Gaming Laptop Analysis

Is the HP Omen 17t i9-9880H RTX 2080 Mobile 32GB RAM 512GB SSD good as a gaming laptop? Excellent

Processor - This laptop has an excellent processor in it for meeting modern AAA CPU requirements during 2023 gaming. Games are beginning to lean on more CPU cores for extra processing. Fortunately this CPU has 8 cores, making it an excellent gamers processor choice.

Graphics Card - The GeForce RTX 2080 Mobile is an excellent gaming GPU for 2023. AAA games often want a lot of VRAM from graphics cards. This laptop GPU has 8GB of VRAM, which isexcellent for modern gaming.

System Memory - A laptop with 32GB of system memory, like this laptop, makes it an excellent amount of RAM for the AAA gaming needs of 2023 and into the future.

Screen Size - This laptop’s 17.3" is an excellent screen size for modern gaming in 2023. While it is not essential to have a big laptop for gaming, having this size of physical screen space, to see your games and the in-game menus, will become quickly apparent.

Refresh Rate - If you are focused on a gaming laptop then ideally you want a refresh rate of 120Hz or 144Hz or more. A lot of laptops come with 60Hz and this will stop your games being able to run in more than 60 Frames per second. Even if you hardware is capable of far more frames per second. This laptop can be picked up with a refresh rate of 144Hz option. It is an excellent gamers choice for screen refresh rates.

GeForce RTX 2080 Mobile graphics card gaming performance in the HP Omen 17t i9-9880H RTX 2080 Mobile 32GB RAM 512GB SSD laptop

A key choice in any gaming laptop is making sure we identify the right graphics card in the laptop and know what it is capable of in today's gaming landscape. With this laptop we are taking a closer look at how its total laptop value compares to its capability when it comes to running modern demanding games. Also lets take a look at it when running modern popular games like, Grand Theft Auto VI or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) in ultra graphics settings on its native screen resolution of 1080p. With the GeForce RTX 2080 Mobile inside this laptop, this graphics card solution will be capable of meeting 499 games at their minimum system requirements and 477 games at their recommended system requirements of the top 500 most demanding games around today.

Comparing HP Omen 17t i9-9880H RTX 2080 Mobile 32GB RAM 512GB SSD to today’s best price to performance laptop ranges

Now let us compare the HP Omen 17t i9-9880H RTX 2080 Mobile 32GB RAM 512GB SSD laptop to other gaming laptops, with regards to the performance ability it delivers and when considering the price of the laptop. Obviously there are many things that go into a quality laptop build, but at this point we want a standardised system to compare across laptops just on that criteria. It will consider $2629.99 of the laptop with regards to its key hardware capability in running modern games performance delivered by this laptop’s hardware.

We currently give the HP Omen 17t i9-9880H RTX 2080 Mobile 32GB RAM 512GB SSD laptop a 7.2 out of 10 for its P2P score. Where the higher the better rating. As mentioned the figure will adjust as new hardware is released and performance expectations shift over time. This version of the Omen 17t laptop is currently positioned at 26th when ordered in the range lineup for Price to Performance value rating. The closer to 1st place the better gaming performance it deliver for its price.

It's good to see how this Omen 17t laptop compares to models outside of its own model range as well. If we look at the very best P2P laptop, the ASUS TUF A15 R7 4800H GTX 1660 Ti 16GB RAM 512GB M.2, our laptop has 138% worse performance difference when comparing its price to performance rating. That top laptop currently has a listed price of $999. Second on the Price to Performance laptop ranking at the moment is the MSI Bravo 15 R7 4800H RX 5500M 16GB RAM 512GB M.2 which we have a recorded price of $1049. If we compare our laptop to this one then our laptop returns with 107% worse performance/ price rating figure than it.

How does the HP Omen 17t i9-9880H RTX 2080 Mobile 32GB RAM 512GB SSD laptop compare to the best CPU performance focused laptops and today’s most popular games?

As a point of benchmark lets see how well our laptop looks when directly compared on processing performance against the top CPU focused laptop currently available. A suitable comparison laptop that is CPU focused is the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 R9 4900HS RTX 2060 Mobile 16GB RAM 1.0TB M.2. This represents one of the laptops for the current cheapest price with the most powerful CPUs in it today. It has the Ryzen 9 4900HS 8-Core 3.0GHz processor tucked inside it which can deliver 24% better performance when compared to our CPU, Core i9-9880H 8-Core 2.3GHz which is found in this review laptop.

A quick review of the number of games our laptop processor can run at recommended requirements is 464, taken from the top 500 most demanding games today. For min cpu specs this figure for number of games it can run is 500.

When compared to the recommended processor requirements of the most popular games today, like Grand Theft Auto VI our laptop CPU is 16% better in performance. Compared to Star Citizen our laptop processor is 2% better.

How does the HP Omen 17t i9-9880H RTX 2080 Mobile 32GB RAM 512GB SSD laptop compare to the best graphics card performance focused laptops and today’s most popular games?

Now lets see how well our review laptop holds up compared against graphical performance with the top performing GPU laptop available today. A top tier graphics focused laptop is the MSI GT76 Titan i9-10900K RTX 2080 Super 64GB RAM 2.0TB M.2 4K. Housing a GeForce RTX 2080 Super 8GB GPU that performs 16% better when compared to our review laptop’s GeForce RTX 2080 Mobile.

