HP announces OMEN 15 and OMEN 17 gaming laptops for 2017
HP is stepping up its Omen gaming line ahead of E3 next week with a slew of updates and additions. The company left no stone unturned this year, updating its 15- and 17-inch Omen laptops, introducing a new Omen desktop and updated peripherals, and debuting a new GPU accelerator and a ready-to-go model of its prototype VR backpack PC. All the new devices have a consistent aesthetic that isn’t just eye-catching, but also practical for gamers, and the devices that are upgrades have tried to fix the pain-points of previous models.
HP’s first 15-inch Omen laptop debuted in 2014, and, over time, customers have told the company what they want. For this particular upgrade, HP users told the company they wanted more ports, expansion options, and VR capabilities. The new 15-inch and 17-inch Omen laptops do what they can to address these issues. Both of them have been slightly redesigned with an edgier look and an expanded keyboard to include full-sized arrow keys, and both have a single-access bottom panel that lifts off the underside of the chassis. This gives users access to the HDD, SSD, and RAM so they can expand and upgrade as they please; the 17-inch has an optical drive option as well. The new laptops have a number of storage options from the start, including PCIe SSD, HDD plus SSD, and HDD, and the 15-inch model supports up to 16GB of RAM, while the 17-inch model supports up to 32GB of RAM.
Both models also have larger fans inside, allowing for better airflow throughout the chassis so the device can perform more efficiently. The laptops are also getting a GPU bump, with the 15-inch model supporting up to a Nvidia GTX 960 or an AMD RX500 GPU, and the 17-inch model supporting up to a Nvidia GTX 1070 or an AMD RX580 GPU. They’ll both have the latest Intel processors, but there are no Ryzen CPUs included in the model options. HP didn’t rule out the inclusion of Ryzen CPUs in the future, but if you want one immediately, you won’t find it in the Omen notebooks.
Each new Omen laptop will have three USB Type-A ports, one UB Type-C port with optional Thunderbolt, an SD Card reader, an HDMI port, mini Display port, an Ethernet port, and an audio combo jack. The USB Type-C and mini Display port are new to the Omen laptops, and we’re happy to see their inclusion but would have liked the USB Type-C port to be Thunderbolt as standard.
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