PC gaming doesn't have to be done sitting at your desk on an office chair. Some of the newest gaming laptops now have graphics cards that are almost identical to the ones you'll find in full tower PCs, letting you stay in the action whether you're visiting family, on a plane, or just want to make the most of the weather on a sunny afternoon.
There are a few considerations to make when choosing a laptop, especially portability aspects like screen size, battery life, weight, and thickness. Of course, the types of games you're hoping to run will also impact your decision. Are you looking for competitive games such as CS:GO or Rainbow Six Siege, where framerate is everything, or do you want to run graphically intensive, ray-traced blockbusters like Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Watch Dogs: Legion?
Fortunately, if you're looking for a portable rig then these two gaming laptops from HP OMEN should be on your radar. With advanced GeForce RTX 20 Series GPUs and the latest 10th generation Intel CPUs, these laptops let you run the newest games without having to compromise on graphics.
Introducing:
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Omen 15
The OMEN 15 gaming laptop is the lightest and slimmest here, weighing in at 2.37kg, with a maximum thickness of just 2.5cm. If you’re travelling often then this is the one we’d pick. The standard screen is an IPS 1080p panel with an impressive 144Hz refresh rate and anti-glare coating, but this can be specced up to a 300Hz panel for ultra smooth movements in competitive games like CS:GO or Rocket League. Alternatively, you can switch it up with an AMOLED 4K panel for maximum graphical fidelity. Either way, the IPS or AMOLED panels both give you excellent viewing angles and colours. All panels are G-Sync compatible, giving you all the advantages of VSync, with its removal of screen tearing, but without any nasty performance or latency hits.
In terms of the processor, you can go for either a 10th gen twelve-thread Intel Core i5 or i7, both of which offer plenty of headroom for gaming and software. As for your GPU, you have the choice of GeForce RTX 20 Series graphics cards – a 2060, 2070, or the absolute unit that is the 2080 Super. For running the most demanding games at 4K with the highest graphical settings, the 2080 Super’s your best bet. The 2060 would suit games like CS:GO and Apex Legends while still taking advantage of a 1080p 144Hz display.
All OMEN 15 laptops come with a solid state drive for main storage, with super fast read and write speeds, ensuring your laptop boots up in seconds and gives you rapid in-game loading times. All laptops have a fully customizable RGB backlit keyboard, and you needn’t worry if you have a last minute trip to make and you’ve forgotten to charge it – fast charging capabilities let you fuel up from empty to 50% battery in 45 minutes, and on a full charge you’ve got a battery life of around seven and a half hours.
This workhorse is future proof too, with the ability to easily change the RAM or SSD to larger capacities down the line.
You can view the OMEN 15 range here.
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If you don’t mind the extra carrying size of the OMEN 17, and want a larger, immersive display then this is the fit for you. The standard screen is a 1080p IPS panel with G-Sync support and a refresh rate of 144Hz, although here at a larger size of 17.3-inches. The anti-glare coating lets you continue gaming no matter where you are. The weight and thickness is of course a little more than the OMEN 15 weighing in at 3.33kg and a thickness of 2.99cm, which is impressive considering the tech inside.
For the CPU, you can choose between a twelve-thread Intel Core i7 or a sixteen-thread Intel Core i9. Nvidia’s RTX Studio products are perfect if you’re going to use your laptop for heavy editing tasks such as content creation. And you get the option of an Nvidia RTX 2070 Super or 2080 Super for the graphics card, both of which should ease past 144Hz at 1080p on most games with the setting maxed out.
Onboard storage comes in the form of a 512GB SSD for super fast boot times, and a second 1TB hard drive, great if you’ve got a games library counting into triple figures, Like the OMEN 15, RAM and storage can easily be upgraded yourself. The OMEN 17 also comes with an RGB backlit keyboard and fast charging, too.
You can view the OMEN 17 range here.
For both the 15-inch and 17-inch models, there is an OMEN Transceptor laptop sleeve to keep your new prized possession scratch and damage free.
