The RAM Crisis continues to worsen, driving the prices of our beloved PC gaming upgrades we took for granted to unaffordable levels for the common man.

Fortunately, Newegg's latest offering from its ongoing Black November Doorstopper campaign has unlocked a massive sales bundle for a plethora of highly sought-after PC gaming components, including a CPU with 8 cores and 4.2 GHz clock speeds, 16GB RAM, and a 1TB SSD, to name a few.

One of our favorite deals from this package is the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D that's now 33% off for $299.00 at Newegg (was $449.00). This powerhouse of a CPU, coupled with a capable GPU like the GIGABYTE Gaming Radeon RX 9070 GRE (now available for $499.00 at Newegg), will ensure your rig has the power to run demanding PC games like Cyberpunk 2077 at high settings while keeping your computer from overheating using efficient power management.

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The first mini PC powered by a Snapdragon X2 Elite is now available in Europe. The ASUS Ascent QN10 launched in the United States back in September, and it is now for sale in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Thanks to the Snapdragon X2 Elite inside, the Ascent QN10 has an NPU with 80 TOPS that can handle language models, image processing, and automation workflows.

Unlike many mini PCs, the Ascent QN10 has an anodized aluminum chassis rather than a plastic one. That 0.7-liter body is 13 x 13 x 4 cm (5.1 x 5.1 x 1.5 inches), meaning it should fit comfortably on a desk or tucked away.

The Snapdragon X2 Elite is the star of the show, but the Ascent QN10 has some other tricks. For example, it is designed to keep heat from its CPU and SSD separate. The mini PC takes fresh air in from one side, then splits it.

Despite recently launching in Europe, the ASUS Ascent QN10 is already discounted in some countries. The PC has an MSRP of €2,195, but it is currently available for €2,005 on ARLT (German retailer).

There have been consumer mini PCs with Arm processors, but the Ascent QN10 is the first with a Snapdragon X2 Elite. The mini PC from ASUS stands out from many competing devices thanks to its metal body, processor, and cooling.

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After decades, Dell still offers a massive catalog of consumer laptops, but some models with modern components can quickly become expensive, given the industry's ongoing memory (RAM) shortages.

Thankfully, Best Buy's early Black Friday sale cuts hundreds of dollars off two of Dell's more compact and portable options.

You can grab the 14-inch Dell 14S for $999.99 at Best Buy (was $1,449.99), saving $450 on a productivity-focused laptop, or pick up the more affordable Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 for $799.99 (was $1,299.99) as a flexible convertible 14-inch option for note-taking, sketching, and regular everyday use, with a $500 saving.

Which Dell deal should you buy?

While both laptops offer durable designs, portable 14-inch displays, and dedicated NPUs for local AI features, they're aimed at different users depending on your wants and needs. Before you spend during Black Friday season, it's worth looking into the specs a little deeper.

If you're after a productivity laptop, the Dell 14S (31% off) is better. It comes equipped with a long-lasting battery, an OLED 2K touchscreen with deep contrast, and a modern AMD Ryzen AI 7 445 processor paired with 16GB of RAM to boost multitasking with multiple web browser tabs, creating documents or spreadsheets, video calling, and plenty more.

Otherwise, if you're shopping on a tighter budget or want a Windows laptop that's equally useful for school and everyday use, the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 (38% off) is a good fit. It still offers good productivity performance with substantial standby power efficiency thanks to its Intel Core Ultra Series 2 (Lunar Lake) 256V CPU coupled with 16GB of RAM, a 120Hz 2K touchscreen that makes scrolling and digital sketching with compatible (but sold separately) pens feel seamless, and a solid design so it can pull multiple duties as a notepad, movie viewer, or regular laptop with ease.

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It's a rough time to be shopping for PC hardware and laptops. Believe me, as a PC gamer, I know the struggle. Prices are incredibly high because of AI-driven component shortages, and some relief can go a long way.

That's why I'm happy to share some exclusive discount codes redeemable at Newegg. All codes offer an additional discount on top of any sales that Newegg already has running, so you can absolutely stack sales.

These exclusive deals cover everything from PC components to accessories to pre-built PCs and monitors, giving you plenty of variety. I've rounded up some eye-catching deals below, and I've also made this quick-hit list of discounts with links to Newegg for each broader category.

