HP Omen 15 (5XXX series) Gaming Notebook

Just ordered an Omen, my first non Dell/Alienware gaming laptop purchase after about 8 models in about 10 yrs. Glad to see an active board with some good info! Helped me with my purchase choice.

 

Hi all,

How are you guys cleaning the fans in the Omen, WITHOUT opening the laptop ? I can see some dust at the bottom of my lappy where the fans suck in air. I, however don't want to dismantle the laptop as this would require removing the bottom rubber lining. Any ideas??

 

I was asking myself the same question. I notice the same grey zone where the fans suck in, and now that I use a cooler they are more grey no matter how often I clean the table. I tried with a cotton bud, but it does nothing. I would like to try with a hoover (mine is power adjustable) but I don't want to hazard.

Moreover, we should know if somebody already tried to remove and re-apply the rubber strips in order to open the Omen (and manage an ordinary internal cleaning). It would be nice if strips spare kits were available.

Another question: my left fan works almost always, while the right one seems to really activate itself only at high temperatures or speeds. Is it the same for everyone? I don't have cooling issues and everything is fine, by the way.

 

Left fan is for GPU and right fan is for cpu. These are connected through a common heat sink for 2 other chipsets. So maybe, you can look at the operation that you are running is GPU heavy or CPU heavy. However, probably you may want to have a look at manual once, just to be sure

 

Thanks! I read the manual but I totally missed that point. Now I understand how it works.

 

OK, I am probably going to sound like a bit of a "Debbie downer" for saying this...

But after hearing everyone rave about GTA V performance on the Omen...I bought the game over the weekend and I have to say that I am a bit disappointed.

Don't get me wrong, the game plays quite smoothly, it looks good and is overall a relatively seamless experience (so, for the record, I realize that I am nitpicking)...but I heard one poster say that the Omen was "taking this game to the next level" - it's certainly not doing that. A good bit of eye candy must be sacrificed on this machine to get solid frame rates.

And another poster said that he/she was playing on max settings...which I have trouble believing. IMO, the game is unplayable on max settings. So I'm not sure where that's coming from.

On my GeForce experience index, the settings are exactly in the middle between "Performance" and "Quality".

Not a dealbreaker, but not exactly what I was expecting

 

Exactly what i said a few posts earlier - geforce experience for me does not put optimal settings, but conservative settings. I play with a mix of ultra, very high settings on my Omen and get around 30 + fps avg. while, for some PURIST gamers, getting approx around 60 fps is a must, i am quite happy with anything in 30+ fps range. So, it depends on how you look at it and your personal choice. Further, i don't use geforce optimal settings.
Anyways, the low temperatures + good graphics (of game of course) + stable gaming experience (no game crash bugs here till date) is what made us put those comments

 

What does 'taking this game to the next level' even mean lol

Sent from my C6833 using Tapatalk

 

I have an hp omen and and a portable laptop charger. I have looked all over for the hp omen charger adapter measurements but I can't find them. Could someone please tell me the adapter measurments or link me to a page. Thanks.

 

Hmm well OK, I didn't see that post, I just saw the one where you said you were playing on max settings, "flawlessly". You silly goose!

Yes, to me personally, solid frame rate is ESSENTIAL to a pleasing gaming experience.

 

I think people were suprised by how well the 860m was handling higher settings at 1080p for GTAV. Rockstar really put out a quality game. I remember GTA 4 was horribly optimized. As for settings, I turned down some of the AA and turned up some of the rest from the "optimal" geforce settings and I get solid FPS. Very rarely (I have to be crazily moving around on top of a hill looking down at dense city streets for it to lag enough to notice. I do have Vsync on.


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on another note, my Omen control for the lights stopped working along with the shortcut keys. I read earlier that other people had this issue, anyone find a fix? I will go back and read the thread when I get the time.

 

I had updated my omen control to the latest version as put on HP website, but it is of no help. Omen control has its own mind..

 

To those with problems with Omen control, how exactly does it not work? Can't control and choose the lighting intensity / colour of the keyboard, or the keyboard lighting stopped working altogether? Hope there's a cure out there

On another note.. LOOK WHAT I JUST FOUND *****

http://store.hp.com/webapp/wcs/stor...omen---15t-quad-touch-select-laptop-m3g78av-1

That's right.. A GTX 960M HP Omen.... Also has Bang & Olufsen audios according to the spec sheet.. So that makes at least 2 things new..

