CES 2026: HP says the HyperX Omen Max 16 is essentially the most highly effective 16-inch gaming laptop computer on the earth

This 12 months HP is making an necessary change by taking its identify off its gaming {hardware} fully and letting its HyperX branding take heart stage. At CES 2026, the corporate is celebrating this transition in an enormous method with Omen Max 16, which is being heralded because the world’s strongest gaming laptop computer with totally inside cooling.

Now the final a part of that declare is a little bit of a cop out, however contemplating that the majority players most likely don’t need to lug round a pocket book with hoses popping out the again, it’s an comprehensible qualifier. Plus, with a complete platform energy of 300 watts that features help for the most recent chips from Intel and AMD and as much as an NVIDIA RTX 5090 GPU, this factor definitely gained’t be missing in velocity. Beneath the hood, the Max 16 includes a third cooling fan to forestall throttling underneath sustained workloads together with HP’s Fan Cleaner tech that reverses the path of the laptop computer’s followers to forestall mud from build up inside.

As for its design, the Max 16 doesn’t stray too removed from HyperX’s signature matte black colour scheme, although I do respect that the corporate saved a handful of accents just like the RGB lightbar mounted on the laptop computer’s entrance lip. The pocket book additionally includes a per-key RGB backlit keyboard with a 1,000Hz polling fee, which ought to all however remove any points with ghosting or rollover throughout hectic facerolling classes.

Nonetheless, one quirk in regards to the system I seen when checking it out first hand is that even with above common brightness of 500 nits for its 2.5K OLED show, the display screen additionally comes with an unusually shiny coating. The advantage of that is that colours seem tremendous saturated. The draw back is that particularly in well-lit rooms with lots of daylight, there’s extra glare and reflections than you would possibly count on.

One other good enchancment in regards to the Max 16 that may go unnoticed for those who solely take a look at its spec sheet is that regardless of having a TPP of 300 watts, its energy brick is comparatively compact. It wasn’t all that way back {that a} laptop computer with this sort of efficiency might need required twin energy cables to be able to provide the pocket book with the quantity of juice it wants. That stated, weighing between 6.1 and 6.5 kilos relying on the precise configuration, the Max 16 nonetheless isn’t the sort of laptop computer you’re going to need to carry round on a frequent foundation.

Regardless, for those who’re out there for what is actually an old-school desktop substitute laptop computer with out shifting as much as even bigger 18-inch machines, HyperX’s newest flagship gaming laptop computer needs to be a powerful contender that gained’t be missing in velocity.

Sadly, HP doesn’t have concrete data about how a lot the HyperX Omen Max 16 will price or when it’s going to go on sale. Nonetheless, we must always know extra when it turns into out there someday later this spring. And eventually, for those who’re on the lookout for one thing barely smaller or a extra inexpensive system (we do not have official pricing, however the Max 16 will not come low-cost), HP can also be updating the Omen 15 and Omen 16 with contemporary parts and new HyperX branding for 2026 as nicely.