Mark Coppock / KeynoteUSA
Mark Coppock / KeynoteUSAThe first laptops from Microsoft’s new Copilot+ PC initiative, running Windows on Arm and built with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite Arm chipset, are now on the market. One of the first is the HP OmniBook X, which also introduces HP’s new brand that brings together all of its consumer laptops.
These machines are primarily aimed at Apple‘s MacBook Air, which uses the Apple Silicon M3 Arm chipset and has provided the best balance of performance and battery life. Is the OmniBook X a serious competitor?
Specifications and configurations
| Apple MacBook Air M3 | HP OmniBook X | |
| Dimensions | 11.97 inches x 8.46 inches x 0.44 inches | 12.32 inches x 8.8 inches x 0.56-0.57 inches |
| Weight | 2.7 pounds | 2.97 pounds |
| Processor | Apple M3 (8 cores) | Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 |
| Graphics | 8 GPU cores 10 GPU cores | Qualcomm Dreno |
| RAM | 8 GB 16 GB 24 GB | 16 GB |
| Show | 13.6-inch Liquid Retina IPS display with 16:10 aspect ratio, 2560 x 1664 | 14.0-inch, 16:10, 2.2K IPS display (2240 x 1400) |
| Storage | 256GB SSD 512GB SSD 1TB Solid State Drive 2TB Solid State Drive | 512 GB 1TB |
| Tap | No | Yeah |
| Ports | 2 x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4 1 x 3.5mm audio jack 1 x MagSafe 3 | 1 x USB-A 3.2 1 x USB-C 3.2 1 x USB 4 3.5mm audio jack |
| Wireless | Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 | Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 |
| Webcam | 1080p | 5MP camera with infrared for facial recognition in Windows 11 Hello |
| OS | macOS Sonoma | Windows 11 on Arm |
| Battery | 52.6 watt-hours | 59 watt-hours |
| Price | $1,099+ | $1,150+ |
| Classification | 4 out of 5 stars | 3.5 out of 5 stars |
HP offers just two configurations of the OmniBook X. Both use the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 chipset, and you’ll pay $1,150 for 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD and $100 more for a 1TB SSD. A 14.0-inch, 2.2K IPS display is the only option.
The MacBook Air M3 has a more complicated configuration. The cheapest model costs $1,099 and comes with an 8-core M3 chipset, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. If you have a 10-core GPU, you’ll spend $100 more, and if you have 24GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD, you’ll spend over $2,000.
Overall, the OmniBook X is more affordable than the MacBook Air M3.
Design
Luke Larsen / KeynoteUSA
Luke Larsen / KeynoteUSAThe OmniBook X doesn’t stray too far from HP’s typical design, with something of a mashup of the aesthetics of the premium Spectre and the midrange Envy. It has an all-metal chassis and lid that are reasonably rigid, with only a slight flex in the lid under moderate pressure. It’s available in two colors, Meteor Silver and Ceramic White, and overall it’s an attractive if somewhat conservative laptop.
The MacBook Air M3 has Apple’s latest design, which is fairly boxy but incredibly meticulous, giving it a very recognizable and elegant aesthetic. It’s crafted from a solid block of aluminum, but like the OmniBook X, the lid is a bit flexible. It’s available in four colors, including Midnight, Starlight, Space Gray, and Silver. I wouldn’t choose any of these laptops over the other based on build quality or aesthetics alone.
As far as input options go, the M3 MacBook Air wins. Its Magic Keyboard has larger keys, more space between keys, and faster, more accurate switches, while the OmniBook X’s switches are a bit firmer. The MacBook’s Force Touch haptic trackpad is the best money can buy, and it’s far better than the OmniBook X’s mechanical touchpad. It’s larger, more accurate, and more customizable.
Neither laptop has a huge number of ports, but the MacBook Air benefits from Thunderbolt 4 and a dedicated MagSafe 3 power supply connection, while the OmniBook X makes do with an additional legacy port. It does have a USB4 port that mostly matches Thunderbolt 4’s capabilities, but not quite. You can get the latest Wi-Fi 7 on the OmniBook X, while the M3 MacBook Air is limited to an older generation.
Finally, the OmniBook X has a higher-resolution webcam and an infrared camera for Windows 11 Hello facial recognition, and it can also use some advanced AI features as part of the Copilot+ platform. That includes enhanced Microsoft Studio Effects software with AI-assisted background blur and more. The MacBook has a Touch ID fingerprint reader, and Apple Intelligence AI features are coming to the next version of macOS Sequoia.
