HP OmniBook 3 16 review: Budget laptop with big screen and unbeatable battery life

HP OmniBook 3 16

Benefits

• Amazing battery life
• Cohesive, unobtrusive design and solid build quality
• Comfortable to carry

Disadvantages

• The Snapdragon X1 processor is a generation late
• Keyboard backlight bleeding is annoying
• OmniBook 5 16 offers OLED for around the same price

The king of OmniBook battery life is dead, long live the king of OmniBook battery life! The HP OmniBook 3 16 has just stood out from the crowd HP OmniBook 5 14 as the oldest laptop CNET has tested. Both are powered by a first generation engine Qualcomm Snapdragon X-series processorbut the larger 16-inch OmniBook 3 managed to set a new mark for laptop battery life because it pairs a super-efficient Snapdragon X1 processor with a larger battery than the 14-inch OmniBook 5. A difference in display technology also played a role in the OmniBook 3 16’s record-breaking battery performance, earning it a CNET Lab Award for longest battery life.

The budget OmniBook 3 16 has more plastic in its construction than the consumer OmniBook 5, but I have no complaints about the build quality. I particularly like the design of the bottom panel, which makes the laptop incredibly comfortable to carry around.

In the age of RAMageddon and sky-high prices, the budget-friendly OmniBook 3 16 line starts at $1,000, which not long ago would have put it squarely in the mid-range category. And my test system offers memory and storage upgrades that increase the cost to $1,370. At this price, missing out on the better app and AI performance of a new Snapdragon X2 chip stings a bit, as does settling for a very basic IPS LCD. You can get a similar package for much less with the Acer Aspire 16 AIbut the OmniBook 3 16 has a more refined design to go along with its unbeatable battery life.

The OmniBook 3 16 is customizable at HP and starts at $1,000 for a configuration with a Qualcomm Snapdragon The entry-level Snapdragon My test system included both of these upgrades. You can also add on-screen touch support for $80, but the touchscreen upgrade wasn’t included on the unit I tested.

My test system came in standard silver, but Lenovo offers three other color options: blue, gold, or dark gray for $10 more.

So $1,000 starts the bidding for HP’s 16-inch consumer laptop. That’s about the same price you’d pay for an OmniBook 5 16. Take this OmniBook 5 16 model which costs $1,050for example, and provides the same Snapdragon Getting an OLED and twice the storage is well worth the extra $50 over the base OmniBook 3 16.

The OmniBook 3 16’s 2K IPS display is decent enough for everyday tasks and delivers surprisingly strong color performance. When tested with a Spyder X Elite colorimeter, it covered 100% of the sRGB and P3 gamuts and 92% of the larger AdobeRGB color space. Rated for a modest 300 nits, it’s not the brightest display, but at least it came close to its brightness, reaching a peak of 296 nits in testing.

HP OmniBook 3 16 performance

The Snapdragon It sits below the Snapdragon X1 Plus and Elite series, and it’s a generation behind Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 series processors. It is an 8-core processor with a neural processing unit capable of performing 45 trillion operations per second. It’s enough TOPS to qualify as a Copilot Plus PC, but only a fraction of the 80-TOPS NPU you get with a Snapdragon X2.

As we’ve seen with other Snapdragon Still, its scores were in line with other Windows laptops around this price with a Snapdragon X, Intel Core Ultra 200, or AMD Ryzen 400 processor.

In the Geekbench AI test, it outperformed the MacBook Neo and Windows laptops such as the Dell 16 Plus 2-in-1 And HP OmniBook X Flip 16 which feature a Core Ultra 200 series processor. However, you can see how much better the local AI performance is with a next-gen Snapdragon X2-based laptop like the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 in the results table at the end of this exam.

I won’t make you scroll to the end of the review to find out how long the OmniBook 3 16 lasted in battery tests. It beat the previous record of 28 hours and 19 minutes set by the OmniBook 5 14 by almost six hours, lasting an astonishing 34 hours and 5 minutes in our YouTube streaming battery drain test.

HP seems to have found the best way to get the most battery life out of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X platform, with one OmniBook replacing another as the laptop with the longest battery life we’ve tested. The OmniBook 3 16 can accommodate a larger battery, providing a 4-cell, 68-watt-hour unit, compared to a 3-cell, 59-watt-hour battery on the smaller OmniBook 5 14. The OmniBook 3 16 also has an IPS display, which is more power efficient than the OLED in the OmniBook 5 14 we tested. These two factors helped the OmniBook 3 16 reach new heights in battery life.

Sublimated in silver

The OmniBook 3 16 has a sober look with clean lines and few decorations. There’s a slight contrast between the silver chassis and gray keys, but otherwise this is your standard silver laptop.

The keyboard and bottom panel are made of plastic and the top cover is made of aluminum to allow for a slim design while still providing enough rigid protection behind the screen. The plastic material is sturdier than most budget plastic cases and doesn’t squeak or flex in any worrying way. The plastic surfaces also have a brushed matte finish that matches the texture of the aluminum cover to give the design a cohesive look and feel. The build is decidedly a more mainstream laptop than a budget model, which is good given the higher prices.

The OmniBook 3 16 sits on two wide rubber feet that span almost the entire width of the laptop. These feet hug a slightly raised section in the middle of the bottom panel that flares out gently at each end. This design keeps the laptop elevated for easier airflow through the bottom panel vent, but it also makes the laptop very comfortable to carry. When you close the laptop and lift it from either end, the rubber foot acts as a handle that sits at the perfect angle under your fingertips. And considering the long battery life, it’s a laptop you can take with you.

At 3.7 pounds, it’s not the lightest 16-inch laptop to carry around, but it’s not the heaviest either. By comparison, it’s a bit heavier than the Acer Aspire 16 AI at 3.5 pounds, but lighter than HP’s OmniBook X Flip 16, which weighs more than 4 pounds.

The keyboard is exceptional, but for one thing. The keys are stable and firm and offer lively feedback despite their shallow travel. I immediately felt fast and comfortable typing on the OmniBook 3 16. What I don’t like is its backlight: it bleeds under the keys, especially from the bottom edges of the function row keys. There are at least two backlight levels, so you can mitigate backlight bleed by using the lowest setting.

The touchpad is undersized, considering the ample space afforded to it in the sea of ​​silver beneath the keyboard. And it has a basic plastic surface rather than a more luxurious smooth glass finish and a mechanical click response rather than haptic feedback. Neither is surprising on a low-end laptop, and I had no problems dragging and clicking in Windows. In fact, it offers one of the best click responses for a mechanical touchpad; the clicks are fairly consistent across its surface and only slightly firmer near the top.

I also wasn’t surprised to find only a pair of stereo speakers on the OmniBook 3 16. Even the OmniBook 5 16 has dual speakers, so there was no chance of getting a quad array here. And as expected, the sound is disappointing. Likewise, the 1080p webcam is usable but otherwise unremarkable, offering a fairly sharp but oversaturated image. On the plus side, it’s an infrared camera, so you can use it for facial recognition logins, and it’s a nice biometric feature to get since the OmniBook 3 16 doesn’t have a fingerprint reader.

Ports? The OmniBook 3 16 has a few of them. It provides both USB Type-C and -A ports, but none of the USB-C ports are Thunderbolt 4 or USB4 and instead offer slower transfer speeds of 10Gbps. With an HDMI output and a built-in headphone jack, you at least shouldn’t need to use an adapter.

Should I buy the HP OmniBook 3 16?

I recommend the Omnibook 3 16 to anyone who is looking for a large-screen productivity laptop and would like the luxury of not having to charge it for days. I would wait for HP’s rotating discounts before purchasing, as HP’s sale prices can often save you hundreds. Because if it’s only $50 less than the OmniBook 5 16, then it makes sense to spend the extra for the OLED and extra storage. And if you can’t find a good deal on an OmniBook and are determined to spend less than $1,000 for a basic 16-inch laptop, then the Acer Aspire 16 AI is a great alternative at $700.