Save even more on PC hardware at Newegg with these exclusive discount codes

Save more on Windows PCs and monitors with our special discounts

Bonus deals on WD hard drives

FAQ

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A free tool with a bit of a strange name will let you know what's using the GPU on your PC. Microsoft engineer Scott Hanselman created gputaskman to show more details than Windows 11's built-in tools.

Task Manager can show per-process GPU usage and memory consumption, but it provides limited insight into exactly how applications are using GPU resources. You can see more information in the Details tab, but that still fails to paint a full picture.

The gputaskman app shows information for individual processes, such as GPU usage and VRAM consumption. Rather than simply showing that GPU memory is in use, gputaskman can help pinpoint whether that memory is being consumed by an AI model, a web browser, desktop rendering, or another process.

It can also identify local AI workloads and display details about running LLMs, including information about model memory usage and related GPU resources. The app displays GPU temperature as well.

Hanselman explained the app's purpose on the gputaskman GitHub page:

"Task Manager says '15 GB used.' This tries to answer: by what? Model weights? KV cache? Your browser? The desktop compositor? And why is so much GPU memory in system RAM?"

The app is still in the early stages of development. Hanselman has invited people on X to create pull requests. Right now, gputaskman supports Windows PCs with AMD or NVIDIA GPUs. Hanselman said in a follow-up post that the goal is to work on the Surface Laptop Ultra and other RTX Spark and Windows on Arm devices.

Microsoft's recently announced Hybrid intelligence initiative combines on-device AI processing with cloud-based AI services. As more AI tasks run locally on PCs, users may want better visibility into how those workloads affect GPU memory and performance. Tools such as gputaskman provide a detailed look at which processes, models, and applications are consuming GPU resources.

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AMD CEO Lisa Su, in an interview with Yahoo Finance, said yesterday that AMD is "a data center first company." Somewhere, a gamer clutched their Radeon GPU like it's a priceless heirloom.

This quote from Su seems to have made waves in the tech world. I get it. Nobody wants to hear that another company we're used to seeing sell consumer tech to us gamers and enthusiasts is going a different way.

But before we start singing hymns, let's see what Su actually meant with her data center tidbit.

People have a right to be worried, especially these days

I don't think there's anyone who follows tech markets, even from a distance, who doesn't know that there's an AI-driven memory and RAM shortage forcing consumer prices through the roof.

Not just that, but companies that were once focused on consumer products have been flipping over to the AI side, where there's a lot more money to be made. Micron did just that in late 2025, when it killed off its consumer Crucial brand to focus entirely on data center supply.

People have every right to be worried when a company like AMD, which makes consumer products, begins spewing data center rhetoric.

Hasn't AMD always been a data center company?

Some of you might be asking why this is big news. I get it. AMD has, after all, been a data center company for ages, selling its EPYC and Instinct AI accelerators for big money.

In 2024, Su basically said the exact same thing about the company's ultimate goals at a tech conference hosted by Goldman Sachs: AMD is a data center company.

But that was before AMD's data center revenue surpassed consumer and client revenue in 2026. Before we saw other big tech companies, like Micron, make massive pivots that left consumers without anything to buy.

I get why consumers are nervous, especially when AMD offers the best CPUs for PC gaming and is really the only counterpoint to NVIDIA's GPU dominance.

But why would Su go on Yahoo Finance and talk about anything else but where AMD gets most of its money?

Fears that AMD is abandoning gamers are unfounded ... so far

As I said, I get why consumers are upset over the data center rhetoric coming from Team Red. Thankfully, AMD's moves lately seem like anything but abandonment.

AMD's upscaling tech, FSR, keeps spreading to more hardware. Heck, even the recent FSR 4.1 is now being handed down to Xbox Series X|S and gaming handhelds to help keep devices relevant longer into the future. AMD's partnership with Microsoft means it'll be in the upcoming Helix console as well.

Elsewhere, AMD is keeping its Ryzen 5000 series on the AM4 chipset alive by expanding the lineup, perfect for value-conscious builders and gamers. And on the CPU side, new X3D chips keep getting added to the pool.

