HP Omen 15 (5XXX series) Gaming Notebook

Innards look well made. I'm a little worried about dust though. Regardless, I'll be waiting till next week to see if there are any Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals on this to pull to the trigger.

 

Looks like the website is down, but what about it that worries you about dust, I'm curious?

 

Metal components that have a constant flow of electricity, such as motherboards, attract polar particles such as dust, as well as the fans (that pull air in from the bottom and is expelled via rear vents) tend to accumulate dust over time. Seeing as the screws to open up the chassis at the bottom of the laptop are under the glued rubber feet, opening the laptop periodically to clean up the dust will be an issue. The rubber feet will need to be replaced with new ones each time the computer is opened up, at least according the service manual So over a period of a year or two, clogged fans, vents, and heat sinks prevent your PC from cooling down properly, as well as interfere with electricity flows on the motherboard, leading to overheating, and a shortened lifespan of said components. This is a potential problem for all PC's. But poor air circulation from the slim design of this particular model, as well as no easy access to be able to open it up and clean it, worries me.

 

the thing with those rubber feet is what i was worried about with my envy as well, since its built the same way, but if you take care it is no problem at all. my envy is now almost 4 years old, and i am opening it at least monthly, and still using the original rubber feet that i need to remove and stick back each time i am opening it. the glue is perfectly ok, and the only thing to watch out is when lifting the feet not to cut through the rubber, so best using a thin flat, but wide screw driver or so, nothing too tight and too sharp.

regarding dust - this is the case with every (thin) notebook, so no difference to others. what i am wondering is why the whole bottom of the notebook looks like a grill - fake air intakes for the most part or really whole bottom "open"? both would be dumb..

 

It seems like the whole bottom is "open", they said it would maximize the airflow and allows the laptop to breathe. Personally, I think it's a great idea. I think most of you are thinking way too hard, also...if it's really that "open" you could just blow the compressed air directly at the bottom and I'm sure dust will fly all over the place. It depends on your environments, I'm waiting for official reviews...I was thinking if emailing HP if I could get one under a contract for review.

 

I stand corrected. The whole bottom is not open. Only the fan area is open. The front end of the laptop have a texture-like feel pattern that plays on your eye as it is meshed.

I got off the phone with Hp for any special offers or deal on the HP Omen 15, they said they'll knock $100 off the $1699 model making it $1599 with free 4GB nvidia upgrade.

I'm not sure if this special offer will work on the $1499 model.

 

Just a heads up, there are some coupons available that will save you a lot of money on your purchase on an OMEN 15t. Enter SPECIAL1 for $150 Off Configurable HP PC Orders $799 or More + Free Shipping, SPECIAL2 for $175 Off Configurable HP PC Orders $899 or More + Free Shipping, and SPECIAL3 for $200 Off Configurable HP PC Orders $999 or More + Free Shipping. These go on until about the 6th or so of next month, December. I plan on using SPECIAL3 which will take off $200 off of my J2W39AV_1 OMEN 15t model. This is an extremely good deal, so please take advantage of it!

Happy holiday shopping!

 

Thanks pizzasogood!!! That is some serious savings. I spoke to HP sales chat yesterday, and found out there will supposedly be a Black Friday offer on the Omen. She wasn't very specific, and refused to tell me more, but lets see if they will sweeten the deal tomorrow. Excerpt of the Chat transcript below:

Agent (Rosalie A.): "We will be having our 1 week sale this coming weekend. You may also check our website again for more deals at that time."
Me: "When will that be starting?""Friday? Is the omen going to be included in the sale?"
Agent (Rosalie A.): "Yes, it will start this Friday and HP Omen is on the lists."

 

Awesome! I was close in getting it last night. Fingers crossed for a bigger savings tomorrow. Thanks for the heads up! I'll keep an eye on this thread for any updates and I'll do the same if I hear of anything.

 

Question, are you located in the US? The sale might be dependent on the region. I see that there is a Black Friday Sale on the HP online store now and has been going on for a couple days at least. I don't seem to see the Omen listed unless there will be another sale that is different than the one I am talking about. At any rate, I'll be waiting until tomorrow.

 

Yes, I spoke to the US Sales Dept. You're correct that there has been a BF sale on the online store for some days now, but maybe they're going to up the ante on friday . Let's just hope that she wasn't misinformed.

