It’s no coincidence HP’s Omen X gaming laptop arrives after the eclipse

Previous Next

1 of 5

Below you will find three of many configurations. HP says a starting point will be $1,200 and include the GeForce GTX 1070 graphics chip, 8GB of DDR4 system memory, and a G-Sync-enabled screen with a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution at 120Hz. Note that HP will overclock the GTX 1070 in the factory, providing a faster base clock speed of 1,480MHz and a boost clock speed of 1,695MHz. The overclocked GTX 1080 speeds are provided below.

To keep the GTX 1080 cool, HP said it had to take a much more aggressive approach with the Omen X than it did with its other gaming laptops based on the GTX 1070. To do this, the company ripped out the optical drive to pack in two large fans that reside in the left and right rear sections of the laptop. These fans pull air in through vents mounted on the bottom and eject hot air through two exhaust vents on the sides and two on the back. HP said it managed a 61.7 percent increase in airflow using this method.

Also included in the cooling layout is an integrated vapor chamber connecting the two fans, and four 3.5mm heat pipes that pull the heat away from the processor and graphics chip, and away from the PC gamer in the process. Overall, this cooling design enables the company and users to overclock the CPU, GPU, and the memory.

Given that HP’s new cooling design pulls heat away from the gamer, Omen X’s keyboard should stay somewhat cool. It relies on mechanical switches developed exclusively for this laptop and provides the clicky tactile feel similar to Cherry MX Blue switches. Other features include per-key RGB LED illumination, N-key rollover on every key, a 2.5mm travel distance, an oversized space bar, and eight programmable macro keys.

That said, the entire notebook supports full RGB lighting across eight different zones. These zones can be highly customized through HP’s revamped Omen Command Center, which is also used for prioritizing network traffic, overclocking the CPU and memory on the fly, customizing the macro keys, and running a benchmark to see if the laptop is performing optimally.

Finally, HP says you can easily upgrade the laptop’s storage and memory via a special access panel that is secured by Philips-head screws. HP did not say what the memory limit would be at the time of this publication, but you are likely facing a 32GB memory ceiling versus 64GB or 128GB in a desktop.

HP’s new Omen X laptop will be made available in November for a starting price of $1,200. It follows a batch of Omen-branded accessories announced in June spanning peripherals to displays.

Editors' Recommendations

• The best motherboards for gaming
• Dell Inspiron 15 7000 vs. Dell XPS 15
• The best 13-inch laptops for 2021
• The best desktop computers for 2021
• The best cheap HP laptop deals for January 2021