The best HP laptops in 2024

HP has a long history in the computing industry, which means that there are a lot of excellent laptops for you to pick from. Whether you’re an industry professional who needs a business laptop or a gamer who wants a gaming laptop with a powerful GPU to play the latest games, you’ll likely find that HP has a configuration for you. Of course, given that there are so many options, it can be a bit daunting for somebody who isn’t familiar with the laptop market, which is why we’ve taken a look at the laptops HP has to offer and picked our favorites in the list below for various categories.

What’s the Best HP Laptop?

The laptop that we’d consider the best in HP’s lineup is the HP Spectre x360. Not only is it a solid 2-in-1 laptop, it has a lot of great specs under the hood and is very portable. It comes with a big 16-inch screen, so it’s great for those who need a bit more real estate, and it even has a GPU, although it’s a very entry-level one. The CPU is also pretty solid, as is the amount of RAM and storage you get, making it a very versatile laptop that perfectly balances cost vs performance.

What We’re Looking For in an HP laptop

1. Processing power: All computers succeed and fail based on the sort of combination of specifications they have, and one of the most important ones is how much processing power they can handle. Unfortunately, modern programming design ethos means that software is more reliant on being run on powerful hardware than being efficient, which means that going for solid specs is important. When it comes to laptops and HP ones we’ve looked at below, the big thing we look for is to have at least a mid-range CPU, and that means either an Intel i5 or a Ryzen R5 or better.
2. Battery life: There’s no point in having a great laptop with good specs if you can’t use it as a portable device, which is where battery life comes in. Unfortunately, this is a bit more complicated since how long a battery can last depends on things like how bright you run your screen and what sort of things you’re doing. Even worse, if you’re gaming, that can easily cut battery life by half or more, and that’s standard when it comes to gaming laptops. As such, our picks are laptops that have reasonable battery life, meaning they should last you several hours on average, and if you’re gaming, they should be at or above the industry standard for gaming time.
3. Portability: While there are laptops that are made to be desktop replacements and, therefore, are heavy and cumbersome, the majority of folks buying a laptop likely want something lightweight and easy to carry around. As such, we did our best to pick laptops that are relatively thin and light, even if they have things that would make them heavier, such as a bigger screen or a discrete graphics card. It’s a difficult thing to balance, especially since everybody approaches the concept of portability differently, but we believe we’ve picked the options that will make the most people happy.

The Best HP Laptop in 2024

The Best HP Laptop Overall

CPU: Intel Core i7-1360P / GPU: Intel Arc A370M / RAM: 16GB DDR4 / Storage: 2TB SSD / Display: 16-inch OLED, 3840 x 2400, 60Hz, touch-enabled, 400nits / Dimensions: 14.09 x 9.66 x 0.78  / Weight: 4.74 pounds

What’s great about the HP Spectre x360 16 is that it does an excellent job of balancing specs with price. For starters, the Intel Core i7-1360P under the hood is pretty powerful and will handle most productivity and day-to-day tasks without much issue. As such, it’s a solid option for those who need a business or school-oriented laptop that’s still versatile enough for general use, especially since it has 16GB of DDR4 RAM, meaning a lot more leeway when it comes to opening apps and tabs.

Besides that, you get a surprising Intel Arc A370M graphics card, which, admittedly, is very entry-level, but it’s enough to do some light gaming, and at least it’s a discrete GPU as opposed to an integrated one. It also doesn’t draw much power, so if you want to do some graphical editing and rendering, it can certainly help with that as well without hogging too much power. Also, the 2TB of SSD storage is a similarly impressive thing to find on this configuration of the HP Spectre X360, especially since you rarely find that much storage at this price point.

As for the screen, it’s a gorgeous 16-inch OLED running a 3840 x 2400 resolution, which is also perfect for watching content or gaming, which is more than we’d expect to see at this price point. As for the keyboard, it’s large and snappy, very much thanks to the larger screen space, which gives it a bit more room to breathe. Overall build quality is also quite solid, although we will say that this can be a hard laptop to use in tablet mode because of its weight. Even so, it’s an excellent all-around option if you’re looking for something balanced.

