HP Omen 16 Slim 16" HP Black 2025

Ignore the "Slim" label, this is a chunky powerhouse. The Core Ultra 7 and RTX 5060 deliver incredible gaming performance for the price, especially if you find it near $1209. Just know that portability and long-term reliability are the big trade-offs here.

The Core Ultra 7 255H sits in the 86th percentile for laptop CPUs, which means it's one of the best on the market right now. Paired with the RTX 5060 at the 83rd percentile, you'll push high frame rates in esports titles and handle AAA games at 1200p with settings cranked up. The 16GB of DDR5 RAM is solid, though it's only middle of the pack at the 63rd percentile, so heavy multitaskers might feel the pinch sooner than they'd like. Storage speeds are strong thanks to that 1TB PCIe Gen4 drive, landing in the 82nd percentile. The real weak spot is portability, this thing is a desktop replacement in spirit, not a true road warrior.

Stacked against the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, the Omen 16 Slim offers a bigger screen and often a lower price, but the Zephyrus is in a different league for portability and build quality. The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 will likely outmuscle it with better cooling and a higher-wattage GPU, but you'll pay for the privilege. And while the Apple MacBook Pro M5 destroys it in efficiency and reliability, it can't touch this Omen's raw gaming value if you find it at the right price. The MSI Prestige and Surface Laptop aren't even in the same gaming conversation.

Pricing on this model is all over the map, with a wild spread from $1209 to over $3000. At the low end, this is a steal. You're getting a current-gen CPU and GPU that rival machines costing hundreds more. If you can snag it closer to that $1209 mark, the value is almost unbeatable. Just don't get tricked into paying a premium, because at the higher end of that range, you're stepping into territory occupied by more polished and reliable machines.

HP's Omen 16 Slim is a bit of a misnomer. At 2.5kg, it's not exactly light, but it packs a serious punch for the price. You're getting Intel's new Core Ultra 7 255H and an RTX 5060, which is a combo that chews through modern games and creative work without breaking too much of a sweat. The 16-inch 1200p display is a highlight, hitting 165Hz with full sRGB coverage and 400 nits of brightness, making it just as good for editing photos as it is for fragging noobs.

But HP made some clear trade-offs to hit this spec sheet. The chassis is on the larger side for something called "Slim," and our reliability score for this model is a disappointing 32nd percentile. That's a red flag if you're planning to toss this in a bag daily. Still, if raw performance per dollar is your main metric, this Omen demands your attention.

If you need a laptop that actually travels well, look elsewhere. This thing is heavy and our data shows poor reliability for life on the go. Students or commuters who need all-day battery life and something light in their bag should check out the ASUS Zephyrus G14 or a MacBook Air instead.

The HP Omen 16 Slim is for the spec-obsessed gamer on a budget who doesn't plan on moving their laptop much. If you treat it like a portable desktop that you occasionally take to a friend's house, you'll love the performance it delivers for the money. Just make sure you buy it at the low end of that insane price range, and maybe invest in a good backpack with extra padding.