HP Omen 15 Review: affordable entry-level gamer with decent battery life

Omen is HP’s brand for 15.6 and 17.3-inch gaming notebooks, many of which we have already had in review in the past. Today’s Omen 15-dc1020ng is HP’s current 15.6-inch entry-level Omen device powered by a Core i5-9300H and a GeForce GTX 1650. A few weeks ago we had the more powerful Omen 15-dc1303ng SKU in review. Its main competitors are the Acer Nitro 5 AN515-54, Asus TUF FX505DT, Dell G5 15 5590, and Asus ROG GA502DU.
Given the similarities between today’s review unit and the recently reviewed Omen 15 laptop we are not going to cover case, connectivity, input devices, and speakers in this review. Those interested in these aspects can find further information in our extensive Omen 15-dc0001ng review.
Connectivity Inconsistencies
Various retailers list our review model as G-Sync compatible, a claim that is further corroborated by HP’s maintenance manual according to which our particular SKU is supposed to support G-Sync on both internal and external displays. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that our review unit’s display did in fact not support G-Sync at all.
Another inconsistency surrounds the device’s Thunderbolt 3 support, which is listed on HP’s official spec sheet. However, we have to once again disagree. According to the icon next to the USB Type-C port it only supports USB 3.2 Gen 1 but not Thunderbolt 3. This information can also be found in the Omen’s user manual, according to which the USB Type-C supports charging devices such as smartphones with the notebook turned off and is supposed to carry a DisplayPort signal (which requires a separate not included dongle).
SD Card Reader | |
average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs) | |
Average of class Gaming (19 - 202, n=82, last 2 years) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1303ng (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
Dell G5 15 5590 (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
maximum AS SSD Seq Read Test (1GB) | |
Average of class Gaming (25.8 - 269, n=82, last 2 years) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1303ng (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
Dell G5 15 5590 (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) |
Display
The Omen’s 15.6-inch display runs at a native resolution of 1920x1080. While its contrast ratio of 1,476:1 is quite decent, its maximum brightness of just 231.7 nits is anything but. In addition, the display was even dimmer on battery and topped out at no more than 216 nits. We expect a brightness of more than 300 nits. That said, not a single one of the devices in our test group managed to meet our expectations in this regard. At 76% brightness distribution was also very poor, and we would have expected much more.
While the high-end RTX 2070 Max-Q SKU featured a 144 Hz display our review unit was equipped with a 60 Hz panel. Accordingly, its response times were slower. On a positive note we would like to commend this display for its lack of PWM.
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Brightness Distribution: 76 %
Center on Battery: 216 cd/m²
Contrast: 1476:1 (Black: 0.17 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 6.2 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.9, calibrated: 4.8
ΔE Greyscale 4.2 | 0.5-98 Ø5.2
57.4% sRGB (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
36.5% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
39.69% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
57.6% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
38.37% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.32
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng IPS, 1920x1080, 15.6" | HP Omen 15-dc1303ng IPS, 1920x1080, 15.6" | Asus TUF FX505DT-EB73 IPS, 1920x1080, 15.6" | Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 GA502DU IPS, 1920x1080, 15.6" | Acer Aspire Nitro 5 AN515-54-53Z2 IPS, 1920x1080, 15.6" | Dell G5 15 5590 IPS, 1920x1080, 15.6" | Asus TUF FX505DY IPS, 1920x1080, 15.6" | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Display | 64% | 3% | 5% | -1% | 2% | 4% | |
