It’s been a while since I last reviewed an HP device. In the traditional IT space, HP has always been about the company laptop and printers. But as tech goes, HP is the sum of its parts and yes, the American company that started off in a backyard (sounds familiar?) has been making strides in gaming with their Omen line of laptops.
On the test bench is an Omen 16 running on a Nvidia RTX 5060 and 16GB of RAM. Reviewing this device at this configuration is perhaps a good benchmark of the minimum capabilities of HP in the gaming space.
After unboxing, I’ve come to see a mixed bag of things to like and love, as well as some decisions that may seem very last-gen. But a huge caveat: a tito is reviewing this, and the once young loins of lugging around these gaming stations have given way to prefer smaller and lighter devices.
I have to keep reminding myself that I’m using a gaming laptop and that USB-C charging is thrown out the window in preference for higher wattage raw power. The charger is a brick. It resembles a huge power bank from 2010 and in the scheme of things it looks pretty sleek for a charger. I’ve been able to slip it in my slim Native Union backpack without much issue. The smooth edges are a welcome plus, as they don’t protrude too much.
More than a gaming laptop
Once powered up, the Omen reveals its true identity: this isn’t really a laptop in the ultrabook sense. It’s a portable desktop. It wants to sit in one spot — your dorm desk, your bedroom setup, maybe the corner of a shared apartment — and give you near-desktop performance without the mess of cables or the need to buy a monitor (I mean you could, as it does come with a display port!). You can bring it around, sure, but every time you unplug it, you’re reminded that mobility is not its strongest suit. Battery life dips hard under gaming loads, and even when just browsing, you’ll want to stay near a wall socket. Again, what HP has here is a gaming desktop replacement. There is a particular subset of consumers that would rather own a “portable desktop” which means they are willing to trade off weight, battery performance, and even heat management for one big solution for gaming and high-demand tasks like video editing and even streaming while gaming. Their portable behavior is quite predictable: plopping this lappy down at home, at a co-working space, at a cafe. It’s meant for the urban sprawl, and not really for commutes, airports and connecting flights.
I am really convinced of this positioning because HP did not skimp on raw horsepower. The Intel i9-14900HX (Raptor Lake) inside this chassis is an absolute overachiever; one of the fastest mobile CPUs you can buy today as it seems to overcompensate the rest of the internals. Multitasking? Easy. Video editing? Smooth. Running a dozen Chrome tabs while Spotify plays in the background, Capcut video exporting, and chatting with friends on Discord while playing a game with ray tracing on? No sweat. The pairing with an RTX 5060 feels curious though, like strapping a sports car engine onto a sensible family sedan. It works, but gamers expecting 4K ray tracing at max settings will find themselves wanting more GPU muscle. So again, don’t take this model as something that exists in a bubble, but as a factor of price. We will get to that later.
The 16-inch display is another plus. The 16:10 aspect ratio is criminally underrated with that extra vertical space makes spreadsheets less of a chore, gives Photoshop more breathing room, and makes games feel just a bit more expansive. At 165Hz, games run crisp and fluid.. A 16-inch screen is, I believe, perfect for laptop gaming. I’ve played shooters on laptops with screens at 14 and 15 inches, but a high refresh rate on a 16-inch screen does make a huge difference as I don’t need to squint to read text or mind my mouse hand microadjustments because the screen is too small.
Of course, all this power comes with heat. Spin up a demanding game and the Omen’s fans kick in aggressively. I didn’t mind it at my desk with headphones on, but if you’re working in public in a quiet place, people may notice your gaming.
So who is this really for? It’s for the gamer who doesn’t want to commit to a full desktop tower but still wants performance that won’t choke on modern titles. It’s for the college student who moves between dorm and home, or the freelance editor who needs workstation-class CPU power but doesn’t want to fuss with building a rig. It’s not for the minimalist traveler (like me, as I age), nor for someone who values battery life over raw wattage. The fact that it has an ethernet port at the back of the device means that it is truly meant to be plugged! The lack of ports are also tell-tale signs that this is a device you’re going to want to expand with USB hubs: a desktop. It is, essentially, my perfect laptop when I was in my mid-20’s. I didn’t care for weight or heat. I just wanted raw gaming power but not necessarily the most top of the line model.
For me, as someone who once lived through the LAN café era where portability meant hauling your whole CPU tower and CRT monitor to a friend’s house, the Omen 16 feels like a strange kind of progress.
Making a case for the Omen 16
Lastly, price. The HP Omen 16 that runs on Raptor Lake with an NVIDIA 5060 GPU isn’t cheap. But it isn’t over the top in price as well. This configuration costs P129,990 and can only be availed at the OMEN Playground store at SM Megamall’s CyberZone. If you were to buy a desktop equivalent for this, you can cut the cost down by half, but this is supposed to be a portable workstation that can perform the most demanding tasks (and multitasks!) while playing the latest games on high settings. I was able to test this with several hours of the upcoming Battlefield VI beta on Steam and the game was smooth like butter at the highest settings. Additionally, since this is a “modern” computer running Windows 11, you won’t be plagued with Secure Boot issues that many older models have in order to play a number of games.
Final thoughts
The HP Omen 16, at this configuration, is a reminder that gaming laptops are not a one-size-fits-all solution. This one wears its trade-offs openly: heavy brick charger, loud fans, modest GPU for the price. But if you see it for what it is – a compact desktop replacement you can throw in a big bag, then the formula makes sense.
Pros
- Powerful Raptor Lake processor
- WiFi 6E capability
- Full size keyboard w/ numerical pad
- Beautiful black chrome finish
Cons
- Battery life not so great – keep it plugged for high performance tasks
- Keyboard feels so-so
- Built-in speakers are not great, use headphones instead
Tech Specs
Omen Gaming Laptop 16-am0096TX (BL2J1PA)
- Intel Core i9-14900HX (Raptor Lake)
- 16GB DDR5 RAM 1DM5600
- 512GB PCIe Gen4 Value
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 8GB VRAM
- 1920 x 1200 Antiglare Low Blue Light (165Hz at 400 nits brightness)
- Windows 11 Home + 1 Year Microsoft 365 Basic
- 1x Display Port
- 1x Ethernet cable port
- 2x USB A port
- 1x USB C port
- 3.5mm headphone jack
