HP has been overhauling its consumer PC portfolio over the last two years. After dropping laptop lines like Spectre, Envy and Pavilion, it merged everything into the OmniBook family. However, during this transition, HP hasn't really had a true apex competitor that could go up against premium machines from Dell, Apple and others. That changed this summer with the arrival of the OmniBook Ultra, which delivers nearly everything you could want from a high-end ultraportable notebook.

One of things I like most about the OmniBook Ultra is its design. It's super sleek and comes in two color options (eclipse gray and silk sand, which is what you see here) while offering a distinctive look that won't get lost amongst the sea of premium metal-clad laptops. Instead of aping Apple and others with a unibody chassis, HP went with a forged stamped aluminum build that increases strength and rigidity while keeping weight to a minimum and supporting good repairability.

Not only has the OmniBook Ultra passed a series of MIL-STD 810H tests for things like shock resistance, extreme temperature and humidity, accessing its internals is as simple as removing four screws, one on each corner of the system. HP even claims the Ultra is "the world's most durably slim consumer notebook," which is the marketing team's way of saying this thing is way tougher than its pretty exterior might suggest.. After more than a week of lugging it around, it certainly felt quite sturdy, though I did notice that its matte finish may be prone to scratching when tossed in a bag with other metal objects like a camera or keys. And weighing just 2.8 pounds and measuring 0.42 inches thick, the OmniBook Ultra is significantly thinner and lighter than an equivalent 14-inch MacBook Pro (3.4 pounds and 0.6 inches).

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Elsewhere, HP kept the OmniBook UItra's design super simple. When it comes to I/O, there are three USB-C ports with support for Thunderbolt 4, DisplayPort 2.1 and USB Power Delivery 3.1, plus a 3.5mm audio jack. That's it aside from Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 connectivity. There's no room for a dedicated HDMI jack or an SD card reader, which may be a bit of a bummer for anyone planning on using this thing for photo or video editing. Meanwhile, there's also a very large and precise haptic touchpad along with a comfy keyboard. The keys have just the right combination of stiffness and bounce, even though HP's trapezoidal keycaps aren't my preferred shape.

While Intel-based versions of the OmniBook Ultra only feature a single display option (there is a lower res 2K OLED display available on Snapdragon variants), I'm not complaining because the standard 14-inch 3K touchscreen OLED panel is brilliant. It features excellent brightness at 500 nits (or up to 1,100 nits in HDR) along with a 120Hz refresh rate and a color gamut that covers 100 percent of DCI-P3. In short, it's bright, sharp and exceedingly colorful.

Above its display, the Ultra includes a 5-megapixel webcam with IR for use with Windows Hello facial recognition. I appreciate that HP added in a handy physical shutter so you can cover the camera when it's not in use. Image quality is also more than good enough for web calls and presentations, though if I'm really nitpicking, I would like slightly better dynamic range as things can look a touch washed out, especially when you're backlit.

I'll be the first person to admit that our $4,000 review unit with 64GB of RAM and 2TB of storage is complete overkill for most people, but I do appreciate that HP has given the OmniBook Ultra a ton of configuration options. In fact, this is the first OmniBook to offer this much memory along with a compact vapor chamber. In addition to a range of Intel CPUs, including the Core Ultra X9 388H chip tested here, this laptop can also be equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Plus and X2 Elite processors. In general, systems with Snapdragon chips offer slightly better battery life and faster NPUs for AI-related workloads, while Intel models feature more balanced performance and wider software compatibility thanks to their x86 architecture.

That said, for those looking for a premium all-rounder, you can adjust the Ultra's config down to a more reasonable $2,600 while keeping 32GB of RAM and Core Ultra X9 388H silicon. This could be really important for power users as this chip comes with Intel's Arc B390 GPU instead of the slower, generic Intel Graphics you get on less expensive CPUs. When it comes to general productivity, this thing absolutely flies. But the more impressive part is how it handles tasks that might be outside of its traditional scope — like gaming. It pumped out 56 fps in Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p and medium graphics with XeSS set to performance. That's pretty solid considering I got very similar numbers from the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X (62 fps), which is a dedicated PC handheld that costs $1,000 on its own.

Even though I haven't tested the Snapdragon version of the OmniBook Ultra, which is supposed to deliver even better runtimes, this Intel model is no slouch either. On PCMark 10's Modern Office rundown test, it lasted 19 hours and 14 minutes, which is one of the longest marks we've seen this year from any laptop. When compared to the Dell XPS 14 (10:21), the Ultra's time is so good I wondered if HP may be putting its thumb on the scales a bit. That said, with a time of 18:33, the ASUS ZenBook Duo (in single-screen mode) wasn't that far behind, so HP's time here isn't completely outlandish. And after rerunning the test and doing some anecdotal testing while writing this review, there's no doubt that this machine has more than enough juice to outlast a typical workday.

As the king of the hill atop HP's consumer laptop lineup, the OmniBook Ultra doesn't disappoint. You can quibble about the lack of an SD card slot or HDMI port, and HP's annoying popups and system alerts, but there's no doubt the company has made a first-class ultraportable. It has an exquisite design with a brilliant display, strong performance and solid battery life. And if you're patient and diligent enough to keep an eye for a discount, you can even snag one for a good deal. At the time of writing, HP currently is offering $500 off one of its mid-range configs, which brings its price down to $1,300 instead of $1,800. So if you're looking for a premium Windows ultraportable, the HP OmniBook Ultra needs to be at the top of the list.