The Best HP Workstation

CPU: Intel Core i7-13700H / GPU: Intel Arc A370M / RAM: 16GB DDR5 / Storage: 1TB SSD / Display: 16-inch IPS, 2560 x 1600, 120Hz, touch-enabled, 100% sRGB, 400nits / Dimensions: 14.07 x 9.94 x 0.78 / Weight: 5.17 pounds

If you don’t care as much about an OLED screen and need something that works well as a sort of desktop replacement, then the HP Envy 16 is an excellent option. For example, the screen can hit 100% sRGB, which is great for those who need to do graphical work where color reproduction and accuracy are important. Luckily, you get a 16-inch screen with an IPS panel, which is ideal for creators since it does a better job with color reproduction than both TN and VA panels. It also runs at a 2560 x 1600 resolution and, more importantly, a 120Hz refresh rate, which will give you a much smoother experience overall.

The underlying processor is the same as the HP Spectre x360, the Intel Core i7-13700H, which is just ever so slightly better but still a powerful enough processor to handle most productivity and editing tasks you’re likely to throw at it. The Envy 16 also has a similar Intel Arc A370M graphics card, and while it might struggle to game at 120Hz, it’s good for lower refresh rates and for other types of graphical work, simulations, and rendering. That said, it’s important to keep in mind that the Arc A370M is still an entry-level GPU and relatively new, so it doesn’t have a ton of power.

One problem the HP Envy 16 does have is that the battery life isn’t that great, although that’s to be expected with a workstation that’s meant as a desktop replacement, and it’s also a bit heavy. Luckily, the overall build quality is pretty good, and it has the more powerful DDR5 Memory, of which you get 16GB, so that’s a solid upgrade. More importantly, you have a great big keyboard and speaker, webcam, and overall excellent experience if you’re going to be typing a lot or having regular meetings.

The Best Thin and Light HP Laptop

CPU: Intel Core i5-1245U / GPU: Intel Iris Xᵉ Graphics / RAM: 8GB DDR4 / Storage: 128GB SSD / Display: 13.5-inch, 2256 x 1504, touch, IPS, micro-edge, BrightView, 400 nits, 100% sRGB / Dimensions: 11.59 x 8.73 x 0.65 / Weight: 2.8 pounds

A Chromebook is an excellent way to go if you don’t have a need for Windows, especially since ChromeOS tends to be a bit more lightweight, so you get much more out of the hardware for the same price. That’s also very true of the Elite Dragonfly Chromebook, an excellent device that’s not only one of the best thin and light devices you can get but is also perfectly suited for business use. A large part of that is the 13.5-inch screen and 2.8-pound weight, which makes it easy to carry around and use in tablet mode for writing down things or controlling various applications.

It comes with a pen that has a reasonably solid experience, and that’s helped along with the Intel Core i5-1245U, which is a mid-range processor that’s perfect for business and productivity tasks without being too powerful and expensive. There is, of course, no discreet GPU, but we don’t expect you would do any gaming or graphical editing and rendering work, and this isn’t the device for that, so it’s not a deal-breaker, especially since the integrated Iris Xe Graphics is perfectly fine for general use.

One thing we wish we could see more of is RAM since you only get 8GB, although it’s important to remember you’re using ChromeOS, so it’s not going to eat up as much RAM as Windows would, which is good. The storage is also on the lower end at 128GB, although, again, you’re likely going to be relying on cloud storage and streaming any apps or content that you’ll use, so that’s not a big issue. Overall build is solid, and while the keyboard is on the smaller end, it will also provide you with a good experience.

