HP Omen 17 review: Unleashing the beast

Pros: Sharp and fluid display, Amazing gaming performance, Quick charging, Quality speakers.

Cons: Hefty, lacks a full-sized keyboard, average webcam.

HP has a vast range of laptops in its Omen series. The new models come with the latest Intel processors, a high refresh rate display, and a thermal-friendly design. We have been using one such model, the HP Omen 17 for some time and have gathered quite a few thoughts.

To give you a brief about the laptop, the Omen 17 variant we have comes with a 240Hz display and has the latest Intel Core i9 processor. The laptop has Nvidia’s RTX 4080 GPU and 32GB of RAM. It has 1TB of internal storage. With those specs, the Omen 17 is surely a beast machine on paper, but how does it perform in daily life? And most importantly, is the gaming performance sustained and top-notch? Let’s have a look at all that in this review.

HP Omen 17 pricing specifications

HP Omen 17 Review: Design and Display

The HP Omen 17 comes with the signature Omen design. Right out of the box, you’ll notice that the entire form factor is massive and bulky. However, if you are considering purchasing this model, you probably know that this is by no means a lightweight machine.

But just to let you know the figures, the laptop weighs 2.78 kg, which is almost the weight of two slim ultrabooks. Nevertheless, the heft comes from the internals of the machine. Not to forget its large 17.3-inch display.

The laptop has a sturdy metallic build with a matte finish all around that can easily attract fingerprints. The hinges are fairly solid but the lid does wobble. There’s the Omen logo on the lid that reflects in different lighting conditions. It has an optical-mechanical keyboard without a dedicated number pad. Since it lacks a number pad, the keys are properly spaced out. It has a large trackpad that works as it should.

Coming to the sides, there are multiple ports on the left spine including a DC port, an Ethernet port, a USB A port (USB 3.2 Gen 1), a mini display port, an HDMI 2.1 port, a Thunderbolt 4 port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and an SD card reader. There are two more USB A ports (USB 3.2 Gen 1 speed) on the right side.

Having said that, the I/O selection done by HP is pretty good and just what’s needed for a gaming laptop. Apart from the ports, there’s a speaker setup and four exhaust areas to do away with heating.

Coming to the display, there’s a 17.3-inch IPS display with a Quad-HD resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels. It has a 3ms response time and 300 nits of brightness. The screen has a 240Hz refresh rate, which is more than you could ask for in a gaming laptop.

Since it’s a 2K panel, watching movies and shows is crisper than ever and the screen is fluid, thanks to the high refresh rate support.

HP Omen 17 Review: Performance

This is one of the most powerful laptops by HP since it is powered by the Intel Core i9-13900HX processor and Nvidia RTX 4080 GPU. There’s no doubting the processor because it’s the latest and the best Intel has got. It is a 24-core CPU with Turbo Boost Technology and 36MB L3 cache. The GPU, on the other hand, isn’t the most powerful one but comes in the flagship range.

The 12GB GDDR6 VRAM is more than enough for all games. There’s 32GB of 5600MHz RAM that helps to keep 50+ tabs running in the background while simultaneously letting me play games. Speaking of games, the laptop should run all modern games that throw at it.

I played Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA 5. And, the laptop ran both Rockstar games like a rockstar (quite literally). RDR 2 ran at an average FPS of 92 with DLSS off in 2K resolution. When DLSS was turned on and set to quality, the game’s FPS reached 106 average. In balanced DLSS settings, the game’s average FPS was 109.

Without being plugged into power, the game didn’t run well and showed an average FPS of around 30. But not to forget, all of this was in 2K resolution with high settings.

Coming to GTA 5, the game easily managed to touch 100 FPS with the highest settings in 2K. If you are an esports gamer who plays Valorant, or CS:GO, or Fortnite, you will have a great time. The laptop will easily get you close to 400 FPS on Valorant.

As for synthetic benchmark, we ran Cinebench R23 and it scored 15874 points in the multi-core department and 2057 points in the single-core department. The RAM inside is no doubt one of the fastest, but the storage as well showed some really good read and write speeds.

Other than the numbers, the laptop performs really well in day-to-day tasks. I edited articles and did my other office tasks on the machine, and everything felt buttery smooth. But the trackpad experience wasn’t the same. Sometimes, it missed some clicks.

As for the thermals, the laptop comes with OMEN Tempest Cooling technology that is said to prevent overheating. As said above, there are four exhaust areas from where the heat passes while gaming or doing heavy tasks.

The laptop did run hot when playing games, which was expected. However, in extended regular usage like writing articles and watching videos, it only became slightly warm. I hope HP focuses a bit more on cooling here. And by the way, the fans inside the laptop make loud noises when playing games.

Apart from this, the keyboard on the laptop is pretty good. It’s an optical-mechanical one that is spaced well to let you type freely. The lack of a numpad is disappointing, especially because we usually use number keys when flying an airplane or a special vehicle in games. There are six macro keys and the whole keyboard is backlit with RGB lighting.

The laptop also comes with a webcam that has 720 resolution. At the price at which the laptop comes, a Full-HD (1080p) resolution webcam would have been a great addition, but alas. HP has offered a good set of speakers on this one. The audio is tuned by B&O and it is loud and clear.

Coming to the battery, the laptop packs an 83Wh battery that offers an average battery life but charges up quickly, thanks to the massive 330W charging adapter. Before you buy the laptop, do have a look at its charging adapter, it’s massive and looks like a Mac mini.

HP Omen 17 Review: Verdict

The HP Omen 17 is a powerful gaming machine that offers the Omen series’ signature design, a high refresh-rate display, and an impressive performance. With its latest hardware like the Intel Core i9 13th generation and higher-end Nvidia’s RTX 40 series GPU, it bests some other laptops in the segment.

If you are looking for an all-rounder laptop that excels in gaming, editing, and doing daily tasks, the HP Omen 17 is a beast of a machine to consider under Rs 3 lakh.