HP Omen 16 (2023) review

Value When Reviewed

From £1,148.99

Finest Costs Right now: HP Omen 16 (2023)

£1148.99

£1299.99

Taking part in PC video games isn’t low cost. An excellent gaming PC can price an enormous amount of cash, particularly should you’re on the lookout for top-tier efficiency.

Some individuals need the perfect of the perfect with ultra-fast excessive refresh charge 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 mannequin from its Omen model.

Design & Construct

The pc has a strong construct with a sheet steel chassis lined in matte black plastic. It’s a bit angular with beveled surfaces as gaming laptops are typically, however in any other case has a clear and easy design.

You may simply fold it up within the workplace with out attracting consideration with its RGB keyboard and neon-coloured ornament. It has a typical white backlight adjustable in three steps. There are apparently different fashions with RGB keyboards, however not this one.

Mattias Inghe

A big cooling grid on the backside raises the pc barely, however in any other case it’s fairly skinny. That stated, it’s not gentle, because it weighs over 5 kilos. That is primarily a pc that you’ve got at dwelling except you may have devoted house for a desktop field.

The big format does wonders for the keyboard. It options comfy, well-spaced keys with a superb typing really feel. That is partly on account of the truth that HP has skipped the numeric keypad, however saved the “middle keys”, i.e. arrow keys and buttons comparable to Insert, Dwelling, Web page Up, and Web page Down.

So it’s like a full-sized desktop keyboard, however with out the final half on the precise. The mouse pad is giant and useful, however doesn’t have good element precision. A separate mouse is really helpful if you wish to tweak pixels in Photoshop or play video games.

In case you purchase the Omen 16 by way of HP’s personal on-line retailer, you’ll see you could select totally different configurations, with two selections every for processor, storage, show and graphics card. My check pc has the only model of every part, nevertheless it doesn’t really feel in the slightest degree budget-friendly. The alternatives are between good {hardware} and higher.

Specs & Efficiency

The examined mannequin has a Core i5 processor of the thirteenth technology.

It’s an H-type, the extra highly effective laptop computer processors from Intel that, not like the P- and U-series, which sacrifice power 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 mission.

Mattias Inghe

It additionally has a separate, discrete graphics card for additional efficiency in such applications and particularly for video games. Right here it’s a GeForce RTX 4050 with six gigabytes of video reminiscence. It’s the only 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 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 essentially the most half, they give the impression of being good anyway.

Display screen & Audio system

Within the Omen 16, the pc has a modest 1920×1080 pixel display screen to show the video games on, however this additionally helps rather a lot to maintain gaming efficiency excessive.

For shifting pictures like movies and video games, it supplies expertise, however for quiet desktop work with a number of traces and textual content, it will get a bit of annoyingly pixelated at occasions.

Its IPS panel offers it glorious viewing angles and srb-class color gamut with what seems to be real looking and impartial color replica. At about 270 cd/m2 in brightness, it’s best to keep indoors, nevertheless it’s loads vivid for regular use, and distinction is unusually excessive for an IPS show, with distinct blacks and good dynamics.

It has no particular help for HDR viewing, aside from dealing with HDR video, however there’s no additional dynamic vary when taking part in it.

Mattias Inghe

Audio system hidden contained in the chassis present an ethereal sound with good stereo dispersion, however with noticeably increased quantity on the left aspect.

There’s a lack of weight within the bass, however in any other case you get a nice expertise for music, movies, video games, and voices. I can’t discover any apps or settings to regulate both the equalizer or steadiness. But it surely sounds completely nice with out. Not nice, however first rate.

Ports & Cooling

In order for you extra management, you’ll be able to plug in exterior audio and there’s loads of room for that, with USB ports on the brief sides of the pc.

One is kind c and the opposite three are kind a, all with 5 gigabit USB 3 speeds. The sort c port isn’t full thunderbolt 4 class, however you’ll be able to join a show. You too can do this by way of 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 alternative that I appreciated, however now they’re moved to the perimeters and most are crammed on the precise aspect.

The cooling within the pc is efficient and I by no means really feel that it could be disturbingly sizzling, a bit of uncomfortably heat on the high of the keyboard, and quite a lot 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 underneath excessive load and it’s by no means utterly freed from fan noise – a semi-dampened noise is fixed.

You may 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 guide management, can dampen the followers additional.

The identical program additionally supplies an interface for optimising and launching put in video games, community optimisation instruments, system cleansing and a retailer tab with presents for gaming providers comparable to GeForce Now and discounted video games, seemingly solely from Ubisoft.

Mattias Inghe

Software program & Battery Life

The Omen 16 runs Home windows 11 out of the field. Past that, HP has a bunch of small applications for help, safety, and equipment, which may 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 Xbox Recreation Sass that should be prolonged with cost after 30 days. Would it not 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 greatest seven hours of low-powered utilization. That’s just about what you’d anticipate from a extra highly effective laptop computer, and it’s best to preserve the facility adapter shut at hand.

It additionally performs higher plugged into the wall, so for demanding or semi-demanding jobs and video games, you’ll wish to depart 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 isn’t wanted. Not that it does any direct wonders for battery life, although.

Specs

Producer: HP
Processor: Intel Core i5-13420H, 4 Efficiency cores as much as 4.6 GHz + 4 Effectivity 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 kind c with displayport, 3 pcs usb 3 gen 1 kind a, gigabit ethernet lan, hdmi 2.1, headset
Wi-fi: Wifi 6e, Bluetooth 5.3
Working system: Home windows 11 Dwelling
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

This evaluate was translated from Swedish to English and initially appeared on pcforalla.se. It may also be discovered on pcworld.com.