HP’s HyperX Omen 15 isn’t fairly the budget-friendly gaming laptop computer its predecessor was

The HP HyperX Omen 15, which I first noticed at CES, replaces the HP Victus 15, a longtime bestselling finances gaming laptop computer. The Victus price simply $800, or much less when on sale, and was a very good entry level to respectable laptop computer gaming.

The Omen 15 has good little upgrades over the Victus. Its RTX 5050 Laptop GPU can play 2026’s newest video games, albeit on low-ish settings. But it’s additionally received a brighter 16:10 facet ratio show with larger refresh charge, and a 1080p webcam to make it somewhat higher for non-gaming stuff.

I’d name it a working-class gaming laptop computer, however due to RAMageddon, the Omen 15 begins at $1,200 — a far cry from the $800 that made its predecessor so interesting. But laptop computer costs are manner up throughout the board, and if you would like current-gen gaming {hardware}, that is about as low cost as you’re going to search out it.

Our HyperX Omen 15 overview unit is a $1,199 configuration sold through Walmart with an eight-core Intel Core 5 210H “Raptor Lake” chip, RTX 5050 discreet GPU, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and 512GB SSD. There are pricier Omen 15 configs on the market with RTX 5070 GPUs and OLED screens, however that’s like spending Acura cash on a Honda Civic. On the decrease finish, HP nonetheless has a Victus 15 config with the RTX 5050 for $900, but it surely has 8GB of RAM — that’s not likely tenable, particularly for enjoying the most recent video games.

The excellent news is that the Omen 15 with an RTX 5050 is fairly serviceable for enjoying video games at its 1920 x 1200 native decision. Last-gen video games like Control can get a clean 70 to 80fps on High preset whereas utilizing DLSS. Cyberpunk 2077 can run on the Ultra preset (no ray tracing) with DLSS set to Quality and get 60 to 70fps— typically dipping right down to 40 whereas driving with a lot of stuff onscreen. Standard body era boosts it to 95 to 105fps, and 70s to low 80s in a automotive. Multi Frame Gen, which you don’t get on last-gen GPUs, can push that ever additional in case you don’t thoughts extra “fake frames.”

Newer video games are a extra Medium to Low affair. For instance, Helldivers 2 runs comfortably at simply above 60fps on its Medium preset with DLSS set to Quality — although it dips into the 40s when the bug guts hit the fan. But Battlefield 6 was decrease, down within the 50fps vary whereas operating Medium preset with DLSS cranked to Performance. I additionally examined Halo: Campaign Evolved, which defaulted to its Very Low preset, the place it seemed like a potato. On Low settings, with DLSS set to Medium, it mustered between 50 to 60fps, however with frequent drops into the 40s with a lot of enemies onscreen.

While taking part in all these video games, the followers kicked as much as a good quantity, however they weren’t obnoxiously loud, and the chassis stayed moderately cool. The hottest level, a small spot underneath the chassis, rose to 113 levels Fahrenheit / 45 Celsius. But the primary areas that usually make contact together with your arms or lap didn’t get too heat — fairly good thermals for a considerably compact gaming laptop computer.

So the RTX 5050 GPU and its 8GB of VRAM can get by with the most recent graphically intense video games, as long as you’re not anticipating a visible powerhouse. But what about residing with the remainder of the laptop computer?

Much of the Omen 15’s worth has gone to its specs. That means there are some tough edges exhibiting within the regular areas. The trackpad has a responsive mechanical click on, however in case you choose up the laptop computer by both of its entrance corners the chassis flexes and causes an unintentional click on. This is widespread in largely plastic laptops, however nonetheless annoying.

The keyboard has respectable sufficient tactility when typing. But though I do know avid gamers love a quantity pad, it makes this 15-inch laptop computer really feel cramped. I don’t take pleasure in typing on it like I’ve different HP laptops. The audio system? A little bit muddy-sounding — particularly for music. And the ports? It has HDMI 2.1 and gigabit ethernet, which is nice, however just one USB-C to go along with its two USB-A ports. And all of them are a modest 10Gbps — not significantly speedy in comparison with USB4 or Thunderbolt 4. Gaming laptops are speculated to have ports aplenty, however that is simply ports apassable.

Aside from its gaming efficiency, the Omen 15’s different energy is its display. The 1920 x 1200 IPS panel isn’t significantly particular, however at 400 nits it’s decently vivid and it has good distinction and colours. It’s good for video games, and fantastic for productiveness work and lightweight content material creation. I did a little bit of Lightroom Classic modifying on the Omen 15, and my 50-megapixel RAW recordsdata have been workable at a modest clip. (It helped that I used to be modifying a batch of underneath 50 photographs, and never, like, 2,000.) The larger downside with making an attempt to do inventive issues was the Omen’s paltry 512GB of storage. It fills up shortly when video games like Battlefield 6 take up 142GB. There’s a second M.2 slot for one more drive, simply as there’s a second RAM slot, which is nice for future upgrades — however boy will that price you proper now. You can maintain out for RAM and SSD costs to come back again right down to Earth, but when that takes so long as it’s anticipated to, the Omen 15 would possibly really feel fairly outdated by then.

The Omen was additionally fantastic for my on a regular basis work: Chrome tabs, 4 digital desktops, Signal, Slack, music streaming, and so on. While the 1080p webcam is somewhat grainy and barely low in saturation, it appears to be like fantastic on video calls. The fundamental barrier to getting work completed on the Omen 15 is that its battery by no means lasted me greater than 5 and a half hours. That’s removed from the worst for gaming laptops, however hold that chunky energy adapter with its barrel plug close by.

The HyperX Omen 15 is a good gaming laptop computer. It’s simply not the worth the Victus 15 was once. But neither is the rest. Absent a very good sale, you’re going to pay over $1,000 for anything with the RTX 5050, and often much more. But shopping for into even the underside rung of the 50-series will get you all of Nvidia’s newest options, like Multi Frame Gen and no matter DLSS 5 finally shapes as much as be. Last-gen 40-series or AMD GPUs aren’t dangerous choices, however Multi Frame Gen can assist hold body charges playable for longer.

It’s nonetheless price in search of these gross sales, although. HP, Best Buy, and Walmart usually have offers on most of HP’s product line. Even now, there’s an Omen 16 with an RTX 5060 GPU and barely bigger (however dimmer) display for just $100 more than the Omen 15.

RAMageddon makes shopping for a brand new gaming laptop computer daunting. If it’s worthwhile to purchase now and also you don’t wish to go open-box or secondhand, you simply have to come back to phrases with the truth that you’re going to be paying larger costs than equal fashions from a 12 months or two in the past — even within the “entry level.” Considering the circumstances, the Omen 15 is an okay worth at $1,200 for stepping into laptop computer gaming.

Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge