HP Omen 15 DH0138TX Laptop Review (2019)

HP upgraded its 2019 Omen series with 9th generation intel processors, RTX graphics, and some splendid design improvements. What makes Omen 15 interesting are its impressive set of specs and 144Hz refresh rate display that are offered at a very reasonable and competitive price. (HP Omen 15 Review हिंदी में पढ़िए)

In India, the HP Omen 15 will serve as an alternative to Asus laptops like ROG Strix SCAR III and ROG Zephyrus M – gaming laptops that are relatively slim and light. Is this the laptop you should buy if you are upgrading from the entry-grade gaming segment? We will try and answer that in our detailed HP Omen 15 review. 

HP Omen 15 (2019) India Price and Specs

HP Omen 15 Review: Design and Build

HP Omen 15 (2019) is not high on steroids but is subtle and still delivers on what gaming enthusiasts are looking for. HP has toned down the flashy elements and has opted for an understated look, but the primarily-metallic construction and angled edges clearly lend it the bravado befitting a gaming beast.

The tribal mask OMEN logo on the lid isn’t RGB, but looks classy and so does the two-tone brushed metal finish. On the inside, the brushed metal finish is still prominent. Apart from the red marking on the power button, the design is minimal and this should ensure that the laptop isn’t limited in its appeal to hardcore gamers. 

The new Omen 15 is quite slim and light for a gaming machine, but that would have mattered more if HP had also managed to keep it thermally efficient (more on that later). The angled exhaust vents on either side of the hinge further make the Omen 15 look robust. 

The hinges are situated towards the center leaving gaps towards the left and right edge. To an extent, this clever design dampens the impact of the beefy bottom bezel. The lid part has a slight wobble, but otherwise, the Omen 15 feels remarkably sturdy. HP also ensured that users can conveniently unscrew the bottom panel and access HDD, SSD, and RAM when they need to upgrade. 

HP Omen 15 Review: Display and Audio

The Omen 15 has a 15.6-inch matte finish display with Full HD+ resolution. The display is light on eyes, has wide viewing angles, and can go up to 300Nits bright. The display is sharp enough for gamers to catch fine details while engaged in high-end games and has high refresh rates (144Hz) to support smooth graphics, especially in FPS games. The white point seems close to neutral but Colors are not very vibrant. HP claims 72% RGB gamut coverage, so content creators might have to rely on an additional monitor. 

Bezels around the screen aren’t ultra-slim, but they are narrow enough to not be distracting. HP also manages to house the webcam up top.  

Omen 15 integrates Bang and Olufsen tuned speakers that output fairly impressive, crisp audio. The dual speakers can get loud enough for media consumption in a quiet environment but feel inadequate during gaming when fans are roaring out loud. 

HP Omen 15 Review: Keyboard, Trackpad, I/0

On Omen 15 (2019), you get a full RGB Backlit chiclet keyboard. You may customize the four lighting zones from the OMEN control center and highlight the WSAD keys (no per-key customization). The keys are firm and responsive and have decent travel. 26-Key Rollover ensures all aggressively punched keys are registered while gaming.

With a full-sized keyboard on a 15.6-inch display machine, things initially felt a bit cramped, but the key sizing and spacing are surprisingly good. We got used to the keyboard in no time and have been using it for hardcore typing during the course of this review. The short arrow keys can still be a pain, though. 

The precision trackpad at the bottom is an improvement over the last generation model, but a dedicated mouse is what most of us would still use for gaming and productive work.

The Omen 15 also has a full set of Input-Output ports and all of them are positioned on the side edges where they are easily accessible. On the left edge, you will find a charging port, RJ-45 LAN port, a mini display port, a USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C Thunderbolt 3 port that can fast charge all my USB PD enabled phones, an audio jack, HDMI Input, and two USB 3.1 ports. On the right edge, you will find a full-size SD card slot and a third USB 3.0 port. There’s nothing to complain about. 

HP Omen 15 Review: Performance and gaming

Omen 15 is powered by the powerful Intel Core i7- 9750h processor paired with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (Max Q Design with 8GB GDDR6 dedicated), 16GB LPDDR4 RAM and 1TB SATA HDD (7200 rpm) + 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD. 

As the specs read, this is powerful hardware for content creators and gamers. We occasionally dabble with Adobe creative suite and everything was quite snappy. The laptop works excellent with regular use and with aggressive multitasking.

The Omen 15 scored 22780 on Geekbench 4.3 overall compute performance, 18690 on 3DMark Fire strike, 5808 on Unigine Heaven 3.0, 4589 on Unigine heaven 4.0, and 4430 on Unigine Superposition. 

Gaming was pretty smooth on the Omen 15. At maximum settings, Rise of Tomb Raider clocked 51fps, Far cry 5 106fps, GTA 5 ran at 57fps, and PUBG could touch 106fps.

In spite of the Omen Tempest Cooling Technology that involves the use of big fans and 5-way cooling system, the laptop gets extremely hot with just 20 to 30 minutes of intensive gaming, and thanks to the aluminum casing you really feel that heat on the keyboard and on the handrest. 

We could bring the temperature down rather quickly by switching the fan speed from ‘Auto’ to ‘Max’. And in spite of the Omen control center showing ominous heat, we didn’t face any lag or notice any frame drops in most games we played. So, the heat didn’t come much in the way of our gaming.

Nevertheless, gaming on the Omen 15 was quite fun and that can primarily be attributed to the responsive high refresh rate screen. We’d advise you to invest in a decent cooling pad. 

HP Omen 15 Review: Battery

Since this is a gaming laptop, we didn’t expect much in terms of battery life going into this review. The Omen 15 lasts for around 2.5 hours with light office work – which is certainly below the current average for gaming laptops. The display refresh rate remains 144Hz when you disconnect the charging adaptor. Manually setting the display to 60Hz should improve battery mileage. 

The 200W AC adapter takes around 2.5 to 3 hours to fully charge the battery. 

HP Omen 15 Review: Verdict

There’s a lot to like about the new Omen 15. We totally agree with HP’s design choices here and the use of a bright display, convenient keyboard and high-quality speakers further help improve the overall experience. 

On the downside, the battery backup is below average and the laptop gets hot rather quickly – which could be a problem considering the high-end price. 

We can make out that HP has been keeping its ears to the ground and has improved quite a few aspects in the new generation models. If you already have a previous generation Omen laptop, you will surely enjoy the Omen 15 upgrade. For now, we can see content creators looking for high horsepower and gamers considering this as an option.

Pros

• Smooth gaming performance on medium settings
• Excellent built
• USB Type-C charging
• Decent battery life

Cons

• Thermal throttling under stress