Laptop for 2-2.5k, HP Omen?

Associate
Joined
26 Oct 2020
Posts
33
Finally time to replace my ten year old HP pavilion, just about squeezed Far Cry 4 out of it with a lot of googling and some hefty scripts but would be nice to play it again above 20/25fps...
Budget is around £2-2.5k, currently pretty set on the HP Omen 17 (cb1005na) with 10th Gen i9 and the RTX 2080 Super (I think I saw a couple of you already have this one, any good?) struggled to find any other brand that comes close to that spec on a 17” platform for that price. Unfortunately it’s out of stock at the moment so having to wait at least a few weeks if I order from HP! No where else seems to stock it at all which is a shame as I’d have got a good work scheme through PC World.
Any thoughts or recommendations on the HP or alternatives? Would really like to get an upgradeable laptop this time around but the ones built for this seem to be the £3k+ MSI or Alienware builds and I’m struggling to justify the extra cost spec wise
Thanks in advance
 
Soldato
Joined
21 Jun 2005
Posts
2,714
Location
UK
I'd advise against an upgradable laptop. Better, more reliable and cheaper to sell and buy new every few years.
The Omen 17 seems to be the best value if you are after a RTX 2080 Super MaxP laptop. I can't comment on how good it is personally but I beleive there are few in this forum with it or last years RTX 2080 model who are happy with it.
 
Soldato
Joined
21 Oct 2002
Posts
6,376
Location
West Sussex
I have what your looking at and got it about 4 weeks ago for £2500 with i9-10885H, RTX2080super maxP, 32gig of ram, 1tb SSD and a 512gig NVME boot drive, 144hz g-sync screen. More than happy with it and runs everything with ease. Have a 144hz 27inch g-sync monitor hooked up also and added a second 1Tb NVME in the unused 2nd slot. Temps on the CPU can get a little toasty if your using the Omen overclocking utility on performance mode but GPU has never gone over 72C whilst extreme testing and seeing both cpu and gpu share the same heatsink and cooling system and the gpu not being the lesser powered maxQ varient i think higher cpu temps are to be expected. If you leave it on balance Mode it runs a lot cooler and to be honest not noticed much fps loss also less fan noise which is not bad. The only thing it is weak on is the sound which seems fine on normal browser, songs, YouTube but seems to get lower on playing games, don't know why it is but seems to be a common problem with these Bang & Olufsen speakers, so when playing games just use external source or headphones

Would i spend more on a £3000 setup for a more well know gaming branded laptop, no as this is doing everything at a great budget as it is.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
26 Oct 2020
Posts
33
I'd advise against an upgradable laptop. Better, more reliable and cheaper to sell and buy new every few years.
The Omen 17 seems to be the best value if you are after a RTX 2080 Super MaxP laptop. I can't comment on how good it is personally but I beleive there are few in this forum with it or last years RTX 2080 model who are happy with it.

thanks good to know re upgradeable laptops

I have what your looking at and got it about 4 weeks ago for £2500 with i9-10885H, RTX2080super maxP, 32gig of ram, 1tb SSD and a 512gig NVME boot drive, 144hz g-sync screen. More than happy with it and runs everything with ease. Have a 144hz 27inch g-sync monitor hooked up also and added a second 1Tb NVME in the unused 2nd slot. Temps on the CPU can get a little toasty if your using the Omen overclocking utility on performance mode but GPU has never gone over 72C whilst extreme testing and seeing both cpu and gpu share the same heatsink and cooling system and the gpu not being the lesser powered maxQ varient i think higher cpu temps are to be expected. If you leave it on balance Mode it runs a lot cooler and to be honest not noticed much fps loss also less fan noise which is not bad. The only thing it is weak on is the sound which seems fine on normal browser, songs, YouTube but seems to get lower on playing games, don't know why it is but seems to be a common problem with these Bang & Olufsen speakers, so when playing games just use external source or headphones

Would i spend more on a £3000 setup for a more well know gaming branded laptop, no as this is doing everything at a great budget as it is.

Nice thanks for this. 70 odd sounds pleasantly chilly, my current HP (with its second round of Artic Silver) still pushes into the 90s but it’s pretty shagged.
What’s the max output resolution and refresh on the Omen? Is it the same as the usual 2080 Super ie 4K and 240Hz?
Shame about the sound, I’d be using the laptop a lot for Netflix as well (standalone) how does it fare for movies?
 
Soldato
Joined
21 Oct 2002
Posts
6,376
Location
West Sussex
this omen has a 144hz and 1920x1080, my other hooked up monitor where i play most of my games is on 2560x1440. It'll be fine for Netflix and movies, like i said just seems quieter on game voices.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
26 Oct 2020
Posts
33
this omen has a 144hz and 1920x1080, my other hooked up monitor where i play most of my games is on 2560x1440. It'll be fine for Netflix and movies, like i said just seems quieter on game voices.
Thanks. Didn’t realise what a minefield choosing a monitor is, which one did you go for? Conscious of G-Sync compatibility and ideally want at least 1440p res too
 
Associate
Joined
30 Apr 2003
Posts
1,440
Location
Wigan
I have the HP Omen cb1523na bought it back in August with RTX2080 Super Max P, up till recently it's been spot on gaming wise.
But for the past few day's I've been getting a fan error 90B which after googling seem very common on HP laptops going years back, even though there is nothing wrong with the fans as temps are fine, and no build up of dust.

I've rolled back the bios update to the previous release see if the recently released F.15 bios is the culprit.

Luckily the bios on this logged any error's so should have to go back to HP the fault is saved, so i don't get the run around saying there nothing wrong with it if it does indeed need the fans replacing, but even after they replace the fans the error can show up again straight away or at some point down the line, which has now got me thinking is it worth getting rid while the going good and replacing it with something else.

My last gaming laptop was the MSI GE72 6QF had that for 4 years & never missed a beat in all the time i had it.
 
Last edited:
Associate
OP
Joined
26 Oct 2020
Posts
33
Got this today and hooked it up to an Iiyama 34” curved screen.
So far so good, runs all the games I’ve thrown it at very well, albeit none have been brand new games that would really really push the GPU.
Bought it direct from HP for £2250 with a three year care pack thrown in as well (usually £99) so for the spec you really can’t beat it.
Annoyingly came with Win 10 Home with no option to upgrade from HP. Also noted the US version allows you to customise HDD and also the screen to a 300Hz variety or 4K (but only at 60Hz) where no options are available on U.K. models.
Bought a Win 10 Pro licence for £19.99 so will wipe the thing soon and start again - seems to come bundled with a lot of crap
 
Associate
OP
Joined
26 Oct 2020
Posts
33
So got the laptop, running sweet but I’ve noticed screen bleed bottom left corner and in the middle at the bottom. Contacted HP with pictures and they’ve offered to repair it but a bit annoyed I’ve had it a week and it’s already having to be fixed...
 
Back
Top Bottom