Windows Central Verdict
HyperX is HP in disguise, and the OMEN 15 carries similar bloatware with a companion app filled with ads. You can ignore or remove it, and the keyboard shortcuts work all the same, but it's joined by hollow speakers and loud fans. On the other hand, the gaming experience is stellar if you wear a pair of headphones and nobody around you is bothered by the noise. Ultimately, opting for NVIDIA's RTX 5070 GPU uses upscaling for stellar OLED visuals in AAA campaigns and delivers smooth FPS in multiplayer.
Pros
- +
120 Hz OLED display delivers fantastic contrast and colors
- +
RTX 5070 is capable of 60 to 120+ FPS in most games with DLSS
- +
Plenty of alternative models with lower specs for tight budgets
Cons
- -
Lacking bass from disappointing speakers
- -
Heavy and loud; you'll need headphones for gaming
- -
OMEN Gaming Hub companion app is covered with ads
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The HP OMEN is now under HyperX, so don't worry, you aren't imagining things. It's part of a simple rebrand that happened a while ago, and now the gaming side is fully transitioning over while the designs generally remain the same. This time around, the HyperX OMEN 15 opts for a mid-range RTX 5050 laptop GPU from NVIDIA and cleverly pairs it with a 120Hz OLED display for strong contrast.
Various models come with cheaper components, but this modern offering tempts with ~$700 discounts directly from HP to offset what would otherwise be an off-putting MSRP. Still, can any gaming laptop really be worth spending thousands of dollars, or is that money better spent elsewhere? I spent a week with a sample to find out, and this is what I discovered in my testing.
I'm usually a desktop PC gamer, but I've dabbled in gaming laptops over the years. Handhelds won me away, but I still keep up on what's happening in the portable space and occasionally put them through their paces.
How much does the OMEN 15 cost?
You can buy the HP OMEN 15 in a wealth of varying specs directly from HP, including previous models with Intel's 14th Gen mobile "Raptor Lake Refresh" processors from 2024 and AMD's Ryzen 8000 Series "Dragon Range Refresh" from 2025. Modern equivalents with the same Intel Core Ultra Series 3 "Panther Lake" chips as my sample start at $1,999.99.
An exact match to the Intel-based spec tested in this review, with an NVIDIA RTX 5070 GPU, is $2,799.99 $2,099.99 at the time of writing. However, an AMD-based variant with the same GPU but with lower-spec 16 GB of RAM and a lower-resolution 2.5K display currently sells for $2,099.99. Alternatively, you can find multiple HyperX OMEN variants at Best Buy.
Component |
Spec |
|---|---|
CPU |
Intel Core Ultra 9 386H |
RAM |
32GB (2x 16GB) SO-DIMM DDR5-5600 MT/s |
GPU |
Intel Graphics (Integrated) |
Display |
15.3" 16:10 3K (2880 x 1800) |
Storage |
1 TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD |
Battery / Charger |
70WHrs / 200W barrel jack |
Weight |
5.02 lbs (2.28 kg) |
Is the OMEN 15 well made?
If you removed the Intel, NVIDIA, and 120Hz refresh rate stickers from the OMEN 15, it would look quite plain apart from a small 'OMEN' logo on the left and a subtle "O15" branding on the bottom right. There aren't any speaker grilles on the top, and the display has a tolerable bezel that stays quite thin on the sides. It's hefty at 5.02 lbs, but it likely wouldn't spend much time on your lap.
Huge cooling vents cover the rear side of its chassis, and the same applies underneath to keep the fans moving cool air over its power-hungry CPU and GPU. Rear-facing HDMI-out and USB-C ports support external monitors and charging alternatives, while the 200W AC adapter connects to a barrel jack on the left side alongside a USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port and headphone jack.
The right side features one more USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port and an Ethernet port for wired networking if you'd rather use it over the built-in Wi-Fi 7. Otherwise, the 5.7-inch mechanical touchpad is fine, though it loses physical click feedback around the top quarter. The keyboard is decent, and its sleek 4-zone RGB backlight looks quite hypnotic during gameplay.
The keyboard is decent, and its sleek 4-zone RGB backlight looks quite hypnotic during gameplay.
For some reason, HyperX is another brand convinced that gamers want a number pad on their gaming laptops, so my typing experience is permanently shifted to the left. It isn't a big deal in games that mostly use the WASD keys, but everyday use feels strange. As always, I'd have much preferred larger, more powerful speakers over a few extra keys, as the audio experience is lacking in low-end bass.
How bright is the OLED display?
Using a colorimeter showed the OMEN 15 reaching 503 nits at 100% brightness without HDR, matching the 500 rating advertised by HyperX. Similarly, the OLED display scored 100% in color accuracy for the P3 gamut, and again for sRGB, with Adobe RGB scoring a respectable 92%. The screen does everything that it claims, and it looks great while it's doing it. A comfortable 250 nits rests around 66% brightness, but it can definitely go higher.