This doesn't seem to me like the actions of a company that's already checked out of the consumer stack. Will that hold? I can't answer that, but the idea of AMD pulling up its consumer stakes seems too far-fetched to believe.

Treat your old GPU with care

AMD's data center revenue only surpassed consumer and client revenue in Q2 2026, and it's worth pointing out that its Ryzen and Radeon consumer lines still rake in billions of dollars in revenue.

That could change over time, especially as consumers deal with years of hardship and PC sales plummet, but we'll cross that bridge when we come up to it.

What I'm more concerned with right now is not a complete halt to consumer production, but instead how AMD will be using its resources going forward. Shareholders always need more money, and right now, data centers are the easiest way to earn it.

If data center demand continues to explode, does AMD eventually pull all of its best into that division? Do the gaming and consumer teams get the leftover scraps?

For now, I don't think fans of Team Red need to panic. Lisa Su's recent comments, taken in context, are not shocking. They're not even new.

Still, some skepticism never really hurt anyone. Neither does keeping your aging GPU in tip-top shape as markets face continued uncertainty.

Do you agree with my take? Are Su's words as big a deal as many are making them? Where do you see AMD in 5 years? 10 years? Let me know in the comments section below!

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Microsoft's Surface Laptop Ultra and Lenovo's Pro 9n are among the first NVIDIA RTX Spark laptops that the Windows Central team has tested and reviewed. The Surface Laptop Ultra received 4 stars, while the Pro 9n bumped the score up to 4.5 stars.

Although we reviewed both laptops favorably, there are some major differences beyond the new NVIDIA chip that you'll certainly want to know about before buying.

Surface Laptop Ultra vs. Lenovo Pro 9n: Specifications and price

There are plenty of similar specs across these laptops, and I know it's handy to have a quick reference table to compare.

The Surface Laptop Ultra starts at $2,599.99 for a model with the 18-core CPU, 5120-core GPU, 24GB of RAM, and 512GB SSD.

Lenovo's Pro 9n with the 18-core CPU, 5120-core GPU, 32GB of RAM, and 512GB SSD starts at 2,999.99. I imagine a lot of that price difference comes from the extra RAM, but as you'll see below, Lenovo's laptop also has some concrete benefits over the Surface.

Surface Laptop Ultra models with upgraded 20-core CPU, 6144-core GPU, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD start at $3,699.99.

Lenovo's Pro 9n jumps to a 20-core CPU, 6144-core GPU, 64GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD for the higher-end config, starting at $4,249.99. If I compare a similar Surface Laptop Ultra config with these specs, it comes out to 4,299.99.

Basically, the Surface Laptop Ultra starts at a more affordable price thanks to more config options, but once you make the performance hardware comparable, Lenovo's PC actually becomes more affordable.

Lenovo's laptop is thinner and lighter than the Surface Laptop Ultra

Microsoft's new Surface Laptop Ultra has a slightly smaller footprint than the Lenovo Pro 9n, but I don't think it's enough to make a difference in your bag. The real story is the Pro 9n's 0.66-inch chassis that's noticeably thinner than the Laptop Ultra's 0.71-0.75-inch measurement.

Lenovo's laptop is also lighter, starting at 3.64 pounds compared to the Surface Ultra's 4.41 pounds. That's a considerable difference that you'll notice each time you use the PC, and if you're always on the move, this should be a win for Lenovo.

Both laptops are built into a sleek aluminum chassis that doesn't get much more premium. Windows Central Senior Editor Zac Bowden commented in his Surface Laptop Ultra review:

Lenovo's Pro 9n takes a slightly different approach, often seen in its Yoga series, with rounded edges, top-firing speakers flanking the keyboard, and a raised comms bar above the display to fit a superior webcam.

On that note, anyone who's often taking video calls, Teams meetings, etc. should consider Lenovo's 9.2MP webcam over the Surface Laptop Ultra's rather standard 1080p camera.

Both will get the job done, sure, but Lenovo's camera offers more clarity. I also found it quite good at dealing with low light. At least both laptops come with an IR sensor for facial recognition through Windows Hello.

Which laptop has better ports?

