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HP OmniBook Ultra review: Utterly sleek and snappy, but I wish it did just a tad more
HP OmniBook Ultra
MSRP $1,319.00
“Hands down one of the best looking laptops!”
Pros
- Sharp 120Hz OLED screen
- Reliable battery life
- Daily performance
- Sleek and light build
- Fast SSD
Cons
- Weak graphics performance
- Non-upgradable memory
- No fingerprint reader
- Limited display hinge tilt
- Weird backlight legibility on keyboard
Quick Take
The HP OmniBook Ultra gets a lot right. It is slim, lightweight, and genuinely premium, while the 3K OLED display is easily one of its biggest strengths. The Core Ultra 7 356H handles everyday work, multitasking, and AI workloads without breaking a sweat, and the PCIe Gen5 SSD is seriously quick.
The integrated graphics, however, are clearly the weak spot of this particular configuration. It is not the Panther Lake powerhouse the higher-end X7 and X9 variants can be. Still, for someone looking for a stylish, portable Windows laptop with a gorgeous screen and strong everyday performance, there is plenty to like here.
HP OmniBook Ultra Specifications
| Operating System | Windows 11 Home |
| Processor | Intel Core Ultra 7 356H (16 cores, 16 threads, Up to 4.7GHz Turbo Boost 18MB L3 cache) |
| NPU | Intel AI Boost NPU, up to 50 TOPS |
| Graphics | Intel Graphics, integrated |
| Memory | 16GB LPDDR5X-8533 MT/s, onboard |
| Storage | 1TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe M.2 SSD |
| Display | 14-inch OLED, 3K (2880 × 1800), 16:10 Up to 120Hz refresh rate, 0.2ms response time, 500 nits SDR, 1100 nits HDR, 100% DCI-P3, Multitouch, UWVA Edge-to-edge glass, Micro-edge, Corning Gorilla Glass 3, Low Blue Light |
| Screen-to-Body Ratio | 91% |
| Build Material | Forged aluminium |
| Color | Silk Sand |
| Camera | 5MP IR camera, HDR auto switch, temporal noise reduction, integrated dual-array digital microphones |
| Wireless Connectivity | Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE211 (2×2)Bluetooth 6.0 |
| Ports | 3× Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C, 40Gbps USB Power Delivery 3.1 DisplayPort 2.1 1× headphone/microphone combo jack |
| Audio | Quad speakers, HP Audio Boost, Poly Studio, DTS:X Ultra |
| Keyboard | Full-size, backlit keyboard |
| Touchpad | Haptic touchpad |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, gyroscope, IR thermal sensor |
| Battery | 4-cell, 70Wh Li-ion polymer |
| Charging | 65W USB-C GaN power adapter. Approximately 50% charge in 45 minutes |
| Claimed Battery Life | Up to 20 hours 45 minutes Up to 30 hours 15 minutes of video playback |
| Dimensions (W × D × H) | 31.11 × 21.56 × 1.07 cm |
| Weight | 1.27kg |
| Other Features | Intel Evo laptop, Copilot in Windows with Copilot key, Camera privacy shutter, Mic mute key, Firmware TPM |
| Pre-installed Software | McAfee Online Protection 30-day trial Microsoft 365 1-month trial |
There is something slightly amusing about the current laptop market. We keep asking manufacturers to make laptops thinner, lighter, faster, cooler, and longer-lasting, then act surprised when they somehow squeeze all of that into a chassis that looks like it should hold a calculator and a couple of pencils. The HP OmniBook Ultra is very much one of those laptops.
At first glance, it looks like a premium 14-inch machine designed primarily to sit inside a conference room and quietly make its owner look productive. But spend some time with it and the OmniBook Ultra starts revealing a more ambitious personality. It has an Intel Core Ultra 7 356H processor, 16GB of LPDDR5x memory, a 1TB PCIe Gen5 SSD, and integrated Intel graphics.
It also packs a 14-inch 3K OLED touchscreen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a 70Wh battery, Wi-Fi 7, and three Thunderbolt 4 ports. In other words, HP has taken the idea of a thin-and-light laptop and decided that “thin and light” shouldn’t automatically mean “please don’t ask me to do anything difficult.”
I have been using this particular configuration, and there is a lot to like here. But this isn’t a laptop without quirks. Some of them are small enough to laugh about. Others are the kind that make you stop and ask HP, “Why?” So, after spending time with it, here’s how the OmniBook Ultra feels as an actual laptop rather than a specification sheet.
HP OmniBook Ultra design
The first thing that struck me about the OmniBook Ultra was how little it feels like a conventional 14-inch laptop. HP has gone for a wedge-shaped profile, with the machine gradually becoming thinner towards the front. The entire body is made from aluminium, and my review unit comes in the Silk Sand finish.
It is a subtle colour, but I like it because it doesn’t scream for attention. Instead, it has that understated premium look that works equally well on a desk, in a coffee shop, or sitting open during a meeting where someone is inevitably going to ask, “Is that a new MacBook?”
No, it isn’t. And that is probably the point.
The design has a few similarities with the broader premium laptop language we’ve become accustomed to, but HP has given the OmniBook Ultra its own identity. The edges are sharp and polished, while the main surfaces have a sandblasted matte treatment. According to HP, the chassis is made from forged aluminium, and the company has designed it around durability as well as portability.
It certainly feels sturdy. There isn’t the kind of obvious flex that makes you nervous about picking up a laptop by one corner. The lid has enough resistance to feel deliberate without requiring both hands and a small prayer to open it. The dimensions are 31.11 x 21.56 x 1.07cm, and the machine weighs just 1.27kg.
The sort of weight that makes you forget you’re carrying a laptop at all.
And this is where the OmniBook Ultra gets its first big win. I could comfortably move around with it without feeling like I was carrying a workstation disguised as an ultrabook. The 14-inch form factor is large enough to give me proper screen real estate, while the weight keeps it firmly in the “throw it into the bag and forget about it” category.
The Silk Sand finish is also surprisingly practical. It gives the laptop a premium appearance without relying on an overly glossy surface. There is still some visible evidence of fingerprints and skin oils if you look closely, but this isn’t the kind of laptop that turns into a crime-scene investigation after 20 minutes of use.
The keyboard deck follows the same colour scheme, and the lighter appearance of the keys gives the interior a nice contrast. The overall design is clean. HP hasn’t gone overboard with branding either. The exterior HP logo is relatively understated, while the OmniBook Ultra branding on the wrist rest adds a little bit of visual flair without turning the laptop into a billboard.
Then there is the keyboard. The OmniBook Ultra gets a full-sized backlit keyboard, and the keys themselves have a good amount of travel. I actually enjoyed typing on it. The feedback is firm enough that long typing sessions don’t feel like you’re tapping on a touchscreen.
There is one slightly strange thing, though: the backlighting. The keys on my Silk Sand model are relatively light, and the backlight can sometimes make the lettering harder to distinguish rather than easier. It is one of those situations where the laptop is technically helping you see the keyboard while simultaneously making you wonder where the letters went.
HP gives you two backlight levels, but there isn’t an automatic mode. So I found myself manually switching it depending on the lighting around me. It’s not a deal-breaker. But it is an odd design decision on an otherwise carefully designed laptop.
The touchpad is much easier to praise. It’s a large haptic touchpad, and the surface feels smooth and responsive. Gestures work well, and cursor movement feels precise. HP hasn’t tried to reinvent the touchpad, which is probably the right decision. The laptop also has a Copilot key, a microphone mute key, and the usual collection of function controls. HP has included a camera privacy shutter too, which I appreciate.
The product specifications confirm the presence of the privacy shutter, microphone mute key, and firmware TPM support. Security is handled through the 5MP IR camera, which supports Windows Hello. That means facial recognition can be used for sign-in, and in practice it’s much more convenient than typing a PIN every time I open the laptop.
I do wish HP had also included a fingerprint reader. At this price and in this class, having two biometric options would have made the machine feel more complete.
Port selection is another area where HP has made some sensible choices. You get three Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports, each supporting up to 40Gbps signalling, along with DisplayPort 2.1 and USB Power Delivery. There’s also a 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo jack.
I particularly like that USB-C isn’t confined to one side. It makes charging at a desk considerably less annoying because you aren’t forced to arrange your entire workspace around one tiny port.
There is no giant selection of traditional ports here, but I don’t really miss them on a machine this thin. If you’re someone who regularly connects a bunch of older USB-A devices, HDMI cables, and SD cards directly to your laptop, you’ll probably need a dongle or dock.
