One thing we’ve learned over the years of reviewing Omen laptops is to never underestimate HP’s ability to surprise. The Omen 16 of last year had a few tricks up its sleeve, like, a non-conventional 165Hz refresh rate display, the rainbow diamond Omen emblem. This year, we were left playing catch-up because HP raised the refresh rate to a whopping 240Hz, along with a cutting-edge 3ms response time display. That’s not all, the Omen 16 2023 has so much more to offer.
This iteration comes with a 13th Gen Core i7-13700HX processor. This is one of Intel’s fastest laptop chip, succeeded by the Core i9-13900HX. The GPU in the Omen 16 is the GeForce RTX 4080 with a maximum TDP of 145W. The RAM is DDR5. You can catch the drift if you haven’t already, this laptop offers the latest and greatest of today’s laptop technology when it comes to specifications. There’s more to it than specs though. Each laptop has its own soul, so we believe, and the Omen 16 comes to us doing things with its own flair. Read on to find out more.
| Specifications | |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-13700HX 1.5 – 5 GHz 16 Core 24 Threads |
| GPU | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 12GB VRAM 145W TDP |
| RAM | 32GB DDR5-4800, 40-39-39-76 |
| Display | 16.1 inch 2560 x 1400 pixel, 240Hz, 3ms response time |
| SSD | 1TB NVME SSD |
| Battery | 6-cell, 83 Wh |
| Weight | 2.393 kg |
| Price | INR 2,71,658/- |
Design and Build
At the outset, the Omen 16 2023 follows the design philosophy of not having a particular design philosophy. And that is a really good thing, because we now have a laptop that screams understatement and simplicity, masterfully masking its abilities. Over the years we have seen HP simplifying its Omen laptop, with lesser curves and grooves each year. This year, we have a design that is really straight-forward with no goofing about. For the lack of a better estimation, the Omen 16 2023 looks like a gentleman’s gaming machine.
There is a stealth-like quality in the design of the laptop. There are no ‘gamey’ elements like aggressive lines or angular corners. HP even let go of the diamond emblem, replacing it with a simple etched “OMEN” on the lid. The design has such a robust quality about it that it can easily pass off as a corporate task completer during the day, and a LAN party dominator in the night. Apart from that, for students who intend to use this machine during their classes, you can be assured that your professors will never have a clue that the machine you’re beholding is a beast in its core.
With most laptop manufacturers moving to the 16:10 aspect ratio, HP has stuck to the 16:9 ratio. Currently, 16:9 displays are the butt of online bashing but really, we couldn’t complain. The 16:9 ratio makes the laptop easier to hold, to carry around, and makes gaming better.
The Omen 16 has a full plastic chassis. HP has consistently reduced plastic creaks and flex over the years and this year is no different. A heavy thumb and index finger press on the keyboard area revealed no creaks whatsoever. Don’t be fooled by the plastic chassis. There are a number of benefits a plastic chassis can offer over a metal chassis. Yes, you don’t get the premium feel of a metal body, but you certainly get a body that is lighter, feels more tactile in the hands and is better resistant to scratches and dents. Most importantly, you don’t get the “sensitive machine” feeling that you get with a metal laptop. That makes the design much more usable in the real world.
HP has added a significant amount of openings and grills to Omen 16, to allow for better ventilation and cooling, enabling the laptop to throttle less and reach higher power draws. The case is also extended from the back to allow for more space (thus a thicker bottom bezel on the display). HP calls this “Tempest Cooling.”
HP has scored a big win with the Omen 16 when it comes to the weight of the laptop. At 2.4 kgs, this laptop is light. For reference, the M2 MacBook Pro 16 weighs the same, but it doesn’t have a GeForce RTX 4080 GPU. This is what we mean by a “stealth build.” This laptop has the specifications of a mean gaming machine, but not the weight (16-inch gaming laptops are HEAVY) nor the design. This puts the HP Omen 16 2023 in a unique spot holding its own.
