HP OmniDesk 2025, Core Ultra 7 265, 64GB, 1TB SSD, Dark Wood

A uniquely stylish desktop with more RAM than most servers and a CPU that chews through work, but its integrated graphics make gaming a meme. Buy it for productivity, not play.

We were genuinely surprised by how much this thing flies in CPU-heavy tasks. The Core Ultra 7 265 sits at the 89th percentile among all desktops—that's one of the fastest non-workstation chips you can buy right now. Pair it with 64GB of RAM (97th percentile, so almost no desktop ships with more) and compiling code, running virtual machines, or heavy multitasking feels effortless. Storage is a snappy 1TB PCIe 4.0 drive, plenty fast but not top-of-the-charts. The real letdown is the integrated Intel Graphics. It's fine for driving up to four displays, which is great for productivity, but any 3D work or gaming tanks performance. You'll get by with older titles on low settings, but anything modern is a slideshow.

The most direct competitor is the Dell XPS desktop, which also aims for a clean, home-office-friendly aesthetic but often includes a discrete GPU at a similar price. That makes Dell the better pick if you need even occasional graphics muscle. On the opposite end, the Apple Mac mini M4 is a fraction of the size and delivers incredible efficiency with its unified memory, but you'll pay a fortune to match 64GB. The HP carves out a niche for Windows users who want maximum RAM right out of the box and a design that doesn't scream "gaming rig." It's less flexible than a Lenovo Legion Tower 5i or ASUS ROG machine, which trade elegance for raw GPU power and upgradeability. If you never game and value a quiet, good-looking PC, the HP makes sense. Otherwise, those alternatives call louder.

At $1,664, you're paying a premium for that wood chassis and massive RAM. If your daily workflow devours memory and CPU cycles, the value is solid. Developers, data analysts, and serious multitaskers will appreciate that they don't need to crack open the case and add RAM day one. But if your work involves any GPU acceleration or you want a machine that can game after hours, this is a poor value. For the same money, competitors slap in a dedicated graphics card and sacrifice a bit of that RAM.

The HP OmniDesk is what happens when someone asks, "What if a desktop PC actually looked nice in a living room?" The dark wood finish is a welcome break from the black plastic boxes we're used to. But don't let the Zen aesthetic fool you. Underneath, it's packing a 20-core Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and a frankly ridiculous 64GB of DDR5 RAM. The one thing to know: this is a productivity powerhouse that has zero interest in your gaming hobby. If you need a machine for coding, sprawling spreadsheets, or running a dozen browser tabs while editing photos, it's fantastic. If you want to play anything more demanding than Solitaire, you're in the wrong aisle.

If you're looking for a gaming PC or any kind of GPU-intensive workstation, this isn't it. The integrated graphics are a dead end for rendering, AI model training, or playing modern titles. Go get a Lenovo Legion Tower 5i or ASUS ROG machine instead. You'll trade the wood finish for actual framerates, and you'll pay about the same.

The HP OmniDesk is a refreshingly focused PC. It knows exactly who it's for: people who need a mountain of memory and a fast CPU in a package they won't be embarrassed to show off. It's brilliant for developers, office workers, and anyone running memory-hungry applications. Just don't buy it hoping to sneak in some AAA gaming. If that sounds like you, go ahead and pull the trigger. If you have even a hint of GPU ambition, look elsewhere.