Display P3 Coverage | 38.37 | 63.8 66% | 39.56 3% | 40.33 5% | 37.97 -1% | 39.26 2% | 40.04 4% |
sRGB Coverage | 57.6 | 93.4 62% | 59.5 3% | 60.6 5% | 57 -1% | 59.1 3% | 60.2 5% |
AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 39.69 | 65 64% | 40.91 3% | 41.69 5% | 39.23 -1% | 40.56 2% | 41.4 4% |
Response Times | 64% | 16% | 10% | 2% | -7% | -8% | |
Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 40 ? | 14 ? 65% | 30.4 ? 24% | 34 ? 15% | 42 ? -5% | 45 ? -13% | 44.8 ? -12% |
Response Time Black / White * | 29.6 ? | 11 ? 63% | 27.6 ? 7% | 28 ? 5% | 26.8 ? 9% | 30 ? -1% | 30.8 ? -4% |
PWM Frequency | 21280 ? | 20830 ? | |||||
Screen | 21% | -8% | -5% | 7% | -12% | -0% | |
Brightness middle | 251 | 316 26% | 286.2 14% | 240.1 -4% | 238 -5% | 234 -7% | 211.5 -16% |
Brightness | 232 | 295 27% | 267 15% | 231 0% | 226 -3% | 219 -6% | 200 -14% |
Brightness Distribution | 76 | 84 11% | 84 11% | 85 12% | 83 9% | 82 8% | 82 8% |
Black Level * | 0.17 | 0.42 -147% | 0.33 -94% | 0.34 -100% | 0.27 -59% | 0.17 -0% | 0.23 -35% |
Contrast | 1476 | 752 -49% | 867 -41% | 706 -52% | 881 -40% | 1376 -7% | 920 -38% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 6.2 | 2.7 56% | 5.45 12% | 4.2 32% | 4.11 34% | 8.6 -39% | 3.92 37% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 18.6 | 5.65 70% | 18.08 3% | 17.8 4% | 6.89 63% | 17.49 6% | 17.63 5% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 4.8 | 1.58 67% | 4.47 7% | 4.09 15% | 3.76 22% | 4.06 15% | 4.16 13% |
Greyscale dE 2000 * | 4.2 | 2.35 44% | 5.3 -26% | 2.8 33% | 1.78 58% | 8.55 -104% | 3.1 26% |
Gamma | 2.32 95% | 2.41 91% | 2.1 105% | 2.2 100% | 2.41 91% | 3.02 73% | 2.23 99% |
CCT | 7454 87% | 6904 94% | 7679 85% | 6925 94% | 6311 103% | 7802 83% | 6578 99% |
Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 36.5 | 60 64% | 37.6 3% | 38.4 5% | 36 -1% | 37 1% | 38.1 4% |
Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 57.4 | 93 62% | 59.1 3% | 60.4 5% | 57 -1% | 59 3% | 60 5% |
Total Average (Program / Settings) | 50% /
34% | 4% /
-3% | 3% /
-1% | 3% /
5% | -6% /
-9% | -1% /
-1% |
* ... smaller is better
Out of the box we detected a DeltaE 2000 color deviation of 6.2. Ideally, you want this to be less than 3. The display also suffered from a very minor blue tint. We were able to improve upon both characteristics through calibration, and not only managed to lower DeltaE to 4.8 and all but eliminate the blue tint, but also improve upon grayscale balance. As it only managed to cover 36.5 and 57.4% of AdobeRGB and sRGB, respectively, neither of these is fully covered by this display.
As always, the resulting ICC profile can be found for download in the box above. Make sure that your device is equipped with the exact same panel as ours (manufacturer and model number) as OEMs are known to source their displays from various manufacturers even within a single series. Otherwise, you might end up decreasing instead of improving color accuracy.
Display Response Times
↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
---|---|---|
29.6 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 17.2 ms rise | |
↘ 12.4 ms fall | ||
The screen shows relatively slow response rates in our tests and may be too slow for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 77 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (20.9 ms). | ||
↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
40 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 21.2 ms rise | |
↘ 18.8 ms fall | ||
The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.165 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 58 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (32.7 ms). |
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
Screen flickering / PWM not detected | |||
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 8627 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 343500) Hz was measured. |
Performance
HP’s Omen 15 is a 15.6-inch gaming notebook capable of running all current games smoothly on its internal display. Our particular review unit is the series’ entry-level SKU and starts at around $1,000. Other SKUs are also available.