Keyboard and Touchpad
Our review unit has a keyboard with a numpad, a dedicated Omen Hub and Calculator key. While this has resulted in a cramped keyboard, with a mockery being made of the Delete and Insert keys (they are placed weirdly), we still would like to thank HP for retaining the numpad. The benefits of having a dedicated numpad outweigh the cons of having a cramped section on the keyboard. With more and more manufacturers ditching the numpad for good, it’s good to see HP retaining it. This enables the Omen 16 to slaughter productivity work flows on MS Excel and other number heavy applications. Let’s not forget quick signing in to Windows using the numpad because of the absence of an IR camera.
There are still some weird, albeit non-negative aspects about the keyboard. The power key sits on the top row between the function keys and other keys. A weird design choice HP has carried over to the Omen 16. The space bar is taller than the other keys on the same row, and that kind of messes up our brain’s desire to look at aligned and symmetrical things. The arrow keys are not aligned to the bottom row either. This is because they are shorter in size than all the other keys. This is mainly due to the addition of the numpad. On the non-numpad version, the arrow keys are of proper size.
The 2022 Omen had great keys that performed excellent in multiple scenarios, and HP has taken a good decision in retaining the same keys on the 2023 Omen. Key feedback is satisfying, pressure actuation is perfect for gaming and typing, key noise isn’t intrusive. Pushing the keys has a premium feel to it. No complaints here.
The keyboard comes with three-zone RGB lighting controlled through the OMEN Gaming Hub app. The base Omen 16 comes with single zone lighting. The LED lights have a thrifty quality about them, and there is significant light leakage through each key which is really annoying to look at. Definitely not a premium sight. In outdoor day situations, the LEDs just don’t have the brightness to keep up. As far as we are concerned, RGB LED lights are still a novelty feature only useful in dark room situations.
The touchpad is made of plastic and not glass, which only means that isn’t as firm nor smooth as glass. We certainly felt that last year’s Omen had a better touchpad. The Omen 16 2023’s touchpad feels like a significant downgrade. It is clunky, the clicks feel jerky and sensitivity is all over the place. It is not unusable by any means, we did manage to complete our work flows using just the touchpad, just, it is by no means a joy to use. Carrying an external mouse if must, but really, the same can be said for almost every other Windows based laptop out there.
Display
The Omen 16 is configurable in two display options, a 1920 x 1080 IPS unit with 165 Hz and 7 ms response time (the same as last year) and an upgraded 2560 x 1440 IPS display with 240 Hz refresh rate and 3 ms response time. Both displays come with a peak brightness of 300 nits. The unit we received had the 1440p 240Hz display. It would have been great if HP offered an OLED option, as OLED panels are pretty much the norm for high-end laptops today, and would have opened the door for content creators. LCD panels just cannot match the color accuracy, deep blacks and vibrancy of an OLED display. Also, a glossy screen as an option would have been nice too.
To really understand the kind of consumer HP is targeting, one has to understand the display being offered. At 240 Hz refresh rate and 3 ms response time, this display is straight up meant for competitive esports gaming. The GeForce RTX 4080 makes much more sense in this case, as you have a display that can use the power the RTX 4080 offers. HP has married these two components in a well thought-out package. Usually laptop manufacturers offer either of one feature, an ultra fast display without a GPU to match the display, or a really fast GPU without a display to use the power.
At 1440p, this display has a healthy pixel density, and you won’t be spotting any graininess. There is also minimal uneven backlight bleeding, which comes as a sign of relief since similar panels have suffered this issue since time immemorial. The brightness distribution maxes out at the center of the display, with a variation of 5-8% as we move towards the corners. The display covers 99.2% of the sRGB spectrum.
Out-of-the-box calibration of the display is decent with average grayscale and color deltaE values of 2.8 and 2.18. As per Notebookcheck, calibrating the panel using a colorimeter can improve the average values to 0.5 and 0.52.
Legibility under direct sunlight suffers due to this being a non-OLED panel. Still, it is not as bad, the screen is definitely readable and the colors are distinguishable, just it isn’t as bright as you would like it to be. Viewing angles are good due to this being an IPS display. Only at extreme angles did we witness contrast and color degradation. Overall, we are pretty happy with the display. It servers it purpose of being a quick, vibrant display for gaming.
