HP's answer to the MacBook Neo is thinner, lighter, and comes with OLED

HP has announced the OmniBook 5 14, a laptop the company is positioning directly against Apple's MacBook Neo. The 2026 model starts at $699.99 and ships with an Intel Core 5 315 "Wildcat Lake" processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. That combination of price, memory, and storage puts it in line with the MacBook Neo and with competing machines recently introduced by Dell, Asus, and Acer.

The OmniBook 5 14 matches several of the Neo's choices, including four color options in silver, pink, blue, and green. Where HP diverges is the display: every configuration of the OmniBook 5 14 uses an OLED panel. The base configuration's non-touch screen offers a 1920 x 1200 resolution and 300 nits of maximum brightness. A touchscreen version will be available when the laptop launches in October, but buyers who want a 2560 x 1600 OLED panel with 400 nits of brightness will have to wait until March 2027.

HP will sell higher configurations with up to a Core 7 350 chip, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. Across the lineup, the OmniBook 5 14 includes a 1080p webcam, dual speakers, HDMI, a 3.5mm audio jack, and two 10Gbps USB-C ports. The machine starts at 2.56 pounds and measures as thin as 0.46 inches, or 11.7mm, making it slightly lighter and thinner than the MacBook Neo. HP also gave the laptop the sleeker lid logo it usually reserves for pricier models.

On processing power and screen brightness, the OmniBook 5 14 does not appear positioned to beat the MacBook Neo, based on other reviews of Wildcat Lake laptops. Battery life from the Wildcat Lake chips is expected to range from good to great, though that will depend on testing. HP is also announcing the ProBook 4 G2iS, a business laptop the company calls its thinnest business notebook at 0.47 inches, or 12mm. It will launch in December with Intel Wildcat Lake chips, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD, and HP has not announced a price.

The OmniBook 5 14 arrives as Apple's cheapest Mac continues to draw responses from PC makers. The Verge has grouped the HP announcement with recent coverage of the MacBook Neo's effect on the PC market, including a Dell XPS 13 positioned as the first real competitor to the Neo and a report that Apple is testing a MacBook Neo with more RAM. The new HP laptop will be available to US buyers starting in October at its $699.99 base price.

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