Test Conditions
The Omen 15 comes with a software named “Omen Command Center” preloaded ex factory. In addition to monitoring the system and adjusting the keyboard backlight, this application also contains tuning and system optimization features. Two profiles are available, “Standard” and “Comfort”, and we ran all of our tests and benchmarks in “Standard”. According to the documentation the “Comfort” profile is supposed to decrease CPU and GPU core temperatures. We were, however, unable to detect any differences in performance between the two profiles on our particular review model. Keep in mind that the experience may differ on other SKUs.
Processor
Given its entry-level designation, our review united featured a quad-core i5 instead of a hexa-core Core i7 CPU. The Core i5-9300H is based on Intel’s Coffee Lake architecture, runs at a base clock speed of 2.4 GHz, and is capable of turbo-boosting up to 4 GHz on all four cores simultaneously or 4.1 GHz on a single core.
In the Cinebench R15 multi-thread test the CPU ran at 4 GHz for a short period of time before reducing its clock frequency to between 3 and 3.5 GHz. The single-thread tests were performed running at 4-4.1 GHz. When running on battery the clock speeds were reduced to 2.8 to 3 GHz (multi-thread) and 2.5 to 4 GHz (single-thread), respectively.
We run Cinebench R15 multi-thread in a 30-minute loop on each device in order to determine whether or not the CPU is capable of applying turbo boost for long periods of time. The scores dropped between the first and second iteration, but remained consistent afterwards. Turbo boost is applied throughout the test, albeit not at its full potential.
Geekbench 3 | |
32 Bit Multi-Core Score | |
Dell G5 15 5590 | |
Average Intel Core i5-9300H (14195 - 16101, n=4) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng | |
32 Bit Single-Core Score | |
Dell G5 15 5590 | |
Average Intel Core i5-9300H (3596 - 4109, n=4) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng |
Geekbench 4.4 | |
64 Bit Multi-Core Score | |
Average of class Gaming (31241 - 71143, n=11, last 2 years) | |
Dell G5 15 5590 | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng (Dual-Channel-Modus) | |
Average Intel Core i5-9300H (14853 - 17684, n=7) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng | |
Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 GA502DU | |
64 Bit Single-Core Score | |
Average of class Gaming (6158 - 8945, n=11, last 2 years) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng (Dual-Channel-Modus) | |
Average Intel Core i5-9300H (4704 - 5089, n=7) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng | |
Dell G5 15 5590 | |
Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 GA502DU |
Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total | |
Asus TUF FX505DT-EB73 (Edge 44.17763.1.0) | |
Average Intel Core i5-9300H (1079 - 1349, n=8) | |
Dell G5 15 5590 (Edge 44) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng (Edge 44) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1303ng | |
Average of class Gaming (421 - 674, n=163, last 2 years) |
Octane V2 - Total Score | |
Average of class Gaming (69893 - 115768, n=53, last 2 years) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1303ng | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng (Edge 44) | |
Dell G5 15 5590 (Edge 44) | |
Average Intel Core i5-9300H (22225 - 34957, n=7) | |
Asus TUF FX505DT-EB73 (Edge 44.17763.1.0) | |
Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 GA502DU (Edge 44.17763.1.0) |
JetStream 1.1 - Total Score | |
Average of class Gaming (357 - 669, n=31, last 2 years) | |
Dell G5 15 5590 (Edge 44) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng (Edge 44) | |
Average Intel Core i5-9300H (150.3 - 254, n=7) | |
Asus TUF FX505DT-EB73 (Edge 44.17763.1.0) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1303ng | |
Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 GA502DU (Edge 44.17763.1.0) |
* ... smaller is better
Lowering TDP in BIOS
The Omen’s BIOS setup contains a so-called “CPU Power Setting” feature which allows customization of the CPU’s TDP. Out of the box this option is set to “Default”, which means the CPU operates with the settings and within the thermal limits preconfigured by HP. After lowering the configurable TDP to 20 W and running some of our benchmarks anew, we noticed reduced clock speeds of 2 GHz and 3 to 3.7 GHz in Cinebench R15 resulting in 432 and 154 points in multi and single, respectively. According to our tests this setting had no tangible effect on real-world battery life.
