Summary:
HP OMEN 15-AX250WM is a budget-friendly gaming beast by HP that gives a tough competition to any other major gaming brands (preferably the affordable laptops). Considering the refresh rate, design (especially the size), and many other aspects or highlights (discussed in the review down below), HP OMEN 15-AX250WM sounds a quite a good option for a gaming enthusiast.
Introduction:
A gaming laptop market with each passing day is getting competitive with all the major brands (like MSI, Alienware, HP, razor, etc.) launching new and unique gaming laptops in the market. The thing with gaming laptops is that either they can turn out to be really good or really bad from the perspective of a gamer. Moreover, there are fewer chances of a laptop being positioned in the middle. And one such laptop is HP OMEN 15 (2018).
HP released the first Omen laptop 15 in 2015 that turned out to be really good. Talking about the latest one by HP in 2018, it also stood out in the crowd with its new aggressive design, impressive 144 Hz display connectivity, and performance. The thing which attracts the customers to a considerable extent is the pricing that is quite affordale for the base variant. Moreover, due to its lesser price, it has some shortcomings, like average speakers and body which is made more of a plastic.
And hence, before you make up your mind to purchase this laptop, it would be a convenient deal to go through this detailed review of the HP OMEN 15. This review will help you in making your final call (before investing) and get to understand more about the laptop.
Before we get into the detailed review, we have got the HP OMEN 15 laptop’s pros and cons in order to give an idea of the overall performance of the laptop.
Pros:
- Display: A great display with good color accuracy and nice viewing angles.
- Pricing: Really Convenient as a Gaming laptop.
- Connectivity: There are no compromises made; all the ports are included.
- Thermals: Great thermals that deliver a great performance.
Cons:
- The material used: Although the design is pretty impressive, the plastic body disappoints a bit.
- Speakers: The audio output of the device is not that crisp.
The Bottom Line:
The HP OMEN 15 is a perfect laptop, especially for a game without any major shortcomings when it comes to its performance. The only downside of this laptop is the material used for the overall body that is primarily plastic and lesser aluminum. But considering its other specs and features, for example, the price tag, battery life, 1TB Hard Drive, connectivity options, 12GB RAM, display, etc. This is less of a downside for those who are focused more on gaming rather than the aesthetics of the device.
Let’s get started (and have a deep look into the specs and features) with an in-depth review of HP OMEN 15-AX250WM:
A Detailed Review of HP OMEN 15-AX250WM (2018):
Design: The design of the HP OMEN 15 (model name 15-AX250WM) 2018, in terms of design and aesthetics, brings out a major change when compared to its own models of 2016 and 2017.
The design is aggressive, which is very common in gaming laptops with the head Omen design on the outside. The upper part of the outside is divided into 4-triangular parts – two of them resemble a carbon fiber look whereas the rest two are of aluminum. The size of this new beast is again a nice improvement as it has drawn a smaller sized design without compromising the screen size. The screen is attached to the body with two hinges.
The overall HP OMEN 15-AX250WM laptop has a plastic body which is convenient considering the price tag.D
Display: The Full HD 15.6-inch display of the HP OMEN 15-AX250WM has turned out to be quite impressive which comes with a matte coating. First of all, due to the new smaller size, HP has managed to fit this 15.6-inch screen by implementing a smaller bezel design that gives the overall laptop a modern look. The base variant comes with a 60 Hz refresh rate that can go up to $1400 for the higher spec model. Since this laptop has a 60 Hz refresh rate; you can play any AAA title without any compromises unless you compare it with the other laptop’s display, with a higher refresh rate.
The color accuracy has also turned out to be very good along with the peak brightness of 250 nits. And hence, with all these specs the display turns out to be one of the best features of the laptop.
Battery: The battery department in most of the gaming laptops is a downside and the HP OMEN 15-AX250WM laptop is no different. Although the battery capacity is about 70 Watt-hour (with the Li-ion polymer technology), it is quite okay. Moreover, in real-world usage, the battery delivers a screen on time of around 5 hours.
