Introduction
Omen by HP is the company’s gaming lineup of laptops, that offer the latest and greatest in terms of specifications and features. The Omen series was introduced by HP in 2017, and since has seen many evolutions, some hits and some misses. Overall though, the Omen laptops aren’t one that can be ignored and are certainly a force to be reckoned with.
The biggest size in the Omen series was the Omen 17, back in 2017. In the following years, HP ditched the 17 inch frame and offered top-of-the-line specs in its Omen 15. Come 2021, HP jumped an inch to the Omen 16, which is now the company’s largest size in the Omen lineup.
The year is 2022 and HP has further evolved its Omen 16, which we are now reviewing. This laptop comes with industry leading specifications and enthusiast level performance. HP has made certain changes from the Omen 16 of 2021, which we will discuss below.
Now, let us get started with the review of the HP Omen 16-c0141AX.
Specifications
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX |
| GPU | Radeon RX 6600M GDDR6 8GB |
| RAM | 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 3200MHz |
| DISPLAY | 16.1″ QHD IPS LED Display (300 nits, 165Hz) |
| SSD | 1TB Gen4 nVME SSD |
| BATTERY | 6-cell, 83 Wh |
CPU
AMD just launched its Zen 3 architecture processors, and the Omen 16 is one of the first laptop to sport one, that too the top tier model, the Ryzen 9 5900HX. This CPU can reach boost clock speeds of 4.6Ghz, has 8 cores and 16 threads. The “X” in its name means this CPU is overclockable. Performance wise tje Ryzen 9 5900HX is similar to Intel’s flagship i9-11980HK CPU. The Ryzen has a maximum TDP of 45W, that makes it among the most efficient high-performance CPUs for Windows laptops.
GPU
Let’s talk about the graphics card. The Radeon RX 6600M is sort of a midrange GPU. We found this selection to be a bit underwhelming, an RX 6700M or RX 6800M would have been a better choice to match with the Ryzen 9 5900HX. The 6600M in terms of performance ranks just below the Nvidia’s GeForce RX 3060, plus you don’t get the ray tracing features you get with Nvidia GPUs.
SSD
We were really pleased to see the Gen4 nVME SSD on the 2022 Omen 16. This is the latest SSD technology on the fastest platform, and achieves transfer rates of upto 3.5Ghz per second read and write.
Build Quality
The entire laptop is made of matt finished hard plastic. Using hard plastic means there is going to be flexing on the screen and on the keyboard. Don’t let that take you away from the Omen 16 though. The flex has been reduced considerably from the previous Omens, that could be because HP is using higher quality, more premium plastic. We still think it is a sturdily built machine that can last years, and even take abuse. We have a 2019 Omen 15 that we use regularly, and despite taking a lot of abuse, it is still in impeccable condition.
While it’s true that a plastic built laptop doesn’t feel as premium as the aluminium unibody laptops. Plastic has the advantage of being lighter than metal and also easily replaceable. In the case of the Omen 16, the plastic used adds to the robustness and overall solid feel of the laptop.
The screen is held to the body by two wedges, that gives a “lifted” look to the screen, separate from the body. This aids in immersion when consuming content and playing games. However, the screen tends to wobble excessively at the slightest touch to either the screen, the keyboard, or a slight shake of the table the laptop is sitting on. The wobbling gets pretty uncontrollable, this could have been avoided by using bigger wedges to hold the screen. This get especially annoying if you’re on the Zoom call using the inbuilt camera and typing simultaneously, the camera keeps shaking due to the wobbling will annoy the other person on the call.
Design
A first casual look at the 2022 Omen 16 reveals a design that speaks a balanced, neutral and minimal language. This is certainly a step up from the previous Omens. The Omen 16 looks sleek, with straight edges and minimal curves. This surely doesn’t have the “spaceship” look like most gaming laptops have, and that is a good thing. The Omen 16 looks at home in the boardroom, the cafeteria, or a teenagers basement. The rainbow coloured diamond Omen logo on the lid adds a sophisticated and modern look to the laptop. If we had to sum up the design using few words, they would be “minimal, sophisticated and understated.”
The minimal design makes the Omen 16 easy to carry and fit into backpacks. For a laptop with a 16.1″ screen, it certainly doesn’t look or feel the size. Its dimensions are actually smaller than the dimensions of the previous gen Omen 15. Thanks for the thinner bezels, the Omen 16 feels really robust to hold and totter around. At 36.9 cm in width, 24.8 cm and 2.25 cm in height, it is only a tad larger than the Macbook M1 Pro 16.
Keyboard and Trackpad
The keyboard on the Omen 16 has gone through major changes this year. Gone is the full keyboard with a dedicated numpad keys. We wonder why HP removed the numpad in the first place. The Omens were among only a handful of laptops that did offer a numpad, and now that novelty is lost. This affects the productivity appeal of the Omen series, since now they aren’t a default consideration for people who live on apps such as Excel. Also, the absence of a numpad is felt every single time you log into Windows with a pin code. With a numpad, you could just enter the pin code without even looking at the keyboard. Now, you have that added step of looking at the keyboard to log in.
Another thing worth noting is the position of the power key. It lies between the F12 and Delete key. We really couldn’t figure out the reason for this, power keys are almost always located in the corner. You get dedicated Calculator and Omen Hub keys. Also, the Delete key is no more located where it usually is i.e. among the group of Insert, Page Up and Page Down keys.