 

Been lurking on this forum for a while trying to find the best laptop for gaming/programming. Was looking at the MSI GS60 and Acer Nitro. But decided to go for the Omen.

I'm in the UK and was waiting for Black Friday before taking the plunge. Unfortunately there were no deals covering the Omen on HP's site and there are very few places that sell it yet in the UK. Then I remembered I get discount through my employer for various sites, so checked and I got a 10% discount at HP. Just fired the trigger! (and throw in the Omen mouse and 3 year warranty too) It is the 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM 4GB 860m variant.

Excited now, although slightly apprehensive as there are so few reviews of the Omen. Anyway, I will check back with an update when I receive it which should hopefully be Monday.

 

So I spoke to US sales chat again today, and this time the rep said that the omen "is already at a discounted price" (don't know how msrp is a discounted price but thats beside the point) I was hoping for a better deal. Disappointment.

 

Oh! That is major disappointment... That's alright. You might get bigger savings on top of that $200 off coupon through cash back if you have a credit card that offers such deals. Some cards will give you 5% cash back. Happy shopping!

 

Heads up everyone, there is a 25% off coupon I just got from PayPal. I can confirm you do not have to use PayPal to use the coupon. I just canceled my first Omen 15 order because apparently they can't just refund the difference in savings even though my order was still processing. The customer service rep offered me the option to have a refund of 10% off of the current order applied which is just short of the $50 additional I would be saving if I had the 25% coupon applied...

Anyway, use code:
Desktops: HP25DT
Notebooks: HP25NB

Offer valid 11/30/14-12/6/14

 

You're on a roll pizza!! $400 off for me!!! I contacted HP to cancel my order and get the additional savings, but was told the same. Only, I was offered $100 if I didn't cancel. I laughed, and then said NO WAYYY!! I'm gonna place in a new order, and wait for the dreaded confirmation of order cancellation in 48hrs. I placed the order on Sat night, so the rep wanted to make sure the order was not too far along production to cancel. THANKS PIZZA!!!!

 

Haha thanks! I have been eagerly waiting for the right moment to purchase the Omen for a long time now. I'm just glad to be sharing such a stellar deal and hearing you were able to take advantage of this as well!

I plan on posting some pictures and possibly a short review when I receive mine.

 

My Omen arrived yesterday! Had a short time last night setting it up etc. Overall I am pretty impressed, looks nice and feels solid. Screen looks really good and touch seems to work really well.

Only gripes so far are the keyboard, as it has the programmable buttons down the side the typing position is slightly off centre which will take some getting used to. You left hand is over the touchpad, although thankfully it is good at not registering your palm as a touch. Only other slight niggle is the touchpad, it is nice and big and generally works well (not quite as good as a Mac one). I would like to be able to crank the sensitivity up a bit further but I am sure this can be corrected with driver update or third party software. I also got the Omen mouse, which I must say is really nice and can go super sensitive

Downloaded a couple of free games to test out, some Tom Clancy game and planetside 2. The Tom Clancy game ran really well at 1080p and I think high settings. Although boy was I bad at it :| Planetside not so well, but graphically it isn't as good as Tom Clancy so probably just down to the game or the huge multiplayer areas and amount of players.

When idle the fans are fairly quiet (only the cpu one seemed on when idle) of course they ramp up when gaming. Its loud ish, not really got anything else to compare it with as I came from a 11" Macbook Air. Had headphones on so no bother really. Plus the sound seems to go out the back along with the heat, so at head height it is quieter. I was playing on my lap for a few hours and the heat was fine, felt like it could easily be pushed further. Of course this could have been down to the games.

I will post another update when I have had more time with it. Feel free to ask any questions and I will try to answer for for you.

Oh, does anyone know how to get into the BIOS, as virtualisation doesn't seem to be enabled. Or at least Visual Studio complained about it when installing.

 

Could you post some photos of your rig, please?

 

I would love it if you could post some fps benchmarks along with CPU and gpu temps for the games you have! Possible battery life as well? Many thanks!

 

If I recall, think it is: Restart the laptop, quickly press ESC then press F10--at least that is how you get into the BIOS of my Envy 14--should be in the owner's manual. Been watching this unit as a possible replacement for the Envy. Curious to see what you folks think of it.