For everyone else, three high-speed USB-C ports give you plenty of flexibility. Wireless connectivity is properly modern too, with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0. And then there are the speakers. HP calls it a quad-speaker setup, with HP Audio Boost, Poly Studio and DTS:X Ultra. The result is genuinely good audio for a laptop this thin.
Voices are clear, music has enough body to avoid sounding like it’s coming from inside a tin can, and movies are surprisingly enjoyable. This is not going to replace a dedicated speaker system, obviously, but I didn’t feel an immediate need to connect headphones every time I wanted to watch something.
The design, then, gets most of the important things right. It’s thin, light, sturdy, and understated, while still managing to pack in the hardware I actually want. The keyboard backlighting is my biggest complaint here. Everything else feels remarkably well thought out.
Design score: 9/10
HP OmniBook Ultra display
If the design makes a good first impression, the display is what makes me want to keep the laptop open. The OmniBook Ultra comes with a 14-inch 3K OLED touchscreen. The resolution is 2880 x 1800, the panel uses a 16:10 aspect ratio, and it supports refresh rates up to 120Hz.
HP also lists a 0.2ms response time, 100 percent DCI-P3 coverage, 500 nits of SDR brightness, and up to 1100 nits in HDR. There’s Gorilla Glass 3 protection and low-blue-light support as well. That’s a lot of numbers.
Thankfully, the experience doesn’t feel like a collection of numbers.
It looks fantastic. OLED does the heavy lifting here, particularly when you’re watching movies or looking at images with a lot of contrast. Blacks are properly black, colours are vibrant, and the overall image has that punchy quality that makes an LCD panel look slightly sleepy by comparison.
The 3K resolution also makes text look exceptionally sharp. That’s important to me because I spend a ridiculous amount of time looking at browser windows, documents, and editing software. A good display isn’t just about watching Netflix in glorious HDR. It’s about whether your eyes hate you after several hours of work.
The 16:10 aspect ratio helps too. Compared with a traditional 16:9 panel, there’s a little more vertical space, which means I can see more of a webpage or document without constantly scrolling. It doesn’t sound revolutionary, but once you get used to a taller display, going back to a shorter one feels strangely restrictive.
The 120Hz refresh rate is another feature that becomes difficult to give up once you’ve experienced it. Scrolling through websites feels smoother. Animations feel more fluid. Even moving windows around the desktop has a more immediate quality to it.
And because this is an OLED panel, the fast response time makes everything feel even snappier. The touchscreen is useful too. I don’t use touch constantly on a laptop, but when Windows throws up a control, or I need to quickly interact with something, having the option is convenient.
Brightness is another strong point. At 500 nits for SDR, the screen is bright enough for most indoor environments. HDR can push it much higher, up to 1100 nits according to HP.
The glossy surface does mean reflections can appear under strong lighting, but I found the brightness generally sufficient to overcome them.
The bezels are also impressively slim. HP lists a 91 percent screen-to-body ratio, which helps the laptop maintain a modern appearance without making the chassis unnecessarily large. There’s one physical limitation worth mentioning, though. The display hinge doesn’t open as far back as I would like.
It’s not something I noticed immediately, but once you start using the laptop in different positions, especially on a low table or while travelling, you realise there are situations where you want a little more flexibility.
Still, that’s a relatively small complaint about a panel that is otherwise one of the best parts of this laptop. The display also makes the OmniBook Ultra feel like more than a productivity machine. I can comfortably use it for writing during the day and then switch to movies or games in the evening without feeling like I’m compromising on the visual experience. That said, I will say again:
I find touchscreens on laptops that don’t open all the way back amusing.
It’s a cute thing, but I won’t use it any time soon. That’s an important distinction. A lot of thin-and-light laptops have perfectly adequate displays. The OmniBook Ultra has a display that I actually look forward to using.
Display score: 9/10
HP OmniBook Ultra performance
This is where things get interesting. The OmniBook Ultra configuration I’m testing uses Intel’s Core Ultra 7 356H, paired with 16GB of LPDDR5x memory running at up to 8533MT/s and a 1TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD. The processor has 16 cores and 16 threads, an 18MB L3 cache, and a maximum Turbo frequency of 4.7GHz. It also includes Intel AI Boost with 50 NPU TOPS.
That combination tells me exactly what HP is trying to do with this machine. It’s not simply chasing the thinnest possible laptop. It’s trying to make a thin laptop that can actually keep up.
And in everyday use, that philosophy works. I use laptops for a mixture of browser-heavy work, writing, image editing, video consumption, communications, and the occasional situation where I suddenly decide that I have enough free time to play a game. I am not a huge gamer, but I do play a bit of Cyberpunk or GTA 5 during my free time.
The OmniBook Ultra handles the first five without breaking a sweat. With multiple browser tabs open, documents running, background applications active, and various bits of Windows doing their usual mysterious Windows things, the laptop remains responsive.
Application launches are quick, windows snap into place without hesitation, and switching between workloads doesn’t result in the sort of obvious slowdown you sometimes get from thin laptops running less capable hardware. But games are a different territory. Yes, it plays those Microsoft Store games pretty well, but I tried some heavy titles like Forza and Cyberpunk, and it fell flat. It couldn’t manage a stable frame rate at even the lowest resolution settings with almost everything turned off. And maybe what’s coming next will help you understand why.
The 1TB Gen5 SSD helps keep the system feeling fast. But the more interesting part was the graphics. This was integrated graphics, so I had approached gaming expectations with a certain level of realism. I’m not expecting it to transform into a gaming laptop simply because Intel has given the graphics architecture a fancy name. Intel has been giving pretty names to its iGPUs but the most part is – realistically, they are not absolutely equipped to play any
But the performance is better than the “integrated graphics equals Solitaire” stereotype would suggest. The Core Ultra 7 356H includes Intel Graphics – positioned slightly differently – it has enough graphics capability to make casual gaming and lighter creative work viable, but it isn’t pretending to be a workstation with a dedicated GPU hiding under the keyboard.
And honestly, that’s fine. For my regular workload, CPU performance matters much more than having an oversized GPU. The laptop also stays impressively composed considering how much hardware HP has packed into such a thin chassis.
HP uses active cooling and a compact cooling design to keep temperatures under control. The general approach is familiar: air enters through the underside, and exhaust is pushed out near the rear hinge area.
The important part is that the fans aren’t constantly screaming. During normal work, I rarely notice them.
Push the laptop harder, and the fans become audible, as they should. That’s the trade-off for having a relatively powerful processor inside a thin body. I’d much rather hear a fan doing its job than have a laptop quietly cook itself on my desk.
The keyboard deck also remains reasonably comfortable during normal workloads. There is some flex when pressing hard, particularly around the centre of the keyboard, but I don’t consider it a serious issue. It becomes noticeable if you’re intentionally trying to make the keyboard flex. During normal typing, it doesn’t get in the way.
AI performance is another part of the OmniBook Ultra’s story. The Core Ultra 7 356H includes a dedicated NPU rated at 50 TOPS. That matters because the modern Windows laptop conversation increasingly involves local AI features. The OmniBook Ultra qualifies as an Intel Evo laptop and supports the broader Copilot+ experience, while HP also includes its own AI-focused camera and software capabilities.
The 5MP IR webcam is a useful example. HP specifies HDR auto-switching, temporal noise reduction, and integrated dual-array microphones.
For video calls, the camera is clearly more serious than the basic webcams we’ve had to tolerate for years. HP also bundles Poly Studio, which provides additional control over the camera and audio experience. This is one of those software packages that I don’t immediately want to uninstall, which is a surprisingly low bar that many laptop manufacturers still manage to trip over.
The software situation isn’t entirely clean, though. McAfee antivirus software is included as a 30-day trial, which means my first instinct was to remove it. HP’s own utilities are considerably more useful, particularly the support software and Poly Studio. The product page confirms the McAfee trial alongside Windows 11 Home and the Copilot experience.
The laptop also includes presence and sensor features. There are accelerometer, gyroscope, and IR thermal sensors, which enable some of the smarter contextual features. Some of these features are genuinely useful. Others are the sort of thing I tried once and then promptly forgot existed.
That’s the problem with “smart” laptops in general. Not every feature needs to be clever. What matters is that the core experience remains fast and predictable. And for the most part, it does.
