What happens when you cross a 16-inch MacBook Pro with a relatively affordable gaming laptop? The newly unveiled HP Omen 16 seems to be the answer

HP has announced new additions to its Omen gaming family of computers and monitors, with the new Omen 16, One 17, and Omen 25i gaming monitors, and the new Victus line, led by the 16-inch affordable gaming laptop With the latest AMD and Intel processors and Nvidia GeForce and AMD Radeon graphics cards available, these could be the gaming laptops to watch in 2021

While HP's Omen laptops were once chunky machines with sharp edges, red accents, and a distinct "gamer" aesthetic, the new Omen and Victus machines are not a million miles away from the gaming version of the MacBook Pro They appear to be much less ostentatious In short, the Omen 16 is firmly in the realm of the Razer Blade 15 Advanced, a gaming laptop that has long been compared to the MacBook Pro in terms of design

For example, the Omen 16 has a fairly clean design, with only the molded black "O16" on the right side of the trackpad standing out from the general look of ultra-portable laptops The spacious trackpad is reminiscent of those on the MacBook and Razer Blade 15, and the bezels around the display are quite slim

This bezel is not as slim as the Asus Zephyrus M16, but it is noticeably cleaner than the bezel on the older Omen 15 Perhaps that's why the laptop manages to fit a 161" display with QHD resolution and a 165 Hz refresh rate into a frighteningly bulky package

The only disappointment here is that the Omen 16 sticks to the 16:9 aspect ratio common on many gaming laptops, rather than the 16:10 aspect ratio found on recent Asus and Lenovo laptops This means that they lose vertical space, which is useful when you want to open two windows side by side for productivity

However, it has serious specs to chew over so-called "creator" video and photo editing and rendering tasks: the Omen 16 offers a choice of AMD or Intel processors running up to Ryzen 7 5900HX and Core i7-11800H, respectively The Omen 16 offers a choice of AMD or Intel processors running up to Ryzen 7 5900HX and Core i7-11800H respectively On the graphics side, it can be configured with up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 there is also an RGB backlit keyboard

For packing so much hardware, the Omen 16 is not as slim as the Razer Blade 15 But it does have a healthy selection of ports, including three USB Type-A ports, HDMI 21, an Ethernet port, DisplayPort, USB-C (Thunderbolt 4 if you have an Intel machine), and a full-sized SD card reader Meaning

The entry-level model with a Ryzen 7 5800H processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU starts at $1,049, and the top-spec Omen 16, which will be available in June, will not be cheap However, it will be more affordable than similar gaming laptops from the likes of Asus and Razer

Those who want a little more power and a bigger screen can opt for the Omen 17, which has a 173-inch display and is powered by an Intel Core i9-11900H processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Prices also start at $1,369 and will be available in June

Not everyone has a lot of money to put into a gaming laptop; HP's new Victus gaming laptops offer the same display as the Omen 16 and 17 and feature nearly identical designs (different hinge mechanism, standard backlit keyboard, speaker grilles instead of slashes on either side of the keyboard deck), but the specs are less powerful

However, with an Intel Core i7-11800H or 8-core AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, the Victus should be powerful enough for QHD gaming at 60 frames per second It does not feature the Omen Tempest Cooling found on the more expensive Omen series, so we will have to wait and see how well the Victus can handle the heat

However, the wide selection of ports and a starting price of $799 are also attractive In other words, it could be a solid machine for those who want a gaming laptop that can also be used for work, but don't have the money to buy a Razer laptop

HP has also taken the covers off the OMEN 25i gaming monitor, a display that features a 165Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, and reduced frame tearing with AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync technology, making the aforementioned laptop a solid partner when used as part of a gaming setup

The display's IPS panel is VESA DisplayHDR 400 compatible, with 400 nits of brightness and 90% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage It should be suitable for gaming and movie viewing

Overall, HP appears to have a promising gaming laptop and hardware that will challenge its rivals

Also, gaming laptops like the Omen 16 continue to drive the trend of looking like a machine for work and play, rather than a device that would be a bit awkward to open in a trendy coffee shop