Connectivity
While we appreciate a generous suite of ports, HP has done away with the SD card reader this year. This is another aspect that makes this laptop meant more for gaming than for content creation. You get two USB-A (5 Gbps) ports, two USB-C 3.2 Gen2 Thunderbolt 4 ports that support 100Gbps transfer speeds and Power Delivery. You also get HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 port. This allows you to have multiple ports that can enable using an external 4K monitor with 240 Hz display.
Lastly, let’s not forget the AC adapter port, the same one that has been used by HP since years. Note that you can charge the laptop through the USB C ports, and vice versa. The laptop was quick to charge an iPhone to 100% capacity from 25% within an hour. A single 3.5mm slot is also given, plus a Gigabit RJ-45 networking adapter.
WiFi and Bluetooth
The Omen 16 2023 comes with Intel’s AX211 wireless chipset that supports WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. WiFi connectivity works well, but clearly isn’t a strength for the Omen 16. We experienced better transfer speeds on MacBook Pro and a desktop using Gigabyte Z790 AX Elite chipset, sitting at the same spot. The AX211 chip works much better in many other laptops, but somehow in the HP Omen it worked at 75% of its performance compared to other laptops. In some cases, our speeds were around 30% lower than that of the Lenovo Legion Pro 7, which uses the same adapter.
Bluetooth connectivity performed as expected, with fast-pairing and instant-switching working flawlessly.
Speakers
It seems that no amount of negative speaker reviews will free HP from their partnership with Bang & Olufson. The B&O emblem still dawns the Omen. The Omen 16 2023 has down-firing stereo speakers that won’t be winning any accolades. The speakers can get relatively loud, but the bass is practically non-existent. The mids and highs are balanced and linear. Their use case is limited strictly to casual browsing and casual content consumption. We weren’t expecting much in this department and our assumptions have turned out correct. Some things but never change!
Plus, with the fan noise on full swing when gaming, headphones are not only required but are an absolute necessity. Come to think of it, carrying this laptop around means carrying a pair of headphones, a mouse and the brick charger. If that works for you, then great.
On a positive note, our Omen 16 came with HyperX Cloud II Wireless headphones included in the main packaging. From what we understand, the headphones are only available in the RTX 4080 configuration.
Webcam and Microphone
The Omen 16 2023 is equipped with a 2 MP 1080p webcam, a bump up from the 1 MP webcam on the 2022 Omen 16. HP this year has provided a privacy shutter, a neat addition. There is still no IR sensor, so you won’t be able to use Windows Hello to log in. On the plus side, you have the numpad keyboard to ensure quick log in.
The camera module is nothing to talk about: the images feel grainy and noisy. Taking selfie pictures exposes inaccurate skin tones. The camera will suffice for video calls and streaming though.
In the OMEN Gaming Hub app you can access the camera settings via the Cam & Voice Enhancer tab. It supports Nvidia Broadcast, which open up a whole array of features that are extremely useful. You can replace your background with really cool embedded backgrounds through the app. It works really well with minimal artifacts. The camera supports Auto Framing and Video Noise Removal, both features working as advertised.
The microphone unit gets the job done. The recordings are rich in detail, but luck depth and body of the Macbook Pro 16 microphone. It supports Noise Removal, meaning you can filter out noise coming from sources such as your laptop fans, ceiling fan, air conditioner or street noise. It works really well too. It also supports Room Echo Removal, a major issue faced by streamers who typically stream from a small room set up. We tested this feature because our own room has a lot of echo, and it worked well.
Performance
Now to the most exciting part of the Omen 16 2023, the performance! This is what this machine is truly meant for, so let us now waste any more words and get right to it.