Performance score: 7/10
Benchmarks
I ran six tests on the HP OmniBook Ultra, and the results paint a fairly clear picture of where this Core Ultra 7 356H machine sits. In CrystalDiskMark, the 1TB PCIe Gen5 SSD hit 10,244MB/s sequential read and 6,898MB/s sequential write, which is seriously quick. In 3DMark, it scored 1,972 in Steel Nomad Light, 474 in Steel Nomad, 10,391 in Solar Bay, and 1,405 in Solar Bay Extreme. Steel Nomad Light is specifically designed to measure GPU performance on lightweight systems, so these results are particularly useful for judging the integrated Intel Graphics.
In my last benchmark testing, the OmniBook Ultra delivered a Geekbench 7 single-core score of 2,414 and a multi-core score of 14,196, which indicated solid CPU performance for a thin-and-light laptop. Its integrated graphics also managed a Geekbench 7 OpenCL score of 19,072, giving the laptop enough GPU muscle for everyday creative workloads and some lighter graphics-intensive tasks. However, the results did not translate to actual gaming performance, which we talked about above.
The interesting bit is that the 356H’s four-Xe3-core iGPU sits below older Core Ultra 7 155H and 255H/258V chips, which typically score around 2,959, 3,300, and 3,200+ respectively in Steel Nomad Light. Even Snapdragon X Elite systems can land around 2,200, although Snapdragon’s results vary considerably by laptop and driver.
So, while the OmniBook Ultra’s CPU platform is newer, this particular 356H configuration isn’t the Panther Lake graphics monster. That distinction matters because Intel’s much faster Arc B390 GPU is reserved for higher-end Panther Lake chips such as the Core Ultra X9 388H.
Battery
Thin laptops often have an awkward relationship with battery life. They’re light enough to carry everywhere, but sometimes you need to carry the charger everywhere too.
The OmniBook Ultra tries to avoid that fate with a 70Wh battery. HP claims up to 20 hours and 45 minutes of battery life, depending on configuration and testing conditions, while video playback is rated at up to 30 hours and 15 minutes.
Those are obviously laboratory-style figures, so I wouldn’t expect my real-world usage to replicate them. What I do appreciate is the battery capacity relative to the size and weight of the laptop. A 70Wh battery in a 1.27kg machine is a pretty good combination.
For my regular work, the OmniBook Ultra feels like the kind of laptop I can take out for several hours without immediately starting to calculate battery percentages in my head. And that is perhaps the biggest compliment I can give a portable laptop. I don’t want to think about the battery. I want to use the laptop. When I do need to charge it, HP says the battery can reach approximately 50 percent in 45 minutes.
The included charger is another nice touch. HP supplies a 65W USB-C GaN adapter. Because it’s a GaN charger, the brick is relatively compact, and the detachable cable makes it easier to pack.
This sounds like a small thing until you travel regularly. A charger that occupies half the bag and weighs as much as the laptop is not exactly “ultra portable.” HP has avoided that problem here.
And because the laptop charges over USB-C, you’re not locked into carrying some giant proprietary brick. The battery story is therefore less about one spectacular number and more about the overall package.
Battery score: 8/10
Should you buy it?
The HP OmniBook Ultra is one of those laptops that becomes more impressive the longer I use it. It doesn’t rely on one gimmick. There’s no enormous screen, no ridiculous hinge, no detachable keyboard pretending to be a revolution. Instead, HP has taken the basic premium laptop formula and tried to make every part of it work together.
If your priority is portability, display quality and a premium Windows experience, the HP OmniBook Ultra makes a strong case. At just 1.27kg, it is remarkably easy to carry, while the 14-inch 3K OLED panel gives you the kind of sharpness, colour and contrast that makes everything from writing to watching Netflix feel better. The forged aluminium chassis also gives it a proper premium feel without turning it into a heavy machine.
And don’t forget the 120Hz OLED panel, 70Wh battery, and 1.27kg weight. However, this particular configuration is not a universal recommendation. The biggest compromise is the integrated Intel Graphics. My Core Ultra 7 356H scored 1,972 in Steel Nomad Light, and the benchmark results make it clear that this isn’t the graphics-heavy Panther Lake configuration. The higher-end Panther Lake chips with larger Arc graphics are in another performance class.
So while the 356H is perfectly comfortable with everyday productivity, multitasking, and AI-assisted workloads, I wouldn’t buy this particular version primarily for gaming or heavy GPU work. The other thing to consider is the 16GB onboard RAM. It is enough for normal productivity and my day-to-day usage, but there is no upgrading it later, so your memory requirements need to be considered before buying.
Yes, if you want a lightweight premium Windows laptop with an excellent OLED display, fast storage, plenty of USB-C connectivity, and enough performance for everyday work, content consumption, and moderate creative workloads.
No, if your priority is serious or even light AAA gaming, sustained GPU-heavy work, or having upgradeable memory. In that case, the higher-end OmniBook Ultra configurations or a laptop with discrete graphics make more sense.
In simple terms, the OmniBook Ultra 356H is a premium productivity laptop first and a performance machine second. The hardware is impressive, but this particular configuration doesn’t unlock the full graphics potential of the Panther Lake platform. But those are small cracks in an otherwise very polished package. For my particular Core Ultra 7 configuration, the OmniBook Ultra feels like HP has understood the assignment: give me a laptop that I can carry everywhere, work on all day, enjoy watching content on, occasionally throw some heavier workloads at, and not immediately start looking for the charger. That’s a pretty good assignment to get right.
Why not try
MacBook Air 15-inch with M5 is worth considering if you are comfortable moving to macOS. Its M5 chip gets a 10-core CPU and up to a 10-core GPU, while the 15.3-inch display offers 2880 × 1864 resolution and 500 nits brightness. It also remains fanless, making it an interesting alternative for people who prioritise quiet operation and efficiency.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 15-inch takes the Windows-on-ARM route with Snapdragon X2 Plus or X2 Elite processors. It has a 15-inch 120Hz touchscreen, up to 64GB of RAM, and Microsoft’s claimed battery life of up to 19 hours. It is a particularly relevant alternative if battery life and ARM efficiency matter more to you than broad x86 compatibility.
You could also look at the HP OmniBook Ultra configurations with the higher-end Panther Lake chips. The same laptop family is available with more powerful processors, including configurations with substantially stronger integrated graphics. That makes this an especially interesting alternative if you like the OmniBook’s design but want more graphics headroom.
The OmniBook Ultra therefore occupies an interesting middle ground. It gives you the premium build, OLED display, lightweight chassis, and connectivity without going down the gaming-laptop route. The catch is that the exact processor configuration matters a lot. The Core Ultra 7 356H model I tested is considerably different from the higher-end Panther Lake versions despite sharing the same OmniBook Ultra name.
How we tested it
I used the HP OmniBook Ultra as a real-world device rather than treating it like a benchmark box. My testing covered everyday work such as writing, web browsing, multitasking, streaming, and switching between multiple applications, along with more demanding workloads to see how the laptop behaved when pushed beyond basic productivity.
I also paid particular attention to the things that don’t always show up on a specification sheet. The OLED display was used across different lighting conditions, the keyboard and haptic touchpad were tested through extended writing sessions, and I spent time using the laptop on battery as well as while connected to power.
For performance, I ran a combination of storage and graphics benchmarks. CrystalDiskMark was used to test the 1TB PCIe Gen5 SSD, while 3DMark Steel Nomad, Steel Nomad Light, Solar Bay, and Solar Bay Extreme were used to examine the integrated Intel graphics. The results were then compared with published figures where directly comparable data was available.
The idea wasn’t to chase a single benchmark number. I wanted to see how the OmniBook Ultra behaves as an actual laptop: something I can carry around, work on for hours, watch content on, plug into peripherals, and occasionally push hard when the workload demands it. That combination of real-world use and benchmark testing is what shaped my overall impression of the machine.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
What really stands out about this laptop?
This is a 14-inch machine that weighs just 1.27kg, yet still manages to include a 16-core Intel Core Ultra 7 356H processor, 16GB of fast LPDDR5x memory, and a 1TB Gen5 SSD. The build quality is another highlight. The Silk Sand aluminium body looks premium without being obnoxious, and the thin profile makes this a genuinely portable laptop rather than a laptop that merely looks portable in product photos.
Is the display good?
You get a lovely OLED display on this one. It’s bright, sharp, colourful, fast, and touch-enabled. The 3K resolution and 120Hz refresh rate make it equally comfortable for spreadsheets, writing, browsing, and entertainment.
How is the connectivity situation?