The Best HP Chromebook

CPU: Intel Core i5-1235U / GPU: Intel Iris Xᵉ Graphics / RAM: 16GB DDR5 / Storage: 128GB SSD / Display: 14-inch diagonal, 2560×1600, multitouch-enabled, IPS, BrightView, 1200 nits, 100% sRGB / Dimensions: 12.4 x 8.7 x 0.7 / Weight: 3.33 pounds

Buying the best Chromebook doesn’t only mean something that’s powerful, but something that balances cost with that power and isn’t just overly expensive for no reason. For that, we like the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook because it’s both affordable and powerful, and therefore a perfect choice for students or people who are often going from office space to office space. The 3.33 pounds certainly helps in keeping it very portable, while the 14-inch screen means that it’s big enough to use while not being so small that it becomes bothersome.

The screen also runs a 2560×1600 resolution and covers 100% of the sRGB gamut, which is useful for those who deal with images regularly and where color reproduction is important, such as in marketing. Under the hood, the Dragonfly Pro runs an Intel Core i5-1235U, which is a mid-range CPU that will easily handle most productivity and day-to-day tasks without any issue, as well as some editing work. That said, there’s no discrete GPU here, just Intel’s integrated graphics, which are okay but not powerful enough to handle complex graphical editing and rendering tasks, so be aware of the limits you’d be dealing with in this situation.

That said, you do get 16GB of DDR5 RAM, so you’re more than welcome to keep as many apps and tabs as you like open; another important aspect is if you tend to go from office to office or classroom to classroom and deal with many departments or many subjects. The only big downside is that you’re only going to get about 12 hours of battery life, which isn’t bad on the whole, but is a bit below industry standard. We also would have liked to see a bit more storage than 128GB, but you can always supplement that with an external hard drive deal if you need to.

The Best Budget HP laptop

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7540U / GPU: AMD Radeon 740M Graphics / RAM: 16GB DDR5 / Storage: 512GB SSD / Display: 14-inch, 2560 x 1600, 48-120 Hz, IPS, micro-edge, anti-glare, Low Blue Light, 300 nits, 100% sRGB / Dimensions: 12.36 x 8.94 x 0.74 / Weight: 3.05 pounds

There are a lot of great options for grabbing a budget device from HP, and the HP Pavillion Plus 14 is a good example. While the MSRP of the Pavillion Plus 14 sits at $1,000, more than some of the other options on the list, it regularly goes below that, and as of the time of this writing, we’ve seen it as low as $580, so it’s a solid option to keep an eye out for if you’re looking for a budget HP laptop. Also, it’s rather lightweight at just 3.05 pounds, so it’s easy to carry around, and it’s overall smaller dimensions mean you can easily stick it in pretty much most bags without issue.

In terms of processing power, it comes with an AMD Ryzen 5 7540U, a mid-range processor that’s equivalent to an i5 but slightly more power-efficient and is more than enough to handle productivity tasks and day-to-day stuff like browsing or watching shows and films. Sadly, there’s no discrete graphics card, so the most you’ll get out of it is indie and casual games, which isn’t too bad if you’re not big into gaming. Luckily, the RAM you get is solid at 16GB of DDR5, meaning that you can open a lot of apps and tabs at the same time without having to worry about running into lag or the computer having issues.

As for the screen, it’s a great 14-inch one with a 2560 x 1600 resolution that’s great for watching content. It also has a variable refresh rate that goes up to 120Hz, so you can get a similar viewing experience as you would with a high-end smartphone. The screen can hit 300nits of brightness, which is good for anywhere but direct sunlight, and the anti-glare coating will help a bit with bright lights. Even so, the lid itself is a bit flexible because it’s quite thin, and is a small build quality issue you have to keep in mind, and the same goes with the sub-par audio quality, which is easily rectified with a good pair of headphones.

