HP or Lenovo laptops

In the HP vs Lenovo laptops choice, Lenovo wins on ThinkPad business machines, gaming value and OLED convertibles, and HP wins on the cheapest everyday laptop and on entry business pricing. The Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 costs £1,099.99 and the HP EliteBook 8 G1i 14 costs £899.99 on Amazon UK at the time of writing (October 2026). For every other brand, see our best laptop brands in the UK guide.

HP vs Lenovo laptops: which brand wins at each price?

HP is cheaper at the bottom of the range and Lenovo spends the gap on storage and screens higher up. Compare Electronic paired the closest HP and Lenovo models at each tier from Amazon UK prices at the time of writing (October 2026), and divided each price by the storage fitted.

The £400 pair shows the trade. The HP has a 15.6-inch 1920x1080 anti-glare screen and a charger in the box; the IdeaPad has a 14-inch 1920x1200 IPS screen, Wi-Fi 7 and a weight of 1.43 kg per its listing, and no keyboard backlight. At £700 the Lenovo has the better processor, an 8-core Ryzen 7 170 with 16 threads, while the HP offers a 16-inch 2K screen, a Copilot+ PC badge and a battery HP rates at up to 16.75 hours. The £1,000 pair is the only one where the Lenovo is clearly ahead on hardware: the Yoga 7 has a 14-inch OLED touchscreen at 600 nits covering 100% of DCI-P3, a 70 Wh battery and 1TB of storage, where the HP has an IPS touchscreen and 512GB.

Which has better keyboards and build, HP or Lenovo?

Lenovo has the stronger reputation for keyboards and HP the more consistent backlighting on cheaper models. The IdeaPad Slim 3 14 Gen 10 models in the matched pairs ship without a keyboard backlight, while the HP OmniBook 5 Flip 14 lists a backlit keyboard and the Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1 lists a backlit keyboard and a fingerprint reader.

At the top, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 weighs 1.08 kg in a carbon fibre body with a 1.5 mm travel keyboard and a TrackPoint, and the HP EliteBook X G1i 14 weighs 1.18 kg with a 5 MP webcam and a 47 TOPS NPU. HP's ProBook 4 G1iR adds a numeric keypad on a 16-inch aluminium chassis, which suits spreadsheet users; no ThinkPad in this comparison is 16 inches. The wider picture across brands is in our best business laptops guide.

What are the common strengths of Lenovo laptops?

Reviews and spec sheets agree on three Lenovo strengths: keyboards, upgradeable memory on ThinkPads, and gaming value. Expert Reviews rated the Lenovo Legion 5 keyboard as one of the model's best features, and Trusted Reviews praised the balance of snappy switches and typing comfort on an earlier Legion 5.

• Upgradeable memory: the ThinkPad E14 Gen 7 lists 16GB of SODIMM DDR5-5600 and the ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 has two memory slots with a 64GB maximum, so buyers can add memory later. The HP ProBook 4 G1iR listing shows a 16GB maximum, which equals the installed amount.
• Range depth: Lenovo sells a laptop at every price from the £420.00 IdeaPad Slim 3 to the £1,440.00 ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12, and ThinkPads start at the £954.04 E14 Gen 7.
• Gaming value:the LOQ line undercuts HP's Victus by £229.03 at the same graphics card, as covered below.

Buyers comparing Lenovo with another large brand can read Lenovo vs Acer laptops.

HP EliteBook price and HP ProBook price against ThinkPad

An HP EliteBook costs from £899.99 and an HP ProBook from £950.00 on Amazon UK at the time of writing (October 2026). A Lenovo ThinkPad costs from £954.04 for the E14 Gen 7. EliteBook is HP's premium business line and ProBook its mid-range, so the two ladders below line up by tier.

The premium pair splits on value. The EliteBook X G1i 14 costs £259.30 more than the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12, and it carries twice the memory and about twice the storage, which brings the price to £53.10 per GB of memory against £90.00 on the ThinkPad. The entry pair is a £4.04 difference, so screen size decides it: 16 inches with a numeric keypad on the HP, 14 inches at 1.41 kg on the Lenovo per its listing.

Is HP or Lenovo better for gaming laptops?