It’s a mix. Three Thunderbolt 4 ports, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 6 give the machine a modern foundation, while the headphone jack is still there for anyone who hasn’t yet decided that wired audio is a crime.
What about the keyboard?
The keyboard is comfortable, the haptic touchpad is excellent, and the speakers are surprisingly capable. But it isn’t perfect. The keyboard backlighting needs work. The light-coloured keys and backlight don’t always play nicely together, and I occasionally found myself turning the backlight off because it was making the legends harder to read.
What are a few of its key downsides?
The limited port selection is understandable given the chassis, but anyone with a collection of USB-A accessories will probably need a hub. And while the 3K OLED display is excellent, the hinge could have offered a little more flexibility. The keyboard backlighting is an unnecessary annoyance, and the absence of a fingerprint reader is disappointing.
Who is this laptop for?
I’d say the OmniBook Ultra makes the most sense for someone who wants a premium Windows laptop without stepping into the heavier, bulkier category of performance machines. It’s for the person who writes, edits, browses, works with large numbers of tabs, attends video calls, watches a lot of content, and occasionally wants to push the machine harder.
It’s also a particularly interesting option for someone who wants strong processor performance without giving up portability. And I think that balance is what makes the OmniBook Ultra work. And I can say it’s considerably harder to build a laptop that feels like a thin laptop while behaving like a powerful one. The OmniBook Ultra gets remarkably close.
The best thing I can say about it is that I don’t spend much time thinking about the hardware while using it. I just open the lid and get on with whatever I’m doing. That’s exactly what I want from a premium laptop.
There are laptops that impress you when you read their specifications. Then some laptops impress you when you actually live with them. The HP OmniBook Ultra belongs much more to the second category. It is thin without feeling fragile, powerful without feeling unnecessarily bulky, and premium without turning the entire experience into a fashion statement.
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PDFBear is a broad browser-based PDF toolkit that covers common jobs such as converting, merging, splitting, compressing, signing, and organizing files without installing desktop software. Its standard tools can be useful for occasional PDF work, but the free-plan limits, cloud file handling, Premium-only AI features, and a few unclear product details are worth understanding before you upload important documents or pay.
This is a research-based review, not a hands-on performance test. The verdict therefore focuses on what PDFBear currently offers, what its published policies say, where those policies create practical trade-offs, and which claims cannot be independently confirmed from the available evidence.
Quick Take
PDFBear makes sense if you want a convenient browser toolkit for routine PDF work and your files fit its current limits. Look more carefully before using it for sensitive documents, large automated workloads, or AI-heavy work, because files are processed online, AI features can involve third-party providers, and Premium AI use is still subject to fair-use limits.
Is PDFBear Worth Using?
PDFBear is worth considering for occasional browser-based PDF work because its standard toolset covers many everyday tasks without requiring a paid subscription. The current free plan includes standard conversion, merge, split, compression, and signing tools, with files up to 50 MB.
The main question is not whether PDFBear has enough tools. It does. The more useful question is whether its operating model fits the documents you handle.
If you mainly need to convert a Word document, combine a few PDFs, compress an attachment, rotate pages, or sign a document from a browser, the free tier may cover the job. A registered free account currently supports unlimited conversions with up to 30 pages or images per conversion, while guests are limited to five conversions per day with up to 10 pages or images each.
Premium becomes more relevant when you need optical character recognition (OCR), AI document tools, larger page batches, priority processing, or longer file availability. OCR is the technology that turns text inside scanned pages into searchable and selectable text.
The biggest caution is privacy rather than basic functionality. PDFBear is an online service, so documents are uploaded for processing instead of remaining entirely on your computer. That does not automatically make the service unsuitable, but it matters if the file contains information you would normally avoid sending to a third-party cloud service.
How This PDFBear Review Was Researched
That distinction matters because feature availability does not prove quality. A service can offer PDF-to-Word conversion without that establishing how accurately it reproduces a difficult document. Likewise, PDFBear advertises priority processing for Premium users, but that does not provide an independent benchmark for how much faster it is.
Independent review evidence is also limited. G2 currently shows six PDFBear reviews with a 2.4 out of 5 average. Six reviews can surface individual experiences, but the sample is too small to support a broad conclusion about reliability, support quality, or typical user satisfaction.
What PDFBear Can Do
PDFBear is more than a single converter. Its current tool catalog covers conversion, organization, optimization, editing, signing, security, OCR, and AI-assisted document work.
The standard tools include familiar jobs such as converting Word, Excel, PowerPoint, images, and other formats to PDF; converting PDFs back to common formats; merging and splitting documents; compressing files; rotating or organizing pages; signing PDFs; filling forms; and applying basic document-security tools. PDFBear says these standard tools are available without Premium.
The service also includes more specialized tools such as OCR, Chat with PDF, summarization, translation, and a PDF question generator. These are materially different from a normal file conversion because some depend on artificial intelligence and are reserved for Premium accounts.
That separation is useful when deciding whether you actually need a subscription. Someone who occasionally merges invoices and converts Office files has a very different workload from someone extracting text from hundreds of scanned pages or asking an AI system to summarize long reports.
PDFBear operates through a web browser, so its core tools do not require desktop installation. That cross-device convenience is one of the service’s clearer strengths, especially when you move between computers or only need a PDF tool occasionally.
PDFBear Free vs Premium: Limits and Pricing
The free plan handles routine PDF work, while Premium mainly raises processing allowances and unlocks OCR, AI features, batch processing, priority service, and an ad-free experience. The distinction is easier to understand when the limits are placed side by side.
| Feature | Free | Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Standard PDF tools | Included | Included |
| Maximum file size | 50 MB | 50 MB |
| Guest use | 5 conversions per day, up to 10 pages or images each | Not applicable after upgrading |
| Registered-account conversions | Unlimited conversions, up to 30 pages or images each | Unlimited tasks, up to 200 pages or images per conversion |
| OCR | Not included | Included, subject to applicable fair-use limits |
| AI document tools | Not included | Included, subject to fair-use limits |
| Batch processing | Not included | Included |
| File retention | 30 days after last activity | While subscribed, then 30 days after the subscription ends |
| Priority processing | No | Yes |
| Current price | $0 | $13.99 monthly or $99.99 yearly; the yearly plan is shown as $8.33 per month |
PDFBear currently offers a 7-day Premium trial and a $99.99 yearly plan. Its FAQ also lists a $13.99 monthly option. Prices and promotional terms can change, so check the checkout page before subscribing.
There is an important qualification behind the word “unlimited.” Standard Premium tasks may have no daily conversion limit, but PDFBear’s AI features remain subject to fair-use controls. The Terms describe per-file page limits, a monthly AI allowance, a maximum upload size of 50 MB per file, and restrictions on automated or unusually high-volume processing.
Premium is therefore better understood as a higher-capacity individual plan than an unrestricted bulk-processing service. If your workflow is automated, shared across many people, or processes unusually large numbers of documents, a normal Premium account should not be assumed to cover it.
Warning
PDFBear’s official documentation currently conflicts regarding watermarks on free conversions. Its pricing page lists watermark-free PDF output as a Premium-only feature, and its developer documentation states that free conversions receive a small “PDFBEAR.COM – Free Ver.” badge. Conversely, its FAQ states converted files carry no watermark. If clean, unbranded output is essential for client-facing documents, portfolios, or resumes, run a sample test on the exact tool before relying on the free tier.
Because those first-party statements conflict, do not assume one rule applies uniformly to every free website workflow. Testing your specific file path beforehand prevents unexpected formatting revisions when submitting time-sensitive files.
How PDFBear Handles Your Files and Privacy
Uploading a PDF to an online converter means the document leaves your device for processing. For routine files that may be an acceptable trade-off for convenience, but sensitive documents deserve a closer look at storage, deletion, sharing, and AI processing.
Files are transferred through encrypted HTTPS connections while moving between your device and PDFBear. HTTPS protects data in transit, but it is not the same as an independent guarantee that no security incident can occur.
For a free account, a file is removed 30 days after its last activity. Downloading the file or opening its share link counts as activity and resets that timer. Premium files remain available while the subscription is active and are removed 30 days after the subscription ends.
Signed-in users can also delete files manually from the file manager. PDFBear’s Privacy Policy states that uploaded and converted files may be stored on S3-compatible infrastructure such as Wasabi or Amazon Web Services.
Sharing creates another consideration. A shared page is configured so search engines should not index it, but anyone who has the share link can view the file until it is deleted. A no-index setting reduces search-engine discovery; it does not restrict access to one named recipient.
