"I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a display this drop-dead gorgeous.": The new HP Omen Max is putting in maximum effort

Nothing makes me happier than getting a monster gaming laptop in a 16-inch chassis across my desk, and HP is jumping at the chance to land among our top gaming laptops with the HP Omen Max 16.

The HP Omen Max 16 delivers on almost all fronts between its Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090, a striking 16-inch OLED display, and a clicky keyboard, while keeping impressively cool.

However, for its lofty $4,299 price tag, I expected more out of its gaming performance, battery life, and speakers.

Despite that, I think the HP Omen Max 16 is a serious contender for our best gaming laptops, but let's take a closer look to see if it has what it takes to climb that mountain.

HP Omen Max 16 (RTX 5090): Specs and benchmarks

HP Omen Max 16 (RTX 5090): Price and configurations

Loosen up those purse strings because the HP Omen Max 16 I reviewed costs a whopping $4,299. It’s outfitted with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 24GB GPU, 32GB of RAM, a 2TB SSD, and a 16-inch, 2560 x 1600, 240Hz, OLED display.

The base model starts at $2,499 (not available at the time of writing), which drops you to a Core Ultra 7 255HX CPU, RTX 5070 Ti GPU, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 16-inch, 1920 x 1200, IPS display. Thank your stars this isn’t available because it's just a bad deal. If you’re paying $2,499, you need to get more RAM and storage, and display.

If you’re trying to go middle-of-the-road, then there’s the $3,139 model, which is fitted with the Ultra 7, RTX 5080, 16GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, and a 1600p IPS display.

So, yeah, anyway you slice it it's not a budget laptop, but particularly for the high-end model you are getting top-of-the-line components across the board.

If you are looking for something more affordable, I recommend checking out the best cheap gaming laptops where I found the best laptop values with a given GPU.

HP Omen Max 16 (RTX 5090): Design

While the HP Omen Max 16 is a bit chunky, it looks clean and understated… apart from its lightbar and thick RGB keys.

The exterior sports a glossy black Omen logo, and beyond the display hinge, there’s a cutout for the back ports, and it rocks a bit of a machine look. There’s a logo for the “016” in the bottom right corner alongside text that reads, “Designed and built for winning.” If all I do is lose, do I get a refund?

Popping open the hood reveals those round, chubby keys on the deck just above a medium-sized touchpad. In the bottom right, there’s another “016” in glossy black paint, and underneath it is text written out in an alien language that I’m not even going to try to decipher.

The bezels on the display are decently thin, with the webcam on top and the much-appreciated privacy shutter attached to it.

At 5.92 pounds and 14.04 x 10.59 x 0.9~0.98 inches, the HP Omen Max 16 is a little too heavy for my liking. Here’s how it compares to the competition:

• Razer Blade 16 (2025): 4.6 pounds, 13.98 x 9.86 x 0.59~0.69 inches
• Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 (RTX 5080): 5.5 pounds, 14.05 x 10 x 0.91~1.18 inches
• MSI Titan 18 HX: 7.9 pounds, 15.9 x 12.1 x 1.3 inches

HP Omen Max 16 (RTX 5090): Ports

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You get ports all around the HP Omen Max 16, which is nice because the power jack doesn’t get in the way.

• 2x Thunderbolt 4 with USB Type-C 40Gbps signaling rate (USB Power Delivery, DisplayPort 2.1, HP Sleep and Charge);
• 1x USB Type-A 10Gbps signaling rate (HP Sleep and Charge)
• 1x USB Type-A 10Gbps signaling rate
• 1x HDMI 2.1
• 1x headphone/microphone combo
• 1x RJ-45 Ethernet

Need more ports? Check out our best USB Type-C hubs and best laptop docking stations pages.

HP Omen Max 16 (RTX 5090): Battery life

This ain’t max, I'll tell you that much.

The HP Omen Max 16 survived 3 hours and 20 minutes on the Laptop Mag battery test. And 1 hour and 24 minutes on the PCMark 10 gaming battery test.

Previously, I've forgiven gaming laptops this powerful for shoddy battery life, but not this generation. Not when RTX 5090 equivalents like the Razer Blade 16 score over 7 hours of battery life, and when the RTX 5080 Aorus Master 16 provides over 5 hours of battery life.

It's not so bad that I'm pulling my recommendation as many gaming laptops almost never run on battery, but it can do better.

HP Omen Max 16 (RTX 5090): Display

I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a display this drop-dead gorgeous. The HP Omen Max 16’s 16-inch, 2560 x 1600, 240Hz, OLED display stunned me with its fever dream of colors and infinite contrast.

I jumped right into my latest obsession, Marvel Rivals, and tore through Krakoa as my main girl Magik. Her fiery Eldritch Knight armor glowed with a new fervor on the Omen Max’s OLED screen. And when that dumb Spider-Man tried to force his way into our backline, his suit looked deliciously red when I dashed to take his life.

The panel is sharp and smooth enough to capture the full breadth of games like Marvel Rivals. Although you’ll want to play in a dark room, as the panel isn’t bright enough to kill the glossy glare. I had a similar experience watching the Lilo & Stitch trailer, with shots of the Hawaiian ocean looking straight up diveable, while Lilo’s dark room caught much of the ambient light in my room.

Despite that, it destroyed its competitors in color coverage.

HP Omen Max 16 (RTX 5090): Keyboard and touchpad

I love a bit of a kick and a bounce in my keyboard. The HP Omen Max 16 both sounds and feels pleasant to type on. And the size of the keys gives my fingers enough room to breathe. However, while the keys are large, they’re too bunched up together, so the keyboard feels somewhat like a flat surface.

