HP, also known as Hewlett-Packard, is an American company founded in 1939. As one of the oldest tech companies in the world, HP has produced a wide range of products encompassing everything from calculators and personal digital assistants to scanners, printers, desktop computers, and laptops. Its laptop portfolio comprises models at nearly every price range, including budget-friendly Chromebooks, Windows ultraportables, gaming laptops, and high-performance workstations.
We've tested over 150 laptops, more than 20 of which were made by HP. Here are our recommendations for the top HP laptops. If you want to learn more about how we test laptops or our review process, check out this article, where we give you a quick rundown of each step from the moment we purchase the laptop to the final published review.
Updates
- 01/22/2025 HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 (2024) reviewed
- 11/20/2024 HP Victus 16 (2024) reviewed
- 10/02/2024 HP Spectre x360 14 (2023) updated
- 08/27/2024 HP ZBook Power G11 A (2024) reviewed
- 07/25/2024 HP Pavilion Aero 13 (2024) reviewed
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Best HP Laptop
School8.5Gaming7.8Multimedia8.7Workstation8.3Business8.3The best HP laptop we've tested is the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 (2024), a 2-in-1 Windows convertible designed for general productivity tasks. Replacing the popular HP Spectre x360 14 (2024), this 14-inch model is among the first to carry the OmniBook name after HP's massive rebranding campaign, putting all personal laptops under the OmniBook brand. It feels just as well-built as its premium predecessor, sporting a full-aluminum chassis that exhibits little to no flex. The overall user experience remains near-identical, as it still has a gorgeous 2.8k OLED display with pen input support, a tactile keyboard, a responsive haptic touchpad, and an incredibly sharp 4k webcam.
This model uses Intel's Lunar Lake chips, ranging from a Core Ultra 5 to a Core Ultra 9. These chips have no problem handling everyday tasks like web browsing, spreadsheets, and presentations, as well as moderately demanding workloads like programming and photo editing. The battery lasts comfortably through a typical day of light use, and you can charge the laptop via USB-C. There's also no longer a USB-A port (you get three USB-Cs), so a dongle may be necessary. One last note regarding pen input: while HP includes a stylus when purchasing through its website, that may not be the case when you buy the laptop via a reseller. The stylus uses Microsoft Pen Protocol, so any MPP 2.0 stylus will work.
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Best Mid-Range HP Laptop
School7.9Gaming6.6Multimedia7.3Workstation8.2Business7.7Our mid-range pick is the HP Pavilion Aero 13 (2024). This 13-inch ultraportable is configurable with AMD's Zen 4 Ryzen CPUs, which are more than adequate to handle light, general productivity tasks and even some moderately demanding workloads like programming. Display options include an FHD+ and a QHD+ IPS panel; both look sharp and get bright enough to combat glare in well-lit settings. You get a 1440p webcam with facial recognition support for quick logins, as well as a wide port selection with four USBs and a true HDMI 2.1. Its battery life is great at around 10 hours of light use—you can charge the laptop via USB-C, so you won't have to lug a proprietary charger around.
The main downside of this laptop is its build, which is a noticeable step down from our top pick, the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 (2024). Its aluminum and plastic chassis flexes a fair amount, and the device as a whole feels hollow and cheap. Also, the finish scratches easily from everyday use, which is unfortunate for a device designed for portability. Another minor complaint is the touchpad; it's plastic and doesn't track continuous inputs all that well, like when dragging and dropping items across a long distance. Still, at the price point, there's a lot to love about it.
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Best HP Workstation
School7.8Gaming6.9Multimedia7.0Workstation8.6Business8.1If you're looking for a workstation laptop for intensive tasks like 3D modeling or simulations, check out the HP ZBook Power G11 A (2024). A major strength of this laptop is the sheer range of configurable options; you can easily scale the hardware up or down depending on your needs and budget. To that end, it's configurable with AMD 8040-series CPUs, and you can get it with just integrated graphics or paired with an NVIDIA RTX Ada Generation Laptop GPU, up to an RTX 3000. Multiple display options are available; most are FHD+ display options (with or without touch input). However, there's also a 120Hz QHD+ display option with 100% sRGB coverage if you need something for SDR color-critical work. Other nice-to-have features include a full-size keyboard with a numpad and a 1440p webcam with Windows Hello facial recognition.
