I’m glad that HP are making dedicated gaming notebooks again with their Omen lineup. Affordable gaming notebooks if I may add and with the refreshed 2017 line up. Omen takes it a step further with the HP Omen 15. A great robust laptop that can handle your average multiplayer gaming on the go, handle some of the most stress taking titles in 1080p resolution on high and of course support a bit of VR if you’re looking for an upgrade. The Omen 15 is the everyman’s gaming laptop. 
Design and Hardware
As much as I’d like what HP have done in terms of design and their aesthetics to make laptops stand out, especially in a room. The new Omen 15 seems to look like something straight out of a 80’s action movie. It screams gaming, quite literally and that’s perfect for anyone who like to care about their laptops, the same way they pride their cars. It comes in an all black and deep crimson shell that somewhat downplays what HP did with their previous iterations. While the design itself looks appealing, I somehow found myself hear a jarring sound whenever I opened the top lid of the laptop, like it wasn’t locked in place. HP would probably have to investigate that.
It’s certainly lighter though, while it does have a bit of weight, you’ll have no trouble going around with it on your backpack. HP has taken NVIDIA’s Max-Q design and stuck with it for the GTX 1060 model that I got for a review. As far as internals go, the Omen 15 has three USB 3.0 connections, a USB-C socket with optional Thunderbolt, SD card reader and an Ethernet jack. It also has full HDMI and Mini DisplayPort connections for video and is upgradable.
Keyboard and trackpad also have an updated look. Travel time for the keys is comfortable and most importantly it’s perfect for gaming, especially for multiplayer games, which I reckon that HP wants this particular machine to be targeted to. My only niggle is that HP has decided to stick with its red and black aesthetic, so you’re stuck with the crimson backlight which is only noticeable if you’re gaming in low light settings. It also offers “26-key rollover anti-ghosting, so hammer away at the keyboard because it can take the punishment. I doubt gamers would be using the trackpad for gaming as most mobile gamers usually have a mouse to connect to, it’s a nice touch to have it. if you’re just browsing though.
Display and Audio
The 15.6″ Display is available in 4K or 1080p variants with a 120Hz refresh rate. The screen’s great for your run of the mill media. However it’s a concern that 4K might have been a bit of a stretch on this machine since the GTX 1060 wouldn’t be able to deliver great performance in gaming as opposed to it being a 1080p screen. Games will run well on high settings on 1080p well enough. Add to the fact that you can have G-sync at your disposal means you don’t have to worry about vertical syncing issues or screen tearing.
As far as sound goes, the Omen 15’s speakers really did well. Most gaming laptops suffer in that department since the assumption goes that gamers use headphones which is fair to an extent. It’s a good addition overall for HP to include it though.
Performance
You can get the Omen 15 customized between NVIDIA’s GTX 1050, 1050Ti or 1060 graphics cards and comes in 8 or 16 GB RAM options. Internals can be upgraded which means that the Omen 15 definitely packs a bigger punch. It’s no Zephyrus but it does the job. You’ll get a solid 60 fps on high settings on most games currently up to 2017 on a 1080p screen. I did have some concerns with the amount of heat it was venting across, you won’t feel it when you put it on your table but on a full load of gaming, you’ll definitely not want to have that laptop on your lap, that and it can get a bit noisy.
The downside to all of this, like all gaming laptops, they seem to have the battery capacity that relegates them to desktop replacement machines. The battery life on the HP Omen was quite disappointing. You’ll get about 2-3 hours of usage time on extreme loads which means you’ll be using your time gaming while plugged in mostly.
The Verdict
The HP Omen is actually best described as a gamer’s all round great starter laptop. As a gamer, it’s great to see that HP has learned its lesson and their dedicated gaming line has really shone. They’ve also invested a lot with gaming youtubers who echo praises. That said, this machine is great for creatives as well, you can get some midrange video editing or 3D rendering done and enjoy some time playing overwatch or Dota 2. Like I’ve mentioned before there’s a lot of titles with multiplayer focus that run on these settings and that’s the crowd that HP wants for this machine. Hard core gamers who want the best possible performance will have to shell out a bit more for something more heavy duty. To top it off, the Omen 15 with a GTX 1060 has the basic ingredients to run VR to a certain extent.
The Omen 15, in my opinion, is a great pick for those who just want to casually game with their friends.
You can learn more about the HP Omen 15 on their website: https://store.hp.com/app/slp/omen-gaming