Ports across both laptops are the same except for one major standout. I'm talking about the Surface Laptop Ultra's additional magnetic USB-C connector that's designed to pull away from the PC when it gets snagged or tripped over.

It's a lot like Apple's MagSafe tech, and I'm all about it; I hope it comes to more Windows PCs soon.

Other than the extra USB-C port, the Surface Laptop Ultra and Lenovo Pro 9n have the same selection of ports, including dual USB4, dual USB-A at 10Gbps each, HDMI 2.1, UHS-II SD card reader, and 3.5mm audio jack.

Is there a superior keyboard or touchpad?

Windows Central Senior Editor Zac Bowden said, "This is probably the best keyboard and trackpad experience I've ever had on a Windows laptop to date" in his review. I'd wager that the Yoga Pro 9n takes things one step further.

Whereas the Surface Laptop Ultra has 1.4mm key travel, Lenovo pushes it to 1.5mm. Lenovo's touchpad is also slightly larger than the one on the Surface, giving you more space to point.

Both use haptic touchpads, meaning there aren't any moving parts. Clicks and feedback are simulated with small haptic motors below the surface. There are fewer mechanical parts to break down, and generally, you get a smoother experience.

But Lenovo goes one step further with inking compatibility on its touchpad. Each Pro 9n comes with a Yoga Pen 2, and I found it to be quite handy when jotting down notes or sketching ideas.

Does one laptop have better speakers?

Having checked out both laptops, I'd say that audio quality is a wash unless you care about placement.

Both laptops have four speakers, and both produce some of the best audio we've ever heard in a Windows laptop. No matter what, you get deep bass, clear highs, and loud volume.

The big difference is that the Pro 9n has two of its speakers flanking the keyboard for unmuffled audio. The Surface Laptop Ultra keeps all four of its speakers on the underside of the chassis.

Microphones are also excellent across both laptops. You won't need to worry at all about adding a microphone for calls and video chats.

Do you value brightness or color in your display?

Display preferences could make or break your decision here. The Surface Laptop Ultra has a 15-inch mini-LED screen with a 3270x2180 resolution, 3:2 aspect ratio, 120Hz variable refresh rate, and Dolby Vision IQ support.

Its mini-LED panel has 1,344 dimming zones, and it manages to climb to about 2,000 nits brightness with HDR enabled. Otherwise, it tops out at about 1,000 nits.

This is great if you're often working in brightly lit areas, as you'll have much less trouble there than with the Pro 9n's maximum of 1,100 nits. However, as Zac Bowden notes, the mini-LED panel can show "a bit of blooming around bright elements on a dark background."

That's not the case with the OLED panel in the Lenovo Pro 9n. It offers perfect contrast and deep color, so there's no blooming or backlighting issues whatsoever.

Lenovo's laptop also offers a higher 165Hz variable refresh rate, and it's able to cover all color gamuts for specialized work. That higher refresh rate can help with gaming, as can the display's NVIDIA G-Sync compatibility.

The big downside is that it doesn't have as many pixels with a 2560x1600 resolution.

Is there a difference in RTX Spark performance?

What's probably not a surprise for many is that NVIDIA's RTX Spark system-on-chip (SoC) performs similarly across laptop brands.

In this case, Zac Bowden tested the Surface Laptop Ultra with the 20-core CPU and 6144-core GPU, while I tested the 18-core CPU and 5120-core GPU in the Lenovo Pro 9n.

Unsurprisingly, the more expensive chip in the Surface Laptop Ultra comes out ahead in all relevant tests we performed. The gap isn't huge, and, of course, you can always add the 20-core chip to the Pro 9n to make up the difference.

The Pro 9n model I tested arrived with an M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, which is a generation behind the M.2 PCIe 5.0 NVME SSD in the Surface Laptop Ultra model we tested.

It's no surprise that the newer SSD is faster, and keep in mind that both laptops have the option for the upgraded PCIe 5.0 drive.

Which laptop has better battery life?

Battery capacity across laptops only differs by 0.5Wh, and in our experience, both laptops were able to hit around 10 hours of real-world usage before needing a charge.

I'm talking about lighter fare for that 10-hour runtime, like web browsing, Excel, Word, email, streaming, etc.

