By far the most effective {hardware} bulletins to return out of final 12 months’s Gamescom was HP’s ear-cooling Omen Mindframe headset. The identify was simply pure, unbridled brilliance, and its chilly, sweat-blasting thermoelectric ear cups have been novel and labored surprisingly properly in apply, even when its suspension-style headband didn’t fairly maintain up comfort-wise as soon as I acquired one in for evaluation. Now, the Mindframe is again for a second technology. Enter the HP Omen Mindframe Prime, the brand new king of gaming headset naming conventions and our newest contender for the most effective factor to return out of Gamescom 2019 – together with the remainder of HP’s new {hardware} bulletins, like their Omen X 27 monitor, Pavilion Gaming 15 laptop computer and pair of keyboards. Read on under for particulars on all of them.
The greatest enchancment HP have made to the Mindframe Prime is its flip-down microphone. I didn’t have an excessive amount of of an issue with the primary one, in all honesty, however the Prime’s new mic now comes with Xear environmental noise cancellation help to assist lower down on ambient background noise. It does this through the use of two inner microphones to hear for widespread sounds as much as 40dB. If they each establish the identical noise, it will get lower out, which ought to hopefully make your voice sound lots clearer and fewer hissy on your on-line gaming mates.
HP have additionally added a brand new warmth spreader to the Mindframe Prime’s ear cups to assist push warmth even additional away out of your pores and skin (which can hopefully make the outer ear cups much less scorching to the contact, too), in addition to altering their form barely from spherical to oval to make them extra comfy. They’ve additionally spruced up their HP Omen Command Centre software program to offer you extra customisation choices, too, together with numerous EQ settings and personalised profiles, the choice to show its 7.1 digital encompass sound on or off (earlier than it was simply on by default and there was no approach to disable it), plus all the standard lighting and cooling settings you had on the outdated Mindframe. All in all, it feels like plenty of complaints have been addressed right here, and I look ahead to testing it myself as soon as evaluation samples can be found subsequent month.
The Mindframe Prime isn’t the one new factor HP have introduced right this moment, although. There are additionally a bunch of recent shows – the 1440p, FreeSync 2 HDR-enabled Omen X 27 (see above) being the primary headline act – in addition to their first gaming laptop computer with an AMD CPU inside it, the Pavilion Gaming 15. Starting with the screens, the $650 Omen X 27 appears fairly swish with its three-sided micro-edge bezels and minuscule height-adjustable stand, and its TN panel is supposedly meant to cowl at the very least 90% of the HDR-grade DCI-P3 color gamut, too.
I’ll be impressed if that holds up in apply, as TN panels aren’t usually identified for his or her high notch picture high quality. That mentioned, I’m not likely holding out a lot hope for its common HDR wow-factor chops, as HP have mentioned its peak brightness will solely attain 400cd/m2 when its HDR is switched on (and 300cd/m2 with it switched off). That’s not a lot brighter than plenty of common gaming shows, actually, however even when its HDR doesn’t find yourself being a lot cop, I’d think about its 240Hz refresh fee will nonetheless make it a sexy providing when it launches in September, particularly when paired with its 2560×1440 decision.
For these after one thing rather less flashy, there’s additionally the brand new HP 24X and 22X gaming shows (see under), which each come out later this month. The 22X (left) is, as its identify implies, a 22in display screen with a 1920×1080 decision, and it additionally comes with a 144Hz refresh fee and AMD FreeSync help. The 24X (proper), in the meantime, is a 24in, 1080p, 144Hz FreeSync display screen, solely this one is G-Sync Compatible like its 2018 predecessor so you’ll be able to nonetheless get the good thing about its tear-free gaming tech no matter what kind of graphics card you’ve acquired. It’s additionally acquired a height-adjustable stand, making it extra versatile than its fastened smaller sibling.
Then there’s the Pavilion Gaming 15 laptop computer, which is HP’s first such laptop computer to have an AMD processor sitting on the coronary heart of it. Aimed at those that want one thing for each work and play, the Pavilion Gaming 15 goes to return with as much as an Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q graphics chip in it, as much as 1TB of PCIe SSD storage, plus 60Hz and 144Hz 1920×1080 show choices.
As you’ll be able to see within the image under, it’s nonetheless fairly angular and gamery on the lookout for what’s meant to be a work-friendly laptop computer, however at the very least it’s solely acquired a small HP brand whenever you open it up as a substitute of an enormous Omen X one. Its keyboard solely has a plain inexperienced backlight, too, reasonably than a rainbow-infused RGB one, so right here’s hoping its gaming efficiency and display screen high quality will probably be as much as snuff to make it a sexy finances various to these after a gaming machine on the go.
Admittedly, it’s not but clear what the highest spec will value but, however the entry-level one is ready to go on sale for $700 later this month. That one will solely have a 3GB GTX 1050 chip inside it, all informed, however fingers crossed its high GTX 1660 Ti mannequin will nonetheless are available in beneath $1000.
And to spherical issues off, HP have additionally acquired two new gaming keyboards within the offing, too. First is the Omen Encoder (one other sensible identify, in case you ask me), which can include Cherry MX pink and brown switches when it launches for $100 in October, and the second is the Pavilion Gaming 800, which is accessible now for $80, however solely has non-descript “red mechanical” switches, in keeping with HP. It does, nonetheless, include a 3.5mm headset jack, in addition to devoted media keys.
As ordinary, I’ll do my greatest to get all of those examined and reviewed within the coming months as and when samples can be found, so test again quickly for my official verdict.
