HP OmniBook X Flip 16 Review: A Poorly Stitched Frankenstein of a 2-in-1

Matt Elliott/CNET

HP OmniBook X Flip 16

6.5

$11 at Amazon

Pros & Cons

• Beautiful 3K OLED display
• Solid productivity performance
• Lengthy battery life

• Stiff price for a machine with integrated graphics
• Drab design
• Latticeless keyboard and mechanical touchpad are subpar
• Gets hot and loud under load

A key factor distinguishing Windows PC laptops from their Apple counterparts is that PCs are, inevitably, a sum of their parts. MacBooks are designed inside and out by Apple, including its own M-series processors. In contrast, PC manufacturers rely on component OEMs to turn out the CPUs, GPUs and other pieces from which their machines are constructed. This means that one of the great arts of laptop design is choosing the right parts to marry, then creating a chassis to properly house and cool them.

Some machines achieve a gestalt, transcending the potential of their components individually. Others, like HP’s 16-inch two-in-one, the OmniBook X Flip 16, fail to find the right recipe and end up being less than the sum of their parts. The OmniBook X Flip 16 is the larger version of the OmniBook X Flip 14, which CNET Senior Editor Matt Elliott found to be a stylish and well-priced midrange two-in-one. Sadly, I’m not nearly as high on its larger sibling.

The OmniBook X Flip 16 is part of HP’s revival of its OmniBook branding, which kicked off at the end of 2024 after a 22-year hiatus. OmniBook replaces HP’s Pavilion, Envy and Spectre series of consumer laptops, and the Flip suffix means it can convert into tablet mode with a 360-degree display hinge. 

The X series sits near the top of the OmniBook stack, underneath only the top-end machines in the OmniBook Ultra line. Below the OmniBook X are the OmniBook 3, 5 and 7, ranging from budget machines to midrange productivity laptops. According to HP, the OmniBook X is designed for “creators and AI enthusiasts on the move.”

There are many configuration options for the model, including either AMD or Intel processors. At its cheapest, the (AMD-powered) OmniBook X Flip 16 can be had for $900 at HP, while my configuration retails for $1,660 and can usually be found discounted for closer to $1,500. The biggest upgrade cost was changing the display from a 1,920×1,200-pixel resolution LCD to an OLED screen for $210. The CPU and memory upgrade from an Intel Core Ultra 7 256V/16GB of RAM to the Ultra 258V/32GB of RAM adds $80, and moving from the default 512GB SSD to 2TB costs $170.

The HP OmniBook X Flip 16 starts at £1,030 in the UK and AU$1,899 in Australia. 

Matt Elliott/CNET

HP OmniBook X Flip 16 performance

When it comes to performance, the OmniBook X Flip 16 is on par with competing laptops with similar configurations. On the Geekbench 6 benchmark test, it was edged out in single-core and multicore by the Dell 16 Plus 2-in-1, which packs an identical CPU. The only place it outperformed its Dell competitor in CPU testing was in the multicore benchmark in Cinemark, but it also lost out in the more holistic PCMark 10 test. 

It did shine in the Procyon AI Computer Vision test, which evaluates the performance of AI inference engines on PCs/Macs. It finished just ahead of two other two-in-ones I’ve reviewed recently to have run this test, and it completely outclassed the Acer Swift 16 AI, which features a Core Ultra 9 chip. It’s interesting to note that the Core Ultra 9 is built for raw performance and offers only a fraction of the TOPS that you get with the lower-series Core Ultra chip found on the OmniBook X Flip 16. If you’re not sure what processor would be good for your needs, check out our Laptop CPU explainer.

The Flip 16’s four-cell, 68-watt-hour battery also did quite well in our YouTube streaming battery test. It endured for nearly 15 hours, which is plenty of juice to get you through a full workday and beyond, even if you’re pushing higher-productivity workloads. That’s especially impressive given the power demands of the large, high-resolution OLED.

Where the Flip 16 is less impressive is on the heat dissipation side. The slim rubber striping on the underside of the machine leaves very little clearance between the intake vent and whatever surface it’s perched on. Bizarrely, there are two grills alongside the keyboard that read as speakers but are, in fact, cooling vents, yet they seem to do very little to help circulate air through the chassis. The result is a lot of heat and significant fan noise, topping out around 38 dB(A) after short stints of heavy loads like triple-A gaming.

Matt Elliott/CNET

A pretty display with little else to gloat about

The exterior design of the OmniBook X Flip 16 can be described, charitably, as understated. Less charitably, it’s bland, verging on personalityless. While I rather like the latest iteration of the HP logo, I don’t find the black-on-matte-black color visually arresting. In fact, it’s extremely generic and forgettable.

