The OMEN 16 by HP review: Fear nothing

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OMEN 16 by HP he impressed us even before his arrival. Twelfth generation Intel Core i9 processor, 32 GB of RAM, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 GPU, 165 Hz screen… On paper it was a bomb, one of those laptops to which you can feed everything, without difficulty and without hesitation.
A few days later it arrived in our hands: we carefully opened the box, took out the notebook and started the setup mesmerized by the keyboard’s RGB lighting. A few minutes later we started downloading some games: Forza Horizon 5, Dune Spice Wars, High on Life, Overwatch and LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. Too many? Actually not: with 1 TB of space everything was there, without problems and without having to give up other programs and our files.
However, memory is only one of the parameters to consider when buying a new gaming laptop. How does the OMEN 16 by HP fare on all other fronts? We tell you about it in this one review.

The OMEN 16 by HP review

For some years now, OMEN has been the brand created by HP to identify its gaming products. Because in the end – as mentioned above – OMEN 16 is this: a notebook for gamers.
Not just any, mind you. The specifications are top of the class, which positions the product in the high end of the market, the one considered by avid gamers, pro players, by those who do not want to give up anything.
And, we anticipate it, if you belong to this category OMEN 16 by HP will undoubtedly satisfy you.

The technical sheet

As a gamer but not too much

Gaming laptops have evolved a lot in terms of design in recent years. In fact, we are far from the heavy and aggressive notebooks that are still stuck in our imagination. Today’s laptops for gamers aim for a more discreet look, with the aim of making them perfectly usable both at home and outside, including the office.
That’s why you shouldn’t be surprised by the aesthetics of OMEN 16with its black chassis and glossy OMEN logo on the lid. However, just open it to find one of the elements we most often associate with gaming: RGB LEDs. In fact, the keyboard lights up like a real rainbowat least during the initial setup, after which you are free to use OMEN Light Studio to edit lighting effects and opt, if you wish, for more sober patterns and colors.

To make this laptop suitable for any occasion we find the doors: many and perfect for any need. On the left we have a USB-A, an Ethernet and the 3.5 mm jack while on the right two additional USB-A; behind there is space for the power supply, two USB-C Thunderbolt ports and HDMI.
The arrangement is not random: on one side you have the two bulkier cables behind you (power supply and HDMI), on the other the two profiles are freer, leaving room for the air vents which, thanks to their particular arrangement, always manage to keep the temperature of the OMEN 16 under control.

OMEN 16 review: 165Hz QHD display

Playing on a Desktop PC usually has an obvious advantage: the screen, in most cases, is larger and more performing.
HP, however, did not want to compromise and so we meet with a generous 16.1-inch IPS panel with QHD resolution (2560 x 1400 pixels), 165Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time.

How does all of this translate into real life? Gaming on this display is a pleasure – the images are sharp, vivid and smooth. We enjoyed all the originality of High on Life and all the realism of Forza Horizon 5, without losing frames along the way and without sacrifices.
Movies also look great on the OMEN 16so you can treat yourself to a movie night away from the TV or away from home.

The brightness? 300 nits so yes, indoors it’s perfect, outdoors you will have some problems but it is clear that this is an extreme scenario, one in which a gamer would hardly find himself.

Keyboard and Touchpad

RGB lighting is just one of the features of the OMEN 16 keyboard. In fact, you not only have LEDs available, divided into 4 zones, but also comfortable keys which, to the touch, seem almost slightly rubberized. The typing experience is excellent, with above-average travel and sufficiently large keys.
We also report the presence of custom button for launching the OMEN Gaming Hubso in an instant you can access the control center which allows you, among other things, to boost PC performance during game sessions.

The touchpad is very large which you will hardly use to play – placing the PC alongside a gaming mouse – but which on the other hand will come in handy on the productivity front. The fingers glide well over the surface and the touch response is very fast.

OMEN 16 review: super top-of-the-range performance

It is really difficult to tell the performances of OMEN 16 without falling into banality. Featuring a 12th Generation Intel Core i9 processor, 32GB RAM and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU there’s really nothing that upsets him.
We’ve used it in the office, for normal work activity, and it’s a real sliver.
We asked for his support for video editing with Adobe Premiere Pro CC and it didn’t falter even with 4K footage, color grading and graphics. Rendering is really fastwhich saved us time, not to mention that in the meantime we were free to carry out other activities without worrying about slowing it down.
At home, during play sessions, he performed great. Not we lost framerates and the GPU allowed us not to sacrifice any graphics, in any title. You can then enjoy titles exactly as they are, including ray tracing.

Among other things, the gaming experience is even more immersive thanks to the speakers created in collaboration with Bang & Olufsen: the volume is high, the mids and highs are quite balanced while the bass, as in most laptops, tends to be less present. You can get more by using OMEN Audio Control but don’t expect big changes.

The performance of the webcam at 720p is less exciting. If you want to use it for streaming, the suggestion is to combine it with an external webcam. We, for example, have combined it with HP 960 4K Streaming Webcam which allowed us to obtain better results even during work webcalls.

Autonomy

Autonomy is not the strong point of gaming laptops but this does not mean that the OMEN 16 by HP will let you down after a couple of hours even while you are working. With standard use – email, web browsing and writing – we’ve got you covered about 5 hours of activity. Of course, things change with gaming: in that case our suggestion is to keep it connected to the power supply, also because this helps to guarantee you the best possible performance.

The OMEN 16 by HP review: conclusions

The OMEN 16 is an excellent gaming laptop.
The understated design lets you use it anywhere, even in meetings, the performance helps you get things done, the display is perfect for gaming, and the keyboard is comfortable for typing a lot, as well as gaming.
If you are looking for a laptop that can even replace a Desktop PC, this OMEN 16 could really be for you.