HP’s MacBook Neo competitor is $699 with an OLED display and plenty of catches

HP’s new OmniBook 5 14 signals how aggressively the PC market is responding to Apple’s low-cost MacBook Neo, using a $699 price point and OLED branding to compete on perceived value. For CIOs, the strategic takeaway is that entry-level laptop refreshes are becoming more fragmented and opaque, with unclear CPU, memory, and storage options plus delayed or downgraded display configurations that could complicate standardization, user experience, and total cost of ownership planning. IT organizations should be cautious about assuming headline specs at launch and should validate real-world configurations, availability, and performance before considering fleet adoption.