HyperX OMEN 16" Shadow Black 2025

The HyperX OMEN 16 packs a Ryzen 9 8940HX and a stunning 97th-percentile OLED display into a thick, heavy chassis. Performance is excellent, but 16GB of RAM is a real bottleneck and battery life is mediocre. Worth buying at the lower end of the price range, especially if you plan to upgrade the RAM.

The Ryzen 9 8940HX is a 16-core monster that lands in the 94th percentile for CPUs. Paired with the RTX 5060 and its 8GB of VRAM, you'll chew through most games at 1440p without breaking a sweat. The 1TB NVMe SSD is solid, sitting at the 80th percentile for storage. But here's the rub: 16GB of DDR5 RAM is just okay in 2025, landing at the 57th percentile. For a machine with this much CPU and GPU horsepower, that's a bottleneck waiting to happen. Owners mention it constantly. The OMEN Tempest Cooling does its job, though. Multiple reviews note effective cooling under load, even if the fans get loud when you push it.

Against the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, the OMEN wins on raw CPU power and screen size, but loses on portability and build quality. The Zephyrus is way more compact and feels more premium. The HP OMEN Transcend 14 is the more refined sibling, thinner and lighter, but you give up some of that raw performance. The MacBook Pro M4 Max is in a different league for creator work and battery life, but it costs way more and can't touch this for gaming value. The Lenovo ThinkPad P14s is more of a workstation, not really a gaming competitor. The MSI Prestige is lighter but underpowered compared to this Ryzen 9.

Pricing is all over the place right now. We're seeing USD 1,625 to USD 1,825 across two listings, which is a USD 200 spread. That's a big enough gap that you should shop around before pulling the trigger. At the lower end, this is a solid deal for the display and CPU alone. At the higher end, you're paying a premium for a laptop with a RAM ceiling that'll frustrate you. Best Buy has the better price in our data, so start there if you're in the US.

The HyperX OMEN 16-ap1023dx is a weird mix of top-tier parts and budget compromises. You get a Ryzen 9 8940HX, an RTX 5060, and a gorgeous 16-inch OLED display that sits in the 97th percentile for screens. But then HP pairs all that with just 16GB of RAM and a chassis that feels more plastic than premium.

For gaming and creator work, this thing scores around 80 out of 100 in our database. That's genuinely strong. The display alone makes it worth a look if you care about color accuracy and contrast. Just know the RAM situation is going to annoy you sooner rather than later.

Skip this if you need something portable. At 2.48kg and with a thick chassis, this is a desk-bound machine. Also skip it if you do heavy multitasking or content creation with lots of browser tabs and apps open, because 16GB of RAM will choke. And if battery life matters, look elsewhere. The 70Wh pack just doesn't cut it for all-day use away from an outlet.

If you want a big, beautiful OLED screen and desktop-class CPU performance without spending MacBook money, this is a strong pick. Gamers who mostly play at a desk will love it. The display is genuinely one of the best we've seen in this category. Just budget for a RAM upgrade down the line, because 16GB is going to feel tight for multitasking and newer titles.