Performance
Mark Coppock / KeynoteUSA
The OmniBook X uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 Arm chipset. It has 12 cores (eight performance and four efficiency) and runs at up to 3.4GHz. It doesn’t have the dual-core burst mode enjoyed by the faster Snapdragon X Elite chipsets, making it the slowest in the line. Its Adreno GPU runs at 3.8 TOPS (trillion or teraoperations per second), and like all members of the line, its neural processing unit (NPU) runs at 45 TOPS. The MacBook Air M3 uses the Apple Silicon M3 chipset with eight CPU cores (four performance and four efficiency) and either eight or ten GPU cores.
In our performance tests running natively on Windows on Arm, the OmniBook X was about 12 percent faster in Geekbench 6 multi-core and 25 percent faster in Cinebench 2024 multi-core. The MacBook Air M3 was about 30 percent faster in Geekbench 6 single-core and 40 percent faster in Cinebench 2024 single-core. In the only graphics performance test that runs natively on both chipsets, the MacBook Air M3 was about 31 percent faster.
Ultimately, each of these chipsets is more than fast enough for the most demanding productivity workflows. The MacBook Air M3 has faster graphics, which should make it a better gaming laptop, but only when running older or newer titles at very low graphics. In creative applications, the MacBook Air M3 will be faster thanks to CPU optimizations in video encoding and decoding. But neither laptop will be a great choice for demanding creators.
| Geekbench 6 (single/multiple) | Cinebench 2024 (single/multiple) | 3D Brand Extreme wildlife | |
| Apple MacBook Air M3 (M3 ) | 3.102 / 12.078 | 141 / 601 | 8,098 |
| HP OmniBook X (Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100) | 2.377 / 13.490 | 101 / 749 | 6.165 |
Display and audio
Luke Larsen / KeynoteUSA
The OmniBook X has a 14-inch IPS display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and 2.2K resolution (2240 x 1400). It’s not as sharp as the MacBook Air’s 13.6-inch IPS display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and 2560 x 1664 resolution.
According to our colorimeters, the MacBook Air M3’s display is much brighter and has significantly wider colors. The OmniBook X’s colors are slightly more accurate, and both laptops have roughly the same contrast.
Overall, the MacBook Air M3’s display is better, especially for creators and media consumers.
| Apple MacBook Air M3 (IPS) | HP OmniBook X (IPS) | |
| Glow (nits) | 495 | 325 |
| AdobeRGB Gamut | 87% | 78% |
| sRGB gamut | 100% | 100% |
| DCI-P3 range | 99% | 79% |
| Accuracy (DeltaE, the lower the better) | 1.24 | 0.98 |
| Contrast ratio | 1.480:1 | 1.400:1 |
The OmniBook X has two down-firing speakers that are acceptable. The MacBook Air M3’s audio is much better, with four speakers that output louder and clearer sound.
Portability
Luke Larsen / KeynoteUSA
The MacBook Air M3 is one of the thinnest laptops you can buy today, at just 0.44 inches, and considerably thinner than the OmniBook X at 0.57 inches. The OmniBook X is also slightly heavier. Neither laptop is particularly heavy to carry around, but the MacBook Air M3 is noticeably slimmer.
The biggest battle between these two laptops is battery life, where Qualcomm and Windows on Arm are set to have the biggest impact. The OmniBook X is competitive with the MacBook Air M3 when playing back our test video, lasting 22 hours compared to the MacBook’s roughly 19.5 hours. When browsing the web, however, the MacBook Air M3 is much stronger at 19.5 hours compared to 13.5 hours. And when running Cinebench 2024, the MacBook Air lasts 3.5 hours while the OmniBook X shuts down after about two hours.
Ultimately, the MacBook Air M3 is much more efficient when it comes to performing more demanding tasks. That means that for real-life work, Apple Silicon retains its top spot.
A step in the right direction, but not enough
The OmniBook X is a significant upgrade over Intel’s Meteor Lake chipsets, with improved performance and better battery life. It’s reasonably priced, well-built, and a good first member of HP’s new brand. As a Windows alternative to the MacBook Air, it’s certainly worth considering.
On the other hand, the MacBook Air M3 is still a much more efficient laptop, with better battery life, especially as performance increases. It also has a better display, keyboard, and trackpad. It’s more expensive, but in my experience, it’s totally worth it. Some other Copilot+ laptops perform better, like the Surface Laptop 7th Edition, but in this comparison, the MacBook Air will make more people happy.
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