lot of love too. For how thin that keyboard is, it feels amazing to type on with nice spacing around the keys and a good tactile thump to each key press.
But bonus points have to go to that ocean of a haptic trackpad. It’s massive and has an immensely satisfying snap to every click, while being gorgeously smooth for all your sweeping gestures.
Style over substance
Three come to mind that I think comes from the decision to focus on making the Ultra Flip 14 look as good as it does.
First, the port array is pretty limited. With two Thunderbolt 4, a USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 and 3.5mm combo audio jack, you’re restricted here in what you can connect without a dongle. Plus, placing two of these on the back corners does look cool, but means you can’t slot in any thicker devices like a memory stick without it stopping the screen from unfolding.
Second, the amount of bloatware on here is crazy. The way my laptop came alive in a flash flood of notifications from McAfee, HP Smart and many more made my first contact with this quite the frustrating chore of immediately opening up “add or remove programs” and uninstalling the lot.
Then we move to probably my biggest gripe here. For $1,900, I would expect much more performance than what I got — you’ve got lower-priced machines either matching or exceeding what is possible here.
To its defense, that does mean you’re getting a decent 12-hour battery life according to our own lab testing, but that’s a small benefit when you can get laptops that are nearly $1,000 less that are faster and longer-lasting.
Laptop | Geekbench 6.4 single-core | Geekbench 6.4 multicore | Blackmagic Disk Speet test (Write/Read MBps) | Handbrake (transcoding 4k video to 1080p mm:ss) |
HP Omnibook Ultra Flip 14 | 2638 | 10877 | 3400.7 / 4696.2 | 06:37 |
13-inch MacBook Air (M4) | 3751 | 14947 | 1919.7 / 2891.1 | 05:34 |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition | 2531 | 10711 | 3297.3 / 3825.2 | 06:23 |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x | 2448 | 13750 | 3253.3 / 3652.6 | 05:16 |
Asus ProArt PX13 | 2847 | 15203 | 3345.6 / 3586.2 | 03:36 |
Not to say it's a slouch, as it can hang with a lot of the competition in the above table. But when the competition is a couple hundred bucks shy of what you’re expecting people to pay, that creates a disconnect.
To have moments of Photoshop stuttering when editing RAW pictures on a near-$2,000 laptop isn't really kosher in my eyes. Having to wait those frustrating extra seconds for an app to open isn't ideal either.
And no matter how really, really ridiculously good-looking the Ultra Flip 14 is, there are better ways to spend your money.
What should you buy instead?
So what should you buy instead? Great question! I have a few options tailored to every need you may have.
"I need a good all-rounder"
"I want this kind of Intel laptop for less"
"I need a high-performance 2-in-1"
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