Knowledgeable’s Score
Execs
- Effectively-built and cozy to make use of
- Efficiency that lasts
- Quick display screen with nice image
- The value
Cons
- Solely 1080p decision
- Fixed fan noise
- Not nice battery life
- Some bloatware
Our Verdict
It’s not the prettiest, quickest or finest, it’s simply lacking when it doesn’t price greater than it does. Steady, well-built and delivers the fitting efficiency for each work and play so long as you don’t have excessive expectations and might put up with some fan noise. Poor battery life might be forgiven, however you’ll nonetheless be working with the plug in more often than not. A gaming PC for the individuals.
Taking part in PC video games isn’t low-cost. A great gaming PC can price as a lot as a black market kidney, at the least in case you have excessive ambitions. Some people need the perfect of the perfect with ultra-fast excessive refresh price screens and the newest {hardware}. However you don’t must spend a ton of cash to get good efficiency out of a gaming machine. That’s the place this laptop computer from HP is available in, a 16-inch laptop computer from their Omen model.
As of proper now, it prices simply $799.99 at Greatest Purchase, a really modest value for a well-built laptop computer with trendy {hardware}. You’re getting DDR5 reminiscence, quick W-iFi, and the newest era of processors and graphics.
“This can be a $799.99 laptop computer, not one which prices hundreds of {dollars}. And for that cash, you get an terrible lot.”
The pc is a strong construct with a sheet metallic chassis lined in matte black plastic. It’s a bit angular with beveled surfaces as gaming laptops are usually, however in any other case has a clear and easy design. You’ll be able to simply fold it up within the workplace with out attracting consideration with its RGB keyboard and neon-colored ornament. It has a typical white backlight adjustable in three steps. There are apparently different fashions with RGB keyboards, however not this one. Learn on to study extra.
In search of extra choices? Try PCWorld’s roundup of the perfect gaming laptops accessible proper now.
HP Omen 16: Specs
Product identify: Omen Gaming 16
Examined: October 2023
Producer: HP
Processor: Intel Core i5-13420H, 4 Efficiency cores as much as 4.6 GHz + 4 Efficieny cores as much as 3.4 GHz
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050, 6 GB
Reminiscence: 16 GB DDR5
Storage: 512 GB SSD
Shows: 16.1 inch semi-matte ips, 1920×1080 pixels, 144 Hz
Webcam: 1080p
Connections: Usb 3 gen 1 sort c with displayport, 3 pcs usb 3 gen 1 sort a, gigabit ethernet lan, hdmi 2.1, headset
Wi-fi: Wifi 6e, Bluetooth 5.3
Working system: Home windows 11 House
Different: Backlit keyboard
Noise degree: 34-40 dBa
Battery life: 1 hour 35 min (excessive load, full brightness) to approx. 7 hours 10 min (low load, low brightness)
Measurement: 36.9 x 25.9 x 2.4 cm
Weight: 5.18 lbs
Present value: $799.99 at Greatest Purchase
HP Omen 16: Efficiency
Cinebench R23, CPU: 12,491 factors
Cinebench R23, CPU single core: 1,715 factors
Geekbench 6, CPU multi-core: 10,726 factors
Geekbench 6, CPU single core: 2,426 factors
Geekbench 6GPU: 82,384 factors
3dmark Fireplace Strike (DirectX 11): 20,799 factors
3dmark Time Spy (DirectX 12): 8,618 factors
3dmark Port Royal (ray tracing): 4,726 factors
Disk, learn: as much as 6,716.07 MB/s
Disk, write: as much as 4,012.97 MB/s
HP Omen 16: Portability
Matthias Inghe
A big cooling grid on the backside raises the pc barely, however in any other case it’s fairly skinny. That mentioned, it’s not mild, because it weighs over 5 kilos. That is primarily a pc that you’ve got at house until you’ve got devoted area for a desktop field.
HP Omen 16: Proper pondering within the design
The big format does wonders for the keyboard. It options comfy, well-spaced keys with a wonderful typing really feel. That is partly resulting from the truth that HP has skipped the numeric keypad, however stored the “heart keys”, i.e. arrow keys and buttons corresponding to Insert, House, Web page Up, and Web page Down. So it’s like a full-sized desktop keyboard, however with out the final half on the fitting. The mouse pad is massive and practical, however doesn’t have excellent element precision. A separate mouse is beneficial if you wish to tweak pixels in Photoshop or play video games.
Should you purchase the Omen 16 by HP’s personal on-line retailer, you’ll see that you would be able to select totally different configurations, with two selections every for processor, storage, show and graphics card. My take a look at laptop has the best model of every part, nevertheless it doesn’t really feel in the slightest degree budget-friendly. The alternatives are between good {hardware} and higher.
The examined mannequin has a Core i5 processor of the thirteenth era. It’s an H-type, the extra highly effective laptop computer processors from Intel that, in contrast to the P- and U-series, sacrifice vitality effectivity for longer-lasting efficiency peaks. To that you just get 16 gigabytes of DDR5 reminiscence, and 512 gigabytes of fantastically quick SSD. Is it an excessive efficiency monster? No, nevertheless it’s a particular step up from thinner and lighter laptops for doing heavy, time-consuming jobs. For instance, exporting an edited video challenge.
