Best HP Omen 15 Gaming Laptop Review | NVIDIA RTX 2060 Ryzen 4800H

If you’re in the market for a new gaming laptop, you should read this HP Omen 15 gaming laptop review. This powerful machine is packed with features that will appeal to many. Including, an 8-core Ryzen 7 4800H processor and a NVidia GeForce 6GB RTX 2060 graphics card.

But does it stack up against the competition? Well, it is not going to compete with the best Razer gaming laptops. But the HP Omen 15 makes one of the best gaming laptops for Call of Duty Warzone for budget conscious gamers.

In this review, I look closely at the HP Omen 15 to see how well it performs. Tested it in games like Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Call of Duty. Look at its specs and design to see if it’s worth the price. So, keep reading to find out if this is the right laptop for you.

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Gameplay With the HP Omen 15 Gaming Laptop

During the HP Omen gaming laptop review, I decided to play the fast action shooter, Call of Duty Warzone. A game known to be highly intensive and will push the laptop to it’s limits. However, the first thing I noticed during the review was that the Omen 15 laptop is more than capable of handling high fidelity gaming.

Last update on 2023-05-05 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

You will get smooth gameplay at 1080p with this GPU and especially now with the addition of Nvidia’s DLSS. With which I’ve noticed a decent improvement on performance, averaging around 130 fps at 1080p playing Warzone. (Previously 100fps) And the results compare well against more expensive machines.

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What’s In The Box: HP Omen 15 gaming laptop?

The HP Omen 15 comes with a 200 W Slim Smart AC power adapter. That weighs about half a kilo and has an oblong shape, and will sit flat behind the laptop when charging.

Plus, you get a country power cord so you can plug the laptop directly into a standard outlet. So far, the HP Omen laptop has been charged in no time at all. Still, today I don’t have issues with charging up the laptop.

HP also supplied a booklet containing setup instructions. Which contains details about HP user guides. These are important for those who are unsure how to set up WIFI. Or don’t know how to set up the free McAfee LiveSafe subscription. But you should remove the McAfee software as soon as possible. As there are better alternatives out there.

Contents of the HP Omen Box

• 200W AC Power Adaptor
• Strong Country Power Cord
• Setup Instructions
• Keyboard Protector

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HP Omen 15 Spec Sheet

Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 4800H (2.9 GHz base clock, up to 4.2 GHz max boost clock, 8 MB L3 cache, 8 cores
Integrated Graphics	AMD Radeon Graphics 7 cores
Discrete Graphics Card	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060
RAM (Memory)	16 GB DDR4-3200 SDRAM (2 x 8 GB) to 32 GB
SDD or HDD	512 GB PCIe NVMe TLC M.2 SSD
Display	15.6″ diagonal, FHD (1920 x 1080), 144 Hz, 7 MS-RT, IPS, micro-edge, anti-glare, 300 nits
Weight/Dimensions	35.79 x 23.97 x 2.25 cm – 3.2kg
Software Included	OMEN Audio Control Support DTS: X, HP Audio Boost 2.0, AMD Radeon Free-Sync
Build Material	Mica silver cover and base. Aluminium keyboard frame
Battery	6-cell, 70.9 WH Li-ion polymer
Operating System	Windows 10 Home Edition

Alternative HP Omen Gaming Laptop;

The HP Omen gaming laptop range varies in both laptop size and spec. My model has a 15.6 panel with an AMD Ryzen 7 4000 series chip. However, you may prefer a 17″ gaming machine. Therefore, the HP Omen 17 below would be perfect, and it has a slightly more powerful RTX 2070 graphics card.

Last update on 2023-05-05 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

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HP Omen 15 Laptop Design and Appearance

The HP Omen 15 gaming laptop is a combination of plastic and aluminium. There are no sharp edges and even the corners of the Omen laptop are nicely rounded. It looks the part with a grey, hard plastic throughout the build.

They’ve surrounded the keyboard and panel with a solid aluminium frame. It’s not as heavy as I thought or as thick either. Plus, the chassis is smooth to the touch, a kind of dark grey colour. HP calls this Mica Silver, but to me, I think it’s kind of dark grey colour.

