The latest edition of the 2023 HP Omen 16 continues to bring upgrades and improvements. In this line of sleek sharp-looking gaming laptops, the people at HP aspired to bring the best possible gaming experience. The previous iteration of the HP Omen 16 had multiple price points for everyone based on their budget. For the newest iteration, the entry-level starts at $1700, and the version we were provided for the review clocks in at a whopping $2649.99. Here are my thoughts on this stellar piece of hardware.
Great Design
When I received my 2023 HP Omen 16 laptop, it was packaged very well. One of the first things I noticed was the high-quality design. In some laptops, the tension on the joints is not super great and the screen can be kind of wobbly. That is not the case here, as the screen is very sturdy. The matte finish is pristine meaning fingerprints aren’t a big issue only seeing them occasionally on the touchpad. When it comes to the touchpad, the movement is smooth and accurate. I used a touchpad the majority of the time instead of an actual mouse and found it to be a comfortable and responsive way to be productive.
The Specs
The 2023 HP Omen 16 specs to me are great. It is a Windows 11 laptop with a 16.10-inch display that has a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. It is powered by a Core i7 processor, and it comes with 32GB of RAM. The HP Omen 16 (2023) packs 1TB of SSD storage. For our graphics, it is powered by the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080. Connectivity options for the 2023 HP Omen 16 include Wi-Fi 802.11 ax, Ethernet and it comes with an HDMI Port, RJ45 (LAN) ports. With ports on both sides and the back of the laptop, we get an even spacing between them which is great. More ports are always a great thing, but with the amount we have here, I think it’s a good number that I’m fine with.
Benchmark Results
To benchmark the 2023 HP Omen 16 laptop, we used PCMark 10. This piece of hardware put out great results as it landed in the 7000s, slightly higher than the previous year’s models and still off the charts. Our highest scores were in rendering visualization, spreadsheets, app startup, and web browsing. We also yielded good results in writing, photo editing, and video conferencing. The writing I can truly agree with as I’m writing this review and my past few articles all on this laptop. All in all, the scores were all great across the board and that is to be expected with as much of a beast this laptop has been
Omen Gaming Hub
One of my favorite things about the 2023 HP Omen 16 laptop is the Omen Gaming Hub. While it has existed on previous Omen hardware, this is my first time digging into it. This provides the perfect all-around hub for a great gaming experience. The laptop even provides you with a dedicated keyboard button for quick access to the Hub. You can get access to your downloaded games here and the bevy of GeForce Now games as well. You can also customize and change the colors of your 2023 HP Omen keyboard keys with settings in this hub. The colors can be changed at will, and currently my keyboard cycles through multiple different colors. You can also track your CPU, GPU, and RAM usage in real-time. It’s an effective PC tool, that provides the best gaming experience.
Great Performance
I played several different games to put the 2023 HP Omen 16 through the ringer. My test suite consisted of Age of Empires 4, Forza Horizon 5, Fallout 4, Elder Scrolls Online, and a few others. Aside from ESO which I played locked at 30 FPS, the rest of the games ran silky smooth at 60 FPS or higher. The framerate was only really taxed when playing Cyrodil PVP with everything going on. I was able to play Age of Empires 4 on the highest setting without going below 30 FPS. By lowering a couple of settings like Image quality and some textures slightly I was able to get a solid 60 FPS.
In addition to downloaded games, one of the big things I tried with the 2023 HP Omen 16 was a significant amount of Xbox/PC Cloud Gaming. I did about eighty percent of Cloud Gaming completely through Wi-Fi. While doing this, I dropped to 58 FPS on a load screen in Fallout 4. That’s it. That is the total of the flaws in the hardware: 2 frames per second. It was almost a flawless gaming experience, and I was super impressed. With the graphics card quality being so good there were quite a few times the FPS was well above 60. The key spacing felt great and I believe it’s good for people with small or bigger hands. I didn’t use the trackpad while gaming and used my desktop mouse (Razor Naga). For everyday use and productivity, the trackpad worked just fine.
Mostly Quiet and Ok Battery Life
In my experience with the 2023 HP Omen 16, I can say it remained mostly quiet. The only two instances where it got loud were while installing updates during a restart and once while playing Age of Empires 4, where I could hear the heat leaving the laptop. I will say you can feel some warmth while using it on your lap, but nothing too hot. The fans expel the heat from the sides and back of the laptop making it quite comfortable to play from your lap. Aside from those outlier experiences, it was astonishingly quiet even while playing games on high/ultra settings.
On the other hand, my gripe, and I’m sure everyone’s gripe with gaming laptops is the battery life. I tried a few different ways to optimize the battery life with disappointing results. When playing Age of Empires 4 on the highest settings, the battery life lasted for 1 hour and 18 minutes. Then while streaming Netflix with screen brightness at 75% the battery life lasted 3 hours and 41 minutes. Lastly, while gaming through Xbox Cloud Gaming the battery life was also around 3 hours and 41 minutes. As I mentioned in the above section, I played games like Fallout 4, Forza Horizon 5, Elder Scrolls Online, and a few others through Xbox Cloud Gaming.
Accessories
As you can see from the image, included in the box is HyperX Cloud II wireless headset. Its inclusion is part of the upgrade to the RTX 4080 graphics card which will add $570 to the price tag above the RTX 5070 SKU. Typically, I’m not big on headsets unless I’m talking to people I’m playing with. The Cloud 2 wireless headset was lightweight and comfortable. Sometimes headsets feel bulky on your head, but this one was super comfortable. Obviously, being wireless was a bonus and the sound quality was superb. I used it for several hours and didn’t have a single complaint, including the 80-hour battery life. While wearing the headset I will say the sound quality is better than the built-in speakers, because you get to block out all the other noises using its spatial audio.
Specs of the headset are as follows up to and 2.4GHz Wireless. It has DTS Headphone: X Spatial Audio, (PC only), Memory Foam, and Noise Canceling. It also features Onboard Audio Control with Mic Mute and a Detachable Mic. There is a headphone jack on the 2023 HP Omen 16 if you prefer to use a wired headset. My Xbox controller was easy to connect to as well.
Final Thoughts
The 2023 HP Omen 16 is a beast of a machine, and I feel it is almost perfect for gaming and use in your everyday life. If you want to stream videos among other things, you will be satisfied with this piece of hardware. The video quality is great and is helped by the high-quality screen. Gaming Hub is a great centralization for gaming and customization on this laptop. Everything ran great and the only issues were the occasional loud noise and disappointing battery life while gaming and streaming. While writing articles and doing other productive tasks like browsing the internet the battery life is fine.
The MSRP of $2649.99 is a lot of money. Make no mistake. But the cost can be seen in every aspect of the high quality of this gaming laptop. As you would expect for the price, it is good at both gaming and everything else. The 2023 HP Omen 16 is definitely worth the money and a perfect choice if you want all the power of a PC on the go.