Omen Maintenance and Service Guide: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c04490401.pdf

Omen User Guide: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c04490930.pdf

 

I'd like to see some pictures as well, even though I'll be receiving mine in a few weeks.

Also, how long did it take to ship to you? I am eagerly awaiting mine haha

 

Just bought the $1899 model with the 4gb VRAM and 512gb SSD!! Holy crap! Saved $475 with the coupon code!!

 

Wow! I guess I will need to make my decision earlier than usual. I am wondering...but will 8GB ram last 4 years or should I get 16GB ram? Or should I get 4GB videocard instead of 2GB? Which is more important? Is the performance difference significant?

 

Can anyone do a benchmark on Dragon Age Inquisition?

 

System ram is easy to upgrade later--and much cheaper than getting it preinstalled from HP--same with the SSD. The graphics card is pretty much impossible to upgrade so I'd put the money on the best you can get for that. Everything looks to be requiring more and more VRAM and don't see that changing in the future.

 

I will try to take some photos tomorrow, I tried last night but it was really dark and they looked rubbish. Unfortunately I have to work during the day

As for the virtulization setting, it would appear it is enabled (according to the Intel tool I downloaded). Also you can change some BIOS settings through the HP Windows tool which is interesting. I think the issue I had is I need Windows 8 Pro in order to get some of the Hyper-V stuff. I'm sure vmware etc will be fine, my issue is specific to the Windows Phone emulator in Visual Studio.

tordogs, system RAM is not up-gradable, only the SSD I believe. (and maybe wifi card)

pizzasogood, mine arrived next working day! Ordered directly from HP in the UK. They only have one model available so I guess shipping is quick.

I will get some CPU/GPU temperatures for you. I am also interested to see if the GPU is throttling. Any suggestions on the best tool to see this??

 

Msi afterburner I think

 

First review I have seen. What do you guys think?

Australian Review: HP Omen 15 - Voodoo Magic | CyberShack

 

That's an interesting take on the USB ports as that was one feature many others love about the unit.

 

Yeah, they don't cause me any issue being on the back. The review is also incorrect saying there is no SD card reader. It's on the side. It's the only port they didn't put on the rear.

 

oh, and my UK version didn't come with a Ethernet adapter which is slightly annoying.

 

Yeah none of them do. It did come with an LAN dongle, no?

EDIT: Unless you're meaning adapter=dongle.

 

I think I ll wait for the gtx 970/980 model. The asking price here in Australia is $2200-3000. If $3000 laptop can't get me the latest specs then I'd rather get an Aorus.

Sent from my SM-P905 using Tapatalk

 

Yes, by adapter I mean USB to ethernet dongle. I thought it might just be missing. But there is a quick start guide which states ethernet adapter sold separately.

 

That's poopish.
I'm digging in to see if that is a world wide or regional thing. (We just had a boatload sent to our lab for destructive testing and they seem to have come with them.)


EDIT: Confirmed. The US/Canada models come with the adapter, but it looks like other regions are done differently.

 

That Australian review is garbage.

 

Some badly taken photos with my phone. Whats interesting is if you look at the trackpad it is completely plain. All Photos I saw on HPs website and most reviews had "control zone" written on the trackpad which I am thankful is not on mine. Also in other photos the trackpad has left and right bars for scrolling and Windows 8 edge type gestures. Again, not on mine. You can activate it with the drivers but there is no different colour area on the pad.

Anyone else noticed this with theirs?

 

iMaxx, have you guys tried booting Linux on the Omen 15? I am curious if the HDMI / Displayport outputs are connected to the Intel GPU or Nvidia GPU. It would also be nice to know if the keyboard backlight has a "safe mode" operation that will still allow it to be turned on or off without software loaded (which obviously isn't available under linux). Do you happen to know which LCD panel is being used? I like the AUO B156HAN01.2 quite a bit and it would be funny if it is used here.

I can understand why the australian reviewer didn't like the backside USB ports. If you are constantly plugging / unplugging a usb stick drive it could get annoying. The same goes for the headphone jack. Using it with something like the Apple earpods would be pretty much impossible without an extension cable. On the other hand it looks like a very beautiful laptop. Nicer than XPS 15 or any of the MSI / Gigabyte offerings. Wish I could see one in person. Will any retail stores be carrying them at some point? Microsoft Store, Best Buy, Micro Center, Frys, etc?

