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What is money? That’s usually the logic
of people looking to buy top or even
high-spec gaming laptops. If you can
blow hundreds of thousands of pesos on a
high-end gaming laptop, chances are a
few thousand pesos doesn’t really make a
difference for you anymore. Like, let’s
say 250 to 245,000.
That amount of money, it’s not a big
deal for you. But what if I told you
that you can splurge and still save a
bit of money, not just a few thousands?
That’s what I thought when we got our
hands on the HP Omen Max 16. It comes
with all of the things you want in a
topsp spec gaming laptop. 16in 240 Hz
display, an RTX 5080 GPU, an Intel Core
Ultra 9 CPU, and a lot of RGB. All that
for an SRP of 229,990
pesos. Yes, for most that’s a lot of
money. But the more important question
is this. Can the HP Omen Max 16 sway
buyers away from more popular gaming
laptop brands with its a bit more
affordable value? Well, I’m from Yugate
and let’s find out in this review.
All right, first and foremost, let’s
talk about the design of the Omen Mac
16. When the laptop is closed like this,
you wouldn’t really think it’s a gaming
laptop. No overly exciting design
features here, apart from the small
number 16 above one of the exhaust
vents. The matte black lid features a
minimalist design with just the gloss
Omen logo at the center. Even when you
open it up, there’s not a lot of crazy
gaming cues here. Again, there’s the
number 16 featured at the bottom right
corner of the base. It certainly reminds
me of Alienware laptops with how minimal
the design is. Style is subjective, but
I personally like this minimalist
approach HP went for the Omen Max 16.
But what do you guys think? So, while
the aesthetics might not be for
everyone, it does feel premium given the
aluminum base and lid. Because of this
metal build, the laptop is quite heavy,
weighing 2.75 kg. It’s also big and
bulky, still measuring almost 1 in thick
when closed. This means it’s not exactly
the easiest laptop to bring around. The
trade-off with the bulky body is that
you have a bunch of ports at your
disposal. Majority of them are neatly
hidden at the back. Apart from two USBC
Thunderbolt 4 ports on the left and a
sole USBA port on the right.
Unfortunately, there is no SD or even a
micro SD card slot here. With that, you
will need to bring an adapter if you
plan on using this laptop for content
creation. It’s a bit disappointing
considering how much space is still
available on the sides or even the rear.
Open up the laptop and you have a
full-size keyboard. If you remember the
HP Omen Transcend 14 from last year, the
keys feel very similar, except this time
they’re in black. They’re properly
spaced out, too, making it easy to type.
It’s not the best feeling keyboard out
there, but hey, it works. More
importantly, they’re comfy for typing.
When gaming, you may want to bring a
gaming keyboard with you if you want a
more feel with the keys. But going back,
the letters and numbers together with
the edge of the keys are translucent to
let the RGB properly shine through. And
yes, you can set the RGB lighting to
however you want in the settings. As for
the trackpad, it’s slightly offset to
the left and the finish is similar to
that on the base. It’s ergonomic to use
and to the touch. No special functions
here though, but there is good palm
rejection. But again, if you’re plan on
gaming, I suggest you bring a mouse or
even a controller because you can’t
really game too much on a trackpad. Now,
moving on to the display. As mentioned
earlier, the Omen Max 16 features a
16inch panel with up to 240 Hz refresh
rate, 2K resolution, and 500 nits of
peak brightness. At first, I thought
this was an OLED panel, but it’s
actually an IPS panel. And yes, I know
that you’re going to say it, but this is
a great IPS panel all things considered.
The colors are surprisingly vivid, and
you do have good viewing angles. It’s
still not as visually immersive as
compared to an OLED display, but for
gaming, what’s more important is the
refresh rate. Its high refresh rate
helps a lot, especially when you’re
playing competitive games like Valerant.
Even on more graphic intensive titles
like Forza Horizon 5, you get to enjoy
super smooth gameplay on the screen.
When you’re not playing, users can enjoy
binge watching shows on this laptop.
It’s also more than adequate for editing
photos and videos, as I found out. Out
of the box, the colors are relatively
accurate when compared to my monitor and
even my phone. As for the speakers,
they’re tuned by HyperX, giving users a
great sound stage. They’re also loud,
making it a viable option to play
without using earphones. However,
they’re geared more towards gaming as
compared to audio listening. They’re a
bit more on the bassy side, but still
overall decent for listening to music.
Still, I would recommend using earphones
when gaming for the best immersive
experience. Now, let’s talk performance.
Our review unit of the Omen Max 16 runs
on the Intel Core Ultra 9 chip paired
with 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB of SSD
storage. If you find the RAM and SSD
lacking, these are upgradeable. You just
need to open the back. This being an
Omen laptop, you also have the Omen
gaming hub at your disposal to switch
modes. I always set it to unleash mode
to give me the maximum performance all
the time. You can even manually
overclock and adjust the settings to
your liking. As you would expect, it can
run anything and everything you throw at
it. Even if you run games maxed out
together with other heavy applications
like Lightroom and Adobe Premiere, there
won’t be any issues. In fact, you will
still have steady FPS all throughout,
even when running these apps
simultaneously. Like I mentioned
earlier, this was done using unleash
mode, but even when you’re just in
performance mode, you can run most
graphic intensive titles without issues.