We set the power settings to Best Performance for all our test, but there was a twist.The first test we always run for CPUs is Cinebench R23, a tool that renders an image using the CPU and gives the CPU a score based on how long it took to complete the render. We received a multi core and single core score of 10575 and 1719 points. The single core score made sense, but the multi core score was a little off. We did some digging around and noticed that in the Performance Control tab of OMEN Gaming Hub has a Power Mode switch which is set to “Balanced” by default. Setting it to “Performance” unlocks the full potential of the Omen 16.
Once we made that change to “Performance” mode, our multi core score shot up to 15695 points, a whopping 50% increase from the “Balanced” setting. The single core score went up by 54 points to 1773. For reference, this makes the Core i7-13700HX processor about 33% faster than Apple M1 Max and AMD Ryzen 7 5800H laptop processors. The only mobile chip beating this CPU is the i7-13850HX and the Core i9-13900HX. Last generation’s flagship Core i9-12900H CPU is neck-to-neck with the i7-13700HX. It is also around 15% faster than Core i7-12700H chip that is replaces.
This proves that this is a beast of a CPU and can do extremely well in gaming, and even in demanding tasks like AI, video editing and virtualization.
CrossMark is a benchmark tool that provides a standardized score for desktop CPUs, laptop CPUs and mobile CPUs. It runs the same algorithm across all the platforms and assigns a score based on the processor’s performance, thus making all the chips comparable universally. The Omen 16 received an overall CrossMark score of 1680, exactly the same score we got on the Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro.
In 3DMark, we ran the Time Spy and Time Spy Extreme test. Time Spy yielded a score of 14845 in “Balanced” mode, which increased to 16820 in “Performance” mode. Time Spy Extreme gave us a score of 6877 and 7025. What these scores mean in a nutshell is that this laptop is excellent for gaming and will handle anything you throw at it, with flying colors.
To put things into perspective for the GPU, the RTX 4080 mobile GPU is around 50% slower than the desktop version of the GPU paired with the Core i9-13900K CPU, and around 20% slower than the RTX 4090 mobile GPU. What’s really interesting is that the mobile RTX 4080 is around 30% faster than the RTX 4070 mobile GPU.
One interesting observation to note is that performance is very dependent on the fan operation. Setting the fan to “Max” will give the best score, because then the throttling is kept to a minimum. The Max fan setting yields gaming performance of 15% faster than the Balanced setting. AMD’s Radeon RX 6800S is left far behind by a whopping 40%. No wonder HP has ditched AMD this year for its Omen 16 laptops.
Let’s jump into gaming performance. For esports titles such as Dota 2, we were getting a consistent FPS of 240 with no spikes at 1440p. The scenario repeats itself in Valorant. Just looking at the performance for these two games, we achieve our objective of gaming smoothly at 240 fps. Coupled with the 3ms response time screen, the experience is incredibly snappy and can give one a competitive edge. Thus, objective of the Omen 16 2023 as an ultimate competitive gaming machine is complete.
DLSS 3.0 Performance of GeForce RTX 4080
Next, we test the laptop with more demanding non-esports titles, beginning with Cyberpunk 2077. We tested the game with Nvidia’s DLSS enabled. At Ultra Settings, all sliders maxed out and Ray Tracing maxed out, DLSS Enabled under the Auto Preset and 1440p resolution, we got a steady average FPS of 67.51. Setting the DLSS quality to Balanced yielded the same FPS (67.58). Switching to Ultra Performance DLSS mode, we got a bump of around 11 frames per second, totaling to 79.10 FPS. That is acceptable performance for Cyberpunk at maxed out settings.
Last, but certainly not the least, is the inclusion of 16GB x 2 DDR5 RAM modules clocked at 4800 MHz. DDR5 offers significant benefits in speed and efficiency over DDR4 RAM. Here is our analysis on it.
Storage Performance
The SSD performance is solid too, bringing the fastest performance in the market currently. Sequential Read and Write speeds of a 16GB file in Crystal Disk Mark yielded transfer speeds of 6520.65 MB/s and 2818.90 MB/s The read speed is even faster than the Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra, a laptop that costs 50% more than the OMEN 16.