I scored 85 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test, which is decently above my 81 wpm average. Despite the keys being scrunched together, there’s enough of a texture to guide my fingers to the next keystroke. And there’s enough space on the deck for my palms to rest comfortably.

The 4.95 x 3.1-inch touchpad features a short, bassy click, and it’s smooth to the touch, but I wish the dip between the pad and the deck were shorter, as my thumb catches a bit of friction there.

HP Omen Max 16 (RTX 5090): Audio

The bottom-firing speakers produce mediocre audio, and it seems like the result of software oversight. HP includes a license for DTS Sound Unbound, but only for headphones. And the only other audio equalizer is a HyperX-tuned profile built into the myHP app, but guess what? There’s no Game preset. Wild.

I hopped into another game of Marvel Rivals, and if you’ve played at all, you know there’s a cacophony of sounds you need to parse so you don’t get killed by Iron Man’s ultimate. Unfortunately, the mids and lows muddied together a bit, so I couldn’t even hear the backhanded dialogue in the middle of the fight. Higher sounds like my sword slashes came off clear. But I wouldn’t depend on these speakers for competitive games.

I listen to “Underworld” from Epic: The Musical on a daily basis, and I immediately noticed a difference between it and the Omen Max. The vocals were clear and upfront, but all the background instruments were heavily muted. It’s like two steps away from a cappella.

If you pick up the Omen 16 Max, invest in one of the best gaming headsets to bring your audio up to par with the rest of the laptop.

HP Omen Max 16 (RTX 5090): Gaming and graphics

Oh, you know I was making full use of the HP Omen Max 16’s 240Hz display when I was teleporting to gank the enemy’s Luna Snow in Marvel Rivals. That’s thanks to the chunky Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 24GB GPU tucked away inside.

There’s nothing the HP Omen Max 16 can’t handle… except its high-end competitors. I’m not denying that the Omen Max 16 is a powerhouse, but it did land dead last against the Razer Blade (RTX 5090), Aorus Master (RTX 5080), and MSI Titan (RTX 4090) in the Cyberpunk 2077 (Ultra, 1080p) benchmark.

However, it’s important to note that HP directed us to test the Omen Max 16 with Nvidia driver 572.62, despite the latest 572.82 driver being available. So, performance may vary depending on the driver you use.

While the numbers could be better, HP Omen Max 16 manages its heat while gaming quite well (which we’ll get into below).

One major advantage of the RTX 50-series is DLSS 4. With Nvidia’s new Multi Frame Generation technology, you could see double or triple the frames we’ve reported below. But that’s only in compatible games. Thanks to this technology, gaming laptops with high refresh rate displays can finally be utilized for AAA gaming at max settings.

HP Omen Max 16 (RTX 5090): Performance and heat

While the HP Omen Max 16 may have lacked some competitive spirit in gaming, it threw some heavy punches in overall performance with its Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor and 32GB of RAM. Jumping through a couple dozen Chrome tabs and a handful of YouTube videos while Marvel Rivals downloaded in the background felt like a breeze.

On the Geekbench 6 overall performance test, the Omen Max 16 claimed the top spot over the Razer Blade (AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370), Aorus Master (Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX), and the MSI Titan (Intel Core i9-14900HX).

It slowed down a bit on our HandBrake test, which had it transcode a 4K video to 1080p, but it still made good time, coming in a close third. It landed similarly on our file transfer test as well, but the 2TB SSD seemed less impressive in that instance since it was over 300 and 1,000 MBps slower than the Razer Blade and MSI Titan, respectively.

However, heat management is where the HP Omen Max 16 shines. After gaming for 15 minutes, the hottest temp that it reached was 105.8 degrees Fahrenheit, found between the F11 and F12 buttons on the keyboard deck. Now, it is above our 95-degree comfort threshold, but when the competition is 10 to 20 degrees hotter, that’s an achievement.

HP Omen Max 16 (RTX 5090): AI features

We’re in the era of AI, whether we like it or not, and so, like all new laptops, the HP Omen Max 16 offers AI features. This is introduced via the NPU in its Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor. While not marketed as a Copilot+ PC, you get access to Copilot as well as Recall (PC history), Windows Studio Effects, and Live Captions.

Meanwhile, there aren’t any obvious HP-branded AI features on the Omen Max 16 apart from AI Noise Removal in the myHP audio settings.

HP Omen Max 16 (RTX 5090): Webcam

I shouldn’t be surprised that the HP Omen Max 16’s 1080p webcam is bad, but I’m still disappointed.

I will say that the My Hero Academia poster behind me looks hella colorful, especially Deku’s red gloves, but that might be the display doing the heavy-lifting. The contrast balance is poor, as the window behind me looked overexposed and my facial features were darker than normal. Not to mention, there’s a light fuzz all over the image. If you plan on streaming, I recommend picking up one of the best webcams.

HP Omen Max 16 (RTX 5090): Software and warranty

There are a few important apps onboard the HP Omen Max 16, including the Omen Gaming Hub, which is where you can tune your performance and monitor system vitals. There’s also myHP, where you’ll find additional display, audio, and battery life settings. Then there’s HP Support Assistant, which provides all your warranty and diagnostic needs.

The HP Omen Max 16 comes with a one-year limited warranty.

Bottom line

As someone who’s been using an HP Omen for quite a while now, I had high hopes for the HP Omen Max 16. And for the most part, HP delivered with its powerful overall performance, epic display, solid keyboard, and decent heat management. However, I wanted more out of the gaming performance and battery life, especially for its price.

If you’re looking for something with strong battery life and epic performance, check out the Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 for over $1,000 less.

However, you simply cannot beat the HP Omen Max’s 16-inch OLED display. That color is straight up dripping.