Of course, you do have unleash mode, so
why not use it? But do note that the
laptop will need to be plugged in in
order to use this mode. For reference, I
mostly played Forza Horizon 5 on this
laptop along with the shooter ready or
not. Both games had their graphics
settings maxed out and they had no
issues whatsoever. On Forza, I didn’t
have the usual stutter or frame rate
drops when playing custom maps with
heavy loads and multiple players. Of
course, you can expect the same when
playing lighter games like Valerant,
Genshin, or even ZZ. This means you no
longer need to adjust the graphics
settings lower in order to have
consistent high frame rates when
playing. As a result, a better visual
experience without the need to sacrifice
frame rates. We also ran our usual
benchmarks and as we expected they had
high scores throughout. You can check
them out on screen right now.
[Music]
There’s no doubting the performance of
the Omen Mac 16. However, the battery
isn’t the best as expected with most
gaming laptops. It packs an 83Wh lithium
ion polymer battery pack. However, the
laptop is still quite power hungry.
After just 30 minutes of unplugged play
time with Tekken 8, the battery went
down from 100% to just 60%. For
reference, we were connected to Wi-Fi
and the screen brightness was maxed out.
We were also in performance mode as
well. The battery does run longer when
you’re in eco mode, have the RGB turned
off, and not playing games. That means
you can actually get some productivity
work done. Now, speaking of charging,
you can charge this laptop via the
Thunderbolt 4 port on the side. It’s a
slower charge though, and you will need
a higher wattage brick and cable to do
so. But still, it’s better than bringing
the 330 W charger around, which is heavy
and bulky. In fact, you can already
consider it a deadly weapon if we use it
to hit someone on the head. It’s that
big. Overall, the HP Omen Max 16 is a
great gaming laptop for the price of
229,990
pesos. It’s not perfect. In fact, it’s
far from it. For starters, it’s not
exactly the easiest laptop to bring
around. The specific variant of the Omen
Max 16 also uses an IPS display only.
The OLED version is a bit more
expensive, but it is available. But for
the performance you get, it is very much
bang for your buck. Still, at this price
point, you will have a lot of options at
your disposal. More importantly, if
you’re looking at this segment of gaming
laptops, I’m sure you can easily stretch
your budget by 20 to 40,000 pesos or
even more. If you want a more powerful
gaming laptop or even one with an OLED
display again, for those of you who have
the budget, what is money? But if you
want to save a bit, you can’t go wrong
with the HP Omen Max 16. Still, what do
you guys think of the HP Omen Max 16?
Would you consider it your next topsp
spec gaming laptop or would you get
something else? Whatever the case, share
your thoughts in the comment section
down below. And of course, if you
enjoyed this video, please do drop a
like and subscribe to watch more. Don’t
forget to follow us on our social media
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X, and Tik Tok. And of course, visit
you.com for the latest tech news and
reviews. Once again, this has been I’ll
see you guys next time. Bye.
Also, this thing’s heavy.
⚠️ This transcription is auto-generated from YouTube captions. Some text may not be 100% accurate.
Ever looked at a gaming laptop’s price tag and thought, ‘What’s a few thousand pesos more?’ We get it. When you’re already splurging on top-tier specs, that extra amount can feel like pocket change.
But what if we told you there’s a machine that lets you go all out while actually keeping some cash in your wallet? That’s the exact question that popped into our heads when we unboxed the HP Omen Max 16.
This isn’t just another premium gaming laptop. It’s packing a serious punch with specs that make any gamer drool, all wrapped in a surprisingly sleek package.
But the real kicker? Its price point makes you do a double-take compared to the usual suspects from brands like Alienware or ROG.
In our latest video review, we put this intriguing contender through its paces. Does its more ‘affordable’ premium price mean it cuts corners, or has HP crafted a secret weapon that can sway loyal fans of other brands? We dive deep into its performance, that minimalist design that’s either genius or boring, and whether it truly delivers value for your hard-earned money.
If you’ve ever debated between blowing your budget on a known flagship or taking a chance on a potentially smarter splurge, you’ll want to see what we discovered.
What You’ll See in This Video
- A powerhouse combo of an Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU and an NVIDIA RTX 5080 GPU, ready to crush any game you throw at it.
- Features a stunning 16-inch display with a super-smooth 240Hz refresh rate for buttery visuals.
- Boasts a surprisingly minimalist and premium design that ditches the typical ‘gamer’ aesthetic for something more sophisticated.
- Comes with an SRP of PHP 229,990, positioning it as a potentially more value-packed option against established rivals.
- We test if its performance and build can truly compete with more popular gaming laptop brands in the Philippine market.
Ready to see if the HP Omen Max 16 is the smart splurge you’ve been waiting for, or if you should stick to the usual brands? Watch our full, in-depth review on YouTube to get all the details before you make that big decision!
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the HP Omen Max 16 available in the Philippines?
Yes, it is. The model we reviewed carries a suggested retail price (SRP) of PHP 229,990 and should be available through HP’s official channels and authorized retailers.
How does the price compare to similar specced laptops from ASUS ROG or Alienware?
That’s exactly what we explore in the video. The Omen Max 16’s price is positioned to be competitive, often coming in a bit lower than direct competitors with similar top-shelf specs like the RTX 5080. Watch to see if that price difference translates to good value.
Is the design really that plain for a gaming laptop?
It adopts a minimalist approach. Think sleek matte black, a subtle logo, and clean lines instead of aggressive angles and flashy decals. Whether that’s a pro or a con depends on your taste. We show you plenty of close-up shots in the video so you can judge for yourself.
Can it handle the latest AAA games at high settings?
On paper, with an RTX 5080 and Core Ultra 9 processor, it absolutely should. In our video, we don’t just list specs. We put it to the test so you can see real-world performance and frame rates.
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