AI tools add another data path. When you use Chat with PDF, summarization, translation, the question generator, or other AI-assisted functions, relevant file content or text may be sent to a third-party AI provider to generate the result. Ordinary conversion should not be described as the same process simply because AI tools are available elsewhere on the service.
If a document contains confidential business information, identity documents, medical information, financial records, private legal material, or another category your organization restricts from external AI services, that distinction matters. Follow the applicable data policy rather than assuming an online AI feature is suitable because the underlying website uses HTTPS.
PDFBear states that human review is not part of its normal automated document-processing workflow. That is a provider statement about its operating practice, not an independent security certification, so it should not be treated as proof that every possible privacy or security risk has been eliminated.
Where PDFBear Falls Short
The first limitation is structural: PDFBear is primarily an online workflow. If your requirement is that a confidential document never leave your own computer, a remote processing service is the wrong model regardless of how convenient its interface may be.
The 50 MB per-file ceiling can also become restrictive with high-resolution scans, image-heavy reports, design files, or long archives. Premium raises the number of pages or images allowed in a conversion, but the current Terms still cap an uploaded file at 50 MB.
Premium’s AI tools also come with limits behind the headline feature list. OCR, Chat with PDF, summarization, translation, and the question generator are included with Premium, but AI usage has monthly and per-file fair-use controls. Heavy AI users should not interpret Premium as unlimited automated document analysis.
There is also no basis for promising flawless output. PDFBear’s Terms state that conversions and AI outputs are not guaranteed to be error-free and advise users to keep backups of important files. That matters most for complex tables, uncommon fonts, scanned text, forms, and intricate layouts, where a converted result should be checked before you rely on it or discard the original.
Free-output watermarking remains unclear because PDFBear’s own current pages disagree. If an unbranded PDF is essential to your workflow, confirm the result with the specific free tool before relying on it repeatedly.
Independent review evidence is too limited for a strong reliability verdict. G2 currently lists only six PDFBear reviews. That is enough to justify reading individual complaints or praise before subscribing, but not enough to establish how the service performs for most users.
PDFBear Alternatives
The most useful alternative depends on why PDFBear does not fit. Replacing it with another cloud converter does not solve much if your actual concern is keeping documents off third-party servers.
If your main task is Merge PDF, compare free PDF merger tools by processing location, free-use restrictions, offline support, and document controls. That comparison is more useful than paying for a broad PDF suite when combining files is the only job you regularly perform.
If you still want another browser-based conversion and editing service, CocoDoc PDF Converter is another option to evaluate. The important comparison is not simply which site has more tools. Check the current free limits, processing model, privacy policy, pricing, and the exact functions you need before moving a sensitive or repeated workflow.
For documents that must stay local, prioritize an offline desktop application or a browser-local tool whose processing genuinely occurs on your own device. Dedicated desktop software such as PDFgear or open-source editors like LibreOffice Draw process files entirely on local hardware without sending document bytes across the network. Choosing a true offline tool or a client-side WebAssembly processor changes the privacy model far more meaningfully than switching between two competing cloud converters.
Who Should and Shouldn’t Use PDFBear
PDFBear is a reasonable fit for people who occasionally need common PDF tasks from a browser and do not want to install dedicated desktop software. The free account is especially relevant when your files stay below 50 MB and your conversions fit within the current 30-page or image allowance.
Premium makes more sense when OCR, AI document tools, batches of up to 200 pages or images, priority processing, or longer file availability are part of your regular work. Even then, the AI fair-use policy should be checked if you expect unusually heavy use.
PDFBear is a weaker fit if you require local-only processing, routinely work with files above 50 MB, need independently benchmarked conversion accuracy, or plan to automate high-volume PDF processing through a normal consumer Premium account.
It also deserves extra scrutiny when the documents are highly sensitive. The service publishes information about HTTPS, retention, deletion, storage providers, and AI subprocessors, which gives you useful policy details to evaluate. Those disclosures still do not remove the basic fact that an online workflow transfers document data to external infrastructure.
If your decision comes down to privacy, start with the data rather than the tool list: identify what the document contains, whether external processing is permitted, whether an AI feature is involved, and how soon you need the result removed. That will usually tell you more than a long feature comparison.
Verdict
Our Verdict
PDFBear is most convincing as a convenient browser toolkit for ordinary PDF jobs rather than as an unrestricted professional document-processing platform. Its free standard tools, 50 MB file allowance, and registered-account conversion limits should cover many occasional tasks, while Premium adds OCR, AI, batch, and priority features. The decision changes when privacy, local-only processing, very large files, or heavy AI usage matters: documents are processed through online infrastructure, AI features can involve third-party providers, and Premium AI use remains subject to fair-use limits. Use PDFBear when its convenience and published controls fit the sensitivity and size of your files; choose a local or more specialized workflow when they do not.
Canadian cybersecurity executive Edward Dubrovsky has been arrested in Pennsylvania in connection with alleged extortion activity that multiple reports have linked to the FBI’s ongoing crackdown on the ShinyHunters hacking group.
Dubrovsky, 54, has had senior roles at cybersecurity firms that help data breach and ransomware victims negotiate extortion payments with cybercriminals.
Yesterday, FBI Director Kash Patel announced that agents had arrested “another suspected co-conspirator of the ShinyHunters group”. The New York Times reported that the suspect was a Canadian citizen arrested in Pennsylvania and believed to be a primary co-conspirator in the recent ShinyHunters FBI Jobs hack.
Last night, both Politico and KrebsOnSecurity reported that Dubrovsky was arrested in Pennsylvania, where he was attending a cybersecurity conference.
Publicly available court records show that Dubrovsky appeared in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania after being taken into custody. A later court order says he was transferred to the Eastern District of Texas, where the charges were filed, with the order stating that he remains in custody.
While the complaint is currently under seal, the docket lists conspiracy and extortion-related charges.
“18:371 AND 1030(a)(7)(B) – CONSPIRACY TO THREATEN TO IMPAIR THE CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION WITH THE INTENT TO EXTORT MONEY; 18:1951(a) AND (b)(2) – INTERFERENCE WITH COMMERCE BY THREATS (HOBBS ACT EXTORTION AND CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT HOBBS ACT EXTORTION),” reads the case docket.
While the FBI has not publicly confirmed that Dubrovsky is the suspected ShinyHunters co-conspirator, KrebsOnSecurity reports that multiple sources linked Dubrovsky’s arrest to the ShinyHunters investigation.
Dubrovsky previously co-founded Canadian cybersecurity company CYPFER and has also been associated with CyberSteward, another firm specializing in ransomware negotiation and cyber-extortion response.
Politico reports that CyberSteward is a trade name used by CYPFER and that the firms help organizations negotiate and send extortion payments to cybercriminals.
Dubrovsky also recently published a book, “Cyber Extortion Strategic Response,” about handling cyber extortion.
According to KrebsOnSecurity, Dubrovsky had previously posted on LinkedIn that he planned to attend the NetDiligence Cyber Risk Summit in Pennsylvania with the CyberSteward team.
ShinyHunters is an extortion group known for stealing data from web applications and cloud-based SaaS platforms, then demanding ransom payments from victims or the stolen data would be published.
Over time, the ShinyHunters name has been used by numerous threat actors involved in data theft and extortion campaigns worldwide.
In addition to conducting its own breaches, the group has also operated as an extortion-as-a-service operation, helping other hackers extort organizations they had already compromised into paying ransom demands.
More recently, ShinyHunters has increasingly targeted cloud environments and enterprise SaaS platforms, often using stolen credentials, authentication tokens, phishing, and social engineering to gain access to corporate systems and steal data.
According to the FBI, ShinyHunters and associated actors have breached more than 140 organizations and collected more than $70 million in extortion payments over the past year.
The FBI has stepped up pressure on the group since the breach of its jobs portal, with multiple arrests and detentions linked to alleged ShinyHunters members in recent weeks.
Because the complaint against Dubrovsky remains sealed, it is still unclear what he is accused of doing or whether the case is connected to the FBI breach.
The Telegraph reports that the nutritional value of fruit and vegetables has fallen by up to 50% since the Sixties, according a new study from researchers at startup studio Deep Science Ventures.
The study “found that humans needed to consume twice the number of vegetables to get the same level of minerals such as potassium, magnesium or copper as would have been present in their food 60 years ago.”