Lenovo is better value. The Lenovo LOQ 15AHP10 costs £1,069.97 on Amazon UK at the time of writing (October 2026), and the HP Victus 15 with an RTX 5050 costs £1,299.00. Both use an RTX 5050 with 8GB of video memory, 16GB of system memory, a 512GB SSD and a 15.6-inch 1920x1080 screen at 144 Hz.

The Victus costs £229.03 more, 21.4% above the LOQ, and its listing names a newer Ryzen AI 5 340 against the LOQ's Ryzen 5 220. That difference is unlikely to show in frame rates on an RTX 5050 laptop, where the graphics card sets the limit. Buyers choosing a gaming laptop in general should read best budget gaming laptops.

Which brand has the better warranty and support?

Neither brand has a clear lead on standard cover; both sell longer cover as an add-on. Lenovo's Amazon UK listing for the Yoga 7 2-in-1 describes one year of courier or carry-in warranty and up to four further years of Lenovo Premium Care Onsite Plus. Our brand guide lists one year of consumer cover for both Lenovo and HP.

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 matters more than the brand year. A laptop that fails within a reasonable time is the seller's responsibility for up to six years in England and Wales, so buying from a retailer with a clear returns route counts as much as the manufacturer's promise. Our guide to how long a laptop lasts covers wear and replacement cost.

Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 - best Lenovo for business

The ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 suits office teams and small businesses that want memory they can upgrade, Ethernet and Windows 11 Pro for £1,099.99. It costs £200.00 more than the EliteBook 8 G1i 14 at the same memory and storage. Our business laptop guide costs a T14 over five years.

HP EliteBook 8 G1i 14 - best HP for business

The HP EliteBook 8 G1i 14 is the cheapest EliteBook on Amazon UK at £899.99, and it matches the ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 on memory and storage for £200.00 less. It suits buyers who want the EliteBook badge and Windows 11 Pro at a mid-range price; HP's listing is thinner on detail than Lenovo's, so buyers should read the full spec before ordering.

Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1 14AKP10 - best Lenovo convertible

The Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1 14AKP10 costs £980.03 and brings the brightest, most colour-accurate screen of the four picks. It suits note-takers and designers who want OLED and a pen, and it is £130.04 above the HP OmniBook 5 Flip 14 for double the storage.

HP OmniBook 5 Flip 14 - best HP convertible

The HP OmniBook 5 Flip 14 costs £849.99 and is the cheapest 2-in-1 in this comparison. It suits students and home users who want a touch screen and a pen without paying for OLED. The listing states that the charger is sold separately, so a buyer without a spare USB-C charger should add that cost.

HP vs Lenovo laptops: full spec sheet

The Lenovo picks lead on screen quality and memory upgrades; the HP picks lead on price at the same memory and storage.

The wider shortlists are in best laptop UK 2026 and best mid range laptop UK 2026.

What does the extra money buy at each tier?

The extra money buys storage and screen quality at the top and little at the bottom. Compare Electronic priced each Lenovo step over its HP pair from Amazon UK prices at the time of writing (October 2026).

The Yoga 7 step is the best value: £130.04 spread over 36 months is £3.61 a month, and it halves the price per GB of storage from £1.66 to £0.98. The ThinkPad step is a purchase of upgradeability rather than speed.

Who should skip each brand?

• Skip Lenovo: buyers under £400 who value a charger in the box and a larger screen, and buyers who want the lowest price for a business laptop with Windows 11 Pro.
• Skip HP:gaming buyers who care about price per frame, and buyers who plan to add memory later, since HP's ProBook 4 G1iR listing shows no headroom above 16GB. Buyers weighing a premium ultraportable can compare the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 with the EliteBook X G1i 14 on price per GB.

Verdict: HP or Lenovo?

Buyers who want a business laptop with upgradeable memory should buy the Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 at £1,099.99, and buyers who want an OLED convertible should buy the Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1 14AKP10 at £980.03, on Amazon UK at the time of writing (October 2026).

Buyers who want the lowest price should buy HP: the HP EliteBook 8 G1i 14 at £899.99 for business, or the HP OmniBook 5 Flip 14 at £849.99 for a touchscreen. The full ranking of every brand is in our best laptop brands UK guide.