Custom PC - UK (2020-02)

P’saffordableOmen 15 balances
eye-catchinglookswitha refined
senseofdesign.OlderOmenmodels
hadredaccentsandoutlandishangles,but
thosehavebeenreplacedwithmodest
texturedmetalandmattaluminium.It’sone
ofthebest-lookingmachinesintheLabs.
It measures20mmthickandbuildquality
is solid,butit’sa bitheavierthanrivals.Still,it’s
agoodstart– it’sjustassturdyastheRazer
andbetterthantheAcerandScan machines

HPOmen 15 /£1,69

SUPPLIER hp.com

inthis

HPha

USB 3

socketthatsupportsThunderbolt 3

alongsidea cardreader,GigabitEthernetand

Wi-Fi 6 – those are great connection options.

Meanwhile, the chiclet keyboard has

customisable RGB LEDs and 26-key anti-

ghosting support. The buttons have 1.5mm

of travel, a consistent action and a firm base.

Theactionis a littlesoft,butthekeyboard

is betterthanAcerand Razer’seffortsthis

month– onlythemechanicalScanand

Chillblastkeyboardsarebetter.Thetrackpad

isn’tparticularlygoodthough– thetwo

buttonsaretoosoftandpushdowntoofar.

TheOmenis oneoftwomachinesinthis

Labswitha 240Hzscreen,andit’stheonly

modelthatalsoincludesNvidiaG-Sync.

Thatrefreshrateis arguablyoverkillformost

people,buttheinclusionofG-Syncis great

fortheprice,ensuringthattearingartefacts

areeliminatedduringgames.The1,196:1

contrastratiois alsofine,anditsdeltaE of1.88

meanscolourswillbeaccurate.Thecolour

temperatureof7,112Kis a littlechilly,butit’snot

waywardenoughtocausesignificantissues.

Ontheinside,theHPusestheRTX 2070

Max-Q,whichis thesameGPUastheScan

anda stepaheadoftheRTX 2060 inside

theAcerandRazermodels.TheHPalso

hasa Corei7-9750HCPU,16GBofDDR4

memoryanda 1TBSamsungPM981SSD–

that’s great capacity at this price, although its

performance lags behind the latest SSDs.

The HP’s 61fps and 56fps minimums in

Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Total War:

Warhammer II were only marginally better

wetested,andit wasa coupleof

framespersecondaheadofthesemachines

in Battlefield V with ray tracing enabled.

Scan’s machine is pricier, but quicker.

In application benchmarks, the HP

outpaced the Acer and the Razer machines,

but it was much slower than the Scan,

andbatterylifewasmiddling.Thermal

performancewasmixedtoo.TheOmen

wascoolandquietduringgames.However,

theprocessorbecomeshotandthrottles

to2.4GHzduringintensiveworkloads.

Conclusion

TheOmen 15 looksgreat,hasa butter-

smooth240Hzscreenandsolidconnection

optionsandergonomics,butit’saverage

ontheinside.It’sonlya littlefaster

thantheAcerandRazermachines,but

noticeablyslowerthantheScan,andit

getsveryhot.ThepricierScanoffersmore

inthewayofrawpower,buttheOmen

stilloutpacestheAcerandRazerand

offersa superbscreenforthemoney.

VERDICT

A 240Hz screen alongside solid speed and

design – but more power is out there.

THE OMEN

• 
  

  Great-quality 240Hz
  screen with G-Sync

  
  


• 
  

  Smart, sturdy
  exterior design

  
  


• 
  

  Solid gaming
  performance

  
  

THE OMEN IV

• Rivals are faster


• CPU sometimes
  throttles


• Soft keyboard
  and trackpad

PERFORMANCE

17 / 25

HARDWARE

20 / 25

DESIGN

19 / 25

VALUE

23 / 25

OVERALLSCORE

79 %

SPEC

CPU 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-9750H

Memory 16GB 2666MHz DDR4

Graphics Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q 8GB

Screen 15.6in 1,920 x 1,080 IPS 240Hz

Storage 1TB Samsung PM981 M.2 SSD

Networking Gigabit Ethernet,

dual-band 802.11ax Wi-Fi

Weight 2.4kg

Ports 3 x USB 3.1 Gen 1, 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2

Type-C/Thunderbolt 3, 1 x mini-DisplayPort,

1 x HDMI, 1 x audio jack, 1 x SDXC

Dimensions (mm) 360 x 260 x 20 (W x D x H)

Operating system Windows 10 Home 64-bit

Extras Bluetooth 5

Warranty One year parts and labour return to base

99 incVAT

respect.The

asthreefull-sized

3 .1portsandaType-C

etthatsupportsThunderbolt 3 –

thantheRTX 2060 machines

wetestedanditwasacoupleof

LABS TEST / GAMING LAPTOPS