HP OMEN 16 Review: Yet Another Easy Recommendation

The last time we took a look at a HP gaming laptop, it was the Victus 16 and that was certainly a joy to use and quite the easy recommendation. But this time, we have the powerful bigger brother, the HP OMEN 16 and this takes it to the next level. We’re talking about a nice high resolution and fast refresh rate display, a Ryzen 7 and RTX 3070 Ti combo and yet there’s still a plethora of ports and thermals are well under control. This is honestly, yet another easy recommendation

Just like with many other brands nowadays, HP is going full-force into the gaming scene with two primary line ups. The more affordable Victus which we took a look at not too long ago and this, the OMEN which has long been HP’s premium gaming tier.

And this is the latest revision of the OMEN 16 and we feel that HP has definitely strike a nice balance here with the design, the performance, so on and so forth.

But first, let’s talk about design.

Design

As with the trend nowadays, HP is certainly following that as well with a much more minimalistic looking laptop that doesn’t look all that different from their casual or professional lineups such as the ENVY and EliteBook.

Gone are the red accents that the OMEN is usually known for and in are simple lines and lesser logos even. Just the iconic diamond shape on the lid itself along with a small OMEN text and that’s really about it.

One interesting thing however is actually over on the bottom.

Unlike most other gaming laptops which usually only have the vents near where the fans are located, HP has opted to have basically half the entire bottom to be one huge vent. This means there is zero obstruction for the fans and they have ample supply of fresh air. But it’s not just the fans that are visible, the heatpipes are as well which means that heat can be dissipated much more readily out of the chassis simply just because of the nature of it.

And yes, the management of thermals is certainly one of the strongest points about this laptop which we’ll share more about later. As for the weight of this laptop, it does come in at a fairly heavy 2.4kg or 5.3lbs. So definitely do have a bigger and more robust backpack should you want to lug it wherever you go.

But in any case, this is seriously one nicely built laptop and we think anyone can really appreciate it.

TKL

Speaking of which, this is also one of the few laptops that has a unique keyboard layout. Lift the lid and you see that? It’s an actual TKL layout complete with the separated home cluster and arrow keys. This is definitely the first laptop we’ve ever come across with a properly standard TKL layout and it’s awesome.

It is pretty much instantly intuitive, there’s no more of those squeezed numpads, there is now actually separation between different parts of the keyboard, it is simply great. We’re glad that HP has decided to use the TKL layout for the OMEN 16 and we can only hope that other brands will start doing the same for their 16-inch devices. Because this, this really just makes sense. And of course, the keys themselves feel great. So be it if you’re just doing documents or hardcore gaming, it’s a great keyboard.

Display

But in any case, let’s take a look back up and you’ll find a beautiful IPS display. As the name suggests, it is a 16.1” panel with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 running at 165Hz. It does also have a pretty low 3ms response time as well as covering 100% sRGB and will be able to hit about 300 nits in max brightness.

All in all, it’s a solid IPS display that gets the job done, especially for gaming. Paired with that 3070 Ti in this model, you’ll certainly be able to make full use of it. Though if there’s one complaint here, we definitely did wish it could’ve been brighter. At least 350 nits or 400 nits would’ve been much better.

With regards to the webcam, it isn’t the best for sure, only topping out at 720p and the microphones are decent at best. But it is there if you need it.

Now there is quite the thick chin down below which may not appeal to most out there. But there is a good reason for it. Not only are there heatsinks on the rear and sides which require space, half the ports on the OMEN 16 can also be found on the back, which again also requires space. So while it is a 16” laptop, it is physically larger than most other 16” laptops in its class. Just a little something to take note of.

But like we said, we’re willing to take this trade off as the port selection is honestly really good. On the left, you’ll get a standard Type-A USB 3.1 Gen 1 port which also supports HP Sleep and Charge, a RJ-45 Ethernet port, the 3.5mm combo jack and an SD card reader. On the right, you’ll get two more standard Type-A USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports. And to the rear, you’ll get two Type-C USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports, full-sized HDMI 2.1 and the charging port.

Performance

However let’s put that all aside because we have to talk about the best part about the OMEN 16. The OMEN 16 offers incredible performance not just for the money but thermally as well. HP has done an awesome job with the thermal solution that’s backed up with really good tuning on the software side of things.

For our model, we have the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti with 150W TGP, 32GB of DDR5 RAM running at 4800MT/s and 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD storage. Using the OMEN Hub software, we made sure we turned on the MUX switch and ran our tests using the dedicated GPU mode on the Performance power profile.

Let’s start with the gaming benchmarks first because this is really what this laptop is meant for.

At 1080P, you can expect really good performance across a variety of titles, easily making full use of the 165Hz display even with games like Cyberpunk 2077 or Modern Warfare 2. The Ryzen 7 6800H and RTX 3070 Ti combo is really a beast.

At the native 1440P resolution, performance is still stellar and arguably a much better use for the GPU here. Again, really awesome performance making for a simply great gaming experience.

But to top all of that off, temperatures are really fantastic. As we’ve mentioned, HP has done a tremendous job here with the cooling solution. In the performance profile with the fans set to auto, you can expect both the CPU and GPU to stay just about 75 degrees celsius during gaming loads. And it’s not to say that the fans are obnoxious to reach those temperatures. Not at all. They do spin up and are audible for sure, but it’s not crazy loud like thin and light gaming laptops. It’s well within reason.

So there’s good performance and good thermals. Pretty much perfect for a gaming laptop.

Well is there a catch you ask? Yes, of course there is. But it’s something that may or may not affect your decision if at all.

What HP has done is tune that Ryzen CPU such that it never really exceeds 35 watts under any kind of load on any of the performance profiles, even with the fans at maximum speed. For most games, it’s not that huge a concern as GPU power is much more important as opposed to CPU power in order to achieve high frame rates.

However if you’re looking at content creation, it might be a little bit of a let down.

Running Cinebench R23 on all three power profiles, you’ll note that there’s basically little to no difference in the scores across all three. After all, the CPU is artificially limited here. Same goes for rendering in DaVinci Resolve. There is basically no difference in rendering speed no matter which profile you use.

But all in all, is that a bad thing per se?

We would say, no. Not really. After all, this is an OMEN gaming laptop and gaming is what this is catered towards. In that regard, we feel that HP has made a good decision to limit the CPU power in favor of thermals. You’re not losing much in terms of frames but yet temperatures are so much better not just for the hardware, but also for enhanced comfort when gaming on the laptop itself for long hours on end.

In this instance, we definitely agree with what HP has done here. It’s a good decision.

Upgradability & Price

Now in terms of upgradability, the bottom panel comes off pretty easily with just these few philips head screws and you’ll have access to the two RAM slots, the WiFi card, swap out the M.2 SSD should you want to or add another M.2 SSD as there’s another slot there. You do also get a fairly capable 83Wh battery that will last you roughly 6-7 hours of average use which isn’t too bad at all for a gaming laptop of this calibre. As you can tell, the speakers are mounted on the bottom flanking both sides and they sound adequate. Nothing to write home about but plenty good enough for casual listening and such.

Ultimately, this is a very well-rounded laptop that hits all the right notes. Moreover, it isn’t too expensive either.

Here in Singapore, this exact configuration will set you back about S$2,999 or if you’re in the US or anywhere else, about US$2,049.99 or way less than that during sales.

Honestly, we’re just a little sad that we could only take a look at this laptop so late because this would’ve been a strong contender for our Best of 2022 lineup for laptops, but oh well, it is what it is.

Just like with the Victus 16, the OMEN 16 by HP is an easy recommendation from us. It’s really good.