On the lid, there’s a nice-looking gradient blue to purple diamond Omen logo. Personally, I’m not too keen on the big messy logos that you get with some gaming laptops, so this one on the Omen 15 is perfect. The HP Omen 15 laptop is a sleek and professional-looking gaming laptop, and the build quality is decent. There is little movement on the hinges, and it seems sturdy.

Nice-looking Gradient Blue to Purple Diamond Omen Logo

When you lift the lid there is little movement, a little bendy and shaky. But, the 2-inch hinges are wide enough and strong enough to help stabilise the laptop. You can lift the lid with one hand, and tilt the laptop a full 90 degrees without any problems.

As you can see from the image, the base houses a large grille stretching the length of the laptop. And there is a small vent on the right side to allow airflow. Which is ideal for gaming scenarios. The HP Omen 15 benefits from the tempest cooling technology. Which has 3-sided venting and 5-way airflow. Since gaming on this laptop, the temperature has been impressively low.

Plus, there are two rubber strips on the base that run almost the width of the chassis at the front and back. Allowing the laptop to rest comfortably and easily on my desk. However, I have since purchased a laptop cooling pad for comfort more than anything else. Now I can raise the laptop up which helps further with cooling.

If you’re one of those gamers who don’t mind getting their hands dirty. You can unscrew the eight screws attaching the base to the laptop and upgrade the hardware. Also, you can increase the RAM to 32 GB and add an extra SSD, and doing so will improve the performance of the laptop further. 

But there is no extra bay to install a hard drive. Which is not the end of the world. Besides, who wants a bulky HD slowing down their laptop anyway? Definitely, not me.

Omen 15 Has 3-sided Venting, 5-way Airflow

The HP Omen 15 Has A 4-zone RGB Backlit Keyboard

The HP Omen 15 gaming laptop has a 4-zone RGB backlit keyboard that benefits from outlined WASD keys. You can customize the keyboard using the Omen gaming hub software with one click of the Omen Hub Key, seated top right of the keyboard. Allowing you access to many useful features. Including game time, system vitals, and your laptops performance controls. (Three fan control modes)

The power-on key location is on the top row of the keyboard next to the backspace button. This is handy, but some think this may cause issues with powering off by accident. Don’t worry, because you would need to hold the power key for at least 2 seconds for the laptop to power off. Making it near impossible for this to happen during your gameplay.

The trackpad is a decent size, about one-third of the width, and so far has been accurate. Although, it’s not something I use too often, just when testing for this article. The position of the trackpad is slightly off dead centre and doesn’t seem to get in the way when typing.

The keys are smooth and seem fast, with a short actuate distance. The HP Omen 15 also benefits from 26-key rollover and anti-ghosting technology. The keyboard is snappy, responsive, and well laid out. Which gets a big fat thumbs up from me.

HP Omen 15 144Hz IPS Display

The HP Omen 15 Ryzen 7 display is impressive. It’s a micro-edge FHD anti-glare display with a 144 Hz refresh rate. Which will ensure smooth and crisp gameplay. The screen seems bright, and the viewing angles are good. The colour temperature is high, and the colours seem accurate. Plus, you will enjoy 72% NTSC, which is now standard on the best high-quality gaming monitors.

Also, the panel has a screen ratio of 16:9, a pixel density of 142 PPI and a maximum brightness of 300 nits. Making the HP Omen 15 laptop an excellent display choice for this price point.

It’s surrounded by a three-sided narrow bezel, which leaves room at the top for the wide-vision 720p HD camera. Which is great for video chats with family members. Or maybe your teammates due to the 88-degree, wide-angle field of view.

So to test this out, I decided to play a fast-action shooter game and my favourite Call of Duty Warzone. The HP Omen allowed me to enjoy an admirable gaming performance. There has been no flickering or blurring, and I did not see any signs of screen tearing. Even when the settings were high.

To sum it up, to find a gaming laptop with a 144Hz panel of this quality for this price, allowing me to play one of the fastest games, is superb. All in all, I am very impressed with the 144Hz display that comes with the HP Omen 15.6 gaming laptop. 

