HP Omen 15 (2020) Review-A Timeless Gaming Powerhouse in 2025
The HP Omen 15 was redesigned entirely in 2020, veering toward a cleaner, more professional aesthetic. But subtle looks can also be deceiving; this is a powerful machine meant to crush demanding games. Let's see how this hot-selling model fares in 2025 and whether it is still the right choice for you.
Design & Build Quality
The 2020 redesign has deemed it a complete departure from the rest of the Omen machine line. The formerly characteristic central hinge is now replaced with a pair of hinges at the edges. The result is an almost conventional laptop look now. The lid, plain and matte black, sports a new iridescent Omen logo that subtly changes color depending on how you view it. Gone are the aggressive accents of a "gamer" that have been suitably replaced with a toned-down look that would not seem out of place inside an office.
The interior continues this theme with the matte texture. It is very easily placed for viewing purposes, with another distinctive fingerprint just wiping it away. The laptop uses plastic for both the lid and bottom-panel materials, while solid aluminum is present in the keyboard deck. Thus, the final product is a laptop that feels sturdy and premium but is relatively light and portable at just 2.1 kilograms.
Keyboard & Touchpad
Some people may find the fact that it lacks a numeric keypad in the keyboard of Omen 15 as a drawback. However, the keycaps are made of soft-touch material that feels good while typing, and the size of the arrow keys is pretty good. Helpful keys for the Omen Command Center app, page up/down, delete, and even a calculator are available. One of the things that is odd in the design is the power button, poorly placed within the keyboard arrangement, amidst the other function keys. Fortunately, a single short press won't shut it down accidentally.
Lighting includes 4-zone RGB on this unit, with additional highlighting given to the WASD keys. Depending on the region and configuration, models with per-key RGB, red only, or white-only backlighting may be available.
The very large touchpad uses a single piece of hardware. It employs the Windows Precision drivers, recognized for accurate tracking and gesture support. The touchpad performed reliably without jitter in cursor movement or missed clicks.
Display & Audio
It has a 15.6-inch 1080p 144 Hz IPS screen with a response time of around 9 ms. This display covers really-color space, achieving 95% of the sRGB gamut. Peak brightness reaches 329 nits; thus, its value is equal for photo/video editing, while games look vibrant and smooth. As always, this screen will hold excellent viewing angles, as is the case with IPS technology.
This model is available with various other display options, including 60Hz and 240Hz panels at 1080p as well as a 300 Hz variant, as well as 60Hz or 120Hz for 4K resolution. Unfortunately, G-Sync usually is assigned for models with high-end GPU such as RTX 2070 or above.
To the user's surprise, audio performance is quite impressive. The booming maximum sound levels clearly deliver mids and highs, while bass is apparent, though not as potent as many would like.
Performance & Thermals
Omen Command Center software serves as the main hub, where all performance tuning is present-from power modes down to fan speed adjustments, and even undervolting the CPU. For this test, the laptop was set on performance mode with maximum fan speed on.
Surprisingly, performance was good the CPU hit 60 watts most of the time when Benchmarking even that the cpu is 45 watts tdp the CPU average temperature of 80°C, running cool at 66°C for the GPU.
Under full load, the fans are very noisy; however, the powerful speakers enable one to game without headphones. The fan noise is decent and non-intrusive during idle or light workloads.
Benchmarks
The laptop I acquired is a used device that features an Intel i5-10300H, RTX 2070 Max-Q, 16GB RAM, and a 1080p display.
System scored 5,690 points in a multi-core test and also 1,147 points in a single-core test in Cinebench R23. With a score of 5,225 in FurMark, the RTX 2070 Max-Q scored highly.
Gaming Benchmarks
- Arc Riders: 60-70 FPS on High settings with DLSS (DLAA). setting cannot be lowered resulting in a CPU bottleneck.
- Battlefield 6 / Battlefield Redacted: Approximately 70-90 FPS with mixed High and Low settings to avoid CPU bottlenecks.
- Pragmata (Demo): ~80 FPS on Max settings with DLSS (DLAA).
- Marvel Rivals: 100-120 FPS on Medium to High settings.
- THE FINALS: 80 to 90 FPS on Medium to High settings DLSS (DLAA).
- PUBG: approximately 80 FPS on Ultra settings, tuned to avoid CPU bottlenecking.
- Path of Exile 2: 70-80 FPS on Max settings.
