If you wonder which gaming laptop should you choose i can honestly recommend the new HP
Omen 15 with 8th gen. i7-8750H processor and the GTX 1060.
But before you make a decision, please take few minutes to watch this review to the end
and find out about pros and cons of this laptop.
In this video you will also find gaming benchmarks and comparison to the competition's gaming
laptops from the same price range, so you can compare them and decide if Omen is worth your
money over the other laptops.
In the description you can find Amazon links to easily find HP Omen 15 and all the laptops
that i will be talking about in this review.
To skip to any part of this video you can use the timestamps that i also left in the description.
I am Chris from TechFindsReview.com and now let's jump into the review!
Starting with the design we have characteristic for Omen top pannel with a texture of brushed
aluminium and 2 parts imitating carbon fiber.
We have also 4 red lines creating X shape and HP Omen logo with a nice shine.
The top pannel is made out of matt plastic that doesn't show fingerprints and looks great
but it has a little bit flex so be carefull when putting something on it to avoid the display damage.
The dimentions of Omen are small comparing to other gaming laptops, you can fit it into
your backpack with ease so if you intend carry your laptop a lot, you will appreciate its portability.
Here is how it looks comparing to the Acer Predator Helios 300.
After opening the laptop you can see relatively smart and toned interior for a gaming laptop.
The deck is aluminium with full size keyboard that takes whole the width of the laptop.
There is no flex on the keyboard even though you press it hard.
The keys have 1.5mm travel distance and typing feels comfortable.
You can also change the color of lighting divided into 4 zones.
The 4th zone includes only WSAD keys which is a good idea to highlight them apart from
the rest of the keyboard.
Below we have the touchpad that is one of my favorite in gaming laptops.
Except that it looks great and it's also really precise and comfortable to use - i have never
accidentally clicked on anything that i didn't mean to with this touchpad.
It uses Synaptics drivers but you shouldn't be disappointed so much if you prefere Windows
Precision - you will probably use an external mouse most of the time as it is a gaming laptop.
In terms of ports selection the most of them is located on the back of the device but on
the sides you can still find the most important ones.
On the right you have charging port and one USB 3.1, and on the left side there is another
USB 3.1, 3,5mm audio jack for headphones and microphone
and full size SD card reader.
On the back you will find Ethernet jack, USB 3.1, Full size HDMI 2.0, Mini Display port,
USB type C ( with Thunderbolt 3) and security lock.
Under the bottom lid on the right side you have your M.2 NvMe SSD that is swapable so
if you want bigger one, you can replace it with ease.
Next to the SSD you have your 2 memory slots and on the left there is 2.5" sata drive.
The display is the biggest advantage of this laptop - it has thin bezels but the 720p camera
is still located properly on the top.
You have 60 or 144Hz options, but also 15 or 17" display.
The unit that i am reviewing is equipped with 15.6" 144Hz IPS pannel which is capable to
reproduce 96% of sRGB color gamut and the maximum brightness is 329 nits.
The quality of this pannel is good, but of course no display is perfect - i noticed screen
bleeding in left bottom corner but only on a small area and my camera was not able to
capture it.
It's really fun to play games on this laptop - the colours are vivid and shap and 144Hz
display provides a smooth gameplay.
The 60Hz display has 68% of sRGB color reproduction and 219 nits of brightness so it's comparable
to other gaming laptops with 60Hz screens.
For gaming, watching moovies and basick tasks it's a good display but if you want to do
some video editing or content creation, you better go for 144Hz.
Depending on which screen you choose, the price is gonna be lower or higher.
As for now you can buy 60Hz Omen for around $1200 and the 144Hz version for $1500.
With that in mind, maybe it's worth considering to buy 17" model with 144Hz display that currently
costs about $1350 in US.
If you are from the UK the choice is much easier - you have the 15" 144Hz model for
1250 pounds and the 17" 144Hz for 1200 pounds.
Surprisingly it's even cheaper than Acer Predator Helios 300.
The 15" 60Hz model is not available on Amazon in UK, but you can buy it on manufacturer's
site for 1100 GBP.
Alright if you're confused, simply check the video description to easily find your preferred
configuration and check the current price for US or UK residents on Amazon.
Getting back to the review let's talk about speakers - they are located on the bottom
of the laptop on each side.
Generally saying the sound is just good but comparing for example to Helios 300 i find
Omen's speakers sound louder and clearer.
If it comes to the performance, there is few different configurations of HP Omen 15.
My unit comes with the GTX 1060 graphics card, i7-8750H processor, 16gigs of RAM, 256GB M.2
NvMe SSD + 1TB HDD and 144Hz display.
