HP Omen 16 (2024) review: gaming powerhouse by HP

The latest edition to HP’s Omen line of gaming laptops, the Omen 16, is a strong contender in a competitive market. This model is equipped with up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti and a 12th-generation Intel Core processor, making it capable of running any game at ultra settings on the highly crisp Quad HD display. The cooling system contributes to this as well; it can circulate a lot of air, albeit at the expense of some noise when operating at maximum capacity.

The Omen 16 is also aesthetically pleasing to me. It is neither thin nor light, but its all-black chassis and minimal design give it an impression of sophistication. The result is a portable computer that won’t draw too much attention wherever you take it. I also think it has the best laptop keyboard ever. However, that doesn’t make this laptop flawless. The battery life isn’t significantly better, and once you unplug the charger, you’ll notice a significant drop in performance. In addition, the Omen line seems overly focused on gaming, and the Omen 16 still fails to keep up with the times by not supporting 16:10 displays or including 1080p cameras like its rivals. The only thing this laptop excels at is gaming.

HP Omen 16 (2024) Specifications

The HP Omen 16 (2024) is a powerful game laptop with specs that are on the cutting edge. With a high-refresh-rate screen, powerful graphics, and a fast processor, it gives gamers and enthusiasts an immersive gameplay experience.

HP Omen 16 (2023): Design

Since it came out last year, HP has made a few small changes to the Omen 16. The 2023 model, on the other hand, has a few different looks and plays around with where the ports are placed. HP has taken off the diamond-shaped Omen mark from the lid and is now putting all of its attention on the name brand. I guess it’s fine.

The building of the plastic is still the same and simple. And I also like it. Not every game laptop has to have red stripes and RGB lights. When you open the Omen 16’s lid, you can see some of its game skills. Even though the 16.1-inch screen has a thick border (especially at the bottom), the RGB keyboard is proof. There is also a military-looking “16” on the bottom of the wrist rest, which makes it look kind of cheap.

HP Omen 16 (2023): Display

The Omen 16 starts to feel old to me when it comes to the screen. This high-end model has a Quad HD screen with a frame rate of 165Hz. When you look at the specs, you probably don’t need much more than this for games. This GPU isn’t good enough for 4K gaming, and while some esports games might be better on a screen with a higher refresh rate, 165Hz is still very smooth.

This is still the most popular aspect ratio for gaming, and brands like Razer still use it. However, laptops like the Acer Predator Triton 500 SE and the Lenovo Legion 5i Pro show that manufacturers are moving toward 16:10 panels, which are great for both gaming and work. When you look at the huge gap below the screen on the Omen 16, it’s even more annoying. This chassis had so much room for a bigger screen.

HP Omen 16 (2023): Keyboard and Touchpad

The 16-inch Omen has a calculator key and a button that opens the Omen Command Center software on the left side of the keyboard. The arrow keys are separate. White backlighting, four-zone backlighting, and per-key RGB illumination are all available, depending on the setup you choose. We got the most luxurious upgrade with ours. Especially the short caps lock and enter keys. I was able to get beyond this obstacle quickly and eventually typed 120 words per minute with a 98% accuracy rate on the monkeytype typing test.

HP Omen 16 (2023): Software

Windows 11 has been out for a while, and more and more computers come with it. Windows 10 Pro came with the unit we tested, but you can also choose Windows 11 Home. Windows 11 worked great on our machine as it was set up. From what I could tell from a recent review, gaming performance didn’t really suffer either.

Aside from the standard Windows 11 software, HP has added a few extras, which will depend on the configuration you choose. The OMEN Gaming Hub app is the most important one. This app lets you do more to optimize your system. For example, you can use it to improve your network, set up the OMEN 16’s lighting, change the performance settings, sync the OMEN 16’s lighting with the lighting on other HP products, use Oasis Live for private audio/video chats and streaming, check your gaming stats, and change the settings for each installed game.

HP Omen 16 (2023): Battery Life

The Omen 16’s battery life was 4 hours and 8 minutes when we used it to browse the web, stream movies, and run OpenGL graphics tests. That is longer than the MSI Raider, which ran for 2:32, but both the Alienware x16 and the Razer Blade 16 ran for more than 5 hours.

Final Words

The HP Omen 16 is a thin game PC with a big screen and a simple, unfussy design. Even though it’s missing one USB-A port from the last model, it has a lot of ports and works well enough for the price. I do, however, wish that HP would make the keyboard better and get rid of some of the extra software.

If you want your gaming PC to perform better, there are other RTX 4080 gaming PCs that are stronger because they use more power and have higher boost clocks. This is how the Alienware x16 and MSI GE78 HX work. But for the MSI, that also means a laptop that is a lot bigger.

HP Omen 16 (2024) review: The good and The bad

Compared to the previous HP OMEN laptops, this one features Bang & Olufsen speakers, which produce an incredible sound.

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