HP Omen 15-dc1041nl: the gaming laptop with GeForce RTX 2060

Balanced hardware equipment characterizes this HP Omen family notebook, designed for gamers but based on a sober and elegant external design. Get more than adequate gaming power in Full HD resolution in the power reserve of the 6-core Intel Core i7 CPU for personal productivity uses

HP has a tradition among manufacturers of desktops and laptops that needs no introduction.

It has long been the world’s leading manufacturer and has recently sold this position to Lenovo with a small margin. Over the years, HP has followed the evolution of the market, transforming its range of notebooks adapting them to the different modes of notebook PC that have emerged. How not to mention, for example, the long range x360, a model that represents, like Lenovo’s Yoga proposals, a real reference in the category of 2-in-1 laptops.

Despite the image of a company dedicated to systems for professionals, HP offers a wide range of solutions aimed at the most passionate gamers. This is done with the Omen range, a name that comes from a company bought by HP in 2006 and that had in its DNA the development of gaming PC systems. Obviously we are talking about VooDooPC, a brand that HP no longer uses for its range of products and that, nevertheless, remains in the DNA of the American company with that of Omen.

The model analyzed here is a classic from the HP gaming range: Omen 15-dc1041nl is a laptop with a 15.6-inch screen, strong with hardware equipment capable of guaranteeing high performance with 3D games and high system reactivity with productivity programs. personal. All this seasoned with a design that, without a doubt, is aimed at the passionate player without appearing sticky or excessive in the graphic connotation and in the abundance of lighting sources. The price is not for all budgets: just under € 2,500 VAT included in the Italian market.

The two components at the center of this laptop are two known insights: the Intel Core i7-8750H processor is a classic among mid-to-high-end gaming notebooks, equipped with 6 cores and capable of managing up to 12 threads in parallel. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 video card is the entry proposal of the GeForce RTX family, equipped with support for ray tracing techniques: combined with a screen with a resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels, as we will see throughout the article, is capable of guaranteeing excellent behavior with the latest games.

The remaining hardware is a classic for a laptop in this category: Storage sees the mix between a 512 Gbyte SSD, with a PCI Express interface, and a 1 Tbyte mechanical hard drive. The result is good application performance and adequate storage space for your game library. The internal memory is 16 Gbytes of the DDR4-2667 type, a much more than adequate amount: HP has configured the laptop with a single 16 Gbyte capacity module, leaving a second slot free for later expansion but without taking full advantage of the Controller. of channels integrated in the processor.

This HP Omen is a notebook characterized by a very solid construction:

The black color of the surfaces dominates, intermingled with the red of the serigraphs and the Omen logo located on the back of the screen. The finish of this area has a texture reminiscent of carbon fiber, capable of giving a very defined image of a gaming product, but in our opinion without losing the elegance necessary to use it, even in contexts other than those typical of games. .

The keyboard has a good response to typing, assisted by a moderately large touchpad with two very different keys at the bottom. The keys are backlit, with colors that can be programmed through the Omen utility accessible from the operating system or by pressing the Omen button located at the top of the numeric keypad.

The range of communication ports is very rich: HP has provided a USB 3.0 Type-A on the left side, flanked by a headphone and microphone jack as well as an SD card reader; On the right side there is a second USB 3.0 Type A port and the connector for the power supply. On the back of the laptop, all the other communication ports: a third USB type A flanked by a type C, the connector for the Ethernet network card and two signals to connect external displays with HDMI formats and mini display port.

At the rear, two slots for the cooling system stand out on the sides. HP’s choice was to integrate two fans into the laptop that suck air from the bottom, blowing on the internal radiators to be blown out from behind, releasing heat into the environment. The cooling system operates quietly, capable of ensuring proper temperatures are maintained for both the CPU and GPU when these components are exploited at full load and remain almost inaudible while idle.

In the Prime 95 CPU stress test, we observed how the CPU clock frequency stabilizes at around 2,700 MHz, a value higher than this processor’s 2,200 MHz base clock. The CPU temperature has an initial peak, corresponding to the intervention of the Turbo Boost technology during the first seconds of the application’s execution, then stabilizes just above 70 ° C during the entire test execution time. Fans make themselves heard without getting too upset when the CPU is used to its full potential by exploiting all 12 threads 100%.

Similar dynamics for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 2060 GPU:

the two graphs show the clock frequency and the temperature trends of the video chip during the performance test with the Hitman game, from which a smooth behavior always arises. The cooling system is such that it maintains the temperature of the GPU around 70 ° C, and also leaves room for the clock frequencies that are positioned from 1,500 MHz to increase depending on the operational dynamics of the game.

Where this laptop does not stand out, but was somewhat expected, is in the autonomy of battery operation. In our two tests, the final results exceed 3 hours, enough to guarantee personal productivity away from an outlet, but not up to what can be obtained with more specialized laptops.

