HP OMEN 16, Core Ultra 9 285H, 16GB, 1TB SSD, 5070, Black

The HP OMEN 16 packs an RTX 5070 and Intel Ultra 9 285H into a heavy, no-nonsense chassis. Gaming performance is excellent, but the display's color coverage is weak and it's not portable. At $1,790, it's a solid value for gamers who park their laptop on a desk.

The CPU and GPU sit near the top of our database, and it shows. The 16-core Ultra 9 285H handles AAA games, rendering, and heavy multitasking without breaking a sweat. The RTX 5070 with 8GB of GDDR7 is a standout for gaming and GPU-accelerated work. The 16GB of DDR5 is solid but middle of the pack, and you'll feel it if you're running a pile of VMs or editing 4K footage with a dozen Chrome tabs open. Storage is a 1TB NVMe drive, which is about average for this class.

The OMEN 16 goes head-to-head with the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i and ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14. The Legion Pro 7i is a closer match in size and power, often with better build quality and display options. The Zephyrus G14 is far more portable but gives up screen real estate and some raw performance. The MacBook Pro M4 Max is in a different league for creators and battery life, but it costs way more and isn't a gaming machine first. The OMEN wins on price-to-performance for pure gaming.

At $1,790 USD, this is a lot of gaming horsepower for the money. You're getting a current-gen RTX 5070 and a top-tier Intel CPU in a package that will chew through modern titles. The trade-off is the display and build. If you can live with mediocre color accuracy and a chunky chassis, the value is hard to beat.

The HP OMEN 16 is a gaming laptop that puts its money where the frames are. You get an Intel Core Ultra 9 285H and an RTX 5070 with 8GB of VRAM, which is a serious combo for the price. The 144Hz display keeps things smooth, though the color coverage is nothing to write home about.

It's not a thin-and-light machine. At 5.35 pounds and nearly an inch thick at the rear, this thing has desktop replacement energy. That's fine if you want raw power and don't plan on hauling it to a coffee shop every day.

Skip this if you need a laptop you can actually carry around. The weight and size put it in desktop replacement territory, and the compact score is one of the worst we've seen. Also skip it if you do color-sensitive creative work, because that 62.5% sRGB display will drive you nuts.

Buy this if you want a powerful gaming laptop and don't care about portability or color-accurate work. It's a desk-bound beast that will run modern games at high settings for years. If you need something to carry around or do serious photo and video editing, look elsewhere.