HP Omen laptop

[Startrek]

Still looking into buying a new laptop soon for all Astro tasks ( camera control, telescope control, autoguiding, stacking,post processing,IIS etc..

I prefer a laptop as I travel between 2 sites 220km apart

The HP Omen series ( gaming machine ) looks like it covers all requirements plus more.....

Black body
Red back lit keyboard
15.6” screen
Intel i7 processor
16GB ram
1 TB HDD Storage
256GB SSD Storage
70Wh Li ion battery
3 x USB 3.1 ports
1 HDMI port
1 x RJ45 port
And so on .......

Has anyone used one of these HP Omen PC’s or similar

They come in slightly cheaper than the rival MSI gaming laptops

Welcome any advice , criticism and comments

Thanks in advance

[Merlin66]

Sounds promising...
I went for a 1Tb SSD drive (for FAST! downloads of solar AVI) and a 500 Gb HHD drive (for storage and processing)

My laptop is an MSI gaming machine with similar specs (just the changes as above to the hard drives - note: disk C: is the SSD drive)

[brisen]

Hi Martin

I looked at one of these this morning when I was out shopping for a better laptop then what I currently have as it is nearing end of life. I ended up getting the MSI version that this competes with as I didn't like the amount of flex in the screen that the HP Omen had because of the way the screen is mounted. The MSI also has the i7 8th gen processor with 12 cores as opposed to the 8 cores in the HP. It also has the latest versions of the graphics card that is in the HP Omen.

I ended up getting the MSI for $30 more then the ticket price of the HP Omen by negotiating a deal. Both came with a 128 GB SSD but I have an external SSD that I use to image with so wasn't worried about the SSD size.

Brian

[Startrek]

Brian,

We’re you referring to flex in the 17” Omen screen or the 15.6” as I was considering buying a 15.6”

I haven’t read any really bad comments from either the Omen series or the MSI series in regards to performance ( IIS, cloudy nights and astronomy.net )

I guess you are splashing out a far bit of cash for these high end laptops so you expect high performance

[brisen]

It was the 15" I saw and it had quite a bit of flex in the screen due to the way they have it hinged.

Brian

[Startrek]

I’ve done some more investigation on the HP Omen series laptops

Apparently they don’t run on Windows 10 Pro only the home version

Has anyone heard anything contrary to that ?

IIS members advised to install windows 10 Pro not Home

Welcome any advice on the above

[Merlin66]

Hmmmmm
All my laptops in the office just run Win10 home 64 version.
Touch wood no issues, no drama.

[AndyG]

This article describes the differences nicely:
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/laptops/features/windows-10-home-vs-windows-10-pro-differences-new-features-718532

You will see the feature differences easily. I'm at a loss to name a missing feature in Home which could affect your experience in AP, Obs management, or anything remotely Astro. Indeed, Remote desktop is good, but you are not starved for alternatives without Win10 Pro.

In short, I'd suggest focusing on the hardware. By the specs you listed below, you can't go wrong in theory. It's wise to have asked if anyone had practical experience with that model - some real feedback would've been great. On paper at least, you'll be just fine :)