Gaming laptops are no longer just another series in a laptop brand’s portfolio. With the rise of gaming and e-sports, they’ve become front and centre. For years, HP has offered OMEN laptops. However, at CES 2026, the brand has shown how serious it’s becoming about the gaming vertical. It’ll now have a separate sub-brand for its gaming-related offerings.
No, it’s not launching a new gaming brand. Instead, it’s elevating HyperX — a company it acquired in 2021 and a name trusted by gamers — to be the flagbearer for its gaming series. It’s not a cosmetic change either; it signals a big shift in the brand’s mindset to ensure that its gaming offerings stand out from the competition. And while we’ll be talking about the OMEN laptops in this piece, this rebranding also means that the HyperX sub-brand unifies the gaming story across peripherals… right from gaming mice and keyboards to earphones and monitors.
Understanding the lineup
For this year, the brand is introducing a trio of laptops:
1. HyperX OMEN 15 is a perfect option for those who want gaming on the go, as it’s powerful yet portable enough to be carried anywhere.
2. HyperX OMEN 16 offers a larger screen real estate and souped-up specs to ensure an immersive gaming experience.
3. HyperX OMEN MAX 16 is a gaming beast in the truest sense, with an internal cooling system dubbed OMEN Tempest Cooling Pro that comes with a built-in fan cleaner.
Design and build quality: embraces minimalism
HyperX is choosing to ride the minimalism wave instead of going for embellishments that scream a gaming laptop. It also ensures that HyperX can stand apart from the sea of similar-looking laptops from brands that feature aggressive aesthetics. And I personally love this stance as the laptop could be used at a workplace too, without attracting unwanted attention.
Built with aluminium alloy, the laptops are sturdy and not too bulky like the gaming rigs of yore. The OMEN 15 starts at 2.21kg, whereas the OMEN MAX 16 goes up to 2.97kg.
In terms of connectivity, you get 1 USB Type-C and 2 USB Type-A ports, an Ethernet port, 1 3.5mm socket, and 1 HDMI 2.1 port for the OMEN 15 and OMEN 16.
The OMEN MAX 16 offers an additional USB Type-C port, and for the Intel SKU, there’s support for Thunderbolt 4 on both ports. There’s also a dedicated power socket. Depending upon the SKU you choose, you can get up to Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0.
Display: sharp and fast
While performance is undoubtedly an important criterion for a gaming laptop, display is what brings visuals and experience to life. And the HyperX trio nails this aspect. As their names indicate, the OMEN 15 offers a 15.3-inch panel, whereas the OMEN 16 and OMEN MAX 16 have 16-inch screens.
The laptops feature OLED options with up to QHD resolution and 240Hz refresh rate. That’s not all, the screen also offers a 3ms response time. In my experience of checking out the rigs, I found the visuals to be life-like and they’ll definitely take gaming experience to the next level.
Performance: it’s all about speed
When it comes to the processor, the HyperX OMEN 15, OMEN 16, and OMEN MAX 16 come with a litany of choices… right from Intel Core i5-14450HX and going all the way up to Intel Core Ultra 9 386H. If you think that’s it, think again. You can also choose to buy the machines with the new Intel and AMD Ryzen processors.
GPU is where the laptops start to differ. The OMEN 15 and OMEN 16 ship with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 Series (up to RTX 5070), whereas OMEN MAX 16 is powered with up to RTX 5090 with 24GB GDDR7 dedicated memory.
RAM options start from dual-channel 8GB DDR5 (for the OMEN 15) to 32GB for 64GB (for the OMEN MAX 16). For memory, the machines offer 512GB or 1TB Gen4 / Gen5 NVME SSDs.
Keyboard: instant response
If visuals and performance are how one enjoys the game to its fullest, keyboard is how they can play their best. The HyperX laptops ship with a full-size backlit keyboard with a numeric keypad and 26-key Rollover Anti-Ghosting technology. You can also opt for SKUs with a 4-zone RGB backlit keyboard.
But the most important aspect is the polling rate of 8000Hz for selected SKUs, which means your inputs are instantly recorded. The polling rate goes to 10000Hz for the OMEN MAX 16. The flagship model also offers RGB lighting for the entire keyboard, which can be customised with OMEN Light Studio.
Battery and power: go big or go home
The laptops ship with a 4-cell Li-Po battery (for the OMEN 15 and OMEN 16) or 6-cell pack (for the OMEN 16 and OMEN MAX 16). However, they are meant to be gaming laptops, which means, depending upon the config you go for, you’ll get AC power adapters from 150W and going all the way to 460W (for the OMEN MAX 16). While gaming laptops are usually meant for being used in one place, the fact that they can be juiced up to 50 percent power within 30 minutes is quite impressive.
Interestingly, the OMEN MAX 16 also gives an option for a GaN power adapter, which is fairly compact for the amount of power it offers (up to 460W).
AI and more
Not only do the rigs come with Microsoft Copilot, but they also ship with OMEN AI. It promises one-click performance improvement that adjusts hardware and OS settings as per the game being played. It’ll also learn from your gaming behaviour and improve over time to ensure that you get maximum FPS to enjoy AAA titles to the fullest.
OMEN A currently supports popular games like Valorant, Fortnite, Counter Strike 2, Rainbow Six Siege, etc. and will also be supporting Minecraft, Roblox, and Call of Duty, among others, soon.
Closing thoughts
While the spec sheet ensures that the latest OMEN models are full-fledged gaming laptops, the name change to HyperX signals to the world how serious HP is about the space. However, HP is yet to reveal the pricing details or launch plans for the Indian market. Having said that, HP’s Victus gaming laptops have been received incredibly well by consumers, and with this unified branding under HyperX, the new laptops will definitely stir the market.
Disclaimer: The writer attended HP @ CES Preview Event in New York in December. The opinions expressed in this article are entirely personal and remain independent of any brand influence.