At 4.2 pounds, the OmniBook X Flip 16 isn’t heavy for a 16-inch model, but its size and weight still make it a chore to tote around. And even though it’s not overly thick (at a respectable 0.6 of an inch), its size and weight make using the OmniBook X Flip 16 in tablet mode an awkward proposition when used handheld — it’s best suited for table or lap use. Still, it’s lighter than the 4.4-pound Dell 16 Plus 2-in-1, but not nearly as lightweight as the 3.3-pound Acer Swift Go 16, which is a traditional laptop and not a two-in-one. Two-in-ones are generally a bit heavier because they have a sturdier, 360-degree hinge, and a touch display also adds a bit of weight because of its added touch layer.

Matt Elliott/CNET

In an otherwise undistinguished design, the display stands out. It’s a gorgeous 3K, 120Hz OLED that delivers a crisp image and an OLED’s signature rich color and spectacular contrast. That said, it also suffers from OLED’s Achilles’ heel, topping out at a scant 397 nits of brightness. This means that you’ll likely want to keep the brightness cranked to its maximum setting at all times and that you probably won’t be using it extensively outside (at least on sunny days) or in brightly lit settings. Also, while I’ll never complain about a high-refresh panel, without a discrete GPU, you’re unlikely to be pushing enough frames to properly take advantage of the panel’s 120Hz capability. 

The major disappointment of the design is the keyboard deck. The keyboard itself is a cramped, latticeless affair with big, flat keys. While Matt was a fan of the latticeless design on the OmniBook X Flip 14, as someone whose ideal keyboard is of the clicky, tactile mechanical variety, I prefer some space between my keys. It’s too bad that HP couldn’t shrink the vents on either side of the keyboard to give more space to the keyboard itself. The keys also offer very little travel, and their flat, undifferentiated texture leads to an unfortunate number of typos. In a 16-inch two-in-one, I’d love to see a keyboard that took better advantage of all that real estate and included at least an abbreviated number pad. 

Matt Elliott/CNET

The touchpad is also subpar. HP has opted for a bog-standard mechanical trackpad that, unlike a haptic alternative, feels cheap and like a missed opportunity. A glass haptic pad would’ve gone a long way to imparting a premium feel to this premium-priced laptop and displayed an attention to detail that’s lacking throughout the Flip 16’s design.

The fact that the speakers aren’t positioned under those two generous grilles by the keyboard, and are instead confined behind two slender slots on the front edge of the keyboard deck, does no favors for the sound quality. While the top-end volume is fairly impressive, the sound quality is not, and if you plan to listen to music or watch films on the Flip 16, I strongly recommend a pair of headphones (ideally noise-canceling to combat the fan noise) or external speakers.

Matt Elliott/CNET

The webcam is also fairly underwhelming despite its 5-megapixel resolution. It struggles a bit with motion and, while serviceable for work calls or meetings, is disappointing in a machine positioned as a high-end productivity workhorse. It also regularly failed to recognize my face for the Windows Hello sign-in function.

HP does include a lightweight pen with the Flip 16, which magnetically attaches to the lower right of the machine when not in use and is USB-C rechargeable. It’s a nice addition, though I prefer a dedicated dock; leaving it clamped to the side of the laptop always makes me nervous I’ll lose it somewhere.

Is the HP OmniBook X Flip 16 worth buying?

While the display is impressive and the battery life admirable, the OmniBook X Flip 16 is hamstrung by too many odd choices and disappointing features, making it difficult to recommend. It’s also not exactly priced to entice, leaning into territory inhabited by more capable machines (many of which include discrete GPUs, with all the gaming and creative advantages that come with them). For the price of the OmniBook X Flip 16 I tested, if you’re not getting a dedicated GPU, then you should rightly expect a better keyboard, touchpad, webcam and speakers.

For significantly less than the Flip 16’s price, you can grab an Acer Swift Go 16, which also includes a beautiful OLED panel and outperformed the Flip 16 on the majority of our benchmarks. While the Swift can’t match the Flip 16 for battery life and doesn’t offer two-in-one functionality, it makes for a much cheaper date if you want a big-screen OLED laptop for home use.

Alan Bradley

CNET Contributor

Alan Bradley is an experienced commerce, tech and culture writer with more than 20 years covering consumer electronics, popular and emerging technology, and small business solutions. He has served as commerce director and in senior editorial roles at major publications. He has also provided buying advice to major corporations and small businesses as an independent consultant. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, U.S. News & World Report, PCMag, TechRadar, PC Gamer, GamesRadar+, Android Police, Gamasutra, Live Science, Variety, and other outlets. He served as the Director of Commerce for Lifewire at Dotdash Meredith and was a Senior Editor at Future Publishing on the Central Hardware Team. He was also a contributor to the Lockport Union Sun and Journal. Alan is also a novelist. His debut novel is The Sixth Borough. See full bio

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