If you prioritize a balance between cost and performance for general use or gaming, the HP Omen 16 stands out as the more budget-friendly option with satisfactory capabilities. The HP Omen 17, while more expensive, offers higher-end features such as a better display and more powerful graphics ideal for intensive 3D, machine learning, or engineering tasks. It's heavier though, making it less portable. If your uses are more casual or you travel frequently, the Omen 16 may better suit your needs. However, if superior performance for specialized tasks is crucial and you don't mind the higher cost and lower portability, consider the Omen 17. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the HP Omen 16
Good battery life
Advantages of the HP Omen 17
Excellent for gaming and AI
Very good for content creation
Key differences
Gaming and AI
8.0/10
9.0/10
8.5/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.8/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
165Hz
REFRESH RATE
165Hz
Yes
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
Yes
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
7.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
7.0/10
The HP Omen 17 is excellent for gaming and AI, while the HP Omen 16 is very good.
PerfectRec’s Gaming and AI Score strongly emphasizes graphics processing capability, while also taking into account other factors that impact suitability for gaming and AI work.
Screen Quality
7.6/10
7.9/10
16.1in
SIZE
17.3in
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
165Hz
REFRESH RATE
165Hz
338.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
350.0 nits
The HP Omen 17 has a better screen than the HP Omen 16 for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, and software development.
The HP Omen 16's screen offers a balanced resolution and brightness, making it suitable for daily tasks such as browsing and watching videos, which satisfies general use requirements. For engineering and design, this screen provides a decent color range, catering to professionals who need to work with precise hues but may fall short for those requiring the highest color accuracy. In contrast, the HP Omen 17 delivers higher resolution and brightness, enhancing visual clarity for everyday activities, and a wider color gamut, better serving engineers and designers, but both laptops lack high refresh rates, diminishing the experience for gaming and 3D applications where smooth motion is critical.
Battery
6.0 Hours
3.5 Hours
The HP Omen 16 has 6 hours of battery life. The HP Omen 17 has 3.5 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Fair
Fair
16.1in
SIZE
17.3in
5.4 lbs
WEIGHT
6.1 lbs
0.9in
THICKNESS
1.0in
The HP Omen 16 and HP Omen 17 both have only fair portability, though the HP Omen 16 has somewhat better portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Cost
$1,100
$2,099
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
$3,500
The HP Omen 16 has a price of $1,100 and the HP Omen 17 costs $2,099.
The HP Omen 17 and HP Omen 16 are both good for general use.
PerfectRec’s General Use Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for general productivity, web browsing, streaming, video calls, and running a wide variety of apps and programs.
Engineering and Design
8.4/10
8.8/10
9.6/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.6/10
8.5/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.8/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The HP Omen 17 and HP Omen 16 are both very good for engineering and design.
The HP Omen 16 and HP Omen 17 both excel in engineering and design due to their powerful CPUs and GPUs, sufficient RAM for complex tasks, and high-quality IPS displays with good resolution and color accuracy. While both are similar in these key aspects, the Omen 17 has a larger, higher-resolution screen for detailed design work and a more powerful GPU for demanding engineering simulations; however, it is less portable and slightly noisier than the Omen 16, which may be a more balanced choice for users who need to move around more often.
Content Creation
7.8/10
8.0/10
9.6/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.6/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
Although they have very similar scores, PerfectRec considers HP Omen 17 to be very good for content creation, while the HP Omen 16 is good.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
7.6/10
7.7/10
9.6/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.6/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
8.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
The HP Omen 17 and HP Omen 16 are both good for software development.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
Build Quality
7.4/10
7.4/10
The HP Omen 16 and HP Omen 17 both have good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Give feedback
We’re constantly working to improve.
How the HP Omen 16 and the HP Omen 17 compare to other laptops
"The Omen 16 has proven to be a fairly good mid-range gaming laptop with all-around improvements compared to the Omen 15. The high overall performance level across all use cases, the long battery life, and the good FHD display constitute the main advantages of this HP laptop. The main drawbacks are the faulty touchpad (one-off?) and the high latencies that can be observed even after just opening the browser. Furthermore, the useless, preinstalled 30-day trial versions of various software also fall under the category "unnecessary"."
"The HP Omen 17 (2022) gaming laptop has a stylish case and hardware with lots of potential. The HP Omen 17 is a fairly unobtrusive gaming laptop. A material combination of plastic and metal gives the case a high stability and a quality surface feel. The unspectacular design is pleasing and is hardly indicative of the laptop's high performance potential. The Intel Core i7-12700H in particular is able to perform well once again. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is also strong in the gaming notebook. Demanding games run smoothly in Full HD resolution. The HP Omen 17 is a good gaming laptop that delivers partly excellent performance. But even at this performance level, cheaper alternatives are available."
Get a great deal on the HP Omen 16 or the HP Omen 17
About HP
HP, also known as Hewlett-Packard, is an American technology company that develops personal computers and computer peripherals. In the laptop industry, HP is known for its entry level Essential series laptops, its mid-range Pavilion, Envy, and Victus series, and high-end Omen and Spectre series, in addition to its business-oriented EliteBook, ProBook, and Dragonfly series laptops. HP laptops generally undercut other mainstream competitors in terms of price, placing itself as the value-oriented mainstream brand.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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Joe Golden, Ph.D
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Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
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Staff Expert & Software Engineer
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Craig is a UK-based laptops expert. Craig works in IT, where he recommends and supports laptops and PCs for clients and has been recommending laptops on Reddit for five years.