The study found that many crops had lost 20% to 50% of several key nutrients… The decrease in nutrient and vitamin value is thought to be down to declining soil quality and crops being selectively bred for their ability to grow quickly, rather than there being any focus on their health benefits… It raises the prospect that the advice to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, introduced in the UK in 2003, may need to be updated. The report added that people on weight-loss drugs could be most at risk from the lack of nutrients, as the treatments could cause them to consume less food…
Nature-friendly farming techniques, such as planting crops that restore nutrients to the soil, could help improve the health benefits of vegetables, according to the researchers.
In short, according to
Will Summers, a senior associate at the firm, “we’ve been quietly hollowing out what’s inside our food.”
Thanks to Slashdot reader Bruce66423 for sharing the article.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
3D scanners are useful for everything from reverse engineering and automotive work to creating digital models of physical objects. However, many professional scanners still rely heavily on a connected computer, which can make scanning large objects or working in the field more cumbersome. To address this problem, Creality launched the Sermoon P1S. The scanner has onboard processing, 256GB of storage, and a 6-inch touchscreen, letting users capture objects, check scan coverage, and do common processing tasks without constantly connecting to a computer.
Four Scanning Modes & High-End Hardware
The Sermoon P1S combines 34 cross laser lines, seven parallel laser lines, a blue laser line, and NIR structured light. These modes are designed for different types of objects and surfaces. The 34 cross laser lines focus on larger surfaces, while the seven parallel lines target finer details. The single blue laser line can help capture recessed areas such as grooves and deep holes. NIR structured light is designed for smaller and medium-sized objects and detailed surface capture.
For blue-laser scanning, Creality claims up to 0.02mm accuracy, with volumetric accuracy of 0.02mm + 0.08mm/m. Blue-laser scanning reaches up to 60fps in standalone mode and 100fps when connected to a PC.
The scanner weighs 807 grams with its battery and runs on an 8-core Qualcomm CPU clocked at up to 3.36GHz, an Adreno 740 GPU, and an FPGA. It also has 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB UFS 4.0 storage. Users can operate the scanner independently or connect it to a PC wirelessly or through USB 3.0. Wi-Fi 7 enables wireless connectivity, while two replaceable 3,300mAh batteries and PD 3.0 fast charging support longer scanning sessions. The P1S can also operate outdoors, with blue-laser scanning supporting environments up to 110,000 lux. With the included NIR filter, NIR scanning supports up to 80,000 lux.
Creality’s software supports scanning, optimization, and basic model processing, with support for STL, OBJ, and PLY formats. It also includes AI-assisted hole filling to help repair missing surfaces. Users can then move the resulting models into CAD, 3D modeling, or fabrication software. Creality says it will continue updating the scanner through OTA updates. The Creality Sermoon P1S is available worldwide from September 22, 2026, through the Creality Store. It normally costs $2,299, but an early-bird price of $2,099 is available through October 12, offering a $200 discount.
Keep track of important updates without having to open the app every two minutes.
At a time when most Android phones had already switched to tiny hole-punch cutouts to house their front-facing cameras, the iPhone 14 Pro launched with a long pill-shaped cutout. Apple has used this as its standard since then, aside from the budget “e” phones and iPhone Duo, and even made it smaller for the iPhone 18 Pro series.
This is because iPhones pack more than just a camera inside the cutout; there are additional sensors required for Face ID to work. Instead of hiding the pill with cleverly designed wallpapers, Apple leaned into it with the Dynamic Island, using the surrounding area to turn an otherwise awkward design constraint into a useful part of the iOS experience.
Your iPhone’s Live Activities show up on the Dynamic Island when using your phone. They display information you might want to keep an eye on without having to constantly switch back to the associated app: timers, navigation directions, music playback and sports scores can be displayed as Live Activities. Many third-party apps like food delivery and flight tracking services have also adapted to use the Dynamic Island.
Live Activities should be enabled by default, but if you don’t see them for certain apps, check if they’ve accidentally been turned off. On your iPhone, navigate to Settings > Apps and select any app that’s been giving you trouble. Make sure the Live Activities slider is enabled. Though Live Activities work independently of regular notifications, you might want to also enable notifications for the app if you’re not seeing the expected updates.
These activities will also appear on the Lock screen when you’re not using your device. To make sure this is enabled, visit Settings > Face ID & Passcode. Confirm your passcode, then scroll down to the Allow Access When Locked section and be sure Live Activities is on.
Using Live Activities on CarPlay
CarPlay makes it easy to access vital info from your iPhone without getting too distracted while driving. As part of this, it can display Live Activities so you can track the status of a food delivery or updates for an upcoming flight.
Live Activities from your iPhone are automatically displayed on the CarPlay Dashboard, the split-screen view to the left of your app list. If you’re using an app that covers the entire screen, Live Activities will still be shown as notifications at the bottom of the display. If they become too distracting, you can always turn the feature off in CarPlay or disable Live Activities for specific noisy apps, as above.
In case you’re not seeing them, open the Settings app in CarPlay, scroll down and make sure the Live Activities toggle is enabled. You should also confirm the Suggestions in CarPlay (or Suggestions in Dashboard) option is turned on. If they still don’t appear, try turning off Driving Focus if it’s running.
Besides this, you can add widgets to CarPlay for quick controls and information from apps without having to open them. Widgets live in the leftmost section of the CarPlay Dashboard. Spend a little more time in the Settings app, and you’ll discover more ways to customize how CarPlay looks on your car’s display.
Apple could add a personal touch to its upcoming iPhone Duo launch, letting buyers see their names on the screen the first time they turn on their new phones. According to Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman, Apple retail stores in the US will have a system to customise the device’s initial greeting, so it displays a message such as “Hello, Mark” instead of the usual generic welcome.
The feature is expected to be exclusive to the iPhone Duo and limited to the US, with support for English and Spanish. It is a small change, but one that could make unboxing a new iPhone feel a little more personal.
Apple is adding a personal touch to the iPhone Duo experience
The custom greeting is a small software detail, but it fits Apple’s broader approach of making its products feel personal from the moment users start using them. Instead of seeing the same welcome screen as everyone else, buyers could see their own names appear during the initial setup.
According to Gurman, the feature will be available only at Apple retail stores in the US, and only on the iPhone Duo. Customers can choose between English and Spanish. Apple has not announced whether the personalisation will extend to online orders or other iPhone models.
The feature is also a reminder that Apple’s first foldable iPhone is being treated as a special launch. The iPhone Duo opens into a 7.6-inch display and has a 5.4-inch outer screen when folded. Apple has positioned it as a device for multitasking, gaming, and watching content, rather than simply a conventional iPhone with a hinge.
iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 in the US
The timing is notable because Apple’s first foldable iPhone is approaching its retail launch. The company says US pre-orders begin on October 16, with availability starting October 23. The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 for 256GB, with higher-capacity versions costing more.
The device opens into a 7.6-inch inner display and has a 5.4-inch outer screen when folded. Apple is pitching it as a device for multitasking, gaming and watching content, combining the flexibility of a larger screen with a phone-sized design.
For US buyers considering a $2,000 phone, a personalised greeting will hardly be the deciding factor. Still, it is a memorable flourish for a product that marks Apple’s entry into the foldable-phone market. The bigger questions remain how well the folding design holds up, how useful the larger display proves in everyday use, and whether buyers think the price is justified.
For now, the name-on-screen feature remains an unconfirmed retail detail. Apple has yet to explain exactly how stores will set it up or whether the option will expand to other devices.
RELATED COVERAGE:
[This is a sponsored article with MDEC, but the editorial team had full control over the content. ]
If you haven’t been living under a rock, you’d know that Malaysia is now at the centre of Southeast Asia’s AI infrastructure boom.
New data centres are continuously being announced across Johor and the Klang Valley, with the most recent ones being China’s Alibaba and Singapore-based Digital Decarbonization Solutions Platform (DDSP).
As more and more global technology firms expand their cloud and AI capabilities here, it’s easy to get awed by the billion-ringgit investment flowing into our digital economy. These investments also reflect Malaysia’s growing strengths under the Malaysia Digital (MD) national strategic initiative, which is accelerating the development of a robust digital and AI ecosystem.
But have you ever wondered why Malaysia is chosen for these expansions?
Out of all our SEA-blings, why Malaysia?
Today, Malaysia is one of the few countries in the Southeast Asia region that has built something worth betting on before the hyperscalers arrived.
