HP Omen 15-dc0105TX
Is HP’s latest gaming laptop a sign from the gods?
We haven’t seen a case design we like as much as what’s wrapped around the HP Omen 15 in a long time. Sure the 2.48kg device isn’t gunning for an ultrabook position — it’s a proper gaming laptop and it displays this prominently with a carbon fibre and brushed metal top casing that looks premium and powerful, without being vulgar. This continues to a textured undercarriage that makes a feature of the front edge speakers and underside fans — which are an important component in the device’s overhauled thermal design. The full-sized keyboard extends from edge to edge, but the keys don’t offer much resistance and the trackpad is tiny. Fortunately this is the only area that doesn’t feel premium, since the Omen 15 is available with either a 15.6-inch Full HD 144Hz IPS display or a FullHD 60Hz IPS display with G-Sync. These premium screens were powered by an Intel Core i7-8750H CPU, 32GB of RAM and an Nvidia GTX 1070 GPU on our test unit. The components here are pretty modular, with HP offering Omen 15 rigs with a regular 1080p screen, 16GB of RAM and a GTX 1060 for an RRP starting at $2,199. The powerful components on our test unit didn’t disappoint with the CPU topping the roundup with a score of 1145 in Cinebench’s Multi-threaded CPU test and getting the highest score in the PCMark 8 Home benchmark. A GTX 1070 should be getting somewhere between 40-50 frames per second on Ghost Recon: Wildlands at 1080p Ultra, so the Omen 15’s 42.5 fps average isn’t outstanding, but it’s about 17% better than the GTX 1060 scores here.