HP Omen 16 Review: Good display, decent performance
HP has been pushing into the PC gaming segment heavily with a number of dedicated product lines, sub-brands, and acquisitions. One of the brand’s major forays into the segment is in the form of its Omen sub-brand.
The Omen 16 is the latest entrant in the series, which is being offered in multiple configurations. The one we had for review was powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor, paired with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti dedicated GPU, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage.
While on paper, the laptop does seem like a good deal but is it worth the Rs 1,09,999 price tag that HP is currently asking for? Or would you be better off purchasing some different gaming laptop? Find out in our review.
Design
The Omen 16 features a plastic build, which has a metal-like finish and it inspires confidence as the quality of the plastic is good. However, the hinge does not feel very sturdy and might give out in long-term usage.
While the laptop is a definite eyecatcher, it also attracts a lot of fingerprints and dust, especially on the diamond-shaped mirror effect logo.
Coming to the I/O, the right edge features only two USB ports. The left edge sports an ethernet port, a USB Type-A port, a mini-Display port, an HDMI port, a USB Type-C port, a headphone combo jack and a full-size SD card reader.
The 16.1-inch display is surrounded by minimal bezels on all sides, with a huge chin. The keyboard does seem pretty steady and feels good to type on with an ample amount of key travel and quick response. However, I did miss the Numpad on this one, but the RGB made up for it.
While the keyboard of the Omen 16 might be in the running for one of the best gaming laptop keyboards in 2022, the trackpad is the worst aspect of this laptop. The trackpad never seems to respond properly and seems to be defiant of any input provided by the user. I did try to update the drivers, reinstall them, all to no avail. Finally, I gave up and used a mouse with it. This is an aspect that HP should focus on and at least make the trackpad usable with an update.
Display
Omen 16 sports a 16.1-inch full HD IPS display panel with a 144Hz refresh rate. The display outputs clear and crisp visuals. It performs really well in indoor conditions and does not reflect back any light due to its anti-glare coating.
Outdoor performance is a bit lacking and the display seems a bit dull under direct sunlight.
Indoors, the colour production, contrast, and saturation are on point. Gaming is also a good experience thanks to the 144Hz refresh rate, which makes the visuals appear very smooth.
Performance
The Omen 16 review unit we got was powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H paired with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050Ti GPU, 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD storage. All of which on paper is promising, but in real life, I did find a number of issues that might disrupt the user experience.
In usual day-to-day stuff, the laptop did manage to sift through all tasks easily, with minor stutters that can be attributed to Windows 11’s bugs. Browsing the internet, watching content, listening to music and more was a great experience.
The speakers did disappoint a bit, and it required me to connect an external Bluetooth speaker. Bluetooth earphones did face a lot of signal dropping issues, which could be due to the Windows 11 bugs or due to a faulty Bluetooth transceiver.
Playing AAA game titles like Halo: Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, Gears 5, Doom Eternal, and more, I found the laptop to be struggling at the max settings. However, pulling things down a notch, to medium graphic settings, the games managed to output decent gameplay and frame rates.
Photo editing on Photoshop and Lightroom was managed well, but rendering videos using Premiere Pro was a tedious task. Rendering took a lot of time and heavy 4K/8K files would send the laptop into a loop, with stutters, lags, and hanging.
While the laptop can handle playing most AAA titles, we would not recommend burdening it with too many or heavy workloads. Also, we recommend that you play games on it with medium settings mostly.
Overall, the performance is decent for the specifications, though I was expecting the laptop to perform better.
Battery
The battery is where the laptop managed to surprise me, with a single charge lasting for five hours performing basic tasks. Playing games and editing, cut the battery life to under an hour, also the performance is a bit degraded without direct power.
For a gaming laptop, the battery performs very well.
Verdict
While the Omen 16 is a decent gaming laptop, its price, according to me, is a bit high. The price range is extremely competitive. The display and the battery did manage to impress me, and the performance was pretty good. There are still a lot of improvement areas that HP needs to focus on like the trackpad, and the hinge. While you can consider getting the Omen 16 and it will not be a disappointment, I would recommend that you also take a look at the competition like the Acer Nitro 5, Asus TUF Gaming F15 (2021), Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, and more before making your purchase decision.
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