Mark Daniel Demayo

HP OMEN Max 16 Review: Gaming anywhere maximized

Article (news)

Mark Demayo

ABS-CBN News

<div style="text-align:left"><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil" style="width:2000px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175733036529720250812-hp-omen-max16-_QD10914-MD.jpg" style="width:2000px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">The HP OMEN Max 16. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — I am a simple gamer. I game with a laptop because I am out in the field for multimedia (photo/video/text) work, and my resources only allow me to play mostly esports titles and games that work well on medium to high settings with caveats.</p><p>When our tech editor asked me to review a high-tier laptop in the HP Omen Max 16, I was excited. I was floored when I found out it was an Intel Core Ultra 9 and NVIDIA 5080-baked laptop.</p><p>I watch a lot of video games and tech content in my free time, so it felt like a dream to actually have a hands-on experience with some of the best hardware around.</p><p>I will disclose that this review will be based more on my personal day-to-day usage than a technical review due to resource limitations, so it&#x27;s best to check other references, like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57XKw_Nkqh4">Jarrod&#x27;s Tech</a>, for a finer breakdown.</p><p>The configuration for my review unit is headlined by the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX for the CPU and an NVIDIA RTX 5080 mobile with 16GB GDDR7 memory for its GPU.</p><p>It has a 1-terabyte solid-state drive for storage and 32 gigabytes of DDR5 for RAM.</p><p>Other notable hardware in my configuration is the 16-inch 2.5k IPS screen with a 16:10 screen ratio, which took some getting used to since being accustomed to 16:9, and a 240Hz refresh rate.</p><p>Putting it simply, with this configuration, I was able to play the most demanding triple-A video game titles at smooth and gorgeous quality, handle multimedia tasks well, and run heavy applications simultaneously.</p><p>There were some hitches at times for my multimedia work, but I think I can blame it more on the apps rather than the laptop&#x27;s hardware.</p><p>But for what it&#x27;s really meant for, which is gaming, it is such a joy to spend my free and (at least for the review) work time with some new and familiar game titles at the highest quality.</p><p>The laptop itself is sleek-looking with its matte black chassis despite being a fingerprint magnet. Its implementation of RGB lighting, the quintessential gamer computer aesthetic, is in the form of a light bar that glows underneath and in the typical keyboard.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:559px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175733085625620250812-hp-omen-max16-_QD10883-MD.jpg" style="width:2000px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" spellcheck="false" style="text-align:left">The HP OMEN Max 16 in shadow black colorway. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</span></span></span></div><p>Turning it off can make the laptop pass off as a business machine, though the Omen text can give it away.</p><p>Speaking of the keyboard, I like the feel of the influence of HyperX, the well-known peripherals brand HP acquired in 2021, but I am not a fan of their implementation of the squished-up and down arrow keys.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:559px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175733102691620250820-hp-omen-max16-_QD12694-MD.jpg" style="width:559px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">The author playing DOOM: The Dark Ages with the HP OMEN Max 16. Jose Raphael Gonzales, ABS-CBN News Intern</span></span></span></div><p>With the laptop&#x27;s heat-generating internal hardware, HP gave much thought to cooling the system. Under the laptop, its long feet give sufficient clearance for the fan intake when used on a flat surface.</p><p>Another notable feature in addressing heat dissipation is the fan cleaning technology built in that would blow out dust and debris, which contributes to system overheating over time.</p><p>To those who know how to make the most out of their PC hardware, the OMEN Gaming Hub allows CPU and GPU overclocking without going to the BIOS. I&#x27;ve known the idea of overclocking, but haven&#x27;t had the time to learn and experiment with it, so I left it as is.</p><p>What I was able to change in the app is the fan speed. It has a performance and Unleashed mode that would rev up the fans to maximum for better cooling at the cost of fan noise. There are also power settings that can be manipulated when in Unleashed mode.</p><p>Personally, I&#x27;m not bothered by fan noise since I use headphones most of the time anyway, and I don&#x27;t think I&#x27;d bother any people in the places I work.</p><p>The I/O is neatly spread out on the side and back of the laptop, featuring two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports on the left, USB-A Gen 3.2 on the left and back, a gigabit LAN port, HDMI 2.1, a headphone/microphone combo outlet, and the outlet for the 330-watt power brick.</p><p>So how does it perform?</p><p>To put this first as a work machine, it does handle Adobe Lightroom and Premiere Pro generally well, but I&#x27;m still surprised that even with the top-of-the-line specs, there are still hitches, such as hang-ups and crashes.