What do you guys think? Is it good or bad news, or neither cause how I find alot of people say how the 960M is merely an overclocked 860M.. Thoughts......

 

The only thing I would be interested in is the new audio... I wouldn't even consider the 960M an upgrade over the 860M.

 

For me, all the lighting settings work just fine.
The problems are with the hotkeys for toggling nousepad and touchscreen on/off and switchting through profiles with hotkeys.

There is also the problem when the computer gos to sleep. wen woken up, none of the key functions work when already set to fn-lock in omen control (light of screen, sound level, etc.)
When this happens i have to manually go in to omen control, switch to another profile, to get the keys to work.

For me the audio is also the only interesting thing about the new one.

 

To add to my previous post, I personally think the Omen is almost perfect as is.

-Upgraded audio is a nice addition (if it is actually better, I'd like to see some comparisons/reviews)

Future improvements I'd like to see:
-(Least Important) Better GPU (965M or 970M), I think the cooling could handle it, I've seriously never seen a laptop stay as cool as the Omen does.
-(Important) Brighter keyboard back lighting.
-(Most Important) More bug fixes for Omen control! And that really shouldn't be hard to do. If Omen control functioned 100% perfectly, then I would say the laptop is perfect overall.

 

As long as they move on from Beats Audio it will definetely be better. I find the speakers as a dissapointment. HP bragged about how good they were, but they just arent.
Way to metally and flat sound. But I rarely use the speakers on a laptop, as I prefer headset or earplugs anyways.

An upgrade to B&O would be nice tho

 

Any uses of famous third party company to make the sound system is just going to be marketing gimmick. Same goes for B&O, it will just be a software enhancement rather than physical because companies can never give away too much of their secret recipes and patents.

Unless it's company like Creative since they do sound cards

Sent from my SM-P905 using Tapatalk

 

I actually like Beats Audio. I'm not a huge fan of the speakers, but since I have DJ headphones and like bass-heavy music anyway, I see no problem with it.

I created an account just to point out that I finally updated to the F.09 bios and my frame-rate dips in GTA V have been very minimal since, along with stuttering. I used to go in the mid-30's while driving and now I never go below 55 (all settings low, I care about performance vs graphics). I basically get 60fps locked on low settings. Fan management is much better, too. Still kinda wish this trakpad would register all my presses but I noticed that it gets bad whenever you don't clean it XD

 

I also think that there is no difference in between new B&O or earlier Beats sound. It is just a marketing/ branding exercise by HP. By the way, i also feel that the sound from speakers is a little shallow and need to pull up the volume comparatively to get better output. Anyways, i also generally game with my headphones on, so no issues.

 

Has anyone tried installing Windows 7 on their Omen? Just curious.

 

Can anyone comment on Far Cry 4's performance on this machine?

 

I used to get around 40 fps at a mix of high to very high settings. Only in some intense gun fire scenes with lot of enemies on screen, did the fps dip a little bit. I am however ok with anything in 30+ fps range, which may not be the case with everyone.

 

I get 40-50 fps with medium settings and ssao on @1200p

 

As I have the 256GB version, I'm seriously consider upgrading my SSD to 500gb...
have anyone tried to dismantle the laptop and found out if its possible to reuse the rubberband?

 

That is what i am also looking at as i also have 256 gb version. Unfortunately, wherever i have read on forums, it seems it is not possible to reuse the rubber band, once it has been peeled off from base. Any other views are invited .

 

I'd think we could use some type of rubber adhesive to reattach it but I haven't tried, and that may not be the best idea...

 

I've heard double-sided tape could work, but again I haven't tried it myself, either.

 

I cant really see how the rubber wont be reusable. As long as the rubber doesn't get ripped a part, there would be no problem finding a adhesive to fasten it again.
And how dificult would it be to get a spare rubebr band from HP? They definately have spare parts somewhere...

 

According to MobileTechReview, it's "not reusable". Has anyone found a disassembly guide regarding it?

