Omen 16: A damn good budget gamer with an ad-infested control center

I’ve already criticized in a previous opinion piece how many manufacturers abuse their control centers — especially on gaming laptops — as data collection and ad platforms. Unfortunately, the otherwise good Omen 16 (see our review here) turned out to be another disappointing example of that trend.
And that’s a real shame, because the Omen 16 is an incredibly tempting choice for gamers on a budget. At one point, this RTX 5060 machine dropped as low as €999 (it’s now back up to $1,479 on Amazon). Since it originally came from HP’s upper mid-range and was only repositioned this year as a budget model, you get a few nice perks you wouldn’t normally associate with cheap gaming laptops — like solid build quality, a sleek design, and surprisingly good input devices.
Which makes it even more frustrating that HP turned this otherwise great device into an ad billboard. The so-called Gaming Hub app — where we should only be tweaking performance modes, lighting effects, or maybe switching the MUX — is so overloaded that it’s genuinely hard to navigate.
Besides the now sadly standard inclusion of a built-in game store complete with banner ads, we’re even greeted with promos for scratch-off tickets, sweepstakes, and other laptops.
On the main screen, the ads take up far more space than the actual functions. That’s the point where the app completely misses its purpose. A massive banner for the game store sits in the top-left corner, right next to an equally large sweepstakes ad, with another laptop promo below it and yet another “Top Game Deals” banner beside that — it’s all just way too much.
To make things worse, HP has an unnecessary high number of preinstalled, mandatory utility apps. On the Omen 16, alongside the Gaming Hub, you’ll also find HP Support Assistant, the HP App, and HP Hardware Diagnostics — all as separate apps. Wouldn’t it make sense to at least combine the support and diagnostics tools into one?
The Omen 16 is a great budget gaming laptop — but not so great that it has no competition. Personally, I’ll start factoring the quality (or annoyance) of these control centers into my future buying decisions. If a manufacturer aggressively collects data or stuffs its software with ads, that’s reason enough for me to pass. What about you — am I the only one who feels this way? Drop your thoughts in the comments! For the brighter side of the Omen 16, check out our full review.