- Naraka: Bladepoint: ~90 FPS on mixed High and Medium settings.
- Where Winds Meet: ~70 FPS on Max settings.
- Rust: ~90 FPS using a mix of Low and High settings.
- Cyberpunk 2077: 39 - 44 FPS on Max settings with Ray Tracing enabled and DLSS set to Quality.
- Elden Ring: Locked 60 FPS on Max settings.
- Obscur Expedition: 33 to 40 FPS on mixed Medium and High settings.
- The Witcher 3: 60 to 70 FPS on Ultra settings with Ray Tracing disabled and no upscaling.
Port Selection
- Thunderbolt 3 Port
- USB Type-A Ports
- HDMI
- Mini DisplayPort
- Ethernet Port
- Full-size SD Card Slot
- Headphone/Microphone Combo Jack
Upgradability
You will only need to take out eight screws for access to internals. It has two RAM slots and two M.2 PCIe slots for SSD storage. This dual M.2 configuration is a great feature for expanding storage but means that a 2.5-inch drive bay is missing for this laptop.
Battery Life
The battery life is well average for a gaming laptop. Light productivity, such as web browsing and watching videos, could yield an approximation of 3 hours and 50 minutes of application. Playing games on battery operates the time down to an hour or so.
Pros
- Very clean design; understated enough to be equally useful in gaming and professional settings.
- Excellent thermal performance, very stable temperatures under sustained load.
- The RTX 2070 Max-Q will still provide good 1080p gaming performance as far into 2025.
- Smooth, color-accurate 144Hz IPS display.
- Port selection is excellent, including Thunderbolt 3, Ethernet, Mini DisplayPort, and SD card reader.
- Speakers are loud and clear, which is above average for a gaming laptop.
- Good upgrade ability; supports two slots for RAM and two slots for M.2 NVMe SSDs.
- Good build quality, aluminum keyboard deck.
- Strong resale value in the used marketplace.
Cons
- The Intel Core i5-10300H is a definite bottleneck when running newer, CPU-heavy games.
- The actual system, however, unnecessarily limits the CPU power regardless of it being cooling capable.
- The fans get really loud under sustained heavy load.
- No numerical keypad on the keyboard.
- Awkward placement of power button within the keyboard layout.
- No options for additional storage with 2.5-inch SATA drive bay.
- AVG battery life for a gaming laptop.
- RTX 2070 Max-Q does not have the advantages of DLSS 3 and modern frame generation techniques.
Final Word & Score
By 2025, the HP Omen 15 (2020) would still be a reliable weapon of choice and a really well-balanced candidate on the gaming laptop market, especially for buyers considering the second-hand market. Its design is clean and very understated and it has aged well by avoiding the aggressive gamer aesthetics that date many laptops of its own generation. The build feels good and solid, the thermals are excellent, and the smooth 144Hz IPS display is still pumping out vibrant and color-accurate image quality.
The Intel Core i5-10300H does seem to hold its strength, nevertheless: it works its way past the rated 45W TDP at heavy workloads, going up until some 60W in benchmarks, all while keeping acceptable temperatures. The RTX 2070 Max-Q is, come 2025, still a good GPU for 1080p gaming. It can run fairly modern titles at high settings and even allow for ray tracing in select games. The quad-core CPU, while not power-limited by any means, may become a bottleneck in newer CPU-demanding titles simply because of limitations in core counts and thread counts in today's world.
Nevertheless, tweaking some settings ensures that real-life gaming performance is still good. The array of tests show that many present-day games can still run just fine at high frame rates, while competitive titles that are well-optimized run extremely well. Their thermal performance is another great aspect, as both CPU and GPU stay comfortably cool under sustained loads.
Other plus points include loud and clear speakers, a greater port selection with Thunderbolt 3, and marvelous upgradability with dual RAM and M.2 slots. These factors are especially important when examining long-term usability and value in the used hardware market.
Verdict: HP Omen 15 (2020) is no longer a flagship gaming laptop in 2025; however, it remains a smart, dependable, and all-rounded choice at the right price. It is best suited for gamers who want strong thermals, good build quality, and reasonably reliable 1080p gaming performance while being aware of the natural limitations of older quad-core gaming processors. It is still a very good deal in the used market and is able to offer a pleasant gaming experience.hile understanding the natural limitations of older quad-core processors. As a used-market purchase, it still offers very good value and a satisfying gaming experience.
