HP's latest Omen laptop looks distinctly different from your everyday gaming laptop. The lid and base are decorated with a sleek dotted pattern, with dramatic lines and angles, and the interior is no less striking: the speaker grilles glow with a red backlight, and the sunken keyboard is similarly illuminated. Those red lights even appear in the two exhausts on the Omen's back edge.
The cylindrical hinge has off-colour ends that start with a blue finish and fade to a neat rainbow-style effect, and the glossy screen bezel and classy logos add a touch of class. The Omen doesn't skimp on features either. The left-hand side of the keyboard has six macro keys, each of which can be modified with five different macros, so it's possible to have 30 different combinations on each profile - a boon for complex games. There are also four USB 3 ports alongside HDMI and DisplayPort connectors, plus the 15.6in panel is a touch-screen.
Build guality is great too. The screen doesn't exhibit much movement, there's barely any budge in the wrist rest and the underside is just as solid. This machine will withstand being lugged around in a bag, but we'd still use a protective sleeve to avoid damaging the smart exterior.
The good build guality is especially impressive given this machine's dimensions. It's just under 20mm thick and weighs 2.1kg, so it's thinner and lighter than other gaming laptops we've seen, such as MSI GE72's, which is 27mm thick and weighs 2.4kg, and the Gigabyte P35X V3, which was 22mm thick but weighed 2.3kg.
There are a couple of guibbles though. Every port aside from the SD slot is on the back, which makes it tricky to get at USB connectors. There's also no easy way to get inside; the screws are hidden beneath rubber strips on the base and once they're removed, there's no way to properly reattach them.
Meanwhile, the keys on the Scrabble-tile keyboard feel solid, with a rapid and consistent action that lends itself to fast gaming. There's not much travel in the keys, which may annoy those used to mechanical units, but you can’t have everything on a thin and light laptop. The touchpad is also wider than the pads on most laptops, but it doesn't add much to the experience, and its pair of built-in buttons are light and clicky - as always, you'll be better off using a separate gaming mouse.
Then we come to the HP Omen app, which enables you to customise the keys, as well as the backlight, which can be altered or turned off in five different zones, and even the speaker LEDs can be modified or deactivated - potentially a boon, as they pulse in time with music. The touch-screen and several other buttons can also be turned off so they don't interfere with games, and the fans can be tweaked.
In terms of specs, there's a 2.5GHz Core i7-4710HQ sporting four cores (and four virtual cores via Hyper-Threading), and it's paired with a Maxwell-based Nvidia GeForce CTX860M CPU.
Storage comes from a S12GB Samsung XP941 M.2 SSD, and there's 16GB of memory too. Networking connections are lacking though. There's dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi but no sign of 802.11ac, and you have to use a provided USB adaptor to get Gigabit Ethernet access.
Performance
The Core i7-4710HQ might not be the fastest CPU available, but it's still powerful enough for most people's needs. Its four cores and Hyper-Threading support enabled it to rack up a score of 199,384 in our multi-threaded video encoding test, but its comparatively low clock speed meant it only managed 37,459 in our image editing test. The end reference score of 75.13 per cent isn’t bad for a thin and light laptop, but it also shows the extra processing power you can get from a more powerful desktop chip.
In the all-important gaming tests, the CTX 860M also showed its limitations. It couldn't manage a playable frame rate in any of our test games at maximum settings at the screen's native 1080p resolution. However, taking the settings a step down to a still decent level resulted in a respectable 33fps minimum in Battlefield 4 at High Detail, and a playable 26 fps minimum in Shadow of Mordor at Very High Detail, although Crysis 3 remained unplayable, with a minimum of just 16fps.
The 1,920 x 1,080 screen resolution makes sense for the level of power available from the CTX 860M, but the glossy covering doesn't help matters, especially under bright lights. Meanwhile, the screen's excellent delta E of 1.94 is hindered by the comparatively cool colour temperature of 8.326K, and the brightness level of 338cd/m2 is good, but the black level and contrast results of 0.39cd/m2 and 867:1 aren't quite as impressive.
On the plus side, the Beats speakers are loud and punchy, with a good balance between treble and high-end sounds. Bass is a little weak by default, but that's easily rectified in the Beats Audio control app.
The HP Omen's thermal performance is right on the edge too - its CPU and GPU delta Ts of 68 C and 66 C respectively mean its top Celsius temperatures are both in the 90s.
The noise was never too bad, but those are definitely some toasty temperatures. As a result, we also noticed the centre of the base heating up significantly during high workloads, which is never good if you're wearing shorts.
The Omen did benefit from its more balanced design in one area though - battery life. In a gaming battery test with the screen at 100 per cent brightness, it lasted almost 90 minutes; most gaming laptops we test last under an hour.
Conclusion
HP's Omen is great-looking and well made with some cracking aesthetic features, good speakers and surprisingly long battery life. However, it also gets hot and it lacks the gaming power needed to play current games at top settings. The Omen's faults are also harder to swallow because of its comparatively high price - a cheaper version with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD is available for £1,299, but it will still get hot and have similar gaming performance. Other laptops deliver similar gaming power for less cash, such as the £999 MSI CE72 with its GeForce GTX 960M. You're undoubtedly paying a premium for the build quality and aesthetic perks, which isn’t necessarily bad - it definitely looks classier and more striking than many gaming laptops; it’s just a shame its gaming performance can’t match its dashing looks. MIKE JENNINGS
VERDICT
Good-looking and well built, but it's also pricey and lacks the gaming power of cheaper rivals.
SPECIFICATIONS
CPU 2.5GHz Intel Core i7-4710HQ
Memory 16GB DDR3
Graphics Nvidia GeForce GTX860M
Screen size 15.6in 1,920x1,080
Storage 512GB Samsung XP941SSD
Weight 2.1kg
Ports 4 x USB 3, HDMI, mini-DisplayPort, SDXC card slot, 2 x audio
Dimensions (mm) 380 x 245 x 19.9 (WxDxH)
Extras Windows 8.1 64-bit
Warranty One year parts and labour, return to base