The company known for its various Pavilion, Elite(Book), Spectre, and ENVY lines dips back into the OMEN name for its 2016 gaming machines. Or, rather, "OMEN by HP".
HP's newest OMEN line seems to be targets at a wide market, avoiding the elite upper end held by ASUS, AlienWare, Sager/Clevo, and the like, instead approaching consumers who would appreciate a more casual gaming experience.
HP states that they will be introducing an additional OMEN X platform this summer, with the promise of appealing to more enthusiasts. But for now, the currently known 2016 line includes a Windows 10 desktop, a display, and two Windows 10 laptops/notebooks.
The desktop, a microATX tower, promises respectable specs for a 2016 machine:
- for graphics, up to AMD's Radeon R9 390X or NVIDIA's GTX 1080 Founder's Edition GPU
- up to 32 GB RAM
- current-generation Core processors, up to Core i7-6700
- up to 512 GB SSD + 3 TB spinning HDD for storage
- optional liquid cooling
Being a microATX machine, the system won't have quite the punch of larger behemoths with 2 or 3 video cards, exotic cooling, and the like, but a well-spec'd machine should give fluid 1080p game play & handle other tasks with ease. When spec'd to the max, HP hints that the machine would be perfect to dip your toes in virtual reality (VR) gaming.
The laptops are equally respectable, and share a similar target audience:
- 15.6-inch or 17.3-inch displays, in Full HD (1080p) or 4K (3840x2160?)
- for graphics, up to the mobile NVIDIA GTX 965M GPU (unspecified VRAM amount)
- up to 16 GB RAM
- 6th generation mobile Core processors, from Core i3 (15" model) or Core i5 (17") to Core i7
- 512 GB SSD OR 2 TB HDD, with the option (on the 17.3"?) to do 4 TB HDD + 128 GB SSD storage
- up to 10-hour battery life (on smaller, lower-spec'd variants?) via a 62 watt (watt-hour?) battery
Connectivity options are not listed for any of the machines. While it's safe to assume that gamer-oriented machines will likely have provisions for 1x1 802.11ac and Gigabit Ethernet, HP may not opt to include any special hardware or optimizations, such as Killer Networking's offerings. USB 3 is likely to make an appearance as well, though whether we'll see any USB type C ports is questionable.
Curiously (or maybe not), no mention of optical drives has been made. This reflects the quick pace of the industry, as it has moved quite swiftly towards digital downloads for delivery of even the largest games & multimedia.
In addition to the machines, HP is also releasing a QuadHD (2560x1440) 32" display, promising 100% of the sRGB color space & offering AMD FreeSync to keep the refresh rate of the screen in step with the rendering speed of the GPU (compatible with select AMD GPUs and APUs only).
As a nod to OMEN's origins, HP has chosen to revisit the old VoodooPC logo as the primary branding on these machines. (HP acquired VoodooPC 10 years ago, in 2006, and released a small number of machines with "VoodooDNA" before phasing out the brand.) This is sure to incite some nostalgia in those who have fond memories of the former boutique gaming machine manufacturer, though it's yet to be seen if HP will remain consistent with this branding. (Recall that ENVY was also sourced from the VoodooPC brand, and while HP originally used it for premium machines, it has since been applied to other mid-range computers as well as printers).
The new line will go on sale in July (laptops) and August (desktop and display) in the United States. Starting prices are what might make these machines attractive buys, with the MSRP being $899.99 and $1029 ($979 at Best Buy) for the 15" and 17" laptops, respectively. No base price has been announced for the OMEN by HP desktop line or the 32" display.