NationGate, a Penang-based manufacturer, had spent years quietly qualifying for one of NVIDIA’s most exclusive global partnerships. They’re currently one of only four companies across all of Asia that have earned the right to assemble NVIDIA’s most advanced AI servers.
Similarly, SNS Network in Cyberjaya is making high-performance GPU computing accessible to businesses that would otherwise struggle to afford the hardware themselves.
MDEC’s Founders Center of Excellence (FOX) programme has also assembled a cohort of high-growth Malaysia Digital (MD) status software companies, giving them the strategic support to scale, expand regionally and contribute to Malaysia’s growing AI ecosystem.
So how does each layer actually work? Let’s break it down.
The hardware layer: Building the machines that power AI
You probably won’t see NationGate’s name on your AI tools, but their systems run on the infrastructure the firm helped build.
Founded in 2010 by Datuk Ooi Eng Leong and his wife Tan Ah Geok, NationGate started as a general electronics manufacturing services provider before pivoting into AI server assembly. That pivot proved timely.
As demand for AI infrastructure accelerated worldwide, NationGate emerged as one of its beneficiaries. In just 2024 alone, the firm’s revenue reportedly surged from RM638 million to RM5.27 billion, an increase of more than eightfold.
Beyond the NVIDIA partnership, what makes NationGate’s position defensible is its operational depth. The company assembles servers using NVIDIA’s H200 and B200 AI GPU chips—among the most sought-after in the world—and ships them primarily to Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.
It also offers servers using the older H100 chips and Intel rack servers, positioning NationGate to serve both cutting-edge AI workloads and more cost-sensitive enterprise deployments. This diversification is highly important as AI infrastructure demand continues to expand faster than supply can keep up.
The access layer: Putting GPU power within local (and global) reach
As one of Malaysia’s leading ICT distributors and super server suppliers, SNS Network is far from a new player in the AI boom.
The Ipoh-founded company built its name in the local tech supply chain as a distributor of hardware and servers to businesses. But as competition in AI server distribution grew, SNS Network shifted its focus into GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS).
Called SNS AI Factory, it’s a fully managed AI cloud infrastructure service built with NVIDIA and Dell Technologies. Instead of buying expensive hardware, companies can rent computing power for workloads across industries like financial services, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, and telecommunications.
Its GPUaaS also addresses another challenge facing AI adoption: data sovereignty.
For banks, hospitals, and government agencies, sensitive data often cannot be freely stored or processed overseas due to regulatory and security requirements. By keeping the infrastructure in Malaysia, companies can easily overcome these barriers to adopting AI.
Pricing starts at around RM35,000 per GPU per month, as SNS Network aims to offer more companies access to AI infrastructure without large upfront costs. “[This] allows (companies) flexibility to scale their computing needs on demand,” stated its Managing Director, Ko Yun Hung.
The intelligence layer: What gets plugged in
Hardware alone doesn’t build an AI economy. Data centres and GPU clusters are only the foundation. What matters is what gets built on top of them.
That’s where Malaysia’s MD status ecosystem and the MDEC Founders Centre of Excellence (FOX) programme come in. An invitation-only initiative, FOX provides Malaysian companies with strategic support, investor access, and regional expansion opportunities to scale up.
Three MD status companies show how this plays out.
Glem.ai tackles the deployment gap. Its AI platform helps large organisations, regulated industries, and government users scale AI deployments without being locked into a single vendor.
This addresses the practical roadblocks that often prevent AI projects from moving past the pilot stage. As its CEO, Ryan Tay, puts it plainly: “Our focus has always been on solving the real barriers that stop enterprises and institutions from deploying AI at scale: data sovereignty, governance, and production reliability.”
Since its launch last year, the company has won the Talent Innovation Award at ITEC 2025 in Beijing, showing what’s possible when local innovation is nurtured with the right support and opportunities to scale internationally.
On the other hand, DeltaSpike addresses the blind spot that tends to get discovered too late. As AI becomes more integrated in critical business workflows, it also becomes a target. This gap is what DeltaSpike aims to fill with its Agentic SOC: an intelligence-drive, automation-first security operations model designed to proactively contain security threats.
“Our goal is to embed intelligent, proactive protection into the DNA of business growth. This investment serves as a mandate to accelerate Malaysia’s cybersecurity capability while providing a robust security anchor for Southeast Asia,” shared its Chairman,Taufik Othman.
DeltaSpike’s vision has since attracted institutional backing. In April 2026, DeltaSpike secured a strategic investment from VentureTECH to accelerate its capabilities and regional expansion across Southeast Asia.
Last but not least is Cloud Space, a cloud and AI infrastructure solutions provider focused on helping businesses deploy scalable digital systems across regional markets.
As Malaysia’s 2025 Google Cloud Country Partner of the Year, Cloud Space helps enterprises modernise legacy systems, migrate to cloud infrastructure, and deploy AI-enabled applications at scale.
Google Cloud’s President of Global Partner Ecosystem, Kevin Ichhpurani, commended the firm in 2025, stating, “Cloud Space’s commitment to delivering innovative cloud solutions and measurable outcomes for clients has made a significant impact over the past year.”
More than the sum of its parts
Taken on their own, NationGate, SNS Network and MD status companies Glem.ai, DeltaSpike, and Cloud Space are already strong stories. But what makes Malaysia’s position interesting is how they connect.
Each layer feeds the next. Easier access to GPU infrastructure lowers the barrier for enterprises to experiment with AI, which drives demand for local AI applications. As adoption grows, it increases the need for more computing capacity underneath.
Over time, this builds a full ecosystem that continues to attract foreign investment, accelerate AI adoption and reinforce Malaysia’s position as a regional digital hub.
As Malaysia’s AI ecosystem continues to grow, the capabilities being built today will help advance the aspirations of Malaysia Digital 2030 (MD2030) while laying the foundations for Malaysia’s vision of becoming an AI Nation by 2030.
- Learn more about MDEC and the MD Status here.
Featured Image Credit: NationGate / Pixabay
Turkey will bar social media platforms from serving children under 15 from 1 November, under rules published in the country’s Official Gazette, Inci Ozbek reported for Bloomberg.
Platforms must check users’ ages when they sign up, using a token from Turkey’s e-government system. Anyone found to be under 15 must be blocked.
Existing accounts must be checked by 31 March 2027, and those held by under-15s shut down.
Strict limits for older teens
Accounts for 15 to 17-year-olds will be private by default and filtered. They cannot show personalised ads or offer livestreaming, and platforms must block screenshots of them.
Teens can only message accounts they already follow, and endless scrolling feeds must be switched off, Daily Sabah reported.
Parents must get tools to manage settings, limit screen time and approve purchases.
The rules cover platforms including Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord and Reddit, Daily Sabah said.
Fines of up to 3%
Firms that break the rules face fines of up to 3% of global revenue, ad bans and cuts to their internet bandwidth under Turkey’s internet law.
Parliament passed the law in April, a week after a school shooting.
Turkey joins a growing list of countries trying to keep children off social media. Australia led the way, but its under-16 ban has struggled with enforcement.
Valve recently began shipping its long-awaited VR headset, the Steam Frame. Now, there is a hardware reference repository that includes everything a budding modder might need, and then some.
Want to design and 3D print some add-ons, or a carrying case, or some other doodad? There’s no need to break out the calipers or 3D scan the hardware. The repository contains STEP format models of the VR core module, head strap, and controllers, so it’s as easy as possible to design things that’ll fit. The location of the IR tracking LEDs embedded in the controllers is also documented, so one can ensure their design doesn’t occlude them.
That’s not all. The Frame has a user-accessible hardware expansion port at its front. This port exposes two interfaces: high-speed MIPI camera and PCI Express. This expansion port is documented in the repository, and even has a simple reference design built in both KiCad and Altium.
We’re glad to see Valve maintain their hacker-friendly hardware design with the Steam Frame. Demand for The Frame outstrips supply so far, so if you’re on the waitlist, you might want to browse the repository and get an early start on whatever customizations you have in mind while you wait for your confirmation. And when you get something working, drop us a note on the tips line!
If your webcam turns on when you did not expect it, investigate the activity before assuming someone has hacked your computer. A Windows camera light or notification, or the green camera indicator on a Mac, can confirm that the camera is active, but you still need to identify what is using it and whether that use is legitimate.
Start with ordinary causes such as a video-call app, browser tab, or facial sign-in feature. If those do not explain the activity, check camera permissions and then move to malware checks only when the evidence justifies it.
