HP OMEN 16" Shadow Black 2025

The HP OMEN 16-am0017dx is a 16-inch gaming laptop with an Intel Core i7-14650HX, RTX 5060, and a generous 32GB of RAM. It delivers excellent CPU performance and a smooth 165Hz display for competitive gaming. Reliability is a weak spot, but at sale prices under $1500, it's a strong value for gamers who want extra memory without paying a premium.

In our testing, the Core i7-14650HX sits in the 88th percentile for laptop CPUs, which means it chews through multi-core workloads without breaking a sweat. You won't see any stuttering in CPU-heavy games like Cities: Skylines 2 or during video exports in Premiere Pro. The RTX 5060 lands in the 83rd percentile for laptop GPUs, putting it ahead of most RTX 4060 configurations but still a clear step below an RTX 5070. In practice, you can expect well over 100fps in esports titles like Valorant and League of Legends at native resolution with settings cranked. For heavier AAA games like Cyberpunk 2077, you'll want to lean on DLSS 4 to stay above 60fps with ray tracing turned on. The 32GB of DDR5 RAM is a standout at the 88th percentile, giving you plenty of headroom for multitasking, streaming, or keeping a hundred Chrome tabs open while you game. Storage speed from the 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD is solidly middle of the pack, but load times feel snappy enough that we never found ourselves waiting around.

Stacked against the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, the OMEN 16 gives you a bigger screen and more RAM for less money, but the G14 is significantly more compact and has a higher-resolution OLED panel that creators will prefer. The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 is a direct competitor in the 16-inch space and typically offers better build quality and cooling, though you'll pay more for a comparable spec. If you're considering the Apple MacBook Pro M4 Pro, you're in a different world entirely. The MacBook destroys the OMEN in battery life and build, but it can't touch the gaming performance per dollar and lacks the high-refresh display that makes fast-paced shooters feel responsive. For pure gaming value, the OMEN holds its own, but it's not the most polished package.

Pricing on this OMEN is all over the place, with a spread from $1375 to $1750 across vendors. At the low end, especially if you snag an open-box unit from Best Buy, the value proposition is strong. You're getting 32GB of RAM and a brand-new RTX 5060 for less than many RTX 4060 laptops with half the memory. At the full $1750, it's a tougher sell because you start bumping into RTX 5070 territory or a discounted ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, which offers a more premium build and better portability. If you can find it closer to $1400, the price-to-performance ratio is hard to beat for a 16-inch gaming and creator machine.

The HP OMEN 16-am0017dx is a 16-inch gaming laptop that tries to split the difference between a serious gaming rig and a daily driver for creative work. It packs an Intel Core i7-14650HX and the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 with 8GB of GDDR7 VRAM, backed by 32GB of DDR5 RAM. That's a lot of muscle for a machine you can often find between $1375 and $1750 depending on the sale. If you're hunting for a gaming laptop under $1500 that doesn't skimp on memory, this one grabs your attention fast. The 1920x1200 IPS display runs at 165Hz with a 3ms response time, so it's clearly aimed at people who want smooth, competitive gameplay without motion blur getting in the way. And since it's a League of Legends Limited Edition, the chassis has a bit more flair than your average black slab. But the real question is whether that RTX 5060 can keep up with the high-refresh screen in demanding titles, and if the build quality holds up over time. We dug into our database to find out.

Skip this laptop if portability and battery life are high priorities. At 2.43kg and with a large power brick, it's a desk-bound machine. Students or commuters who need all-day battery should look at the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 or a MacBook Air instead. If you're a creator who needs a color-accurate OLED panel for professional photo or video editing, the screen here is good but not great, and the MacBook Pro M4 Pro or a Dell XPS with an OLED display would serve you better. Also, if you're nervous about long-term reliability, the Lenovo Legion Pro line has a stronger track record in our data.

The HP OMEN 16-am0017dx is a gaming laptop that nails the fundamentals: a fast CPU, plenty of RAM, and a smooth display. It's a great fit for someone who wants to play competitive shooters and dabble in creative work without spending over $1500. The 32GB of RAM is a future-proofing move that more manufacturers should copy at this price point. But the reliability concerns in our data give us pause. A 33rd percentile reliability score means you're rolling the dice a bit on long-term durability, and the bulky chassis feels dated next to slimmer rivals. If you can grab it on sale and don't mind plugging in most of the time, it's a solid buy. Just maybe spring for an extended warranty.