</p><p>When Premiere Pro was not crashing, I did appreciate how fast it processed some plugins and effects I used when I edited some work videos. I was hesitant to freely slap in effects on my daily driver laptop given my mid-tier specs, but with the OMEN Max 16, it feels so good to try out some effects without waiting for too long. Exporting my videos was a breeze as well.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:559px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175733119967820250827-hp-omen-max16-IMG_20250827_094805-MD.jpg" style="width:2000px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Video editing while on my way to an assignment with the HP OMEN Max 16. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>Coming from budget to mid-tier setups, on paper, it should handle these apps with ease, but at this point, I do feel like it&#x27;s the fault of the apps and not the hardware.</p><p>The color accuracy of the screen at a glance may not be the best, given it is an IPS panel, but it is still serviceable. It may improve if I had the OLED version of the screen.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:559px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175733136305920250908-hp-omen-max16-IMG_20250831_203806-MD.jpg" style="width:2000px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Editing photos during the VCT Pacific Finals weekend in Chiba, Japan. <br/>Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN New</span></span></span></div><p>I don&#x27;t do generative AI or any intensive AI applications, so I could not take advantage of the neural processing power available in the laptop.</p><p>Now, finally, gaming. The games just look gorgeous to see and made the experience all the more enjoyable.</p><p>I was able to slay demons at the highest graphics settings in DOOM: Eternal and DOOM: The Dark Ages, with the former hitting an average of 160fps and a steady 60 fps for the latter and the latest iteration of the franchise.</p><p>I also relived Indy&#x27;s adventures in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle at around 100fps average at max settings with the help of NVIDIA&#x27;s tech baked into the game&#x27;s settings, such as DLSS 3 with Frame Generation and Super Resolution, and ray tracing. Newer game titles such as this and DOOM: The Dark Ages are integrating this tech in the settings, which makes it easier to tweak.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:559px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175733146681720250820-hp-omen-max16-_QD12761-MD.jpg" style="width:2000px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Using the 16-inch 16:10 monitor casual co-op games such as Overcooked 2. <br/>Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</span></span></span></div><p>Some games I tried, such as Tony Hawk&#x27;s Pro Skater 3+4, Genshin Impact, and Overcooked 2, were plug-and-play beautiful at the max settings even while capped at 60fps.</p><p>Going back to shooter games, I did enjoy playing VALORANT not just at the max graphic settings, but also at high refresh rates due to the frame rates hitting around 300fps on average. It really made the most out of the 240Hz refresh rate screen.</p><p>I have to note, though, that I initially had a hiccup with the FPS game as it froze at startup, eventually discovering an issue with Intel&#x27;s built-in graphics. I had to re-download the appropriate driver to resolve the issue.</p><p>Fortnite was not as straightforward as I had to tinker around to get the right settings. Unoptimized, the game was dipping to 30fps or lower when I maxed out the settings, and it was even choppy. It eventually resolved when I updated the NVIDIA app. It was hitting 144fps on average with the optimized settings, but went down to 120fps on average at max settings with some hitches.</p><p>Overall, I enjoyed using the OMEN Max 16 as my daily driver for work and all the more as my gaming machine for a few weeks. I will miss the crisp graphics and smooth gameplay experience it gave me, especially in triple-A titles that I won&#x27;t be able to play again anytime soon.</p><p>If given the configuration with the OLED screen, I feel it would be possible that this can be viable as an all-around machine for gaming and serious content creation work.</p><p>Given the top-tier hardware comes with a top-tier price as well. Hitting around the P220,000 range, one really pays for the premium components, thought-out engineering of the laptop, and of course the portability of being a laptop versus a desktop with similar specs, where one can surely get for less money.</p><p>But if one is a nomad or a frequent traveler who wants triple-A gaming and also does intensive rendering work on the go, the OMEN Max 16 is surely an option to put under your radar.</p>

<p> I was able to play the most demanding triple-A titles smoothly, handle multimedia tasks well, and run heavy applications simultaneously.</p>

I was able to play the most demanding triple-A titles smoothly, handle multimedia tasks well, and run heavy applications simultaneously.

REVIEW: HP Omen Max 16 gets gaming anywhere maximized

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REVIEW: HP Omen Max 16 gets gaming anywhere maximized

Mark Demayo,

ABS-CBN News

Published September 09, 2025 01:07 PM PHT

Read More:

laptop

review

gaming

gaming laptop

HP Omen

Intel Core Ultra 9

NVIDIA RTX 5080

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