Once you start adding demanding tasks that press the GPU — especially AI-related work — you'll see battery life falling quite a bit faster.

For reference, when I gamed on the Lenovo Pro 9n, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered with settings cranked up and ray tracing enabled was only seeing about 10 minutes of playtime for each 10% of battery life.

Surface Laptop Ultra vs. Lenovo Pro 9n

Microsoft's Surface Laptop Ultra starts at a more affordable price, and that will resonate with a lot of people despite it coming with less powerful hardware. If you're just looking for a more affordable RTX Spark system, Surface is the way to go.

However, once you start adding similar hardware tiers, Lenovo's PC becomes more affordable. With the price in mind alongside the host of benefits from the Pro 9n that I've laid out above, I'm leaning towards Lenovo.

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The Swift 16 AI is one of the latest Windows laptops featuring Intel's "Panther Lake" processors (Core Ultra Series 3) that balance productivity, power, and efficiency for all-day battery life, plus Acer's stunning OLED touchscreen.

It's already on sale for just $999.99 at Best Buy long before Black Friday, with a hefty $550 discount that knocks 35% off its listing price. With 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, it's a great option for anyone looking to upgrade their everyday laptop without spending the usual ~$1,200+ costs.

Why should you buy this laptop?

Powered by Intel's Core Ultra Series 3 "Panther Lake" X7 358H processor and integrated Arc B390 graphics, the Swift 16 AI delivers plenty of performance for everyday productivity workloads, including multitasking across dozens of browser tabs, content creation, and even some gaming. That integrated B390 graphics chip is far more powerful than its lower-end variants; in fact, you'll find the same one in high-end gaming handhelds.

Beyond that, Acer boasts a full day of usable battery life in a laptop with a thin chassis and a sharp 3K (2880x1800) OLED touchscreen. That means vibrant colors, strong contrast, and even a super-smooth 120Hz refresh rate as a bump over the usual 60Hz standard you'd find in many others.

You'll get dual USB-C ports alongside two more traditional USB-A ports, HDMI-out for external monitors, and a 3.5mm audio jack for wired headphones, reducing the need for too many dongles when you're traveling. Plenty of peripherals are wireless these days, but it's always nice to have the option for wired alternatives.

Acer's bigger trackpad might not suit everyone, and the speakers were never made for movie-watching, but neither detracts from what is otherwise a well-rounded productivity laptop. Alternatively, an AMD-based Swift 16 AI with a WUXGA (1920x1200) touchscreen is also on sale for $799.99 at Walmart. However, it is sold by a reseller, not Walmart itself, so there's a chance it will disappear much faster.

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The weird thing about reviewing the HP OmniBook Ultra 16 is that I really like this laptop. After three weeks with it, I have very few complaints about actually using it.

HP's build quality is fantastic. The 3K OLED display is one of my favorites on any laptop I've used this year. Its new keyboard is excellent, the haptic touchpad is huge, battery life is surprisingly good, and NVIDIA's RTX Spark delivers exactly the kind of performance I expected.

Then I pick it up.

At 4.9 pounds, the OmniBook Ultra 16 weighs a full pound more than the ASUS ProArt P16 I recently reviewed, despite delivering largely the same RTX Spark performance. ASUS's laptop is thinner and lighter, has similarly excellent thermals and an OLED display, and includes a few premium features HP inexplicably left out.

That's a problem because after testing several RTX Spark laptops, raw performance is becoming one of the least interesting ways to distinguish between them.

So, as much as I like HP's OmniBook Ultra 16, the question after three weeks isn't whether it's good. It's whether HP has given me enough reasons to carry around that extra pound.

HP and NVIDIA had no input, nor did it see the contents of this review, prior to publication.

Price and specs: The 32GB model makes a lot of sense

I tested the OmniBook Ultra 16 with NVIDIA's 20-core RTX Spark N1X, 32GB of unified memory, a 1TB SSD, and a 16-inch 2880 x 1800 OLED touchscreen.

It normally costs $3,199.99, but Best Buy currently has it discounted by $400 to $2,799.99, which changes the value equation considerably.

