HP Teases New Omen 15 Laptop, Gaming Gear

With a loftier screen refresh rate, smaller bezels, and Nvidia's Max-Q graphics technology, HP's Omen 15 laptop is slimming down and getting more than powerful.

The souped-upwards, 15-inch gaming laptop, unveiled on Wednesday, is a pocket-sized improvement on the existing HP Omen 15, merely it adds a few key features that we've seen spread across the mid-range and loftier-cease laptop market in contempo months.

The most notable comeback HP made to the Omen 15's components is swapping out the old seventh-generation Intel Core processors for the newest eighth-gen Java Lake models. You can choose from a six-cadre Core i7-8750H or a four-core Core i5-8300H CPU. Add together in an Nvidia GeForce 1070 that uses Max-Q to eke out equally much performance as possible while nevertheless keeping the system from overheating, a full HD display with a 120Hz refresh rate and Grand-Sync, and a four-zone RGB keyboard, and y'all're set upwards for about as good a gaming feel as you tin can expect from a laptop.

A configuration with those goodies volition be expensive, perhaps upwards of $2,000. HP hasn't announced the total price range yet, but we practice know that the base version with a Core i5 and a GTX 1050Ti will proceed sale in July for $979.99. All the new Omen 15 configurations volition feature a slim border—or bezel—that surrounds the display, which helps keep the system's weight to a manageable 5.4 pounds.

One of the problems with such a thin and lite laptop with a powerful GPU like the GTX 1070 is heat dissipation. Fifty-fifty with Max-Q, which is designed to slightly reduce frame rates in order to preclude the laptop from getting likewise hot, the Omen 15 risks melting downward. Nosotros're eager to exam it at PC Labs, where we've seen several other Max-Q designs, such as the MSI GS63VR 7RG Stealth Pro, that are still also hot to use on your lap for extended gaming sessions.

Cool Your Ears

If you're in the market for a new Omen 15 laptop, perchance you're also looking to pick upwards some gaming peripherals as well. You'd be well served past heading straight for the Razer or Logitech aisles, but don't forget that HP makes its own headsets, keyboards, and the like.

HP Mindframe Headset

The company announced several new gaming peripherals aslope the new Omen fifteen, including an intriguing Omen Mindframe headset. Ii tiny thermoelectric coolers are mounted in each ear cup to go on your ears absurd, a novel albeit gimmicky feature that really works, based on the few minutes HP let me examine a pre-product version of the headset earlier this calendar month.

I could feel the heat exhaust from the exterior of the thermoelectric libation, while the other side was icy cold to the touch on. It's unclear how much of a benefit that will exist in existent life, just if you tend to overheat while gaming, call back of this as Max-Q for your ears.

There's no word on the headset's price, simply HP says it will be available some time in the second half of this year.

Other new Omen gaming peripherals include the rather expensive Sequencer Keyboard ($179.99), which combines mechanical cardinal switches with born optical sensors to detect fundamental presses, a setup that HP says is 10 times faster than using mechanical switches by themselves. As you'd await for a keyboard that costs more $150, there's likewise per-cardinal RGB backlights and dedicated media keys.

Finally, two new gaming mice are joining the Omen lineup. The Reactor's ($79.99) standout characteristic is an aluminum USB cablevision that prevents snagging or kinking, while the budget-friendly Omen Mouse 400 ($39.99) nonetheless has mechanical switches to support its buttons and a dedicated DPI adjustment to increase precision while aiming.

The mice and keyboards volition be bachelor in July.