I found a fantastic school or Uni laptop when testing the HP OmniBook 5

With all the innovation in personal computing in the last year there has been a real emphasis on highlighting some of the highest specification laptops with the very latest of everything, but we’ve come so far that I feel like the things that have been most desirable about recent laptops is now coming to devices that are far more affordable.

The HP OmniBook 5 has an RRP of $1,599, but during my review I’ve seen it at $1,299 (JB Hi-Fi), and that puts it right into the spotlight for senior school and university device buyers, as well as people who are upgrading from much older technology.

There’s a lot of people looking at new PCs right now with Windows 10 about to end formal support, so again, the HP OmniBook 5 might just be the perfect replacement.

And I don’t say that because it has some staggering new feature, in fact quite the opposite, it’s just a great all-rounder.

Running the new generation Snapdragon X series processor you get AI capabilities, so there’s Microsoft CoPilot installed, as well as things like HP’s AI Companion which may be the greatest thing for PC users in a long time, giving you natural language access to changing settings and PC configurations – if there’s one thing to love AI for it’s that it brings natural language to getting things done.

Critically, that processor gives it the extraordinary battery life – quoted as “up to” 34 hours – but that’s under some lab like settings. The reality is that you’ll get a staggeringly long full-day use here.

I used this on one of my longest working days, easily 16 hours, and still had around 28% juice in the tank. And I’m not one for lowering the brightness much at all so I can call this an all-day machine with no concerns.

Speaking of brightness, the OLED screen is a value win at this price point – really impressive picture quality, and looks amazing at the office and home. It’s not the brightest screen ever, so probably not a great choice if you’re doing outdoors work on the laptop a lot.

The 14 inch screen has a 1920×1200 (2K) resolution, but also has that shiny coating which can be distracting in the wrong downlight or room-light settings.

It’s a slick design, nothing fancy, just simple, and that works for me in this case. The screen to body ratio is an excellent 90% so you’re not burdened with big wide bezels

The keyboard is a great size, and has three backlight settings (Off, Medium and Bright) which make it great for those late night sessions while you’re watching TV trying to get ahead on work or study.

Another surprise might be the 1080p webcam – use it for Windows Facial Recognition login, or slide the privacy shutter to keep it private till your next zoom call, and when you’re on that call there’s great speakers and an array of microphones to make it a top quality call too.

Weighing 1.29kg it’s not a burden on your backpack, nor does it take up much space with just 1.27cm thickness.

It has two USB-C and one USB-A port, along with a 3.5mm audio jack – all I missed here was an SD card reader, which is tough to expect at this price point.

This is not the most powerful Laptop on the market – but for around $1500 this is beyond excellent performance. For everyday laptop use, for students and for those upgrading from Windows 10 – this is an easy win.

I’ll let you in on a secret, for the first week or so using this I was like “meh”, good, no issues – perhaps I’m spoiled by $3,000 and $4,000 laptops. But then I took the time to find out what this was worth, and when I saw the price – I knew it was an easy recommendation.