In fact, this might be the RTX Spark configuration I'd recommend to more people. If you're doing video and photo editing, light CAD or 3D work, or beginning to experiment seriously with local AI models, 32GB gives you access to NVIDIA's new platform without spending workstation money on memory you might never use.

For people who will use it, however, HP scales RTX Spark considerably higher, including configurations with up to 128GB of unified memory. That's where this architecture gets especially interesting for running larger local models and working with bigger datasets. HP also sells a 64GB/2TB configuration with LPDDR5X-9400 memory and a PCIe Gen5 SSD.

Design: HP might actually beat ASUS, until you pick it up

HP knows how to make premium hardware, and I think the OmniBook Ultra 16's overall build quality is a smidge better than the ASUS ProArt P16.

The three-piece CNC-machined aluminum chassis feels exceptionally solid. Eclipse Gray looks fantastic and has a lovely texture that also does an unusually good job resisting fingerprints.

Then there's HP's tower hinge and trunk architecture. Beyond looking cool, the design creates additional room behind the hinge for airflow and rear exhaust. HP combines that with two 79-blade fans, three heat pipes, and internal temperature monitoring, with the system designed to sustain up to 70W.

The results are good, although not dramatically better than ASUS.

My OmniBook reached around 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius) at its hottest point under a sustained load and generally ran slightly warmer than my ProArt P16. That's nothing I'd consider concerning or even notice during regular use. The fans are also excellent and broadly comparable to ASUS, generally remaining below 50dB.

I just don't see a huge thermal payoff for the added bulk.

Because, yes, this thing weighs 4.9 pounds.

That's an entire pound heavier than the 3.9-pound ProArt P16. Even Microsoft's Surface Laptop Ultra comes in around 4.5 pounds.

Leave the HP on a desk and none of this matters. Carry it around every day, and ASUS suddenly becomes much more appealing.

Ironically, HP makes up some of that difference with the best charger I've seen on an RTX Spark PC. The included 140W GaN charger is remarkably small, uses a detachable Type-C cable, and has folding prongs. HP says it's 43% smaller and 28% lighter than its previous adapter.

Display, keyboard, and touchpad: Some of HP's best work

The 3K OLED touchscreen might be my favorite thing about this laptop.

ASUS also has a fantastic OLED panel, but HP's looks slightly more natural to me. Colors appear clean and balanced without becoming excessively saturated.

HP rates it at 2880 x 1800 resolution, up to 120Hz (VRR), 500 nits SDR, 1,100 nits HDR, and 100% DCI-P3.

It's glossy, although surprisingly tolerable for someone like me who complains about glossy laptop displays all the time. Reflections bother me considerably less here than on Surface Laptop Ultra.

The second-generation latticeless keyboard is another winner. HP says it increased the spacing between keys and deepened the key dishes based on feedback from its first attempt, and whatever it did worked.

It looks great, feels precise, and is genuinely fun to type on.

My complaint is the backlighting. You get only two brightness levels versus three on ASUS, and there's no ambient light sensor, so you're manually switching it on and off.

The enormous haptic touchpad is also excellent, with crisp, consistent feedback across its entire surface. Yet bizarrely, it doesn't support Windows 11 Haptic Signals like ASUS and Surface do (which means it chose an older haptic design).

HP also skips ASUS's adaptive color and ambient light sensors, although it does provide human presence detection. Kind of weird to be missing those first two sensors on such a premium Windows laptop, not gonna lie.

Audio is excellent and roughly comparable to ASUS, while the 5MP webcam is simply okay. It's somewhat soft but perfectly usable. For that audio, you get a quad-speaker system that combines two speakers and a tweeter with DTS X Ultra and spatial audio. I generally prefer Dolby Atmos (which is what ASUS and Surface use), but DTS X Ultra is fine here.

Ports: Plenty of them, but why are both USB-C ports over here?

HP gives you HDMI 2.1, two USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, MicroSD, and a headphone jack.

That's a great selection, particularly those two legacy Type-A ports.

Unfortunately, both USB-C connections are on the left side, and since that's also how you charge the laptop, cable placement is less flexible than ASUS (personally, I feel one Type-C on either side is a better design decision).

