HP’s annual Amplify conference is back for 2025 with a whole lot of new hardware in tow.
The company’s gaming brands, OMEN and Victus, have received laptop refreshes, but the big news involves a completely new OMEN 16 Slim model that’s fittingly 16% thinner than the standard OMEN 16.
Also making news is a new HyperX Cloud III Wireless S gaming headset, capable of offering up to 200 hours of battery life on a charge while retaining the usual level of comfort expected from the series.
I’m taking a look first at these two major announcements before getting into the rest of HP’s updated gaming hardware.
HP has a new, thinner flagship AI gaming laptop
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HP announced a new addition to its OMEN 16 lineup — the OMEN 16 Slim — at Amplify 2025.
It joins an established roster of OMEN, OMEN Max, and OMEN Transcend gaming laptops to offer improved mobility.
Despite offering Intel’s latest “Arrow Lake” Core Ultra Series 2 chips (up to a Core Ultra 9 285H) and up to an NVIDIA RTX 5070 Laptop GPU, it’s 16% thinner than the standard OMEN 16.
The reduction shrinks its dimensions to 14.08 x 10.59 x 0.78-0.89 inches (357.5mm x 269mm x 19.9mm-22.7mm), though it actually weighs more with a 5.34-pound (2.42kg) starting weight.
HP OMEN 16 Slim (2025) specs
CPU: Up to Intel Core Ultra 9 285H
Graphics: Up to NVIDIA RTX 5070 Laptop GPU
Memory: Up to 32GB DDR5-5600MHz
Storage: Up to 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD
Display: 16 inches, up to 2560×1600, 60-240Hz, 3ms, IPS, 500 nits, 100% sRGB
Keyboard: 4-zone RGB, anti-ghosting, 26-key rollover
Camera: 1080p, IR
Audio: DTS:X Ultra, dual speakers
Ports: USB-C (10Gbps), USB-A (10Gbps), two USB-A (5Gbps), RJ45 Ethernet, HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm audio
Wireless: Up to Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.4
Battery: 70Wh
Weight: From 5.34 pounds (2.42kg)
Dimensions: 14.08 x 10.59 x 0.78-0.89 inches (357.5mm x 269mm x 19.9mm-22.7mm)
Color: Shadow Black
Those NVIDIA RTX 5000 Laptop GPUs must be heavy, as that’s still more weight than a lot of the competition. For example, Lenovo’s Legion 7i (Gen 9) with 40-series NVIDIA hardware starts at 4.93 pounds (2.24kg).
HP says the system is able to reach up to a 105W TPP in Unleashed mode to accommodate the Core Ultra CPUs and NVIDIA Laptop GPUs, and it claims the “advanced cooling technology” can run the system at 46 decibels.
Because of all the AI-capable hardware onboard, HP’s new OMEN AI software should be particularly capable of balancing power and performance for individual games.
HP says it will learn your gaming habits to improve performance across the system no matter the title.
Whether or not it works better than (or if it works with) the NVIDIA optimizations available in the NVIDIA App remains to be seen.
OMEN Slim seems to me a direct answer to the OMEN Max lineup announced at CES 2025.
OMEN Max is designed to offer the absolute best performance possible from the latest Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA hardware without as much of a focus on portability, while the OMEN Slim strikes a better balance for gamers who often play while on the go.
HP hasn’t yet shared pricing or availability information, but HP’s list of hardware coming to the OMEN 16 Slim suggests that the PC will be available at a reasonable price, at least compared to OMEN Max and OMEN Transcend.
A baseline model with the thinner chassis should look something like a Core Ultra 5 255H CPU, NVIDIA RTX Laptop GPU (perhaps starting with the rumored RTX 5060 or RTX 5050?), 1920×1200 display at 144Hz, and a 512GB SSD.
While this is classified as an AI PC thanks to Intel Core’s included NPU, its 13 TOPS of power isn’t enough to handle Copilot+ in Windows 11.
That could change whenever NVIDIA and Microsoft finally team up to bring AI power in NVIDIA GPUs to the Copilot+ program, but as it stands now you’re better off checking out my favorite Copilot+ PCs if you can’t live without the AI tools.
The HyperX Cloud III S Wireless headset’s battery lasts for 200 hours
The other major gaming announcement out of Amplify 2025 involves a new HyperX Cloud III S Wireless gaming headset.
It builds on the stellar foundation established by the HyperX Cloud III Wireless headset reviewed by Windows Central Editor Rebecca Spear, in which she remarked:
“With its incredibly long battery life, updated design, great sound quality, and amazing microphone, the Cloud III Wireless is exactly the model upgrade we’d expect from HyperX. It’s a great choice for any gamer.”
The new Cloud III S model retains the same level of comfort and audio quality while significantly boosting battery life.
Whereas the non-S version can last for up to 120 hours using the 2.4GHz wireless connectivity dongle, the Cloud III S pushes battery life up to 200 hours thanks to newfound Bluetooth capabilities.
You can still get the same 120 hours from the Cloud III S’s 2.4GHz dongle, and HP’s Instant Pair capability is available with OMEN laptops.
For a bit more style, the Cloud III S Wireless headset has removable earcup plates. You can buy different plates that attach magnetically directly from HyperX, but I expect to see plenty of 3D-printed versions customized at home.
Pricing and release date for the Cloud III S Wireless remains to be determined.
More HP OMEN gaming laptop refreshes are headed your way
The new OMEN Slim 16 is the HP gaming news that caught my eye out of GDC, but the existing lineup is also getting updated for 2025.
Here’s a quick look at the three other HP gaming laptops getting updated for 2025.
- HP OMEN 17: Now featuring up to an AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 CPU, NVIDIA RTX 5070 Laptop GPU, and a 240Hz QHD+ display with 3ms response time. Copilot+ works thanks to the AMD AI CPUs.
- HP OMEN Transcend 14: The lightest, most portable OMEN gaming laptop gets refreshed with up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 285H CPU, NVIDIA RTX 5070 Laptop GPU, and a 3K OLED display with 120Hz variable refresh rate.
- HP Victus 15: HP’s budget gaming laptops see a mix of Intel and AMD AI chips, NVIDIA and AMD graphics, and a 15.6-inch FHD display with 144Hz refresh rate.
HP has yet to share pricing or availability for these gaming laptops announced at Amplify 2025.