Plenty of ports are on offer, including two USB-As, two USB-Cs (USB4), an HDMI 2.1, an SD card reader, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, an Ethernet port, and a SIM card reader. In addition to support for Wi-Fi 6E, there's optional cellular connectivity, which is great if you need to take your workstation to remote work locations. Our major complaint is that the laptop doesn't provide a user experience as premium as other laptops in its price range. For example, many display options aren't bright enough for bright environments, and the touchpad could be larger. Finally, while customizability is this laptop's strength, navigating HP's website to find the configuration you want can be difficult.
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Best HP Laptop For Content Creation
School7.5Gaming8.3Multimedia7.7Workstation9.0Business7.7The HP OMEN Transcend 14 (2024) is the best HP laptop for content creation we've tested. Although it belongs to HP's OMEN gaming laptop lineup, this model is more of a hybrid device designed for gaming and content creation on the go. It features Intel Meteor Lake CPUs and various NVIDIA GPUs, from an entry-level RTX 4050 to an RTX 4070, giving you plenty of power to tackle demanding video editing projects. Its 2.8k OLED display gets bright enough to combat glare and has full coverage of the DCI P3 color space. Its factory calibration is good out of the box, though you may want to fine-tune it a bit to get the best results.
This laptop feels well-built and offers a great user experience. The keyboard has a good amount of travel and tactility, and the touchpad is large and responsive. You get plenty of ports to connect peripherals and external displays, including two USB-As, two USB-Cs (one with Thunderbolt 4 support), and a full HDMI 2.1. Its battery life is the main pain point, as it only lasts around six hours of light use. The keyboard gets a little toasty when performing demanding tasks, though not to the point of causing discomfort.
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Best Budget Gaming HP Laptop
School7.5Gaming8.5Multimedia6.4Workstation9.3Business8.1If you're just getting into gaming or simply need something that won't break the bank, the HP Victus 16 (2024) might be the one you're looking for. Configurable with AMD Ryzen CPUs and NVIDIA discrete GPUs (up to an RTX 4070), this 16-inch model delivers smooth gameplay in demanding AAA games at 1080p or 1440p. There are three display options: a 144Hz FHD, 165Hz FHD, and a 240Hz QHD panel. The latter will give you the best experience, though you'll have to pair it with the top-end 4070 GPU to get the most out of it. None of the displays support variable refresh rate to minimize screen tearing, an unfortunate drawback of many budget gaming laptops.
The laptop feels pretty well built, but as you may have guessed, it isn't very portable, as it's bulky and heavy. It has a spacious and tactile keyboard, a great 1080p webcam, and tons of ports for peripherals and external displays. You can choose between a Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E wireless adapter, and there's also an Ethernet port to ensure you get the fastest and most reliable internet connection when gaming online. RAM and storage max out at 32GB and 1TB, respectively; these components are user-upgradeable, so don't worry if you don't have the budget to get the configuration you want upfront. Thermal throttling is minimal, but unfortunately, the fans are quite loud.
Compared To Other Brands
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Wide selection of products.
HP has many laptop lineups ranging from cheap Chromebooks to premium workstations.
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Well-built premium models.
HP's premium models typically have exceptional build quality.
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Great customizability.
HP laptops feature a wide range of customization options, allowing you to configure devices to best suit your needs.
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Support pages are overly convoluted.
While HP's documentation is generally good, its support pages are needlessly complicated to navigate.
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Low availability via marketplaces and other retailers.
Many models are only available from HP directly, and they can be difficult to configure on HP's website.
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Mid-range and budget models aren't the best value.
HP's mid-range and budget devices tend to feel more flimsy than competing models from other companies.
HP vs Dell
HP and Dell make a wide range of laptops at nearly every price point. However, Dell has a stronger foothold in the corporate world, with a wider selection of products tailored for business use. Similarly, Dell's Alienware lineup has more high-end configurations available than HP's. Both companies' premium products are expensive, but they also frequently offer large sales directly on their website. Dell and HP provide similar build quality and user experiences, so the better choice depends on your needs and preferences. See our Dell laptop recommendations.
