HP just announced the OMEN 16L, its smallest OMEN gaming desktop to date. It appears to be a very competent pre-assembled PC, with configurations for RTX 40-series GPUs and Intel Core Ultra CPUs.
As its name suggests, the OMEN 16L is a gaming PC in a 16-liter small form factor case (I’d love to give you precise measurements, but HP didn’t provide them). The 16L case size is pretty tricky, as high-end gaming components—particularly GPUs and PSUs—are large and require ample cooling. I’m surprised that HP is building high-end gaming PCs in this form factor, although the company did something similar with its Victus product line last year, so I guess it’s not too out of the ordinary.
Anyways, the OMEN 16L comes in a smattering of different configurations. The low-end models run on Intel Core i5-14400 or AMD Ryzen 5 8500F processors, which are perfectly respectable, though customers can pony up the big bucks for an Intel Core Ultra 8 265 or AMD Ryzen 7 8700G. RTX GPU options range from the 3050 to the 4060 Ti, although AMD customers are stuck with the Radeon RX 7600 (which is equivalent to an RTX 4060). Memory goes up to 32GB, there’s a 2TB NVMe SSD option, and Wi-Fi 6E is supported out of the box.
HP lined the front of the OMEN 16L with three USB-A ports, one USB-C port, and a headphone jack. The company hasn’t shown me the backside of the unit, but I know it’s got a LAN jack back there. I assume that there are some extra USB ports in the rear, too, and video output options will depend on your GPU configuration.
There are three primary cooling fans inside of the OMEN 16L—a 120mm front fan, a 90mm rear fan, and a 92mm CPU fan. Interestingly, the CPU fan is the only part of this computer with any RGB lighting. You can control the fan’s lighting and pair it with compatible RGB peripherals in OMEN Light Studio, if you’re into that sort of thing.
I’m very interested in small form factor gaming PCs. There’s something very elegant about compact products like the OMEN 16L. And, at the very least, they’re a cool novelty. But I don’t suggest buying the OMEN 16L until reviewers test the thermal performance.
The OMEN 16L Gaming Desktop is expected to go on sale in the coming months, though HP has yet to provide any pricing details. I’d normally be annoyed by the absence of pricing, but in this case, I don’t think it really matters. There’s like a dozen different configurations of this computer—prices will be all over the place, and the “starts at” price won’t be useful to anyone who wants an upgraded config.
Source: HP