Best HP gaming laptop

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS / GPU: GeForce RTX 4060 / RAM: 16GB DDR5 / Storage: 512GB SSD / Display: 16.1-inch diagonal, 1920 x 1080, 165 Hz, 7 ms response time, IPS, micro-edge, anti-glare, Low Blue Light, 300 nits / Dimensions: 14.53 x 10.21 x 0.93 / Weight: 5.23 pounds

If you want a gaming laptop, then the Omen series is the way to go. One of the best picks is this HP Omen 16, which sits between the 15 and 17 in terms of screen size and even has quite a bit of customization to get to where you want it. That’s especially important because, when it first came out and when we reviewed it, it was too expensive for what you were getting, but with regular discounts and some good customizations, it’s become an excellent choice for a gaming laptop.

The beating heart of any gaming laptop is its graphics card, and we’re happy to say that this one comes with an RTX 4060, an entry-level GPU that gives you access to the latest Nvidia tech like DLSS 3.0. It’s a great option, especially since this configuration of the HP Omen runs at FHD with a 165Hz refresh rate, which won’t tax the RTX 4060 too much, and you’re more likely to hit that max refresh rate. That said, you could upgrade to an RTX 4070 for an extra $240, and that’s an option to consider if you want to upgrade your Display as well.

In terms of processing power, you get the AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS, a solid mid-to-high-end option that will handle productivity and editing work with relative ease. You could upgrade it to an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS for $420, which also upgrades you to the RTX 4070, but it’s not necessary unless you plan to stream to Twitch or YouTube, need it for music production, or are running CPU-heavy rendering or simulations. As for RAM, you get 16GB of DDR5 with the base spec, and you can upgrade it to 32GB for $170, but it’s also not needed unless you plan to do a lot of CAD or programming work that can take advantage of it. The only thing we would upgrade is the storage to bring it up to 1TB from 512GB for $80 since storage space is quite important when it comes to games.

Overall, the HP Omen 16 is a solid base laptop, but it has some good upgrades you can grab if you want to add a little bit of extra oomph.

The Best HP Laptops Compared

Other HP Laptops We Considered

1.

: The HP Pavilion x360 has a lot going for it, such as the mid-range Intel Core i5-1235U that’s great for any use case, and the 16GB of DDR4 RAM, which provides a smooth overall experience. We also like that it’s convertible, which is great for those who need something that can work in various modes. That said, it only has 250 nits, which isn’t great, and it only covers 45% NTSC, so the color reproduction isn’t ideal. It’s not a bad laptop at a discount, but if you’re considering it at its MSRP, there are other, better options.

2.

: If you’re looking for a solid gaming laptop, then the HP Victus 15 is just as good of an option. It has a solid 15.6-inch screen and a great Intel Core i5-13500H processor, so it’s a good laptop overall if you want something in the 15-inch range. That said, it comes with an RTX 4050, which is not that great of a GPU, especially for the MSRP when you can find something with a similar cost and better specs. Also, 16-inch screens are generally better for gaming, especially since you get the superior 16:10 aspect ratio which gives you a wider field of view. Even so, if you find it going for around $800 to $900, it’s worth considering.

3.

: This laptop is really made for those who are looking beyond just the basic business laptops and want something that offers a whole suite of technology. Beyond just the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 7840HS and the whopping 64GB it comes with, the ZBook Power G10 A offers three years of HP Wolf Pro Security Edition, which is a security and IT suite from HP that helps bring down the overhead costs of looking after a complex IT network and empowers the IT department to keep devices safe and secure, even when outside of the office. It’s a great business and professional desktop, but it’s expensive and usually outside the needs of most people.

4.

: Combining some of the good parts of the HP Envy and X360, the HP Envy x360 15 is actually a pretty solid laptop when all things are considered. It has a solid AMD Ryzen 5 7530U and 256GB of storage, both of which are pretty good for a $900 MSRP. That said, the 15.6-inch screen makes it quite difficult to use in tablet mode, and the 8GB of RAM is on the lower end for running Windows 11. That said, it does have customization options, and you could upgrade the RAM to 16GB for $80. If you don’t care that much about its bigger size, then it’s a solid alternative to the picks above.

Common Questions When Shopping for HP Laptops

Which HP laptop is the best?

