HP announces refreshed OMEN 15 and OMEN 17 gaming laptops for 2017

By Daniel Rubino
last updated

HP's affordable OMEN line gets new hardware for 2017. Here's what's new in the OMEN 15 and OMEN 17 going on sale this month!

For those who enjoy gaming on the go, HP is back this year with is revamped OMEN line of 15" and 17" powerhouse laptops that also don't break the bank.

More importantly, both laptops are bringing the latest NVIDIA GeForce GPUs including the robust GTX 1050/1050Ti and even the GTX 1060 with new Max Q design initiative in the 15-inch OMEN and GTX 1060/1070 for the 17-inch variant. Alternatively, both devices can be configured with AMD Radeon RX 550 or RX580, correspondingly.

New HP OMEN 15 for 2017 brings an affordable but powerful gaming laptop to the masses.

For processors, no surprises here as both devices get quad-core seventh generation Intel Core i7-7700HQ (Turbo to 3.8GHz) starting at 8GB of DDR4 RAM and going up to 32GB in the OMEN 17. Storage runs the gamut of 1TB of 7200 HDD or hybrid systems with HDD and zippy PCIe NVMe SSD.

When it comes to ports, HP doesn't skimp offering 3 USB Type-A and one USB Type-C with optional Thunderbolt 3 as expected. There is also an SD Card Reader, HDMI 2.0 port, mini DisplayPort, and RJ-45 for Ethernet.

Since upgradeability is always a concern, HP is making it simple with an easy-access single panel to the user can upgrade/replace the HDD, SSD, and RAM. For old-school fans, the OMEN 17 even comes with an Integrated Optical Drive in case you still have some CD or DVDs laying around.

HP's OMEN 17 is the bigger brother with an optical drive and optional GTX 1070.

Display options come in 4K or 120Hz 1080p options with NVIDIA G-Sync. If users opt for the Radeon GPU, they can get a 60Hz 1080P panel with AMD FreeSync.

Rounding out this year's improvements HP is also adding many new features to the OMEN line including:

  • DTS Headphone:X.
  • Dual speakers with Bang & Olufsen tuning.
  • HP Audio Boost with discrete amp.
  • Highlighted WASD keys.
  • 26-key rollover anti-ghosting keyboard.
  • Separated, full-size arrow keys.
  • Independent macro keys (OMEN 17).

HP also did a lot of thermal work with both laptops, so neither will throttle under heavy load or extending gaming durations. The OMEN 15 gets a 22 percent increase in max air flow due to new fans and thermal solutions. The OMEN 17 only gains a 3-percent increase in max air flow, but that laptop already had plenty of space to work with.

Pricing for the HP OMEN 15 begins at $999 for a quad-core Core i7-7700HQ with 8GB RAM and 1TB storage with Radeon RX550. For $1,029 you can bump that GPU to the NVIDIA GeForce 1050. For $1599 you can max out the OMEN 15 with a VR-ready system that includes a GeForce 1050Ti, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB HDD/512GB SSD storage.

HP OMEN 17 with highlighted WASD keys for easy access.

The OMEN 17 starts at $1,099 with a GeForce GTX 1050, 8GB of RAM and 1TB of storage with a Core i7-7700HQ. From there you can go up to a GeForce 1060 or 1070 with 12GB (1TB storage) or 32GB of RAM (2TB HDD, 256GB SSD), respectively for $1,279 or $1,799. The AMD Radeon option sits in between at $1,599 for an RX580 configuration.

Both laptops will be available starting June 28 at HP.com and will be sold at Best Buy as well.

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.

7 Comments
  • Nice
  • I am looking for one, but making a decision is hard seeing all the releases :/
  • Are the displays non-touch? I know hardcore gaming is not touch, but while casual gamers don't play hardcore games, hardcore gamers do play casual games, and when they support it, those are almost always better with touch.
  • what? You know.. adding touch capability to a display will raise the costs too. At the end of the day the majority of laptop users dont use the touch function so no need to add it. If you want to touch things, buy a tablet
  • @Pappalle, there are clearly users who share your opinion on that (e.g., everyone who uses a Mac and many Windows users, including, I think, Dan Rubino). But this is a gaming laptop. If you're only bringing it to LAN parties for tournament gaming, then touch probably doesn't matter either. But the typical hardcore gamer plays a variety of games, including casual games. Because many of those games were designed for iOS or other touch-based systems, they are flat-out better with a touchscreen. Anything else is using a different UI than the designer's intent and therefore yields a subpar experience. For those of us who play all kinds of games, from Angry Birds to Fallout, touch is a must on our laptop, otherwise we need to go and buy a whole other device, and that's a lot more expensive than going for the touchscreen option on any given laptop model. Touch is also a huge productivity boon. Scrolling and zooming and changing windows is much faster with touch than with a mouse. It's also faster on a laptop to move between its built-in keyboard and it's built-in touchscreen than between its built-in keyboard and an external mouse. I'd rather work on Word and Excel on my desktop than my convertible laptop for the full mechanical keyboard and 40" 4k screen, but I miss the benefits of touch for rapid scrolling especially in Excel, Word, and Outlook. That's not to say I'd want to lose the mouse either -- other functions are much faster and easier with the mouse, like selecting small objects. As soon as the Dell Canvas comes out and I can add a touchscreen to my desk PC, my technical life will be complete... until the next innovation comes along. :-) And I still don't know -- do these definintely not include a touchscreen option on any of the models?
  • at least the keyboard is at its classic position vs. ugly Asus
  • Optical drive seems like such a waste of space and money... Haven't used one for years.
    An extra fan or vent in its place would have been fun tho xD
    These gaming laptops can never have enough cooling imo...