System Performance
The Omen is certainly more than powerful enough for everyday use thanks to its powerful CPU, a fast NVMe SSD, and a solid mid-range GPU thanks to which it is capable of running all current games smoothly on its internal display. Unsurprisingly, its PC Mark benchmark results were decent as well. A slight boost may be possible by adding a second RAM module, thereby enabling dual-channel mode. By default, the Omen 15 comes equipped with a single memory module and thus a single-channel mode RAM configuration.
PCMark 7 Score | 6369 points | |
PCMark 8 Home Score Accelerated v2 | 3691 points | |
PCMark 8 Creative Score Accelerated v2 | 3609 points | |
PCMark 8 Work Score Accelerated v2 | 5107 points | |
PCMark 10 Score | 4873 points | |
Help |
Storage Devices
HP’s entry-level gaming notebook is equipped with a 512 GB M.2-2280 Western Digital NVMe SSD. Around 446 GB are user accessible out of the box, the rest is taken up by the Windows installation and the recovery partition. The SSD performed admirably and offered very fast transfer rates and short loading times in games. Thanks to their PCIe bus support NVMe SSDs tend to offer a much better performance than SATA III SSDs that top out at around 600 MB/s.
Should you run out of storage space on the internal M.2 SSD you can add a secondary 2.5-inch disk drive. The mounting frame required to do so is included.
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng WDC PC SN720 SDAQNTW-512G | Asus TUF FX505DT-EB73 Intel SSD 660p SSDPEKNW512G8 | Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 GA502DU Intel SSD 660p SSDPEKNW512G8 | Acer Aspire Nitro 5 AN515-54-53Z2 WDC PC SN520 SDAPNUW-512G | Dell G5 15 5590 KBG30ZMS128G | HP Omen 15-dc1303ng Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB256HAHQ | Average WDC PC SN720 SDAQNTW-512G | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CrystalDiskMark 5.2 / 6 | -21% | -26% | -23% | -64% | -14% | 23% | |
Write 4K | 112.1 | 137.5 23% | 132.2 18% | 109.1 -3% | 64.3 -43% | 50.2 -55% | 183.3 ? 64% |
Read 4K | 42.01 | 57 36% | 55.5 32% | 42.05 0% | 29.3 -30% | 35.32 -16% | 48.2 ? 15% |
Write Seq | 1964 | 984 -50% | 986 -50% | 1457 -26% | 131.1 -93% | 991 -50% | 2135 ? 9% |
Read Seq | 2065 | 1564 -24% | 1318 -36% | 1421 -31% | 776 -62% | 1526 -26% | 2102 ? 2% |
Write 4K Q32T1 | 318.2 | 237.4 -25% | 220.3 -31% | 287.8 -10% | 96.8 -70% | 445.1 40% | 452 ? 42% |
Read 4K Q32T1 | 406.7 | 340.7 -16% | 315.5 -22% | 317.9 -22% | 198.6 -51% | 526 29% | 619 ? 52% |
Write Seq Q32T1 | 2534 | 959 -62% | 987 -61% | 1455 -43% | 127.8 -95% | 1647 -35% | 2537 ? 0% |
Read Seq Q32T1 | 3438 | 1732 -50% | 1416 -59% | 1739 -49% | 1044 -70% | 3427 0% | 3466 ? 1% |
GPU Performance
The Omen 15 is equipped with a dedicated GeForce GTX 1650, a mid-range GPU based on Nvidia’s Turing architecture. Unlike its better equipped RTX 2000 series Turing GPUs, the GTX 1650 lacks the Raytracing and Tensor cores. Optimus is supported, and the Omen 15 is capable of on-the-fly on-demand switching between the GTX 1650 and the integrated UHD Graphics 630.