The best HP laptop is the HP Spectre x360 16, which has some of the best balance between specifications and cost. It comes with a large 16-inch screen that’s perfect for those who need a larger one, and there are options for an OLED version as well. You can also get an Intel i7 processor and a discrete Intel Arc A370M graphics card with some configurations, making the Spectre X360 16 very versatile whether you want to play games or do editing and productivity work. It also has a solid battery performance and a solid build.

Which is better HP or Dell?

Both companies are roughly the same in terms of quality and variability of choice. They’ve both also been around for many decades now and so have a lot of experience in building laptops and computing gear; plus, they both have their own lineups of purpose-specific laptops. For example, HP Omen is HP’s gaming arm, while Alienware is Dell’s gaming arm, or you can compare something like the HP Envy with the Dell Inspiron, which are budget-friendly and productivity-focused laptops. Regardless of whether you go for HP or Dell, you’re going to get a solid device.

Are HP laptops good quality?

Yes, HP laptops have a very large range of laptops you can pick from, with the majority of them being excellent quality. One big positive of going with HP and buying off its website directly is that most laptop models can be customized in some way, so you can pick and choose what exactly you want for your configuration. Many of the laptops we’ve picked here are considered some of the best in HP’s lineup, so if you want to buy an HP laptop, then starting with one of the options above is the way to go, especially since there’s some good range in price and specs.

What is the main disadvantage of HP?

Much like any big brand, there are some laptops, especially in the budget and lower-end of HP’s offering, that do have a bit of a build quality issue. Now, that doesn’t mean that they are bad; they work perfectly fine, and you shouldn’t worry about using them, but sometimes the build might feel cheap. The only other issue might be hit-and-miss customer support, but for the majority of the time, you should be fine. Otherwise, HP is an excellent brand to go for if you want to grab yourself a laptop.

Why You Should Trust Me

It would be an understatement to say that I’m a bit of a technophile, and I regularly surround myself with computers, both desktops, and laptops because I find them fascinating and incredible pieces of tech. In fact, the first laptop I ever owned was an HP Pavillion back in the early 2000s, and I still have it lying around somewhere, although I doubt it’s functional anymore. Since then, I’ve worked through several laptop manufacturers, such as Lenovo, Sony, and Asus.

That’s one big reason why I’ve been doing this for ten years now, working as a tech writer, reviewer, and in the commerce space, with a particular emphasis on laptops. In fact, I am often the go-to guy in most publications I work with when it comes to laptop suggestions because I have a reasonably thorough understanding of the market and prices available for products. I’m not perfect by any means, but having worked for Digital Trends, CNET, Popular Mechanics, How-To-Geek, and various others, I’ve picked up a thing or two over my career.

How We Test Laptops at Digital Trends

Digital Trends is a large publishing house, and we’ve reviewed hundreds of laptops over the years. To help do that in an objective and consistent way, we’ve developed testing techniques and testing labs that will guarantee excellent results. You can check out our general how we test things page, but in particular, for this article, you should check the section under computing, and more specifically, the way we test laptops to get a better sense of what our results mean and what sort of value you can put on them.

For example, a large portion of what a laptop is can’t be written down in a spec sheet, and that’s the overall feel and user experience, which is something that might not necessarily be thought of by other reviewers. That said, we do rely on objective data as well, which is why we have a specific suite of testing software that we use, including things like Geekbench for processing power and 3DMark Time Spy for gaming needs. We also test things such as battery life and even how hot a laptop gets so that we can make sure we don’t recommend something that could uncomfortably toast you.

Most importantly, we consider the price and the context of the laptop. That means that we don’t just look at a well-performing laptop and give it top marks but also look at the competition and see if you can get something better for the same price. It can be a difficult task to balance cost vs. specs and make a solid suggestion, but we’re up to the task because we love that sort of thing, and it’s important to use that you get the best gear that you can. After all, we’re all a bunch of geeks who like to share our passion, so the more people we can include in that, the better.

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