How fast is the OMEN 15?
I tested Cyberpunk 2077 at the OMEN 15's native 2880 x 1800 resolution, with the refresh rate set to its default 120 Hz, across a few graphical presets. The 'High' preset averaged 47 FPS without ray tracing after disabling resolution scaling and frame generation, which is a decent baseline for anything above 1080p. Switching the scaling option to DLSS with the 'Transformer Model' set to auto brings that up to 70 FPS without frame generation, and 111 FPS with 2X.
Using 'Ray Tracing: Low' with DLSS and frame generation at 2X, I was able to hit an average of 90 FPS in the benchmark.
Using the default settings in the 'Ray Tracing: Low' preset with DLSS set to auto and frame generation at 2X, I was able to hit an average of 90 FPS in the benchmark. That gives a reasonable 40+ FPS baseline powering NVIDIA's "fake frames", and it delivers a finished product above a comfortable 60 FPS in the actual game. 'Ray Tracing: Overdrive' only just manages 32 FPS with DLSS set to performance, so tweak to your own preferences.
Elsewhere, Black Myth: Wukong without ray tracing averages 36 FPS in its dedicated benchmark tool with the 'High' preset at 100% of the OMEN 15's native resolution without frame generation, or 95 FPS when DLSS is set to 60% and frame generation is enabled. Ray tracing set to its 'medium' profile doesn't significantly wreck the DLSS-boosted performance, so the same upscaling and frame-generation combo still manages 69 FPS for a pleasing in-between.
If you're into competitive shooters, you'll be quite happy with the OMEN 15 running at a smooth 120 Hz.
In multiplayer titles, Counter-Strike 2 breathes easy with its 'High' visual preset at native resolution, generally maintaining over 100 FPS while spectating entire matches across various maps. It's a similar story in Apex Legends, which stays above 120 FPS with V-Sync disabled and everything else in the 'high' or 'enabled' territory. If you're into competitive shooters, you'll be quite happy with the OMEN 15 running at a smooth 120 Hz. No sweat.
Performance benchmarks
The Core Ultra 9 386H is part of Intel's Core Ultra Series 3 range, codenamed Panther Lake, with the 'H' meaning "highest performance". It's a 16-core, 16-thread mobile processor with a 20W base TDP and a boost up to 80W. Since it also includes an NPU rated up to 50 TOPS, the OMEN 15 is technically classified as a Copilot+ PC — though I doubt many PC gamers care.
Regardless, the CPU here is fast and capable, performing close to what we saw in the new ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo with the same chip and landing between Razer's Ryzen AI 9 365-based Blade 14 and its Ryzen AI 9 HX 370-based Blade 16. That's great company to be in, even if the OMEN 15 ever-so-slightly lags behind the Zephyrus. There's more than enough power here to back up the RTX 5070.
The CPU here is fast and capable — there's more than enough power here to back up the RTX 5070.
Speaking of NVIDIA's laptop GPU, the RTX 5070 L falls within the same margin of error as the aforementioned Blade 14 from 2025. It comes with 8GB of VRAM instead of the 12GB in its desktop equivalent or the upgraded mobile version, and this laptop chip is around 31.3% slower than a full-sized, "real" RTX 5070 — all totally normal side effects of NVIDIA's naming convention.
Finally, the PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD inside is from Samsung, delivering just under 5,000 MB/s read speeds, and closer to 4,000 MB/s write speeds. It's passable, but lower than I'd like for a laptop at this price, especially given that an entry-level Alienware 15 manages read speeds above 7,000 MB/s. The OMEN 15 never showed any perceptible signs of slow boots or sluggish disk activity, but it's worth mentioning.
Should you buy the OMEN 15?
You should buy this if ...
✅ You want an OLED gaming laptop for modern titles
✅ You're into competitive FPS and other esports games
You should not buy this if ...
❌ You're regularly playing in public places without headphones
It's telling that the OMEN 15 dropped $700 off its listing price around the time of reviews, suggesting this is the price it should have been from the beginning. It certainly feels more like a ~$1,999 gaming laptop, given the relatively mid-range GPU, though the bonus of 32GB of RAM shouldn't be ignored in this miserable era of memory shortages. That, and the OLED 120Hz display looks absolutely gorgeous.
The killer feature is that HyperX (HP) is backing up that smooth refresh rate with hardware that can actually reach it with a fitting frame rate. Sure, you have to lean on NVIDIA's DLSS suite in some games, but its RTX 50 Series benefits the most from all that anyway. It's a loud machine, though that's a recurring theme in even the best gaming laptops, and a pair of headphones lets you focus on the vibrant gameplay and ignore the lackluster speakers.
Any discount helps its appeal, but picking up the OMEN 15 with at least $700 off is a smart move.
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