HP introduced one of my most anticipated laptops of the year at CES 2026, and the new OmniBook Ultra 14 (G2) with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite chip is now finally available to buy directly from Best Buy.
Windows Central Editor-in-Chief Daniel Rubino went hands-on with the new OmniBook Ultra 14 (G2) ahead of its launch, and he found that the updated version for 2026 is thinner, lighter, and more durable than the 2024 model with Intel Core Ultra that we reviewed favorably.
The big attraction here is the Snapdragon X2 Elite (X2E-90) System-on-Chip (SoC) with 18 cores, a boost clock up to 5GHz, and an integrated GPU that hits a 1.7GHz clock speed. Can't forget the NPU that hits 80 TOPS of power for local AI tasks; that's higher than any other NPU from Intel or AMD.
We've already seen how the Snapdragon X2 Elite chip beats Apple's M5 in three major benchmarks, and it's overall a massive upgrade over the last-gen Snapdragon X1 Elite in terms of efficiency and performance.
The 14-inch laptop weighs only 2.83 pounds (1.28kg) despite a sturdy aluminum chassis with 11 MIL-STD-810 durability certifications, and it measures just 0.42 inches (1.06cm) thin. This is peak modern HP design language in full effect, with a lattice-free keyboard and oversized haptic touchpad providing cutting-edge input.
Best Buy has set the introductory price for the OmniBook Ultra 14 (G2) at $2,049.99. The model includes a gorgeous 14-inch 3K OLED touch display that can reach up to 1,100 nits brightness, 32GB of LPDDR5x-9523 RAM, and a 1TB M.2 PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD. Yes, this laptop is going to absolutely rip.
I'm personally far more excited for the Snapdragon X2 Elite version of HP's OmniBook Ultra 14 (G2), but I know the same doesn't apply to everyone.
HP is also offering a version of its new laptop with Intel's Core Ultra Series 3 "Panther Lake" chips direct from its own website. Starting at $1,699.99, you can get a Core Ultra 7 365H CPU, 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM, a 512GB M.2 PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD, and the same 14-inch 3K OLED touch display.
You can configure models with up to a Core Ultra X9 388H CPU, 64GB of LPDDR5x RAM, and 2TB of M.2 SSD storage space, but prices climb quickly.
An Intel model similar to the Elite X2 config, with Core Ultra 9 386H CPU, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD costs about $2,339.99, making Qualcomm's option the far more affordable choice when hardware is on par.
Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.
