HP Omen X 17 (7820HK, GTX 1080, 120 Hz FHD) Laptop Review

[Redaktion]

X marks the spot. HP has unleashed a beast in the form of the HP Omen X 17. With a high-refresh rate panel, an overclockable Core i7 CPU, and the most powerful mobile GPU currently on the market, does the Omen X 17 have the "X factor" it needs to stand apart from the crowd, or is it just white noise in a highly competitive performance tier?

https://www.notebookcheck.net/HP-Omen-X-17-7820HK-GTX-1080-120-Hz-FHD-Laptop-Review.280650.0.html

[bennyg]

I really have to question nbc's rating scheme here. Important gaming metrics - games performance, CPU benchmarks, overclocking, screen refresh (g2g etc), temperatures, stress test frequency - are lower/worse than most of the competition yet scores are still 97%/99% etc for relevant categories. Perhaps you need to think of a separate scale comparing similar notebooks as it seems lots score very similar high 80's % scores despite some being relatively terrible performers

Not being able to hit 4ghz on 7820HK while weighing 5kg is seriously poor. Where's the weight if not in a great cooling system?

[Sam Medley]

Review author here.

bennyg, the reason this device scored a 97% in gaming performance is because we're comparing it to ALL gaming notebooks, including those with a GTX 1050 or even those from the 9XX series. We do rebalance our weights periodically to take more powerful hardware into account.
We compare so many devices because we want to show others how the review device compares to other gaming notebooks from all levels.
That said, we include the individual comparison tables for a more granular rating/ranking. Each reviewer looks at our database and tries to pull a sample of similar devices that are then used in the comparison tables.
If we had this laptop ranked in its own class (high-end gaming laptops, for instance), it would almost certainly receive a score in the high 70s/low 80s. Does this mean it performs worse than a stellar GTX 1060 laptop that would score in the high 80s/low 90s in a "mid-tier" category? Absolutely not. Weak 1080 performance still blows stellar 1060 performance out of the water. However, if we do rank this lower than the 1060 laptop, some readers that don't pay attention to laptop class would assume the 1060 laptop isn't better at gaming because of the higher rating percentage. THEY may not compare gameplay numbers to a more powerful laptop and would be frustrated when they discovered it wasn't. That's a big part of why we try and take a more holistic approach to our ratings.

As to the CPU clock speed, cooling is a concern, but I think voltage has more to do with the lackluster overclocking. Looking at the Metrahit graph under stress, voltage is all over the place. I'm not exactly sure what's going on, but I would suggest that inconsistent voltage has more to do with the overclocking problems than anything else. Temperatures, however, were enough of a concern that I decided not to push the device any further.

[Tweaker]

Whatever happened to the sleeker and more durable first gen design ?  I actually prefer that to this lowest common denominator design.

[Isaac]

Hello, I'm very interested in this laptop, but I'm concerned about the thermals, instead of pushing for performance, has anyone tried undervolting and seeing how that goes? 89c while gaming is going to affect the lifespan of the chip.
The bobbing lid while typing is also worrisome, how does that even happen on such a heavy, rigid case?

[Macberg]

@Isaac

I have the Omen X 17 with GTX 1080 and i7 7820hk and was also worried because of that high CPU temperature first.
However, undervolting by 100mV (absolutely stable with cinebench test) settled the problem, CPU temperatures never go beyond 86°C under heavy load.
I don't do any overclocking because in my opinion that is simply not necessary (I've tried playing destiny 2 and witcher 3 with the highest settings).

[Macberg]

...by the way, my Omen X 17's lid does NOT bob at all when typing. Only when I make the table move (e.g. when accidently hitting it with my elbow) I can observe a very short, slight wobble which I can also observe at my friend's ASUS ROG 17'' and my wife's Lenovo Y70 17'' notebook.

[Isaac]

Sweet! Hearing that is very reassuring Macberg, would you mind if I troubled you with one last question. This might seem like an odd request, but could you measure the height of the palmrest? As in the distance from the palm rest to the desk?

[Macberg]

Sweet! Hearing that is very reassuring Macberg, would you mind if I troubled you with one last question. This might seem like an odd request, but could you measure the height of the palmrest? As in the distance from the palm rest to the desk?

Here you are...

(http://C:%5CUsers%5Cmpber%5CDownloads%5C20180227_074224.jpg)

[Macberg]

Sweet! Hearing that is very reassuring Macberg, would you mind if I troubled you with one last question. This might seem like an odd request, but could you measure the height of the palmrest? As in the distance from the palm rest to the desk?

Here you are...

I've just tried to attach a picture which shows the height, buit it doesn't seem possible...
It's 25 millimetres from the table to the top edge of the palmrest. The palmrest is a bit higher (1-2mm) just before the actual keyboartd starts.

[Isaac]

Thanks a lot Macberg! You've been very helpful.

[Alessia]

Hi I would like to ask for information, in the configuration that I was thinking of buying is the omen X 7820hk with the gtx 1070, and I wanted to know if in the future it is possible to upgrade the gpu. So the latter is soldered? thank you very much for the attention.

[Neri Wong]

Review author here.

bennyg, the reason this device scored a 97% in gaming performance is because we're comparing it to ALL gaming notebooks, including those with a GTX 1050 or even those from the 9XX series. We do rebalance our weights periodically to take more powerful hardware into account.
We compare so many devices because we want to show others how the review device compares to other gaming notebooks from all levels.
That said, we include the individual comparison tables for a more granular rating/ranking. Each reviewer looks at our database and tries to pull a sample of similar devices that are then used in the comparison tables.
If we had this laptop ranked in its own class (high-end gaming laptops, for instance), it would almost certainly receive a score in the high 70s/low 80s. Does this mean it performs worse than a stellar GTX 1060 laptop that would score in the high 80s/low 90s in a "mid-tier" category? Absolutely not. Weak 1080 performance still blows stellar 1060 performance out of the water. However, if we do rank this lower than the 1060 laptop, some readers that don't pay attention to laptop class would assume the 1060 laptop isn't better at gaming because of the higher rating percentage. THEY may not compare gameplay numbers to a more powerful laptop and would be frustrated when they discovered it wasn't. That's a big part of why we try and take a more holistic approach to our ratings.

As to the CPU clock speed, cooling is a concern, but I think voltage has more to do with the lackluster overclocking. Looking at the Metrahit graph under stress, voltage is all over the place. I'm not exactly sure what's going on, but I would suggest that inconsistent voltage has more to do with the overclocking problems than anything else. Temperatures, however, were enough of a concern that I decided not to push the device any further.

what would be the best high end gaming laptops in your opinion then? MSI and AW? Gigabyte?