HP Omen 15: Plethora Of Ports & Features

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HP Omen Comes With Bang & Olufsen Speakers

HP has included Bang & Olufsen speakers with their Omen gaming laptops. Which are a nice treat to look forward to when you get your HP Omen machine.

The sound is loud but there’s not too bass, and in-game, the background sound effects are really-good. Plus, in-game music does not sound too tinny. To be honest, you would have the choice of either using your headset or without. Either way, you would still have an enjoyable gaming experience.

I’ve yet to test the Audio Boost and Smart Amp Technology you get with the Omen laptop range. When I do, I will update this post.

How Good Is The Hardware?

On the inside, the HP has found room inside for a Ryzen 7 4800H processor. With eight cores and sixteen threads. The AMD 4000 series CPU runs at 2.9 GHz with a potential turbo peak of 4.05 GHz with a max boost of 4.2 GHz. And 8 MB L3 cache.

It comes with AMD Radeon Integrated Graphics. Which is a bonus and would give you an alternative graphics solution. Although not enough to take on the latest game titles.

This Omen laptop my first with an AMD 4000 series processor, which I have had the pleasure to deal with, and so far, so good. I mean, everything I do, whether that is, Photoshop work, online gaming, browsing the web. Or writing long blog posts using Microsoft office, it’s been a breeze.

Sometimes with three, four, or even five applications running at once. All without experiencing problems any issues with lag or slow down. Ok, there are newer AMD Ryzen 5000, and 6000 series processors that are faster. But for a mid-range gaming laptop the HP Omen 15 is spot on.

Testing the Ryzen 7 4800H Processor

The AMD Ryzen 7 processor received an outstanding single core score. Something I thought an AMD processor wouldn’t give me. Putting to bed any concerns I had over AMD or Intel and sending the Intel machine packing, for now anyway.

It not only demolished everyday tasks. But also office apps, audio, and video playback. Plus, it can handle typical workstation tasks requiring strong multi-core CPU performance also. The bench score of 90.4% was even more pleasing. It was 6.5% above the average bench of 84%. for this CPU. The scores were taken from over 23,000 users with the same CPU on their gaming laptops.

So, a big thumbs up to the HP Omen 15.6 laptop for getting more performance out of the Ryzen 7 4800H. Much more than many other gaming laptops with the same CPU. The Ryzen 7 suitability for 3D gaming was just as impressible high. I can’t wait to test the same HP Omen laptop with the newer AMD Ryzen 5000 series processor.

Testing the NVIDIA RTX 2060 Graphics Card

HP paired the AMD Ryzen 7 with a mid-range NVIDIA RTX 2060 ray-tracing graphics card. Not the latest or the fastest from NVIDIA, but a decent graphics card all the same. Again I was happy with the benchmark score of 68.6%, which is a decent 3D score. Meaning, this GPU will handle the latest AAA games at high resolutions and high-level settings.

So, I decided to put the GPU to the test playing Call of Duty Warzone, and over 15 hours of gameplay on relatively high settings at 1080p, it averaged 110 fps.  Which is not bad. But since then, Nvidia has introduced DLSS into their RTX graphics chips. So, I worked on tweaking the settings to find the best settings for Warzone. Now, I am averaging 140 fps. 

So in our opinion, the Nvidia RTX 2060 is a decent graphics card capable of delivering 100+ frames per second in most of today’s games. At 1080p with high/ultra-settings as well. Plus, gaming @1440p is also possible. All in all, an excellent gaming laptop and value for money. I would most definitely recommend the Omen 15 gaming laptop to anyone with a thirst for gaming on the go and looking for a decent mid-range laptop.

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Does The HP Omen 15.6 Have Enough RAM For Gaming?

The HP Omen 15 gaming laptop comes with 16 GB 3200MHz DDR4 RAM as standard. Consisting of 2x8GB sticks filling the two RAM slots available. For now, 16GB is ok. But, it will not be long before my hands would need to get dirty upgrading to 32 GB RAM.

On testing the RAM that I received it was pleasing to find that HP had supplied high quality memory sticks. Two sticks of 8 GB Samsung M471A1K43DB1-CWE 260-pin NON-ECC SODIMM RAM. Which is some of the best laptop RAM on the market and highly sort after.

