HP refreshes Omen 15 and Omen 17 with Kaby Lake and AMD FX 580 graphics

According to HP's own research, 95 percent of gamers can be categorized as either Mainstream or Performance gamers with the tailing 5 percent representing enthusiasts. A little more than half of Mainstream and Performance gamers prefer to play on laptops and the new Omen refresh will cater directly to this market.

The Omen 15 and Omen 17 will be redesigned for 2017 with sharper edges and corners, larger Arrow keys, new single-bar hinges, and a column of Macro keys for the larger 17-inch version. Both models will also sport larger fans than the previous generation for a promise of higher airflow without necessarily increasing fan noise. Nvidia G-Sync makes its return now with AMD FreeSync as an alternative alongside 4K or 1080p 120 Hz for the larger model.

Core specifications include:

• 15.6-inch 1080p display @ 60 Hz (up to 4K UHD)
• Core i7-7700HQ CPU
• 8 GB DDR4 RAM (up to 16 GB)
• 2 GB AMD Radeon RX 550 GPU (up to 4 GB GeForce GTX 1060)
• 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD + secondary PCIe SSD options

• 17.3-inch 1080p display @ 60 Hz (up to 4K UHD @ 60 Hz or 1080p @ 120 Hz)
• Core i7-7700HQ CPU
• 8 GB DDR4 RAM (up to 32 GB)
• 2 GB GeForce GTX 1050 (up to 8 GB GeForce GTX 1070)
• 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD + secondary PCIe SSD options

Both the 15-inch and 17-inch Omen notebooks will launch by the end of this month for a starting price of $999 USD and $1099 USD, respectively. Note that Max-Q Nvidia GPUs will be used for 15-inch model. Expect our usual full reviews to follow in the weeks thereafter.

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