For a balance of performance and portability, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" is a strong choice with its midrange price, excellent battery life, and a high-quality touchscreen display with pen support, making it ideal for general use and light engineering tasks. Its compact size and lightweight design enhance portability, though it lacks the raw power of the HP Omen 17.
The HP Omen 17, on the other hand, is designed for high-performance tasks and gaming with its upper midrange price, powerful processor, and high-end graphics card, which are essential for intensive gaming, 3D rendering, and machine learning tasks. It has a larger, higher-resolution screen with a faster refresh rate, suitable for fast-motion content and engineering work that benefits from more screen real estate. However, its larger size and weight make it less portable, and it has a shorter battery life compared to the Surface Laptop.
If you prioritize performance for demanding applications and gaming over portability and battery life, the HP Omen 17 is the way to go. Conversely, if you value a lightweight, long-lasting device for everyday tasks and some light professional work, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" would be more suitable. 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 17
Very good for engineering and design
Excellent for gaming and AI
Very good for content creation
Very good keyboard
Advantages of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5"
Very good portability
Good battery life
Key differences
Gaming and AI
9.0/10
6.6/10
9.8/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
4.2/10
2560 x 1440
RESOLUTION
2256 x 1504
165Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
Yes
SUPPORTS DLSS
No
Yes
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
No
7.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
8.0/10
The HP Omen 17 is excellent for gaming and AI, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" is only fair.
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.
Engineering and Design
8.8/10
7.7/10
9.6/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.5/10
9.8/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
4.2/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The HP Omen 17 is very good for engineering and design, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" is good.
PerfectRec’s Engineering and Design Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for graphic design and 3D rendering work.
Screen Quality
7.9/10
7.8/10
17.3in
SIZE
13.5in
2560 x 1440
RESOLUTION
2256 x 1504
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
165Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
350.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
400.0 nits
The HP Omen 17 has a better screen than the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" for gaming and AI, and content creation, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" has a better screen for engineering and design.
PerfectRec’s screen quality scores take into account various important factors that are relevant for different use cases.
Battery
3.5 Hours
9.0 Hours
The HP Omen 17 has 3.5 hours of battery life. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" has 9 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
Very Good
17.3in
SIZE
13.5in
6.1 lbs
WEIGHT
3.0 lbs
1.0in
THICKNESS
0.6in
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" has very good portability, while the HP Omen 17 has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Cost
$1,700
$1,200
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
The HP Omen 17 has a price of $1,700 and the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" costs $1,200.
The HP Omen 17 and Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" 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.
Content Creation
8.0/10
7.7/10
9.6/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.5/10
2560 x 1440
RESOLUTION
2256 x 1504
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 Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" 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
7.7/10
7.7/10
9.6/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.5/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
2560 x 1440
RESOLUTION
2256 x 1504
8.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
7.0/10
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" and HP Omen 17 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 17 and Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" 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 17 and the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" compare to other laptops
"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 17 or the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5"
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.
About Microsoft
Microsoft is an American technology corporation. Microsoft is best known for their Windows operating system and Surface laptop series. The Surface Laptop is their standard notebook offering, while their Surface Go, Surface Pro, and Surface Studio are their 2-in-1/tablet offerings in order of increasing capability. Although Microsoft charges a premium price tag for their laptops, buyers can expect a well integrated and packaged device since Microsoft develops the Windows operating system.
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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About the laptop team
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
Chandradeep is a staff expert and software engineer and expert in televisions and monitors. He’s been making monitor recommendations for ten years.
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Laptops Expert
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.