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00:00Hey, how's it going guys? This is Dave2D, and this is a video on the 2016 HP Omen.
00:12So, instead of an internal spec bump like a lot of companies did this year, HP did a full redesign on the Omen.
00:18Now, right off the bat, it's a more traditional design. Instead of that edgy trapezoid shape from last year,
00:23it's a more standard rounded rectangle. The top surface has this soft-touch rubber coating on it.
00:29I like soft-touch materials when they're new, and this one looks pretty nice.
00:32It has this diagonal weave pattern on it, but if you bang it up or you scratch it, the finish doesn't look very good.
00:38So keep it protected with a case or a sleeve. The build quality is okay.
00:43It's a plastic build. Last year's Omen had a nicer overall finish because it had more metal,
00:47but this year's version is still decent.
00:49It just doesn't feel as premium. The bottom panel is plastic with some venting grates,
00:54but there's no soft-touch finish on this.
00:56The screen and the chassis have a bit of flex, but it's nothing too bad. The hinges are a little tight.
01:02It's not easily opened with one hand,
01:03and I think the overall build quality is a step down from last year because there's just not as much metal used in the
01:09construction process. The good thing is that when you don't use as much metal, the overall price comes down.
01:13So this year's Omen starts at $900. Opening it up, the screen on this model is a 4K IPS panel.
01:19It's not a touchscreen, but it's bright at around 330 nits.
01:23It has pretty good color accuracy, good viewing angles. Contrast could be better,
01:27but overall, I would consider this to be a pretty good screen. Now, this is the upgraded panel. It's an extra $90.
01:33I've seen the 1080p screen on the base model, and it's so much worse. It's really dim.
01:37It's around 200 nits at max brightness, and the color accuracy was surprisingly bad.
01:42I highly recommend spending the money to upgrade to the 4K panel. The webcam is a standard HD webcam. It looks okay.
01:49There is an option to get a RealSense 3D camera if you want to use Windows Hello.
01:52The keyboard area has the same diagonal pattern as the lid, but instead of that soft touch finish,
01:57it's just a smooth surface. At the top of this are the speakers.
02:01They have Bang & Olufsen branding again, but like most laptop speakers in this price range, they don't sound particularly good.
02:07It's loud, and it's positioned nicely, but it's not a balanced sound.
02:11There's a very obvious deficiency in bass, even if you use the software adjustments.
02:15The keyboard and the trackpad are the same ones as the HP Pavilion, or at least I think they are. They feel very similar.
02:21The keyboard has red backlighting now. It's a decent keyboard, relatively short stroke, but there's nothing I really dislike about it.
02:27The keyboard is shifted over to the left again because of the number pad, and the up and down arrow keys could be bigger or
02:34positioned better, but overall the typing experience is enjoyable. The trackpad feels small.
02:40It's wide, but it's not roomy from front to back, so doing gestures feels a little cramped. Tracking works fine.
02:45I didn't notice any skipping or anything. The buttons need a bit more force to trigger than I'm used to,
02:49but yeah, nothing I really dislike about the trackpad either.
02:53When it's closed up, it's less than an inch thick,
02:55so it's a little thinner than your average 15-inch gaming laptop. As for ports, on this side
03:00there's an Ethernet, HDMI, an SD card slot, and one of the two USB 3.0s.
03:05The other side has a second USB 3.0 and a USB 2.0.
03:09There's also your standard audio jack, but there's no Thunderbolt 3, so there's no external GPU option.
03:14The Omen comes in several graphics card configurations. The $900 base model has a GTX 950M,
03:21and you can upgrade that for $30 to a GTX 960M. The one I have here is the top spec GTX 965M.
03:28I wouldn't get the 950M. It's an okay card,
03:31but for an extra $30, that upgrade to the 960M is so worth it.
03:35The 960M will do 60 frames per second for light games, even on ultra settings pretty easily, and
03:41moderately demanding games will still hit 60 frames per second at medium or high graphic settings.
03:46I've reviewed a lot of laptops with that card, so you can check those out for more details.
03:50The 965M is actually a noticeable step up in performance. Depending on the game and screen resolution,
03:56it's around a 20% improvement in frame rates over the 960M. Again,
04:00this is highly dependent on the game and the graphics setting, but it is a noticeable boost.
04:05Thermally, the 2016 Omen runs relatively cool. The fans do a good job in keeping the system cool,
04:10but in terms of fan noise, the Omen is slightly louder than the average laptop. Just by a few decibels,
04:16but it's more of a reason to put on headphones if you're playing games.
04:18The 7200 RPM hard drive has a pretty average performance.
04:22You can configure some models to include an SSD, and the performance on the factory SSD isn't very good either.
04:29Fortunately, it's easy to open up and upgrade them.
04:31You just remove the screws on the bottom, pop off the keyboard, and you can see that the RAM is upgradable.
04:36There's two slots to work with. The two storage bays are also upgradable.
04:40There's a two and a half inch SATA drive, and also room for an M.2 PCIe stick. The battery down here,
04:4661.5 watt-hour battery, takes around two and a half hours to charge up,
04:49and I'm getting around four hours of battery life with screen at around 80% brightness.
04:53My guess is that the 1080p panel would be closer to five and a half, six hours.
04:58All right, the 2016 HP Omen. Soft touch finish, build quality is respectable for a plastic build,
05:04the 4k screen is bright, reasonably color accurate, and a highly recommended upgrade over the 1080p option.
05:10The keyboard is decent, backlighting is red, and overall an enjoyable typing experience.
05:15The trackpad could be a little taller, and the buttons are harder to press, but it's a very usable trackpad.
05:20Inside, the Skylake i7 and the GTX 965M are great performers,
05:24and they're very well cooled by fans that are a little bit louder than I'd like.
05:28The RAM and the storage are easily accessible and upgradable, and the battery will give you around four hours of regular use if you're
05:34using the 4k screen. Now, last year's Omen was a more premium product. It was more expensive,
05:39it had better build quality, and it looked very unique. This year's Omen,
05:43it's a little more generic looking, the build quality has come down, and the price has come down with it, which is cool.
05:48Now, there's nothing about the Omen that it excels at. It's kind of very good across the board. If you get the 4k screen,
05:54I think you're getting a little bit better value than the average laptop in this space.
05:57But yeah, if you like the brand, or if you like the way that the laptop looks, I think it's a good pickup.
06:02That's the end of this video. Hope you guys liked it. Thumbs if you liked it, subs if you loved it.
06:05It's been nice. I'll see you guys next time.