Nvidia’s GTX 1650 supports DirectX 12 and runs at a base clock speed of 1,395 MHz with a turbo boost of up to 1,560 MHz. As long as the GPU remains below a preconfigured temperature and/or energy threshold, it can run even faster, and we measured a short peak of up to 1,935 MHz. In "Witcher 3", the GPU ran with an average clock speed of 1,700 MHz. It has access to 4 GHz of fast GDDR5 video ram.
It performed as expected in 3DMark. As the successor to the GTX 1050 and GTX 1050 Ti it had no problems outperforming both. Enabling dual-channel mode by adding a second RAM module resulted in increased 3DMark scores, however, it had no effect on graphics but rather physics performance. On battery, the Omen 15 offered around 80% of its GPU performance on mains.
3DMark 06 Standard Score | 32694 points | |
3DMark 11 Performance | 11257 points | |
3DMark Ice Storm Standard Score | 71342 points | |
3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 22167 points | |
3DMark Fire Strike Score | 8075 points | |
3DMark Time Spy Score | 3573 points | |
Help |
3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance GPU | |
Average of class Gaming (1029 - 72178, n=171, last 2 years) | |
Dell G5 15 5590 | |
Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 GA502DU | |
HP Omen 15-dc1303ng | |
Asus TUF FX505DT-EB73 | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng (Dual-Channel-Modus) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng | |
Acer Aspire Nitro 5 AN515-54-53Z2 | |
Average NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile (10885 - 13575, n=30) | |
Asus TUF FX705GE-EW096T | |
MSI GF75 8RD-001 | |
Asus TUF FX505DY |
Gaming Performance
The particular combination of CPU and GPU was capable of running all games in our database smoothly on the Omen 15, most commonly in FHD resolution and with medium to high details. Some games even allowed for more. Resolutions higher than FHD, which would require an external display, can catch the GPU off guard and require reduced details. Less demanding games, such as "FIFA 19" or "Rocket League", will run just fine, though.
We were able to improve upon frame rates by adding a second memory module and enabling dual-channel mode. The individual level of improvement depended on game, resolution, and level of details. We benchmarked some games in both single and dual-channel mode, and the results can be found in the charts below.
BioShock Infinite - 1920x1080 Ultra Preset, DX11 (DDOF) | |
Dell G5 15 5590 | |
HP Omen 15-dc1303ng | |
Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 GA502DU | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng (Dual-Channel-Modus) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng | |
Average NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile (68.5 - 99.4, n=18) | |
Asus TUF FX505DT-EB73 | |
Asus TUF FX505DY |
The Witcher 3 - 1920x1080 High Graphics & Postprocessing (Nvidia HairWorks Off) | |
Average of class Gaming (40.1 - 449, n=110, last 2 years) | |
Dell G5 15 5590 | |
Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 GA502DU | |
Asus TUF FX505DT-EB73 | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng | |
Average NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile (45 - 70.4, n=29) | |
Acer Aspire Nitro 5 AN515-54-53Z2 | |
Asus TUF FX505DY |
Far Cry New Dawn - 1920x1080 Ultra Preset | |
Average of class Gaming (120 - 131, n=2, last 2 years) | |
Dell G5 15 5590 | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng (Dual-Channel-Modus) | |
Acer Aspire Nitro 5 AN515-54-53Z2 | |
Average NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile (40 - 56, n=6) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng |
X-Plane 11.11 - 1920x1080 high (fps_test=3) | |
Average of class Gaming (32.8 - 166.2, n=177, last 2 years) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng (Dual-Channel-Modus) | |
Average NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile (44.5 - 77.3, n=18) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng |
Dota 2 Reborn - 1920x1080 ultra (3/3) best looking | |
Average of class Gaming (65.1 - 220, n=174, last 2 years) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1303ng | |
Average NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile (58.5 - 119, n=20) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng (Dual-Channel-Modus) | |
HP Omen 15-dc1020ng |
In order to determine a notebook’s long-term gaming capabilities we run Witcher 3 in a 60-minute loop in FHD with maximum details. The player remains stationary throughout the entire test. We found no evidence of sudden and unexpected frame rate drops.