Heat, Power and Noise
Gaming laptops are noisy, there are no two ways about it. Such has been the case since gaming laptops were invented, and such is the price gamers pay, whether they like it or not. The question we have to ask here is, how bad is it? With the Omen 16, we do have some improvements from the past. The Performance and Balanced power modes in OMEN Hub do impact noise levels significantly, with the later being more silent. Under low stress, like streaming online videos, browsing, working on Excel, the noise is very well controlled at 32 dB(A). This means that you won’t really notice the noise much.
In Performance mode and when running games, the noise levels rise to over 59 dB(A). That is pretty loud and at this stage, headphones are a must. Without headphones, the noise levels are so high that you won’t be hearing anything through the in-built laptop speakers even at maximum volume. Still, we will conclude that HP has done a good job in controlling noise levels under low loads. Intel’s latest architecture of having separate cores for performance and efficiency has also helped the case here. Noise is an unnecessary side-effect of gaming laptops and there is nothing really that can be done about it. Knowing this fact gives us some reconciliation and makes sleeping at night easier.
Now for the heat management and cooling. HP has been thumping its shoulders with its “Tempest Cooling” technology, making it the most highlighted aspect in the marketing material of the OMEN laptops. Does it play out well? For starters, a top-of-the-line CPU and GPU do little to help the case, but HP makes it work. Intel’s 13th Gen CPUs are notorious for heat generation. At idle, when the CPU is drawing below 10 Watts, the temperatures are well within the 45 – 50 degree range, which is acceptable.
Under load, when the CPU is drawing around 50 Watts is when things get toasty. Our performance cores were well in the mid 90 C range, with one core even topping out at 100 C. This is nothing to worry about though, these temperatures are well within the safe operating range of Intel Gen 13 CPUs. Under Balanced setting, the power draw is capped and our temperatures do not cross 85 C. Analyzing these number, it is safe to say that HP has done a good job with keeping the throttling low. Even though we were getting temperatures of 90 C and above, we were able to run the CPU sustained at 100% load without a drop in performance.
Just like how Performance and Balanced modes affect the power draw and temperatures, running on battery power severely impacts performance by 50 – 60%. So if you’re gaming, you need to be connected to the outlet, period. Supplying 250 Watts of power on battery is a challenging task.
CPUs get hot, but do you feel the heat? Yes indeed. The keyboard area tends to reach 40 to 45 C when gaming. This is way better than a lot of laptops we tested, where reaching 50 C while gaming is a common occurrence. Tempest Cooling is doing its job here. The palm rest area never crossed 30 C. While the keyboard does get hot, we managed long gaming sessions without really feeling uncomfortable, so mission accomplished by HP.
The Omen 16 definitely has increased volume of airflow, owing to more ventilated zones in the laptop. The exhaust hot air is evenly spread out, so there is not creation of “hot zones”, an issue gaming laptops usually face. However, you need to ensure the laptop is seated on a flat service to avoid choking the intake and exhaust.
Power Draw, an aspect we take very seriously, has seen significant improvements over the AMD-powered Omen 16 from last year. In Cyberpunk 2077, we were able to get 1.5 – 2x of GPU performance while drawing roughly the same amount of power. Nvidia’s Ada Lovelace GPUs might have not given the groundbreaking performance gains, but they have certainly given sizeable gains when it comes to efficiency and performance-per-watt. This might be the reason why HP dropped AMD from its 2023 Omen lineup.
Battery
The Omen 16 2023 supports MUX and Advanced Optimus, which means that you can switch your GPU to dedicated or integrated on-the-fly, without having to restart the computer. The feature gives you the ability to extend the battery life significantly when not using the dedicated graphics card.
Secondly, the power consumption is significantly more efficient than the AMD-powered Omen 16 from 2022. The reason being Nvidia’s RTX 4000 GPUs are supremely more efficient than any GPU that has ever existed. Expect lower energy bills and heat performing the same work flows compared to previous gen RTX or Radeon GPUs.