Taking into account the reference use objective of this product, in no case should it surprise us: autonomy with battery operation is certainly not the most important technical element of a laptop of this type, which must arise in terms of power. processing with personal productivity apps and games.

The Intel Core i7-8750H processor is an old acquaintance, adopted by many manufacturers of notebook gaming systems due to the combination of purchase cost and technical features. The presence of 6 cores and the possibility of processing up to 12 threads, thanks to HyperThreading technology, make it an ideal proposal for both games and personal productivity. Tests carried out confirm the general qualities of this CPU, an ideal choice for those who want to have a laptop capable of guaranteeing a quick and immediate response with all personal productivity applications.

The behavior of the storage subsystem is good, with a sequential read speed of 2.5GB / s and a write speed that falls to 2GB / s: these values ​​are more than adequate to guarantee a quick response to commands both in loading the different applications and in their use.

The video component is one of the key elements of a laptop intended for gamers: in this case, HP has chosen to use a proposed NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combined with 6 Gbyets of video memory, hardware that is attached to the display of 1920 × 1080 pixel resolution ensures that very high average frames per second is always maintained, even with the most complex games.

The general behavior of this notebook in native resolution is very valid:

We are not far from what has been achieved with other models equipped with a more powerful NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPU, thanks to this Full HD resolution, which is in all respects the ideal for a card with the power of GeForce RTX 2060.

The dynamics seen above is also confirmed with these 4 additional titles: it is observed that the frames per second averages are still more than adequate values ​​even with the highest quality settings, allowing the passionate user to guarantee leisure hours. The 15.6-inch panel has a vertical refresh rate of 144 Hz, a value that allows you to take full advantage of the computing power of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 video card even with vertical sync enabled.

We start, as usual, from analyzing the balance of RGB color components across the entire grayscale from black to white, in 10% steps. We see an overall balance of acceptable level, with only a slight lack of red but within absolutely normal parameters. The good thing is that the proportions are maintained throughout the gray scale, so we have a constant behavior of black to white, for all the intermediate tones.Detection of the gamma curve shows a behavior not strictly orthodox, with a progression of the tones not strictly correct: in fact, we see that the luminance of the midtones tends to be slightly higher than the reference, and then abruptly decreases in the highlights . . This is a behavior that does not singularly compromise the simple use of the content, but that can cause some headaches if you want to use the laptop for the production of photos or videos of some importance, even without wanting to reach professionalism.The monitor colorimeter measurements on this HP Omen 15 laptop provide very good feedback, with a well-extended range triangle that almost completely covers the reference and shows a good level of overall accuracy, albeit with slightly white ” cold “confirming what has already been seen in the analysis of RGB components.We have a summary of the behavior of this panel verifying the behavior in the field of color fidelity. We are faced with a monitor that cannot be formally defined perfectly, but that shows a general convincing behavior: the average delta E corresponds to the value of 2.48, and there are only a few samples that exceed the value of 3, or the limit per which the human eye can already perceive the difference between two colors. As stated, this is not a totally suitable monitor for professional activities, but it works very well with regard to the use of multimedia content and for the video game sector.

HP’s Omen 15 series is available in the Italian market with several different hardware configurations, including processor, video card, storage, and system memory. At the base, a robust and sober chassis in design, combining aluminum and plastic to offer a combination of the ability to withstand any impact and the quality of parts in direct contact, such as the keyboard. We really appreciate the aesthetic choice, based on a style that emphasizes the passionate gamer’s target audience but certainly doesn’t look bad using this laptop for more professional areas. Think, for example, of those looking for a powerful, robust, and easily transportable system for video editing: the Omen 15 range, in versions with more powerful processors and high-capacity storage, can figure in these usage scenarios.

The configuration analyzed on these pages is proposed at a price of around € 2,500, including VAT in the Italian market: it is an important figure, justified by a very complete provision between the processor, the video card, the system memory and the storage. This piece of hardware always ensures very high-speed performance with personal productivity applications, balancing everything with frames per second to ensure more than adequate fluency with 3D games. The combination of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 GPU and a screen with a resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels is a winning option: it allows you to guarantee high fps even with very high quality settings, for a final experience that only the player transmits to play and not having to choose a quality commitment that guarantees adequate fps.

The option to use a GeForce RTX family video card also allows you to take advantage of Ray Tracing techniques with compatible games. The native resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels can remain unchanged by activating support for Ray Tracing, balancing quality settings to cope with the increased workload of this rendering mode.

No problem when it comes to thermal dissipation: The system implemented by HP works with considerable efficiency, making you feel fully charged when using CPUs and GPUs but without reaching annoying peaks. The display has excellent quality, strong with a 144Hz panel refresh rate that represents a strong point for gamers, while battery life is the main limitation of this solution. Overall, therefore, the HP Omen 15 is a laptop that adapts well to the needs of gamers, while still maintaining that style that is part of HP’s tradition.