Ominous gaming power in the Omen

GAMERS can count on ample power from the Omen 15-ax001TX notebook computer from HP. The processor delivers fast graphics and good-quality sound.
A sixth-generation Intel Core i7-6700HQ quad-core processor running at 2.6GHZ, four gigabytes of fast DDR4 working memory (RAM) and a full terabyte on the hard drive together mean you can store multiple games and other applications and play like a whirlwind.
To enhance the performance for game-data processing, there’s also a 128GB solid-state drive that acts as speed-up buffer between the hard drive and the working memory.
And you’ll be topping that off with a sound system designed by Bang & Olufsen using dual speakers to generate surround sound.
The Omen 15’s graphics horsepower comes from an Nvidia GeForce GTX960M GPU with 4GB of dedicated video memory.
All those gorgeous graphics in the games are displayed on a 15.6-inch FHD IPS anti-glare back-lit display with 1920x1080 pixels. It’s just as good for viewing HD movies and high-resolution photos.
The full-size keyboard with numeric keypad is large and comfortable enough for easy typing. HP calls it a Dragon Red keyboard because of the cool red blacklight, really useful in dim light – and who doesn’t love playing in the dark?
The red light makes a nice contrast with the sleek aluminium body with its shadow-mesh finish in either Onyx Black or Twinkle Black.

Online game players will be able to tap fast wireless connections at Wi-Fi 802.11ac protocol with MIMO (2x2) support. The connection allows you to stream multimedia files and 3D games very fast and stream movies and music to other devices on your home wireless network.
I tested it with my Linksys router that supports the rapid 802.11ac and had no problem connecting online and downloading games and other applications. If you sit near your router, you can make use of the notebook’s Gigabit Ethernet LAN connection.
You have all the necessary ports. The single multi-format SD media-card reader awaits a memory card of digital camera. Then there are two USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 port and one HDMI port for your large TV.
In my test the Omen 15 performed very well indeed, starting up and shutting down fast, running most applications speedily, including the Libre Office open-source suite of business applications. Full HD movies played smoothly and my tunes sounded terrific.
Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0 put the GPU through its paces and came up with excellent graphics with fine details in the textures and areas of light and shadow. It mainly generated graphics at 40 frames per second, though sometimes that climbed past 70fps.
The HP Omen 15-ax001TX has a suggested retail price of Bt33,990.

Key Specs
- Operating system: Windows 10 Home (64 bit)
- Processor: Intel Core i7-6700HQ (2.60GHz, 6MB L3 Cache, up to 3.5GHz)
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M (4GB GDDR5)
- Display: 15.6-inch FHD (1920x1080 pixels) IPS
- Main memory: 4GB DDR4 2133MHz up to 32GB
- Hard drive: 1TB with 128GB SSD
- Optical disk Drive: None
- Web camera: HD 720p
- Wireless connectivity: Intel 802.11 ac, Bluetooth 4.2
- I/O ports: Two USB 3.0, one USB 2.0, one HDMI, one RJ-45, one headphone/microphone combo
- Battery: Three-cell 61.5WHr Lithium-ion Battery good for up to 6.5 hours
- Dimensions: 38.2x25.3x2.45cm
- Weight: Two kilograms