HP is a distinguished and an eminent brand when it comes to tech related products. It took them quite a while to create the loyal clientele that they have now, but this puts equal pressure on them to maintain their standards and thus the brand loyalty. Targeting students, corporate individuals and even sit-at- home people; HP realized the need to bring the interests of the gaming audience into consideration. HP Omen was the exclusive gaming laptop designed for moderate gamers. Back in 2014, the first of its kind was launched with impressive graphic power and affordable price tag. In 2016, HP replaced the last model with two new, 15” and 17” models. Probably the biggest attraction for these was their price, which was much less that what was charged for the previous model. 15” priced at $1000 and 17” at $1249, compared to $1500 of the previous laptop.

The look of the new HP Omen 15 is pretty good when viewed from a distance, an up close look would, however, bring down the expectations. The plastic covering has a fiber pattern which elevates the look from a distance but in actual seems shoddy. The lid has the usual red Vodoo emblem but many people were of the view that the last model’s aluminum frame was far better.

The keyboard is backlit which actually draws most of the attention to it and the key font is similar to that used in games. Some of the keys, however, are not clear enough to read for instance the “@” sign. With 1.2 mm of key travel, users will have an average typing speed of about 65 words per minute. The trackpad below has no buttons and therefore is wider than normal trackpads. Except for a slight noise that arises when selecting items, the touchpad works fine.

In terms of connectivity, there is a USB 3.0 port, HDMI, SD card reader and one slot for Gigabit Ethernet connection; all of this on the right side. On the left, there is another pair of USB type 3 ports and the usual headset jack. Considering that this is a gaming laptop, the data ports are good enough. Having a weight of 4.9 pounds puts it ahead of other laptops in competition; some of which weigh 5 or even 7 pounds.

For the display, users have a choice of either 1920 x 1080 full HD or 3820 x 2160 pixels. The screen is matte, not the glossy type and is not touch sensitive. Brightness is 221 units which will be manageable when using the laptop indoors, but would not work otherwise under sunlight. The response time of 35 ms is not great compared to the gaming requirement. Assessing the display relative to the price that is being charged, we can say that it is not at all disappointing.

Gaming laptops are famous for being loud and for generating a lot of heat due to the intense processing. In HP Omen 15, however, the dual fan design addresses the issue while helping to keep it cool and quiet. If it was made of metal, much of the heat would be transferred to the user but now with the plastic frame that issue is minimized.

Inside is the Intel Core i7 Processor which is one of the best processors out in the market and has an 16 GB of RAM. This fast processing is such that it allows the user to open 10 tabs simultaneously, thus allowing for multitasking. Transfer speed, however, takes away the charm. During a test, its 128GB of SSD transferred at a speed of 87.4 megabytes per second. This rate was lower than many other gaming laptop brands like DELL with its Alienware. After talking about the processing speed, the next thing that Paklap.pk considered is whether or not the laptop will be able to work for longer hours without continuously charging it. In a battery test that was carried out, this Omen 15 lasted for about 6 hours and 53 minutes which was better than the average battery life. Gaming is never complete unless users get the perfect sound system along as well. Omen’s built in speakers worked pretty great; for instance, when “the Witcher 3” was played, users enjoyed the crisp and clear audio.

To top it all, HP gave its customers a one-year warranty for parts and labor. Summing it, Paklap.pk believes that HP Omen is a good looking laptop for the stated price, but HP could have definitely brought some improvements to it. For moderate gamers, this affordable laptop is surely worth the try.

Link to order from Paklap:

https://www.paklap.pk/omen-15-2016.html