 

Here's the only teardown guide I've seen:

http://www.myfixguide.com/manual/hp-omen-15-disassembly/

It doesn't really mention anything about the rubber feet though.

 

So, now - we have also got the tear down guide - who will dis - assemble his laptop?

 

I think I like mine the way it is right now haha

 

Gimme $500 to replace the SSD and I will

 

Has anyone tried to install game on external HDD and then play it from there? Dues to paucity of space, i am thinking to install few games (like GTA V, wolfenstein new order- which take heavy disk space) on external HDD. Mine is a USB 3.0 5400RPM 1 TB WD HDD. What i want to know is that what would be the performance of games and if anyone has tried it?

 

Bad idea. It will be ultra slow, even from a SSD. its nothing to do with the types of hard drives, it's the usb.

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I did this with my desktop for a while and the only issue I ran into was slightly longer (or just longer, depending on the game) load times. If you already have the hardware just try it out with one game and see if it works well enough for you.

 

This is actually how I play my games. I have Far Cry 3, Crysis 2, GRID, GTA V, Tomb Raider, Portal 2, Planetside 2, and Mortal Kombat X on a 640GB HDD I ripped out of my old laptop, and the only game on my SSD is Battlefield 3. Personally I don't find it bad at all. If anything back when SSD's were much more expensive, A LOT of people had their desktop builds set up this way (some still do for mass storage). Some games don't benefit too much from being on an SSD. Others, like Battlefield 3, benefit to the point where I spawn before anyone....literally. It all depends on how much space you're willing to sacrifice for faster loading times, while keeping in mind that not every game will benefit from loading faster, or benefit from being on an SSD. I honestly have no clue which ones do or don't. I just go on games I care about the most (BF3).

 

So, you mean to say that you don't find any difference in terms of performance if games or loading times? If that is the case, then it solves my issue as i can install max games on external hdd & play.

 

Yep no performance difference, just longer loading times.

 

It really does depend on the game but usually load times are longer on a HDD than a SSD, but other than that it doesn't affect frames or anything like that. Blame the 860m in that case. As I said the only reason I have BF3 on the SSD is I want the game to load quickly so I can spawn in quickly, and boy does that game load quickly. So unless you want your games to load quickly, just put them on an external HDD like I have and call it day.

 

The updated HP Omen (with 960m) and the Asus UX501 are my current top contenders for a laptop purchase in the next couple months. If HP has a coupon code that works when I'm ready to buy, then that will be the one I get. Right now, SPRING30 and BONUS25 do not work for the Omen (not sure if they work for other laptops). Does anyone know when HP puts out new coupon codes?

 

It looks like they excluded the Omen from both of those coupons.

I bet they'll have a Memorial Day coupon that'll work for the Omen. (I got mine using a *President's Day coupon.)

Edit: *Corrected Holiday

 

Best bet it just to Google coupons. That's how I found the one I used to buy mine. I'm pretty sure a 960m isn't that much better (15% from what I can find) than an 860m, so hopefully you're not paying a nice premium for it.

 

You won't pay a premium for it - it will be the same price that we paid, I think - Omen will 960m will just be the new "norm".

 

dude you dont have to turn it down that low for 60 FPS. I have everything high besides filtering off and i get minimum of 50 but its right at 59 (thats where im locked at)

 

I've been using my Omen 15t for about 8 months now and just got word they've updated it with the i7-4720hq and GTX 960m. I'm currently deciding whether or not trading it in would be a good idea or not. Some slight performance improvements would be appreciated.

 

According to the manual, a replacement part will be required when removing the bottom rubber feet. I've seen disassembly videos in regards to this and it seems almost impossible to shove the rubber back into the thin crevice, not to mention needing to apply adhesive which makes it all the more complicated.

 

That'd be a waste of money. Download EVGA Precision X and overclock your 860M. If you do that, you can match/beat the 960M.

The 960M is just a slightly overclocked 860M.

The 4720HQ is just a 100MHz bump over the 4710HQ. You'd never be able to tell the difference in real world usage. Benchmarks are probably about the same too.

 

If you can get it for the same price , then i say go for it. Otherwise, the slight performance gains is not worth it