HP Launches 15.6-Inch 'Omen' Gaming Laptop at $1,499

HP on Tuesday has introduced a Windows 8.1-based gaming laptop, dubbed HP Omen, at a starting price of $1,499 (approximately Rs. 91,900).

"Gamers play to win and expect their PCs to do the same," said Mike Nash, Vice President, Product Management, Consumer Personal Systems, HP, in a statement, adding, "The HP Omen delivers the power to dominate with a stunning design to give gamers the ultimate gaming experience."

Designed for gamers, HP Omen laptop sports a fourth-generation Intel Core i7-4710HQ processor (4 cores, 8 threads, 2.5GHz base clock, turbo up to 3.5GHz, 6MB cache) with Hyper-Threading and Intel HD Graphics 4600. Dedicated graphics come in the form of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M, and a choice of either 2048MB or 4096MB dedicated video memory.

Upfront, the HP Omen bears a 15.6-inch full-HD (1920x1080 pixels) IPS touch screen, dual front-facing Beats Audio speakers with multicolour lighting, an extra wide touchpad, and HP TrueVision full-HD web camera. The keyboard on the HP Omen is a customizable RGB-backlit (seven zones of multicolour lighting) keyboard with key spacing and travel optimised for gaming, as well as six programmable function keys.

Users can choose from 8GB and 16GB 1600MHz of DDR3 RAM. The laptop comes with a 128GB SATA SSD, and users can also add a 256GB or 512GB PCIe SSD. Built out of anodised aluminium, the HP Omen weighs 2.12kg, and is 19.9mm thick. HP says that with its 58 Watt hour 4-cell Li-Ion battery, the Omen can last up to 4.45 hours.

The company is also touting the fan design of the HP Omen laptop, saying hot air is kept away from the keyboard with dual fans that shunt air to the rear of the machine. The company adds that the rubber feet were also designed to channel cool air into the inlets and prevent hot air from recirculating back in.

The name Omen reminds us of Voodoo's gaming PC tower from 2008, a company that was acquired by HP, and was later shut down. With the new HP Omen gaming notebook PC, the company is likely to face competition from establish players like Alienware, MSI, and Razer in the same space.

The HP Omen is already available for sale in the US, and company has also announced the Omen Gaming Mouse X9000 at a starting price of $59.99 (approximately Rs. 3,600) and Omen Gaming Backpack at a starting price of $79.99 (approximately Rs. 4,800). Both the accessories according to HP will be made available in the US in November.