It received a benchmark score of 104% over Multi-core and Single-core tests. These scores are way above the average score of 88% on the same model. This will make a big difference in how well this gaming laptop will perform on the big stage.

Testing The HP Omen Memory Sticks

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How Much Storage Do You Get With The HP Omen 15 Laptop?

The HP Omen 15 comes with a 512 GB SSD as standard, but some HP omen models have 1 TB SSDs. There is no room to install an HDD on this model anyway. Most of the latest Omen laptops have M.2 NVMe drives/slots that support PCIe x4 drives. This means you can add a 2nd SSD to use as your secondary storage solution and it’s the fastest storage there is.

An SSD is a much better secondary storage solution than a hard disk drive. The only gripe is that you will have to pay a bit more for the extra storage, but in my opinion, it’s not a bad headache to have.

How Much Storage Do You Need On Your Laptop?

In the HP Omen 15, it has a Western Digital NVMe 512GB SSD. Not the biggest but one of the fastest, and it performed way above expectations. Scoring a resounding 267% for sequential read/write speeds. Plus, high results for random 4k and deep queue 4k. 

This means the storage HP squeezed into the Omen 15 is 2nd to none. It is suitable for heavy workloads, fast boots, and responsive applications. Also, much quicker transfer of multi-gigabyte files than many other SSDs tested. (Again Impressive)

Testing the Stock HP Omen 15 512GB SSD

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Is The HP Omen 15 A Good Laptop For Gaming?

The HP Omen 15 gaming laptop review so far has shown this laptop has superb components all over. With a decent display, good RAM and great storage capabilities, plus the build is solid.

But what about gaming? To be honest, it’s been tough to gather the willpower to knock back the temptation to flick on my Blizzard app. So I can blast out some COD Warzone. It’s has been such a great experience using the HP Omen 15 and not only for playing COD but any task.

So to answer your question. Is the HP omen 15 with the Ryzen 7 4800H processor and the NVIDIA RTX 2060 graphics card good for gaming? It is a resounding YES!

We choose Call of Duty Warzone because it is the perfect game to test out the HP Omen 15. This is due to it being graphics intensive and just a big game in general. Plus it’s a game where every frame matters.

Luckily the HP Omen 15 has the hardware above the recommended requirements for COD. Or any other game, for that matter. The HP Omen runs Warzone like a dream. Allowing me to enjoy a stutter and blur-free gameplay. Plus, I’m experiencing 140fps on low settings. It definitely has what’s required to have some fun in Caldera, so it is a great laptop for gaming.

Nvidia RTX 2060 Graphics Performance

COD Warzone	Medium (1440p)	High (1440p)	High (1080p)
Average Frame Rates	90fps	80fps	144fps
Texture Resolution	Normal	Normal	Low
Texture Filter	Normal	Normal	Low
Ray Tracing	Enabled	Enabled	Disabled

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Uniguine Valley Benchmark Tests

Uniguine Valley Benchmark is an extreme performance and stability test to the hardware in your gaming laptop, including the video card, power supply and cooling system. All of this is done with an interactive detailed environment.

Below, the three gaming laptops with the same Nvidia RTX 2060 graphics and results from the valley benchmark test. Drill into each gaming laptop to see the results. You may be surprised.

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Conclusion

It’s been an enjoyable experience reviewing the HP Omen 15 gaming laptop. It’s been clear, the HP Omen is one of the best RTX 2060 based laptops released. It’s decent in many areas beyond its price. Plus, it has more than enough graphics ability to play the latest AAA games. 

The cooling system is one of the biggest things we can take from the HP Omen 15 review. Although a little noisy but can keep you gaming at optimum temperatures. Possibly the reason why it has outperformed similar models like those shown above.

The only bummer is the AMD HP Omen won’t have Thunderbolt connectivity. For that, you would have to opt for the Intel version. In a nutshell, I’m happy with what this gaming laptop offers and would recommend the HP omen 15 to others with a gaming laptop budget under £1000.

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Helpful Content: If you need more information before you make a decision, you should consider reading my gaming laptop buying guide for more great ideas.

Cya in the next one!