This setup provides enough power to play a lot of popular and demanding titles with Full
HD 1080p resolution and very high to ultra settings.
Let's see the performance 12 different games.
Alright, now let's talk about the thermals because in my opinion the temperatures get
a little bit too high.
It's pretty much the same story in every gaming laptop nowdys, especially with 6-core processor.
When gaming for a long period of time the CPU temperature reached maximum 94 degrees
Celcius so as always i decided to undervolt the processor - in effect the temperatures
dropped to the point of 80 to 85 degrees.
I wonder why manufacturers can't sell us undervolted laptops when it's nothing but win-win.
Anyway the fans in Omen run only on automatic mode so you don't have control over the speed
of them and the noise is a little bit louder than in other gaming laptops.
The battery life hits around 4,5 hours when browsing the web and doing light productivity
work, but Omen has a really bright screen so in order for battery last this long, you
have to drop the brightness to about 70%.
When gaming, battery dies after 1,5 hour.
Alright, now let's make a little comparison.
I made a research to find the laptops that you may want to consider instead of Omen and
here is the result.
Every laptop that i found has possibly the same specs and price but there are also a
few differences that may be important for you.
Let's start from the Acer Predator Helios 300 that seems to be the biggest rival of
Omen at the moment.
It has pretty much the same specs, but if it comes to display Predator has only one
option available.
It has 144Hz IPS pannel with 98% of sRGB color reproduction and 300 nits of brightness, but
i find Omen's display better quality and more accurate.
However the difference in price is significant - this configuration of Predator costs $1200
when the Omen with 144Hz display gose for about $1500 and the 17" model $1350.
For the price of Predator you can buy 60Hz Omen and you get additional 1TB HDD, RGB keyboard
and one 16GB RAM stick so if you want to expand your memory in the future, you have one slot free.
As i mentioned before, if you want to buy Omen in the UK, the choice is more obvious
because it costs even less than Predator and you still get all of those features that Predator
is missing.
Regardless of the country, the prices may vary with time so please check the video description
to find the current prices on Amazon.
The next laptop is the MSI GP63 Leopard.
It has the same GPU and CPU as Omen but the configuration that i'm showing you has only
8 gigs of RAM and no additional HDD.
If you want, you can choose diffrent setup on Amazon but only this one has a price that
fits to our comparison.
It costs about $1200 and in my opinion it has the best display of all the laptops from
this list.
The display is 120Hz 3ms response time IPS pannel and as always MSI made a good job here.
It can reproduce 100% of sRGB color gamut so it's a good choice for content creation.
It has also 340 nits of brightness and the quality of this panel is good.
Another laptop to compare is the Dell G7 with i7-8750H processor and GTX 1060 Max-Q that
is about 10% weaker than full size GTX 1060.
The configuration that i am comparing now costs $1300 and beside the CPU and GPU that
i mentioned it's equipped with 8 gigs of RAM, 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD and the display is 60Hz
Full HD IPS pannel with 64% of sRGB and 225 nits of brightness.
The G7 might be a good choice if you pay much attention to power consumption, fan noise
or temperatures because the Max-Q GPUs are designed to be effective in these terms.
But if you're looking for better value, the Omen winns.
Alright, the last laptop on our lis that you might consider when choosing is Asus TUF FX504
and there are many different configurations, of which the most interesting are the budget
ones in 700 to $1000 price range.
But for our comparison purposes we have the GTX 1060 and i7-8750H setup that costs $1300.
It has also 16 gigs of RAM, 256GB SSD, additional 1TB HDD and 120Hz 3ms response time display.
I'm not sure about the color accuracy, but the manufacturer claims that it can reproduce
"however it's possible", 130% of sRGB color gamut.
I'm rather skeptical about this but if you guys have more info, please share in the comments.
Alright, as a summary, let's quickly remind the pros and cons of HP Omen 15.
Starting with the cons first of all we can include the high temperatures of processor
but thankfully it is possible to fix it by undervolting the CPU.
I'm also not happy about the lack of control over the fans
They also get a little bit louder than in other gaming laptops
The setup with 15" 144Hz display is expensive in US
Now the pros - The performance is great, you can use this laptop for content creation as
well as gaming.
It has rich port selection The display is one of the best in mid-range
gaming laptops.
It is good quality with beautiful vivid colors and high level of brightness.
The sound is clear and loud You also get 4-zone RGB lighting Keyboard, and good
battery life for a gaming laptop.
Alright, that's all for today and i hope that the informations i provided were helpful.
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments and if you like this kind of reviews, it would
be awesome if you considered subscribing Tech Finds for more.
Thanks for your time and see you in the next review!