A new addition to the design is the two rubber stoppers besides the keyboard. These stoppers are meant to avoid the lid from getting too close to the keyboard when it is closed, and leaving a mark on the screen, and even potentially breaking it with extra pressure. These stoppers also come in handy when you have a habit of placing things above the lid of your laptop. The stoppers are stuck to the keyboard, only time will tell how long they last.
Layout of the keyboard aside, where HP really redeems itself is the key switches. They are of great quality. Typing on them is a sheer pleasure, and one can get through pages of documents on the Omen 16 keyboard without breaking a sweat. The keys are really tactile and give the perfect feedback, making for an accurate and fast typing experience without any misclicks. The switches have a mechanical feel to them, yet they don’t sound noisy at all. This is the best keyboard on a Omen so far.
The keyboard also supports RGB lighting through the Omen Hub software. However, there’s a catch: individual key lighting cannot be programmed. The lighting is divided into four zones of the keyboard, and the WASD keys.
The trackpad is a major improvement over the previous Omens, and a major step forward for Windows based laptop trackpads. It isn’t a glass track pad, it uses polymer. The left and right click buttons are embedded in the trackpad without cutouts. The size of the trackpad is huge and it supports multitouch gestures. Tracking accuracy has great improved over the previous Omens. While they still aren’t close to the trackpad on the Macbooks (arguably the best trackpad among all laptops), one can observe that the Omen is certainly getting closer.
Power Brick
What you get in the Omen 16 package along with the laptop is a 230W power brick and a charging cable. Previous Omen’s got a 200W power brick. This power brick is huge in size, and carrying it around will mean you have assign special space to stow it in your bag. In comparison, the 2021 Macbook M1 Pro 16 gives you a 140W power brick that is almost half the size of the one you get with the 2022 Omen 16.
Ports
The Omen 16 has a luxurious selection of ports.
Ah, feels good to see so many ports when you’re coming from a Mac. On the left hand side you get a power port, an RJ45 lan port, USB 3.2 Type A port, a mini DP, USB 3.2 type C and a combo mic speaker 3.5mm port. You also get a full size SD card reader.
On the right side you get another set of 2 USB Type A ports.
Speakers
HP Omens have been coming with Bang & Olufsen marketed speakers. Don’t get swayed away by the marketing, these are really generic laptop speakers that lack any sense of fidelity, punch, treble and bass. They’re OK for tasks such as watching casual YouTube videos and listening to podcasts, but don’t really cut it when it comes to multimedia consumption. As is, they’re pretty redundant when gaming because the laptop fans are LOUD and the speakers just don’t have the loudness to dampen the fan noise. A pair of headphone or external speakers are a must with the Omen 16.
Display
The Omen 16 2022 comes with a gorgeous 16.1″ QuadHD LED display. The Display is another HUGE improvement from the previous Omens. This time you get a 165Hz flicker free display with a resolution of 2560×1440. This is one of the sharpest displays of this size, barring the 4k ones. While the brightness peaks at 330 Nits, the colour accuracy is great. We were concerned about the colour accuracy considering it was really poor in the previous gen Omens but its good to see that HP has corrected that. The display looks crisp and vibrant, having the ability to create an immersive gaming experience. It supports HDR and AMD FreeSync.
HP has increased the refresh rate from 144Hz to 165Hz. This slight increase in frames per second will actually not be that differentiable to the naked eye, plus a high refresh rate means more battery consumption. Still, having a 165Hz display comes with legit bragging rights.
It has a low response time making it suitable to competitive gaming. The brightness might be an issue when outdoors under daylight, but the anti-glare coating on the screen helps make the screen more readable on full brightness.
Webcam and Camera
The Omen 16 comes with a 720p webcam and dual array microphones. The quality of the webcam is good, but not the best. It is suitable if you’re only going to use for tasks like conference calls on Zoom, Google Duo etc. The images are noisy and colour are a little washed out. We’re only nitpicking though, it will do just fine for regular use. The wobble issue we mentioned previously does impact camera performance.
The microphones on the other hand are a slight improvement from the previous Omens. Don’t be expecting to record professional grade podcasts on it, but for making calls and while gaming, the microphone will do just fine. Below is a sample video showing the webcam and microphone quality.
Benchmarks
Conclusion
The HP Omen 16-c0141AX retails at ₹ 1,49,999/-. At this price point, it is one of fastest, if not the most fastest Windows laptop available right now. You’re getting a top-of-the-line Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU that supports all the latest technologies. It will handle anything you throw at it, be it video editing, gaming or 3D rendering. The Radeon RX 6600M is a GPU that can play most modern games at maxed out setting on 1440p resolution, which is what the laptop comes with. The 16.1″ display is a huge improvement over the previous Omens, it supports HDR, 165Hz refresh rate and FreeSync. It also packs brilliant vibrancy and colour accuracy.
This laptop will fit in perfectly whether it’s the board room or a teenagers bedroom. It is great for productivity tasks thanks to its amazing keyboard and trackpad. We’re huge fans of its minimal design, which is a breath of fresh air from the UFO looking gaming laptops. The build quality is robust, and the laptop has quite a few upgrading options for more future proofing. Barring a few annoyances like a big power brick, weak speakers, fan noise and a weak battery, the 2022 Omen 16 AMD has its unique use case.