Today there are 477 games recommended system requirements that are worse than our GPU’s performance capability, this is when we look at the top 500 most demanding games right now. This figure becomes 499 games, when we look at the 500 demanding games for minimum Graphics Card system requirements.

But the real test is seeing how well the laptop GPU performs against today's popular games. Our GeForce RTX 2080 Mobile compared against recommended graphics requirements for Grand Theft Auto VI delivers 13% better performance while against Star Citizen it’s 80% better and finally compared to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) it has a performance difference : 13% better.

The HP Omen 17t i9-9880H RTX 2080 Mobile 32GB RAM 512GB SSD has a 1080p screen resolution, should I get a 4K resolution gaming laptop instead?

A common thing to explore is, what is the best gaming laptop screen resolution at the moment, as our review laptop is a 1080p. This laptop also has a 17.3" physical screen size (that's measured from a top corner to the bottom corner on the other side of the screen) and is 1920 pixels wide by 1080 pixels tall resolution. Today’s 4K laptops normally have a 60Hz screen refresh rate which would mean that should the laptop’s hardware be capable of running a 4K game, it would be restricted to a cap of 60 frames per second. As game system requirements continue to push for more powerful hardware, the components in a laptop, and many desktops as well, are simply not capable of delivering playable frame rates at Ultra graphics settings and a 4K resolution. A higher refresh rate is better and this HP Omen 17t i9-9880H RTX 2080 Mobile 32GB RAM 512GB SSD variant is available with 144Hz versions.

As a somewhat last resort a gamer could lower a game’s displayed screen resolution away from the 4K laptop’s native pixel count. Dropping down to 1080p or maybe 1440p would deliver more frames per second in game and help provide a more stable FPS in modern AAA games. But taking this action, moving away from the native 4K resolution, immediately reduces game graphics definition and makes it look blurry. Not an ideal situation on a new gaming 4K laptop. If your laptop has hardware to deliver 4K you dont need the laptop to have a 4K display to enjoy modern gaming in this way. Just plug your laptop into a 4K desktop monitor, that will likely not have the 60Hz of most 4K laptop panels.

Maybe you are hoping to enjoy your 4K streamed movies and TV shows while on the move. And if you have access to this 4K content and it's your prime use for your new laptop then perhaps it's worth considering a 4K panel, rather than this 1080p.

At the moment our advice would be, stick to the 1080p laptop panels for now. Your laptop remains portable and 4K laptop’s just aren't quite there yet. The 4K needs to be a no brainer but at the moment you will still have to lower resolution in game to get playable but sub par visuals that still can't raise above 60FPS.

Today’s best 1440p desktop monitor for a laptop is - ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV 27 inch 1440p 75Hz 5ms IPS

If you wanted a desktop monitor to go with the HP Omen 17t i9-9880H RTX 2080 Mobile 32GB RAM 512GB SSD laptop then this ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV 27 inch 1440p 75Hz 5ms IPS would go well and has 75Hz and today’s price of $311.99. We like to price track our favourite laptop hardware and peripherals. And as a point of note the lowest tracked price for this 1440p monitor was recorded on 9th Mar 2021, which was priced at $229.99.

Today’s best 4K desktop monitor for a laptop is - Asus Predator XB273K 27 inch 4K GSYNC IPS 1ms 144Hz

If you wanted to pick up a 4K desktop monitor to go alongside this laptop then the Asus Predator XB273K 27 inch 4K GSYNC IPS 1ms 144Hz looks well priced right now. At $618 it also has a 144Hz refresh rate. This 4K monitor, during these past couple of weeks, has increased its price by $618. It’s still a solid purchase to accompany this laptop but it means you may find it for even cheaper at the moment, if you look around. The cheapest we have tracked this 4k monitor was for the price of $549.99, on 13th Nov 2020.

[Note - check that monitor display connectors are compatible between a monitor and a laptop before purchase]

So why would you get a 4K capable laptop? If you enjoy movies or Netflix at 4K and have access to 4K content via those types of services then perhaps the quality of 4K resolution on a 17inch panel would be a great experience, but we still think you wouldn't miss that 4K.

At the moment our advice would be, stick to the 1080p laptop panels for now. Your laptop remains portable and 4K laptop’s just aren't quite there yet. The 4K needs to be a no brainer but at the moment you will still have to lower resolution in game to get playable but sub par visuals that still can't raise above 60FPS.

Today's Best Priced Mouse and Headset for HP Omen 17t i9-9880H RTX 2080 Mobile 32GB RAM 512GB SSD laptop

A well priced gaming mouse at the moment, that will go nicely with the HP Omen 17t i9-9880H RTX 2080 Mobile 32GB RAM 512GB SSD, is the Kayinuo M738 Gaming Mouse 3200DPI wired 6 Buttons. Today it is priced at $12.99. Today's best value and good quality mouse has enjoyed a price reduction of $32.26, and provides another reason for us to suggest it to compliment this laptop. Another point of interest was that we saw this mouse priced at $11.99, which we tracked on 15th Aug 2020.

A good value gaming headset available at the moment, one that should go well with the HP Omen 17t i9-9880H RTX 2080 Mobile 32GB RAM 512GB SSD is, Corsair HS45-7.1 Surround with a price of $36.99. Out of interest our lowest price tracked on this headset was on 28th Nov 2019 where we saw it for $34.99.