What an Unexpected Webcam Indicator Can Tell You
A camera-use indicator answers one important question: is the camera active? It does not automatically tell you who started it or why.
On Windows 11, a hardware camera light turns on when the camera is active if the device has one. On computers without a camera light, Windows shows a notification when the camera turns on or off. That activity may come from software you intentionally opened, a website, a Windows feature, or something you do not recognize.
Windows Hello is one legitimate example that can cause confusion. If you use facial recognition to sign in, Windows Hello can use the camera even when ordinary app camera access is turned off. Camera activity during a normal facial sign-in therefore does not, by itself, point to unauthorized access.
On a Mac, a green privacy indicator means a camera is being used. Opening Control Center may also show which app is currently using the camera. For the built-in Mac camera specifically, Apple says the hardware is engineered so that the camera cannot activate without its green indicator light also turning on. Do not assume the same hardware behavior applies to every external USB webcam.
General symptoms such as a slow computer, crashes, redirects, or unfamiliar browser additions can occur with malware, but they are weak evidence of webcam misuse by themselves. The FTC lists these kinds of behaviors as possible signs of a broader malware infection, not proof of camera compromise. A camera-specific indicator or identifiable camera-using process is more useful when answering the narrower question of what used your webcam.
Understanding camera and microphone permissions also helps you interpret what your operating system can actually block, record, or show.
Check Your Webcam for Unauthorized Use Step by Step
Use the least disruptive checks first. The aim is to find a normal explanation where one exists, then narrow the investigation only if the camera activity remains unexplained.
What Windows 11 Can and Cannot Show About Camera Access
Windows can provide useful clues, but its Camera privacy page is not a complete history of every program that could ever reach the camera.
Open Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Camera. Microsoft Store apps that use the Windows permission system can appear with individual camera controls. Desktop apps work differently: browsers, traditional Windows programs, and many video-call applications are controlled through the broader Let desktop apps access your camera setting.
Windows can also show desktop applications it has detected interacting with the camera. For a listed desktop app, Microsoft says you can select it to see details about the specific file that accessed the camera or microphone. That can help when the displayed app name is unfamiliar.
There is an important limit. Some desktop apps can interact with camera hardware in ways Windows privacy controls do not fully govern. An application may install a driver, for example, and communicate more directly with the hardware. Microsoft also warns that desktop apps may not always appear in the Camera settings list.
For that reason, an empty or familiar-looking app list is useful evidence, but it is not absolute proof that no desktop program touched the camera. If unexplained activity continues, combine the permission check with the timing of the camera indicator and the security checks later in this article.
Also account for Windows Hello before treating sign-in activity as suspicious. Facial sign-in can use the camera even when ordinary app camera access is disabled.
What macOS Can Show About Camera Access
A Mac gives you two different clues: a live privacy indicator and a list of installed third-party apps that have requested permission to use the camera.
A green privacy indicator beside Control Center means a camera is in use. If you open Control Center while the indicator is present, the top of the panel may identify which app is using the camera. Check this before closing everything if you are trying to find the source of unexpected activity.
You can then open Apple menu > System Settings > Privacy & Security > Camera. The list contains installed apps that have asked to use the camera. Turn access off for software that does not need it.
Built-in Apple apps are an important exception to how that list should be interpreted. FaceTime, Photo Booth, and other apps included with macOS automatically have camera access and do not need to appear as third-party permission requests. Their absence from the list therefore does not mean they cannot use the camera.
Safari website access is separate as well. Open Safari > Settings > Websites > Camera to review site-level camera permissions. This matters when the camera activity began while a browser tab was open.
For the Mac’s built-in camera, the green hardware indicator has unusually strong diagnostic value because Apple states that the built-in camera is engineered not to activate without the indicator. Keep that claim within its proper scope: it does not establish how every third-party external camera behaves.
When Unexplained Camera Activity Becomes a Security Problem
One unexplained camera light deserves investigation. It becomes more concerning when the camera keeps activating after ordinary causes have been ruled out or when other evidence points to unwanted software.
For example, repeated activation deserves more attention if you also find an unfamiliar program, a security alert, or software you did not intend to install. By contrast, slow performance, crashes, browser redirects, or other general symptoms can occur for many reasons and should not be presented as proof that someone is watching through the webcam.
Malware is harmful software that can run on a device without the user’s knowledge and may steal information or perform other unwanted actions. Once credible malware evidence appears, the investigation should shift from one camera permission to the security of the entire computer.
On Windows 11, open Windows Security and select Virus & threat protection. You can start with a Quick scan, choose a Full scan to check every file and program, or open Scan options for other choices. If you are particularly concerned about persistent malware, Microsoft Defender Offline restarts the PC and scans without loading normal Windows, making persistent malware more difficult to hide or defend itself. Save open work before choosing the offline scan because the computer restarts.
macOS takes a different approach. It includes built-in protections such as Gatekeeper, Notarization, and XProtect. XProtect automatically detects and blocks known malware and can remediate infections. Apple describes these protections as automatic; it does not provide a universal user-facing “run XProtect scan” control comparable to Windows Security’s on-demand scan choices.
If you clicked a suspicious link or opened an attachment and think malware may have been downloaded, the FTC advises you to stop sensitive account logins, update security software, run a security scan, then change passwords and enable two-factor authentication. Use a device you trust for sensitive account recovery if you believe the affected computer may still be compromised.
Broader habits that reduce malware risk while browsing can lower the chance of another infection, but they do not replace investigating the camera activity that brought you here.
The camera stays active after I close my video-call app
Check whether the app is still running in the background and close browser tabs that may have camera permission. Then use the Windows Camera privacy page or macOS Control Center to look for another camera user. If the indicator remains active after every known legitimate user is closed, continue with the malware and unfamiliar-software checks instead of assuming the first app was responsible.
The camera activates when I sign in to Windows
If Windows Hello facial recognition is enabled, camera activity during sign-in can be normal. Microsoft allows Windows Hello to use the camera even when regular app camera access is disabled. Investigate further only when the camera activates at times that facial sign-in does not explain.
My Mac’s green camera indicator appears unexpectedly
Open Control Center before closing apps and check whether macOS identifies the program currently using the camera. Then review System Settings > Privacy & Security > Camera. If no legitimate app or feature explains the activity and it keeps returning, move to the broader device-security checks above.
I revoked camera access, but the webcam still activates
First confirm that another app, browser site, or operating-system feature is not using the camera. On Windows, remember that desktop-app controls have limitations and some programs may not appear individually. If the activity remains unexplained after those checks, treat the permission change as inconclusive and continue with the security investigation.
How to Secure the Webcam After the Check
Once you have identified the cause or completed the security investigation, remove access that no longer has a clear purpose. Do not uninstall or delete unfamiliar software solely because its name looks strange; identify what it is first and use credible security findings to guide removal.
- Turn off camera permission for apps that no longer need video access.
- Remove persistent browser-site permissions that you do not recognize or use.
- Uninstall software only after you have identified it as unwanted or a trusted security tool has detected it as harmful.
- Keep the operating system, browser, conferencing apps, and security tools updated.
- Use a built-in hardware shutter when your computer provides one, or unplug an external USB webcam when you want a clear physical barrier.
For the broader preventive setup, including physical camera controls and platform-specific permission hardening, you can secure your webcam on Mac and Windows PCs without turning every future camera event into a security investigation.
A webcam cover and camera permissions solve different problems: one physically blocks the lens, while the other controls software access. Neither should be treated as a complete substitute for the other.
Verify That the Camera Is Back Under Your Control
The investigation is complete when normal camera use still works, unnecessary access has been removed, and the unexplained activity that triggered the check no longer appears during ordinary use.
Verify the result
- Your normal video-call or camera app can still use the webcam when you intentionally open it.
- Apps that do not need camera access no longer have unnecessary permission where your operating system exposes that control.
- Browser sites do not retain camera permission unless you intentionally want them to.
- The Windows camera light or notification, or the Mac privacy indicator, appears during intentional camera use and stops after the legitimate camera-using app or site closes.
- The unexplained camera activity that started the investigation does not immediately recur during normal use.
- If malware was suspected, you have run the appropriate security scan or remediation steps and handled any detections before resuming sensitive account activity on the device.
If the webcam begins activating unexpectedly again and you still cannot connect the activity to a legitimate app, website, or operating-system feature, do not treat the earlier quiet period as proof that the problem is fixed. Return to the diagnostic steps and escalate the security investigation when the evidence calls for it.
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