 

Good questions and I do not know. The units I have access to are for destructive testing so...

My personal unit will be in next week and I'd love to try putting Linux on it to see. (I think there are other HP folks in this thread that may be able to answer more readily. [/QUOTE]

That's a fair enough point, and thanks for that feedback.

Retail will have them late December / early January, I think.

 

Remember the HP Omen 15 have soldered ram, the only thing that is user-upgradeable is the SSD.

 

Does this laptop run very hot when gaming? Also fan noise? Gtx. 860m is kind of a meh graphics card

 

I would recommend doing this as well. I opted to get the 4GB 860m instead of the 2GB; to be honest, I had selected the 2GB option only to just realize that I had purchased the one with the 4GB of VRAM somehow. Must have been an accident, but I am happy with the purchase and will be keeping it as is. For the RAM, I opted to get 8GB of RAM.

For this particular laptop, according to the servicing manual, you would have to remove the rubber feet to reveal the screws to open the bottom which render it more difficult to upgrade parts for as opposed to say an Envy or Pavilion that has easy access doors. It recommends to replace the rubber feet strips entirely. Not sure if that implies that you won't be able to stick them back on with glue or what have you, so make sure to invest wisely.

Yes, I believe only Windows 8.1 Pro supports virtualization, unfortunately.

Wow, next day shipping! Lucky you. Mine apparently ships on the 10th! I can't wait any longer..

I'd also like to know of good benchmarking tools as I only use Speccy at the moment.

Very cool review, thanks. I read that the USB-Ethernet dongle comes included with the ones shipping in the US, but I am not entirely certain; fingers are crossed that it is! Also, as has been noted, the card reader is located on the side of the laptop.

 

The one I have in the lab is running Haven at full settings.
The fans are going full but are quiet-ish. You can hear them, but it's more like a moderate whisper.

As for the heat, I'd need to check the exact temps they are getting.

 

That is correct. So far, my findings have shown that only Canada and US get the Ethernet dongle included.
(I'm actually digging about and asking why this was done.)

 

Speccy software displays temperature as well.

It may have to do with the amount of internet bandwidth we are likelier to receive here in NA comparatively to other places such as Europe. As most internet games are safer and probably better played connected through LAN as opposed to WLAN, HP is being conscious about the user base they are catering to and have added a nice touch by adding the dongle for us. That is just my guess, but anyway it is a very wise decision. It would always be better if they've added it for other regions as well, though.

 

Here are some temperatures running Warface which uses the Crytek engine. Settings were 1080p and high detail (apart from PhysX on medium and then off) FPS ranged about 50-70. Its strange as sometimes the FPS is 60+ but it still feels jerky and has screen tearing. The jerkyness feels like a delay whilst it loads which is crazy as it can't be that unless its network lag? The screen tearing, is it best to switch on frame limiting? to say 60?

As for temperatures, as you can see they seem fine, especially the GPU which was around 57c which seems low. Although the clock speed didn't drop.

Just for fun I tried Quake live, which was all running fine as you can imagine, then I go to check the temperatures to find its using the Intel 4600 and not the 860m! Any idea how I force it to use the Nvidia?

Been many years since I have done PC gaming, all changed a lot since having my Voodoo 3dfx cards running in SLI

 

Temps don't look bad. Limiting FPS to 60 may do the trick.

I've heard of the issues of games that use the integrated graphics instead of the dedicated graphics before. What could be the problem? I'd hate to scrounge around the internet and do a whole lot of work to get the machine to run as I'd like it to. Hoping it's just the game itself and not the computer.

 

I'm looking into how to force it, but because QL is browser based, it's just letting the CPU take it.

EDIT: Looks like the nVidia GPU can't be forced to be used all the time. It will just switch when it's need.

 

Seems like you have to set it to always use Nvidia card for that exe in the Nvidia control panel. It is an old game, so not really surprised. Changing to use the Nvidia card didn't make loads of difference, although you get a solid 120 FPS in Quake live which is nice. Its and old one, but I like the speed of Quake gameplay