The software loadout is peculiar, too. My system came with McAfee, which I immediately removed, yet several HP utilities I'd expect on one of the company's flagship laptops, including HP Support, weren't installed, so you get fewer bonus device configuration options, unlike the MyASUS app, which is ideal.

None of these are serious problems. They're just odd omissions at this price.

RTX Spark performance: Stop worrying about tiny differences

After testing multiple RTX Spark PCs, I've reached a straightforward conclusion: don't buy one based on tiny benchmark victories.

My OmniBook scored 13,080 in 3DMark Time Spy, ahead of Surface's 12,771 and ASUS's 11,840. Time Spy Extreme reversed things, with ASUS hitting 6,006 versus 5,857 for Surface and 5,492 for HP.

Cinebench 2026 tells a similar story. HP scored 6,954 multi-core and 562 single-core, while Geekbench 7 results among these machines are effectively interchangeable.

Even GPU compute is remarkably close. HP reached 187,569 in Geekbench 7 CUDA, compared to 187,547 for my 4K ASUS configuration.

The exception is storage. HP's SSD reached an excellent 10,389MB/s read and 9,243MB/s write, substantially ahead of my ASUS configurations, although Surface was faster still.

Gaming performance was similarly close to ASUS in my testing. RTX Spark isn't a dedicated gaming platform, but gaming performance is very good, especially paired with that 120Hz OLED.

The takeaway is increasingly obvious: choose your RTX Spark laptop based on the laptop, not a few percentage points in a synthetic benchmark.

Battery life: Better than I expected

Using Windows Battery Report to track my real-world light-to-medium everyday usage, the OmniBook Ultra 16 peaked at 11 hours and 18 minutes.

That's broadly comparable to ASUS, although in practice the HP feels like it can stretch slightly longer.

ASUS fights back with phenomenal standby behavior. My ProArt P16 resumes almost instantly and loses very little battery while sleeping. HP can take noticeably longer coming back from hibernation.

It's a small distinction, but one I've noticed after living with both.

Obviously, once you go heavy workloads and hammer that GPU for intense local AI sessions, gaming, or video editing, you're going to cut that usage time in half.

Should you buy the HP OmniBook Ultra 16?

You should buy this if ...

✅You want a premium RTX Spark laptop without jumping to 64GB or 128GB

✅You care about build quality, display quality, and the everyday laptop experience

✅You find it significantly cheaper than the ASUS ProArt P16

You should not buy this if ...

❌You want the lightest RTX Spark laptop you can get

❌You want a convertible RTX Spark PC with pen support

❌You expect every premium convenience at this price

If the OmniBook Ultra 16 existed in a vacuum, I'd probably score it higher than 4 out of 5.

I've genuinely enjoyed using it for the last three weeks. HP's build quality is exceptional, the OLED display is fantastic, the keyboard and touchpad are among the company's best, audio is great, battery life is good, and performance has been consistently excellent.

At Best Buy's current $2,799.99, the 32GB configuration is also one of the more compelling ways to get into RTX Spark without spending thousands more on memory you may never need.

Unfortunately for HP, ASUS exists.

The ProArt P16 delivers essentially the same performance with excellent thermals, an equally premium experience, and more of the little features I'd expect at this price, all while weighing a full pound less.

There’s also Lenovo, which gives RTX Spark shoppers another compelling alternative. Our Lenovo Pro 9n review found an excellent 15.3-inch clamshell with a 2.5K OLED display, strong performance, and a particularly interesting pen-enabled haptic touchpad. It’s also substantially lighter than the HP, which makes the OmniBook Ultra 16’s 4.9-pound weight even harder to ignore. Lenovo separately offers a larger Yoga 9n 2-in-1 for buyers who want the added versatility of a convertible design.

That leaves HP in a slightly awkward middle ground. Lenovo has its convertible versatility, ASUS has portability and an exceptional overall feature set, and Surface Laptop Ultra offers Microsoft’s distinctive premium hardware.

The OmniBook Ultra 16 competes extremely well on build quality, display, performance, and everyday usability, but it doesn't have one defining advantage beyond potentially being the better value when discounted.

At $2,799, however, that last point shouldn't be underestimated. If the HP is several hundred dollars cheaper than its closest competitors when you're shopping, I'd happily buy it.

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