Lastly, HP has increased the battery size from a mere 68 Wh from last year to 83 Wh this time around. There’s a catch though (isn’t there one always?), even with a bigger battery and more efficient components, the battery life is shorter than Omen 2022. The primary reason for this is the 240Hz display. Having all the bells and whistles comes with a price. One can squeeze out 5 hours of battery life by switching to Balanced mode and using the iGPU. You can add 30 minutes additionally by reducing the refresh rate to 60 Hz and switching off the LED keys.
On maximum brightness and Performance mode running intense workloads (lots of tabs, rendering, streaming), we got a battery life of 1 hour 10 minutes. PCMark’s Home Conventional Battery Life test gave us a score of 1 hour 17 minutes.
The included 280 W AC adapter charges the laptop from 0 to 100% in about 90 minutes. HP’s (and all the other laptop brands, barring Apple) power brick has remained the same since years in terms of shape and size. Its huge size means pottering the Omen 16 around would require you to keep preassigned space for the power brick, which is as big as an additional device. The laptop can be charged via its Thunderbolt 4 USB C ports, however you will need to be mindful of compatibility.
OMEN Gaming Hub
Bloatware aside, HP’s OMEN Gaming Hub app is pretty much central to the operation of the Omen 16. Its battery and power sliders override Windows Power Management settings, which can be annoying at first if you don’t know what you’re doing. Once you figure out that Windows Power Management settings are redundant, it is a walk in the park. The keyboard gets a dedicated OMEN Hub key that launches the app with the push of a button. The app has come a long way since its early days, and now offers multiple settings to play around with.
Undervolting
Intel’s Raptor Lake CPUs respond to undervolting really well, running significantly cooler and drawing lesser power, with negligible impact on performance. We have continuously recommended undervolting Intel 13 Gen processors, both the laptop and desktop variants. The OMEN Gaming Hub app offers really convenient method of undervolting. Switching it on, you get access to the Core Voltage Offset slider which you adjust in steps of 0.001V. CPU Voltage and Temperature status can be monitor live through the app, and you can run a stress test to test your settings too.
Previously we have recommended ignoring the OMEN Gaming Hub app but such is not the case anymore. This app is really the centre of control for your laptop. You can adjust RGB lighting of your keyboard and other connected devices, Webcame and Microphone settings, game optimization (installed games appear in the My Games tab, similar to GeForce Experience), boost network, choose power modes and adjust fan speeds. For a change, we didn’t require any external app for manipulating any of these aspects because OMEN Hub provides them all.
Conclusion
HP’s Omen 16 has gone through a series of iterations over the years and this years version presents itself has a battle hardened machine, having gone through a lot of learning, unlearning and relearning, now evolved into mature and robust product that is good at achieving its purpose. The Omen 16 can be configured starting at ₹1,04,903 and goes all the way up to ₹3,00,000 depending on what you equip it with. Our configuration has a price tag of ₹2,71,000 and comes with a HyperX Cloud II wireless headphone set. The base configuration gets you a 13th Gen Core i5 CPU, a GeForce RTX 4050, 144Hz FHD Display and 16GB DDR5 RAM.
There are a handful of laptops that offer the same configuration at a lower price, but as an overall package the Omen 16 beats them because it is built to last. It is easily upgradeable and serviceable, HP spares are the most easy to come by. Other laptops are mere cheap offerings whereas the Omen 16 is a upper-midrange chassis with a sleek design and really good cooling dynamics. There is no cost cutting here, something that is really common in performance laptops these days. We would have liked a better webcam though.
The Omen 16 is a perfect machine for someone looking for an all-rounder: a machine for work and a machine for play. It is abuse friendly, a quality we have always admired about the Omen laptops. We do miss an SD card reader, but one can always buy an external one, and as is, we doubt the Omen 16 will be used by content creators. Priced reasonably, we would recommend the 2023 Omen 16 to anyone looking for a powerful machine to play competitive esports on.
Transparency:
This laptop was a review unit provided by HP’s PR arm in India on loaner basis for the purposes of this review. The lender has no influence on this review, nor was there any obligation to publish a review. No form of payment was received from the lender for this review.
