HP Omen 15t 1WC88AV_1 / 1KB66AV_1 (2017) 15.6″ Gaming Laptop

The HP Omen 15t 1WC88AV_1 and 1KB66AV_1 are configurable 15.6-inch gaming laptop models for year 2017. They feature mid-range gaming performance and relatively low starting prices of around $1,000. With their 1″ thick sporty but elegant plastic chassis and weight of 5.7 pounds, they are also quite portable by gaming notebooks’ standards.

The HP Omen 15t 1WC88AV_1 is based on the mid-range Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 4GB or upper-mid-range GTX 1060 6GB video card, whereas the 1KB66AV_1 utilizes either the GeForce GTX 1050 4GB or lower-mid-range AMD Radeon RX 550 2GB GPU. That’s the main difference between the two. Furthermore, the 1WC88AV_1 provides optional Nvidia G-Sync display and Thunderbolt data transfer technologies. As for their 15.6″ displays, they feature either Full HD 1,920 x 1,080-pixel or Ultra HD 3,840 x 2,160 resolution. The HP Omen 15t 1WC88AV_1 delivers fast 120 Hz refresh rate on the FHD panels as standard, while on the 1KB66AV_1 120Hz is optional instead of normal refresh rate (we assume 60 Hz). Another difference is availability of basic 1-Terabyte hard drive and 256GB solid state storage only on the 1KB66AV_1, besides various SSD, and combined HDD/SSD options. It’s worth noting that SSDs in these notebooks support blazing fast nVME storage technology.

In other aspects, these models are the same. The Omen 15t 1WC88AV_1 and 1KB66AV_1 feature IPS display technology for wide viewing angles, the 7th Gen Intel Core i7-7700HQ quad-core processor, 8GB or 16GB of system memory, a keyboard with red backlight, and a capacious 4-cell 70 Whr battery. According to HP, the maximal battery life is up to 9 hours. On configurations with the GeForce GTX 1060 or Radeon RX 550, as well as on respective Ultra HD models, the battery life estimation is halved.

Furthermore, the Omen 15t has front-facing stereo speakers, a webcam with optional IR sensor for face-recognition based system log-ins. There are also HDMI and mini DisplayPort video outputs, three standard-size USB 3.1 ports, and a small USB-C which can also output video and act as Thunderbolt 3.0 interface (only on GTX 1060-equipped configurations). Rounding off networking and peripheral connectivity feature set, the notebook provides 802.11AC Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet LAN port, a combo audio jack, and an SD media card reader.

Hewlett Packard also offers a 17.3″ version of the notebook – the Omen 17t.