AMD’s new AI chips have a place in HP’s upcoming Copilot Plus laptop

HP’s resurrected OmniBook line will soon get a performance boost with the new HP OmniBook Ultra, featuring an AMD Ryzen AI 300-series processor with integrated AMD Radeon 800M graphics, up to 32GB of RAM, and a pair of 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports. Available starting in August for $1,449.99, the new HP OmniBook Ultra will eventually receive a free software update to make it one of the first Copilot Plus PCs not equipped with an ARM-based processor.

The OmniBook brand was originally revived in May with the HP OmniBook X AI laptop, which, as with most Copilot Plus PCs announced at the time, is powered by an ARM-based Snapdragon X Elite processor. Its neural processing unit has been rated at 45 trillion operations per second (TOPS), but with the AMD Ryzen AI 300 series inside, the new OmniBook Ultra delivers “up to 55 TOPS of NPU performance,” HP claims in a statement to press.

The AMD Ryzen AI 300 series is also an x86-based processor, which should offer more compatibility with a wider range of Windows applications. Some older applications may require emulation to run on a Windows PC equipped with Snapdragon X Elite or other ARM-based processors.

Both OmniBooks feature 14-inch, 2240 x 1400 pixel LCD touchscreens, but the new Ultra model includes some minor upgrades. In addition to two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports (plus an older USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port), the Ultra’s webcam increases resolution to 9 MP and quad speakers with support for DTS:X Ultra instead of just stereo speakers.

The 3.48-pound OmniBook Ultra is also about a pound heavier than the OmniBook X AI, in part due to a larger 68Wh battery. Although the Ultra’s battery is larger than the X AI’s 59Wh battery, the OmniBook Ultra offers slightly less battery life, maxing out at 13 hours of average use or up to 21 hours of local (non-streamed) video playback. .

The new OmniBook Ultra won’t be a Copilot Plus PC at launch, but HP plans to release a free update at some point adding these features and functionality. HP says the timing and availability of the update will “depend on Microsoft.”