The battery could have been bigger, and due to the smaller size, HP had to go with a comparatively smaller battery. Moreover, there is no need to worry about it, considering anyone rarely takes their gaming laptop out for official works, etc. Most of the gaming laptops are kept or used within the premises. Using the laptop, especially for gaming, means you’ll have a constant power supply that covers up the fact that it has a smaller battery.
Thermals: The thermals of a gaming laptop are one of the most important aspects because having a good thermal system means you’ll be able to get better performance out of your Device. This HP OMEN 15-AX250WM laptop has two medium sized fans in the lower part of the laptop which works completely fine in terms of great management.
The device gets a little heated up, but that doesn’t seem to make any performance-based issue. One thing which has been noticed is that the thermals of the device create a considerable amount of noise which is even audible when you are not doing a heavy task; this might be a software issue and might go away with a software update.
Hardware: Being a gaming laptop, the HP OMEN 15-AX250WM houses a Core i7-7700HQ QC Processor, which obviously is not one of the latest generations, but it’s also no step behind that.
Talking about the delivery of graphics that is the graphics card it comes with is the NVIDIA GTX 1050Ti 4GB Graphics Card. There is also an option for better ones, but that’ll cost as high as $1100. The NVIDIA GTX 1050Ti is the same which is used in ASUS ROG Strix GL553VE, but the performance has no significant differences.
The device has 12GB RAM that can be boosted up to 32GB according to your needs. In terms of storage, this base variant comes with 1TB Hard Drive, which doesn’t sound great, but in reality, it’s a 7200 RPM one which is better as compared to the 5400 RPM ones you get in other laptops.
The highest spec model of the Laptop rocks a 512 GB SSD along with the HDD to take the speed one step further. Now, that is something to look out for in a gaming laptop where a gamer prefers a smooth and speedy experience from the device he is playing on.
Keyboard and touchpad: There is nothing much to say in this department; the keys are soft along with RGB backlighting under the keyboard which you can control. The keyboard is a full sized one that means it comes with a numeric pad too. The trackpad of the device is a bit unsatisfying due to the lack of Windows precision drivers.
Moreover, don’t get me wrong as the overall usability of the trackpad is completely okay, but sometimes it misses out the gestures. It could have been better with Windows precision drivers.
Connectivity: There is no issue in terms of connectivity. With USB ports, USB A ports, a modern Thunderbolt 3 port for far data transfer, a display port this laptop lets you have multiple displays at the same time.
All of these are on the backside of the Laptop. Some other ports like the Audio jack port and the SD card slot are on the sides of the laptop. The SD card slot enhances the usability of the device as it can be used by content creators too. So, you can see it comes with a fully fledged connectivity.
Audio output: The audio output, though of this laptop is a bit underwhelming; the speakers are placed on the back side of the laptop’s body. Although the Audio output is loud, the sound lacks clarity and sharpness which is one of the downsides of this laptop apart from the plastic design.
Price: Considering all of the specs discussed in this review, HP has been great with the pricing of this gaming laptop. In a market which is dominated by brands like a razor, MSI, etc. HP had to do something else to stand out, and HP did that in the department of pricing.
Keeping the laptop this affordable make is a great deal for those who are looking for a powerful gaming laptop. HP kept the price very competitive; if you research into the market, you’ll find the Razer Blade Stealth RZ09-01963E31-R3U1 Ultrabook comes with the same set of features but with a price range which is almost double.
And hence, HP OMEN 15-AX250WM laptop justifies its price tag due to its performance rich features and hardware. Please check the exact price here…
Conclusion:
Concluding the review, HP OMEN 15-AX250WM is a great value for money laptop. Considering its price, it delivers great performance. It is equipped with high-tech specs along with longer battery life. We highly recommend this laptop for those who are looking for a powerful gaming laptop, as it has a small size and sells for affordable price only.