HP vs Apple
Apple takes a very different approach to laptop manufacturing than HP. Apple produces only a handful of premium productivity-focused devices that are industry-leading in build quality. HP's premium line-ups can compete directly with Apple, though the company typically puts more effort into producing a wider range of products at various price points. Another key difference resides under the chassis. Apple uses its in-house ARM-based SoC, while HP still primarily traffics in x86 CPUs from Intel and AMD, with a few recent devices implementing Snapdragon's ARM-based SoCs. See our Apple laptop recommendations.
HP vs Lenovo
Although Lenovo and HP both produce a very wide range of laptops, they generally compete in different market segments. Lenovo tends to be known for the value of its budget and mid-range offerings. Recently, HP has become better known for its higher-end productivity lines. That said, Lenovo usually makes better gaming laptops, experiments with more form factors like dual-screen laptops and Windows/Android devices, and offers a wider range of OS configurations for Linux users. See our Lenovo laptop recommendations.
HP vs ASUS
Despite some overlap in their product stacks, ASUS and HP are known for different kinds of laptops. ASUS offers a wider range of gaming laptops, although its productivity laptops from its Zenbook brand are no slouch either. HP primarily offers a wide range of productivity-focused laptops with modest offerings from its gaming lineups. However, ASUS is more willing to experiment than HP; ASUS products offer interesting form factors like dual-screen laptops, 2-in-1 gaming tablets, and more. See our ASUS laptop recommendations.
HP vs Acer
Both Acer and HP produce a wide range of Windows and Chrome OS laptops. HP generally has more premium models and offers more workstation and business models. Acer tends to focus more on mid-range and budget models, which typically provide a superior user experience and better performance at a lower price than competing models from HP. See our recommendations for the best Acer laptops.
Like ASUS, Acer, Dell, and Lenovo, HP offers laptops at every price point. While its premium models compete with the best laptops on the market, its mid-range and budget models aren't as feature-rich or well-built as its competitors. Shopping for the exact laptop configuration you want is sometimes hard with HP; its products aren't always widely available from third-party sellers and marketplaces, and its website can be difficult to navigate.
Lineup
HP has gone through a major rebranding as of May 2024, citing that the previous brandings were overly complicated. Instead of brands like Envy, Spectre, and Pavilion, all consumer laptops will be under the 'OmniBook' brand, while their commercial laptops will be under the EliteBook brand. Both lineups will have 'modifiers' to indicate the tier, with the OmniBook using odd numbers (3, 5, 7, X—X being 10) and the EliteBook using even numbers (2, 4, 6, 8, X). This means that as the numbers go up, you can expect the laptop to have a more premium design, more features, and better performance. Also present in both lineups is the 'Ultra' modifier, indicating the highest-end model in its lineup. As AI becomes more prevalent, there'll be an 'AI Helix' modifier as well to indicate that the laptop carries more AI features and capabilities. You can see more information in HP's press brief.
Recent Updates
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We've verified that our recommendations are available and represent the best choices.
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Replaced the HP Spectre x360 14 (2024) with the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 (2024) because the OmniBook is a newer model that's easier to find.
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Verified that all picks are valid. Small text changes to the Lineup section to provide information regarding HP's rebranding.
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Small text changes for clarity. Verified that all picks are valid. No change in recommendations.
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Added a 'Best HP Laptop For Content Creation' category because it's a better fit for the intended usage of the HP OMEN Transcend 14 (2024). Replaced the HP Victus 15 (2022) with the HP Victus 16 (2024) because the Victus 16 performs better and is easier to find. Added a comparison with Acer.
Conclusion
HP makes a wide range of laptops, from basic devices for everyday tasks like word processing or web browsing to powerful workstations and gaming or content creation laptops. Their premium laptops from the Spectre or OMEN lineups often provide a great user experience, come in various form factors, and offer exceptional performance. However, their budget lineups aren't quite as competitive, typically lacking features or offering inferior build quality when matched up against the competition. Nevertheless, HP's higher-end models are among the best laptops we've tested, and we recommend them if you need a great device for on-the-go productivity tasks or demanding workstation and content creation workloads.
Test Results
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Best HP Laptops: Main Discussion
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