HP OMEN Gaming Laptop 17 - The review

The OMEN 17-db0006nl adopts a sober and functional aesthetic, distinguishing itself from some more aggressive designs typical of gaming laptops. The chassis is made mostly of high-quality matte black plastic, giving it a discreet and elegant look, decidedly less prone to fingerprints and smudges. Despite the use of plastic, the construction feels solid and sturdy, with minimal flexing of the lid and base. The display hinges are well calibrated, allowing for one-handed opening and keeping the screen stable . The dimensions (about 2.95 kg of weight and 2.75-3 cm of thickness) position it as a large laptop, typical for this performance category.

The cooling system has been the subject of particular attention by HP , in fact the device incorporates thinner fans with a greater number of blades than previous solutions. Tests indicate effective heat dissipation, maintaining low temperatures for the CPU and GPU even under intensive load, with a noise level considered manageable for the category . Large ventilation grilles on the base and three exhaust vents (two rear and one side) optimize airflow.

The keyboard is a full-size type with a numeric keypad, offering good key travel and satisfying tactile feedback for comfortable typing. The RGB backlighting is single-zone. The touchpad is responsive and supports multi-touch gestures.

The selection of ports includes 1x USB Type-C 10Gbps (with Power Delivery, DisplayPort 1.4a and HP Sleep and Charge), 2x USB Type-A 10Gbps, 1x USB Type-A 5Gbps (HP Sleep and Charge), 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x RJ-45 (Gigabit Ethernet) and a headphone/microphone combo jack. Most of the ports are strategically placed on the back, making them easy to access and unobtrusive . Wireless connectivity is ensured by Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.

The audio aspect of a gaming laptop, while often overlooked compared to the processor and graphics card, is crucial to an immersive experience. In the case of the HP OMEN 17, the company has invested in optimizing the sound department to offer above-average quality.

The audio system features dual speakers that are tuned by HyperX . This collaboration is significant, as HyperX is a well-known brand in gaming accessories, especially headsets, which suggests a focus on clarity and low-end reproduction, which are vital to both the explosiveness of in-game action and the depth of a soundtrack. The presence of two speakers allows for stereo playback, which is essential for directionality in games, helping gamers to discern where noises and voices are coming from in the virtual world .

Supporting this hardware configuration is DTS:X Ultra technology . This is an advanced software suite for audio processing that aims to improve the spatiality and clarity of sound. DTS:X Ultra is able to create a three-dimensional sound experience, virtualizing a 360-degree audio environment even through the laptop's built-in speakers or, with even more marked results, through headphones . This means that sounds are not only reproduced in stereo, but are placed in a virtual space around the listener, greatly increasing immersion in games or when watching multimedia content . The technology can also help make dialogues clearer and better balance the various audio elements, such as music, sound effects and voices.

One of the distinguishing features of this model is its display. It is a 17.3-inch panel with QHD resolution (2560 x 1440), which ensures a high pixel density and sharp images . The anti-glare surface (Antiglare) reduces the discomfort caused by ambient light, while the Low Blue Light technology helps to mitigate visual fatigue during prolonged sessions.

The panel is an IPS type, ensuring wide viewing angles and accurate color reproduction. The maximum brightness of 300 nits is adequate for most indoor environments. A salient feature for gaming is the high refresh rate of 240Hz, combined with VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) support with a range of 48-240Hz . This combination ensures exceptional visual fluidity and the elimination of phenomena such as tearing and stuttering, synchronizing the display refresh rate with the frames generated by the GPU . The thin bezels contribute to a more immersive visual experience.

The beating heart of the system is the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS processor . This is a high-end processing unit based on the Zen 4 architecture, which integrates a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) dedicated to artificial intelligence. This configuration not only ensures excellent performance in the most demanding workloads, including the latest generation of games and content creation applications, but also guarantees optimization for the growing AI-based functions .

The system is equipped with 32GB of DDR5 RAM at 5600MHz, configured in dual-channel. This memory allocation guarantees high bandwidth and smooth multitasking management, allowing the simultaneous execution of numerous applications and ensuring optimal performance in the latest titles and professional software that require large amounts of memory resources.

For storage, the laptop uses a 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD. This solution offers significantly faster read and write speeds than previous generations, resulting in fast operating system boot times, instant application loading, and efficient file transfers. The 1TB capacity is enough to accommodate a large library of games and software.

The graphics section is handled by an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 with 8GB of dedicated memory . This mid-to-high-end GPU, based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, is capable of offering a QHD (1440p) gaming experience with high graphics settings. Support for NVIDIA Ray Tracing and DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) technologies allows for improved visual quality and optimized performance in compatible titles . The generous TGP (Total Graphics Power) configuration adopted by HP allows the RTX 4060 to fully express its potential in a mobile context.

Doom Eternal emerges as a significant benchmark for evaluating the capabilities of a gaming system, thanks to its exceptional optimization and the demand for high frame rates even in complex scenarios . On the OMEN 17 model, equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 and the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS processor, this title proves to be a shining example of the performance achievable.

The game can be run at the “ Ultra-Nightmare ” graphics preset at QHD resolution, and the system is capable of sustaining frames per second that frequently approaches, and sometimes exceeds, the display’s 240Hz refresh rate . This is attributable to the inherent efficiency of the Doom Eternal game engine and the Ryzen 9 8945HS’s ability to eliminate CPU bottlenecks, even during the most intense and chaotic stages of the game, with the screen populated by numerous enemies and visual effects .

The gaming experience on this OMEN is characterized by extreme fluidity and almost instantaneous responsiveness to commands. Every movement and every bullet is crystal clear, a direct benefit of the high refresh rate of the QHD panel. This scenario not only highlights the processing power of the laptop, but also underscores its ability to provide consistently fluid and uninterrupted gameplay, making it an ideal platform for the most dynamic and competitive action titles . The 6-cell 83 Wh battery provides a decent battery life for the category, with estimates of around 7 hours of mixed use. For extended gaming sessions, the use of external power is recommended to maximize performance.

In terms of upgradeability, the OMEN 17, also available for purchase on the HP website , offers easy access to SODIMM slots for RAM expansion (up to 64GB) and two M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 x4 slots for SSD storage, with dedicated heatsinks.