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. These days, they make many laptops, including budget-friendly Chromebooks, premium thin and lights, and high-end workstations. They have a broad lineup of popular brands like ENVY, Spectre, Pavilion, EliteBook, ZBook, Victus, and OMEN. While their premium models offer outstanding user experiences and exceptional build quality, their budget laptops aren't as well-built or as feature-rich as their competitors.
We've tested over 135 laptops, more than 15 of which were made by HP. Here are our recommendations for the top HP laptops.
Updates
- 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
- 05/01/2024 HP OMEN Transcend 14 (2024) reviewed
Best HP Laptops
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Best HP Laptop
School8.4Gaming7.1Multimedia8.6Workstation8.1Business8.2The best HP laptop we've tested is the HP Spectre x360 14 (2024), a premium 2-in-1 laptop. It's a great choice for most people who need a portable general productivity laptop, as it has a lightweight and compact design, a sturdy build, and excellent performance. Equipped with Intel's Meteor Lake processor, it can easily handle light productivity tasks like text processing, web browsing, and spreadsheets. The CPU also includes an NPU (Neural Processing Unit) to speed up AI features, like background-blurring during video calls and image generation in photo editing apps. The user experience is excellent; you get a sharp, bright 2.8K OLED display with touch and pen input, an excellent haptic touchpad, and a 4k webcam. Unfortunately, the RAM isn't user-replaceable, so ensure you get enough for your needs upfront. Also, the OLED display flickers and may be bothersome to some.
There's a fingerprint sensor and facial recognition camera for added security and quick logins, which is great if you don't like typing in your password in public spaces. Battery life is excellent at around ten to eleven hours of light use, and you can charge the laptop over USB-C, giving you the freedom to use a wide range of compatible chargers. Port selection is also decent, including one USB-A and two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4s, so you can transfer files quickly and connect multiple peripherals and external displays. Finally, there's support for the latest Wi-Fi 7 standard; you'll need a compatible router to take full advantage of this feature. If you want to upgrade your router, we've got you covered—check out our recommendations for the best Wi-Fi routers.
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Best Upper Mid-Range HP Laptop
School7.5Gaming8.3Multimedia7.7Workstation9.0Business7.7If you need a powerful laptop for more intensive workloads, get the HP OMEN Transcend 14 (2024). This 14-inch model is the best HP laptop we've tested for raw performance, and it's a one-stop shop for gaming and content creation tasks like video editing. It features Intel Meteor Lake CPUs and various NVIDIA GPUs, from an entry-level RTX 4050 to an RTX 4070. Its 120Hz 2.8K OLED display is bright and colorful, and with full sRGB and DCI P3 coverage, it's suitable for producing SDR and HDR content. However, its response time is only decent, and there's no VRR support to reduce screen tearing while gaming. Finally, because of its glossy finish, it doesn't do the best job with direct reflections like lamps.
Though not as premium as the HP Spectre x360 14 (2024) above, this laptop still 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. Battery life is the main pain point, as it only lasts around six hours of light use. Also, it gets a little toasty when performing demanding tasks, though not to the point of causing discomfort.
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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), a 13-inch ultraportable. You'll notice a significant step down in build quality from our top picks, the HP Spectre x360 14 (2024) and HP OMEN Transcend 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 whose design emphasizes 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.
It's 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. 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.
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Best HP Workstation
School7.8Gaming6.9Multimedia7.0Workstation8.6Business8.1Get the HP ZBook Power G11 A (2024) if you're looking for the best workstation laptop we've tested by HP. 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 the integrated graphics or paired with an NVIDIA RTX Ada Generation Laptop GPU, up to an RTX 3000. There are also multiple display options available; most are FHD+ display options (with or without touch input), but 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 IR webcam for quick logins.
Plenty of ports are on offer, including two USB-As, two USB-Cs (USB4), an HDMI 2.1, an SD card reader, a 3.5mm headphone jack, an Ethernet port, and a SIM card reader. In addition to support for Wi-Fi 6E, there's also 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, the touchpad could be larger, and the speakers sound unnatural. 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 Budget Gaming Laptop
School6.8Gaming8.0Multimedia6.3Workstation8.8Business7.5Though a couple of years old, the HP Victus 15 (2022) is a great choice if you want to get into gaming without breaking the bank. For under $700 USD, you can get a model with an Intel Core i5-12500H CPU, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 GPU, 8GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and a 60Hz FHD display. This CPU/GPU combo provides a relatively solid 60 fps gaming experience at 1080p, though you'll have to tweak the graphical settings a bit to get there. While 8GB RAM isn't enough for gaming these days, you can upgrade the memory yourself. Doing so will likely be cheaper, anyway. You'll also want to upgrade the storage drive, as 512GB will quickly get filled up if you plan on playing modern AAA titles. The biggest downside is the 60Hz display—you're better off plugging it into an external monitor. If you decide to go down this route, check out our recommendations for the best budget gaming monitors.
As for the overall build quality, this laptop feels sturdy despite its all-plastic construction. The keyboard feels spacious and reasonably tactile, and the port selection is varied, including a true HDMI 2.1 and an Ethernet port. There are no biometrics like a fingerprint sensor or facial recognition camera, though we don't expect it at this price range. Unfortunately, this laptop isn't very portable, as it's rather bulky and heavy, and like most laptops with a discrete GPU, the battery lasts only an hour or so when gaming.
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 brands like Spectre and ZBook feature models with 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 their documentation is generally good, HP's 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 not be the best built and aren't as feature-rich as competitors.
HP vs Dell
HP and Dell make a wide range of laptops at nearly every price point. HP's Spectre and Zbook brands compete with Dell's premium lines like XPS and Precision. 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 OMEN brand. 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 and the overall user experience. HP's premium Spectre and ZBook line-ups can compete directly with Apple, though the company typically puts more effort in 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 like the Spectre, ENVY, and Zbook. 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 OMEN and Victus gaming lineups. ASUS is more willing to experiment than HP, though; it offers interesting form factors like dual-screen laptops, 2-in-1 gaming tablets, and more. See our ASUS laptop recommendations.
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 offers several different laptop brands to meet your specific needs. They use the following names:
- Chromebook: Cheap to mid-range Chrome OS devices for general productivity and multimedia needs.
- Pavilion: Cheap to mid-range devices to meet general productivity and everyday needs.
- ENVY: Mid-range ultraportables for general productivity with a wider hardware selection.
- Omnibook: High-end general productivity laptops emphasizing AI integration.
- Spectre: Premium productivity-focused laptops.
- ProBook: Mid-range to high-end general productivity devices for business and enterprise use.
- EliteBook: High-end top premium general productivity devices for business and enterprise use.
- ZBook: Mobile workstations designed for demanding tasks like video editing, 3D rendering, and CAD work.
- Victus: Budget to mid-range gaming laptops.
- OMEN: Mid-range to premium gaming laptops.
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.