HP has a long and storied history with PC gaming; they own the HyperX brand and produce powerful gaming laptops. The OMEN line of gaming laptops is fascinating as they are extremely well put together devices that make some big promises about productivity and gaming. How does this smaller form factor model measure up in 2026?
This average sized laptop comes neatly contained in minimal packaging, there isn’t much wasted space, and all with minimal branding. Opening it up, it revealed a rather slick black interior with the laptop itself visible in its white protective sleeve. The box contains the charger and documentation with little else to mention. Unlike a number of modern laptops, the included charger brick is not USB-C – instead, proprietary. The HP Omen MAX 16 does support universal power delivery, though, but with reduced charge performance versus the dedicated charger.
The laptop itself is made out of a nice sturdy mix of materials, sporting the OMEN logo embossed on the back of the screen panel. Some connective ports are found at the back of the device, these being the power connector, HDMI, a USB port as well as an Ethernet port. On the right, lives one additional USB port, while the left houses a headphone jack and two USB-C connectors. This is a decent array of ports, though it isn’t the most compatible vs previous iterations of OMEN laptops. This may be a restriction of the smaller form factor.
In terms of technical ability, it sports an Intel Core 9 processor, 32Gb of DDR5 RAM and an Nvidia 5080 RTX laptop GPU. This is plenty of brunt to throw at the latest and greatest titles, such as Resident Evil: Requiem, and even in some instances make use of path tracing (with limitations). The screen is 16 inches – plenty of space to work with a slightly odd resolution of 2560 x 1600 due to its non-16:9 standard aspect ratio.
The keyboard and touchpad are well-sized and positioned with the added bonus of it being a full keyboard, including the number pad. This is lit with very bright and colour full RGB lighting. This can be customised and presents impressive results. It even, unlike the older models, the MAX 16 has an RGB strip at the front bottom of the laptop which casts a subtle and tasteful lighting onto the table for extra cool factor.
The HP Omen MAX 16 boasts the usual webcam at the top of the screen, but HP has nicely included a privacy cover, meaning users can be reassured they aren’t being watched. Finally, on the bottom right of the body, it’s all signed off with a nice Omen 16 logo, which is subtle but sleek.
For productivity, this is a great laptop. The clarity of the screen is fantastic with sharp, clear text and deep colours that don’t band. With an NVMe SSD, the operations are snappy and responsive, meaning programs like Davinci Resolve run flawlessly on the system.
When gaming, the HP Omen MAX 16 really shines. It offers really excellent performance with plenty of brunt to cover modern games without melting down. The fans can get quite loud when playing more intensive titles, though, especially with ray tracing on, but surprisingly, it never got uncomfortable to the ears. That said, it can vent some very hot air under extreme pressure.
The performance throughout is fantastic, though titles like Cronos: The New Dawn or Resident Evil: Requiem can bring it to its knees on max settings, so it’s important to consider adjusting settings to achieve a suitable balance. Tailor the games to the laptop hardware with an eye to battery life and heat reduction.
When relying on the battery, MAX 16 is great for both writing and studying, but gaming can reduce battery life significantly. This is expected, but still, its battery life was reasonable for the most part. Playing without being hooked up to power can throttle the gaming performance, so it’s important to use the AC adapter when playing games or reduce settings to save power.
