Well, well, well, it’s the first day of CES 2025, and all the new tech from a cute robot dog to giant OLED TVs is bound to excite the geeks in most of us. Myself being a bit of a laptop nerd found something else a little extra intriguing: a new HP gaming laptop that can reverse fan directions to blow out dirt from its vents. Besides just that cool party trick, the HP Omen 16 Max also features an improved design, and powerful Intel and AMD chips, alongside NVIDIA’s next-gen graphics. Hence, let’s take a quick peek at the HP Omen 16 Max and its slightly toned-down vanilla sibling (HP Omen 16) alongside their features, detailed specifications, and availability.
HP Omen 16 and Omen 16 Max 2024 Overview
Design and Display
The 2024 edition of the Omen 16 lineup features a re-design look that seems cleaner and more minimal like their ‘Transcend’ laptops from last year. There’s an ‘OMEN’ logo on the lid alongside an ‘O16’ branding on the left side of its chassis. The ‘Max’ sibling has a subtle branding on the left and comes with a few other upgrades in terms of components and cooling.
And one of those upgrades is the display. While the vanilla Omen 16 goes to a very respectable 240Hz QHD+ IPS screen, the Max variant matches that with an OLED panel instead. That means deeper blacks, lower response times, and vibrant colors on top of all those crispy pixels and that super smooth refresh rate. Of course, lower-end variants with fewer pixels (WUXGA) and slightly slower speeds (144Hz and 165Hz) will also be available but we don’t have the exact details on configurations and pricing yet.
CPU and RTX 50 series GPU
The HP Omen 16 lineup houses both Intel and AMD chipsets that span several generations. On the Intel side, you can get Raptor Lake Refresh 14th gen chips, Intel Meteor Lake Core Ultra chips, and Intel Arrow Lake Core Ultra Series 2 ‘H’ chips while AMD options range from last gen 8000 series to the newer Ryzen AI Strix Point chipsets.
As for the graphics, you can kit up the Omen 16 with NVIDIA’s 40 and upcoming 50 series mobile GPUs. It will feature a variety of GPU options from the RTX 4060 to NVIDIA’s high-end ‘next-generation graphics’ (possibly the RTX 5080).
The Omen 16 Max takes this a step further by providing configurations with stronger CPU options like the Core Ultra 9 275HX and Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and exclusively RTX 50 graphics.
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To keep it all cool while running, there’s an additional heatpipe over the CPU and GPU, alongside a re-designed chassis, a large vapor chamber, and a special ‘hybrid cryo compound’ on the Max model. And of course, the fans can reverse course to change the direction of airflow. They probably help a lot too. HP’s Omen AI software also automatically offers the best presets for optimal performance in games using machine learning. With all that, the HP Omen 16, and especially the Omen 16 Max will surely be complete beasts at gaming.
Extras
The gaming machine will be available in either ‘Ceramic White’ or ‘Shadow Black’ color options and weighs 2.45 kg with a thickness of less than 3 cm. The Max version is actually even slimmer and lighter but that extra cooling tech should help compensate fine! There are two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the left with an audio jack while the back houses a power barrel, an ethernet jack, an HDMI, and a Type-A port with another USB-A on the right. The keyboard features per-key RGB alongside an optional Light Bar at the front as well.
HP Omen 16 and 16 Max (2025) Specifications:
- Dimensions and weight: 29.7mm thick, 2.45 kg
- Display:
- Omen 16: Up to 16.1″ WQXGA (2560×1600) IPS Panel, 240Hz
- Omen 16 Max: Up to 16.1″ WQXGA (2560×1600) OLED Panel, 240Hz
- Keyboard: Per key RGB, Numeric keypad, 26-key Rollover Anti-Ghosting Key technology
- Processor:
- Intel:
- Raptor Lake Refresh: Core i7-14650HX, Core i9-14900HX, Core 5 210H, Core 7 240H, Core 7 250H
- Arrow Lake: Core Ultra 5 225H, Core Ultra 7 255H, Core Ultra 9 285H, Core Ultra 7 255HX, Core Ultra 9 275HX
- AMD:
- Kracken Point: Ryzen AI 5 340, Ryzen AI 7 350, Ryzen AI 9 365
- Strix Point: Ryzen AI 9 HX 370
- Intel:
- Graphics:
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 series
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 series
- Memory: 32 GB DDR5-5600 MHz, 1 TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 SSD
HP Omen 16 (2025) Price in Nepal and Availability
The HP Omen 16 will start from USD 1600 while the Omen 16 Max has a price tag of USD 1700. These premium gaming laptops will be available starting March 2025. When they make it here, we expect the HP Omen 16 (2025) lineup price in Nepal to start from NPR 300,000.
HP Gaming Laptop
Price in the US (Official)
Price in Nepal (Expected)
Omen 16
Starts at USD 1,599
NPR 3,00,000
Omen 16 Max
Starts at USD 1,699
NPR 3,50,000
- Meanwhile, check out our impressions of the Legion Pro 7i (2024) with top-of-the-line specs here:
