HP Omen: Good gaming PC but with niggles

Striking design and decent hardware, but limited storage

Gaming laptops have become lighter and less expensive since their early days. PC major Hewlett-Packard entered this segment some time ago and I got to spend some time with the HP Omen 15.

The notebook is striking - the bigger lid tapering into a smaller base, with the three sides but for the back tapering into sharp edges. The Omen is an all-black affair and while the design is bold, the finish seems understated. The notebook weighs a shade above 2 kg.

Switching on, the keyboard and speakers light up as Windows 8.1 boots up. The speakers, from Bang & Olufsen, make up the two sides of the keyboard, which is kind of recessed from the deck and large trackpad. The keyboard, because of its positioning and limited key travel, could leave one with tired fingers after bouts of typing. The lights, though, can be switched off or changed.

The 15.6-inch full high-definition touchscreen is glossy and bright. Playing Mortal Kombat X, the blood and gore was depicted in vivid detail. The Intel Core i7 processor running at 2.5Ghz with 8GB of RAM lives up to the challenge of playing the game at the desired frame rates, ably assisted by the Nvidia GTX 960M graphics solution. But maxing up the resolution causes the game to stutter.

Another thing which could pose a problem is the 256GB SSD which fills up fast due to humongous game installs.

The HP Omen 15, at Rs 1,59,990, is quite a capable gaming machine. But its limited storage, recessed keyboard and the absence of a 4K display at this price point could disappoint some.