Matthias Inghe
HP Omen 16: The 4050 GPU exceeds expectations
It additionally has a separate, discrete graphics card for additional efficiency in such applications and particularly for video games. Here’s a GeForce RTX 4050 with six gigabytes of video reminiscence. It’s the best laptop computer graphics card in Nvidia’s newest 4000 sequence, however has confirmed to have the potential to ship above expectations for such a low-priced card.
That’s partly as a result of it shares its trendy structure with the 4000 sequence heavyweights, supporting applied sciences like DLSS 3, which permits suitable video games to run a lot quicker. With configurable energy ranges, a pc producer can push the efficiency of the cardboard on the expense of energy consumption.
It has considerably restricted video reminiscence, which reportedly limits the performance for ray tracing. However heavy ray tracing results are nonetheless the very first thing I flip off in most video games if I have to tweak their efficiency. And for probably the most half, they appear good anyway.
HP Omen 16: Affordable display screen and sound high quality
Within the Omen 16, the pc has a modest 1920×1080 pixel display screen to show the video games on, which additionally helps quite a bit to maintain gaming efficiency up. For shifting photos like movies and video games, it gives a superb expertise, however for quiet desktop work with plenty of strains and textual content, it will get just a little annoyingly pixelated at instances.
Its IPS panel offers it wonderful viewing angles and srb-class colour gamut with what seems to be sensible and impartial colour replica. At about 270 cd/m2 in brightness, it is best to keep indoors, nevertheless it’s lots vivid for regular use, and distinction is unusually excessive for an IPS show, with distinct blacks and good dynamics. It has no particular assist for HDR viewing, apart from dealing with HDR video, however there’s no additional dynamic vary when enjoying it.
Matthias Inghe
Audio system hidden contained in the chassis present an ethereal sound with good stereo dispersion, however with noticeably increased quantity on the left facet. There’s a lack of weight within the bass, however in any other case you get a pleasing expertise for music, movies, video games, and voices. I can’t discover any apps or settings to regulate both the equalizer or steadiness. However it sounds completely high-quality with out. Not nice, however first rate.
HP Omen 16: Loads of ports
If you need extra management, you’ll be able to plug in exterior audio and there’s loads of room for that, with loads of USB ports on the quick sides of the pc. One is sort c and the opposite three are sort a, all with 5 gigabit USB 3 speeds. The kind c port shouldn’t be full thunderbolt 4 class, however you’ll be able to join a show. You can even do this through a separate HDMI 2.1 port. A earlier mannequin of the Omen 16 had a number of the ports on the again which gave a freedom of selection that I appreciated, however now they’re moved to the perimeters and most are crammed on the fitting facet.
The cooling within the laptop is efficient and I by no means really feel that it could be disturbingly scorching, just a little uncomfortably heat on the prime of the keyboard, and lots of warmth escaping backwards and out to the perimeters. A stress run of the processor and graphics card in 3DMark reveals no indicators of efficiency degradation over time. However the followers can produce an intrusive noise below excessive load and it’s by no means fully freed from fan noise, however a semi-damped noise is fixed.
You’ll be able to select between three modes within the accompanying Omen Gaming Hub management software program: Eco, Balanced, and Efficiency. However not one of the modes, together with handbook management, can dampen the followers additional. The identical program additionally gives an interface for optimizing and launching put in video games, community optimization instruments, system cleansing and a retailer tab with gives for gaming companies corresponding to GeForce Now and discounted video games, seemingly solely from Ubisoft.
Matthias Inghe
HP Omen 16: Some bloatware to clear away
Past that, HP has a bunch of small applications for assist, safety, and equipment, which might be ignored till you may want them. You additionally get a bit an excessive amount of typical laptop computer bloatware, trial variations of antivirus, VPN, Workplace, and Gamepass that have to be prolonged with fee after 30 days. Wouldn’t it have been nicer with out it? Sure, however they’re straightforward to take away as effectively.
The 70 watt-hour battery is sufficient for a brief one-hour session of intensive CPU and GPU use or at finest seven hours of low-powered driving. That’s just about what you’d count on from a extra highly effective laptop computer, and it is best to preserve the ability adapter shut at hand. It additionally performs higher plugged into the wall, so for demanding or semi-demanding jobs and video games, you’ll need to go away it plugged in. The pc has well-functioning hybrid graphics and in customary mode switches all the way down to Intel Iris Xe when the extra highly effective Geforce card shouldn’t be wanted. Not that it does any direct wonders for battery life.
There are issues that aren’t excellent concerning the Omen 16, however given its low value, it’s exhausting to complain about them, so long as your expectations are set proper. This can be a $799.99 laptop computer, not one which prices hundreds of {dollars}. And for that cash, you get an terrible lot.
This evaluation was translated from Swedish to English and initially appeared on pcforalla.se.
