HP Omen 16 open

HP Omen 16 Refresh Gets Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti Power Up

The Omen 16’s leveling up. The gaming laptop is making the leap to Nvidia’s RTX 5070 Ti GPU, essentially making it the most powerful gaming notebook in HP’s lineup. The refresh also brings improved thermals and acoustics. The newly announced laptop is available now starting at $1,600. But depending on the configuration, the price can easily get into the $2500-$3,000 price range. I recently got a quick look at the Omen 16 and it looks like a serious contender for that mid-tier spot.

Design

Similar to the HP Omen 35L Desktop Stealth Edition, the Omen 16 has an understated design. The chassis is all black ocean-bound plastic, keeping the RGB lighting under wraps until you open the lid. Then, the RGB keyboard hits you with its glowing glory and slim light bar along the front lip. The laptop has a full-size keyboard, complete with Num pad. My initial impression of the island-style keyboard are firm, springy keys which lends themselves to a comfy typing experience.

With 16 and 18-inch laptops, I expect more ports. The Omen 16 left me wanting with only 1 USB-C, a pair of USB-A ports, a RJ-45 port, HDMI 2.1, a headset jack and the AC port. It’s enough to support a modest gaming battle station, but a few more ports can make something truly formidable.

At 5.4 pounds, the 14.07 x 10.59 x 0.94~1-inch laptop is light for a 16-inch, but definitely heavier than an ultraportable. However, it shouldn’t be a problem stowing it a backpack for a commute.

Display and Audio

It’s not 4K, but I think most gamers will be A-Okay with what HP is serving. The display 16:10 display is available in two flavors. First up, there’s a 2560 x 1600 IPS panel with a 240Hz refresh rate and 3-millisecond response rate. Next, you have a 1920 x 1200 IPS screen, with a 120Hz refresh rate. In terms of brightness, the 2.5K display has the brighter panel 500 nits to 300. Both panels supports Nvidia G-Sync technology for silky-smooth graphics even in the most hectic action scenes.

At a glance, the 2.5K panel produces deep, inky blacks and punchy color. The details look crisp. But I’m looking forward to getting a closer look with my colorimeter and my light gun.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to test out those improved accoustics, but HP has loaded the Omen 16 up with the following: HyperX Audio Control; Dual speakers, DTS:X® Ultra, HP Audio Boost 1.0
Input/Connectivity. I’m not a big fan of DTS on laptops, but I’m hoping that HP can make me a believer on this one.

Specs

So we’ve already established that the Omen’s making the jump to an Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti GPU. But the Omen 16 can also be configured with either an Intel Core i7 or Core i9 processor with up to 32GB of DDR5-5600 MT/s RAM and a 1TB PCIe Gen4 NVM M.2 SSD.

Bottom Line

The Omen 16 can’t compete with laptops laden with 5080s and 90s. But the gaming laptop makes a compelling argument for the mid-tier gamers out there. The laptop has more than enough power to deliver high frame rates on a myriad of games. The 2.5K screen is stunning and so far, the keyboard feels promising. However, I’m going to hold my final judgment until I get the Omen 16 in for review. Stay tuned.

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