HP Omen vs. Alienware desktop: Which should you choose?

Hp Omen 45l Desk Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central

Ownership a pre-congenital gaming desktop PC is 1 of the ameliorate ways correct now to grab a new graphics card, but that'southward not the only reason to buy one. The days of building your own being the just mode to guarantee a high-quality, high-operation gaming rig are long gone.

Two of the all-time in the business organization are HP and Dell, more than specifically with their corresponding Omen and Alienware brands. If you're looking for the best gaming desktop PC, then you're going to be considering both of these, and they're both brands we rate highly.

But which is ameliorate for you? The good news is there'due south no real correct or wrong reply, but at that place are a few things that could assist you lot decide. Let'south pause downwards some of the master points.

Cost

Hp Omen 30l Lead Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central

Gaming PCs aren't cheap, only equally, they don't take to be expensive. Both HP and Alienware take entry-level models that are within the accomplish of those shopping on a tighter upkeep. For Alienware, it'south fabricated easier by the fact the brand only currently offers a single gaming desktop PC: the Aurora. There are different versions, but you're getting an Aurora if y'all're getting an Alienware.

The absolute lowest starting price is currently $950, which doesn't get y'all a auto that'll crank out the upcoming Crysis 4 at loftier frame rates, just it does get you a solid starter machine. There are plenty of options available, too, and yous can choose between Intel, NVIDIA, and AMD parts.

HP has a little more than variety, with the older Omen 25L and Omen 30L being joined by the newer Omen 40L and Omen 45L. This also means a greater range of pricing, and for the true upkeep buyer, there'south certainly more reason to consider HP Omen. The lowest toll is currently an $800 Omen 25L that's still good for some of the latest titles and certainly today'southward most pop competitive games.

Like Alienware, there'due south a raft of options, and if your upkeep will go high enough, so too tin can your spec list. But if the price is important, HP certainly edges things if but for its wider option and lower entry indicate.

Performance and design

Alienware Aurora R11 Source: Dell

Pattern is ane of the best ways these companies try to stand out from the crowd and depict in prospective buyers, and information technology's impossible to deny that Alienware does that with the Aurora. The basic chassis has remained by and large unchanged for many years, but the exterior design has ever been pretty wild. An Alienware staple is an aggressive pattern that is instantly recognizable. And lashings of RGB.

HP, by contrast, is a trivial more than subtle with its Omen desktop lineup, eschewing mad designs for a more muted and traditional PC belfry wait. But still with lashings of RGB. The corresponding design choices do accept an impact on the ease of installing upgrades, which we'll consider later, only ultimately it's a personal choice.

What's comparable is the performance. HP arguably has an edge on the lower end, using the NVIDIA GTX 1650 instead of AMD's near basic GPU which is, in all honesty, barely better than integrated graphics. Merely as you lot become up the ladder the limit is how much y'all want to spend. Both companies volition give you a selection of Intel or AMD processors and up to the RTX 3090 GPU from NVIDIA, the current king.

HP does have one extra political party slice though with the new Omen 45L, and that's its new Cryo Chamber cooling system. Information technology separates the radiator and its fluid from the chief compartment of the PC, thus removing any heated air from the cooling equation. As a issue, you go lower temperatures, and lower temperatures are a PC gamer'southward best friend. It may sound similar a gimmick but it'south not.

Ease of upgrading

Omen 45l Full Source: Windows Central

Both Alienware and HP support upgrading their corresponding desktop PCs and use more often than not standard parts throughout. HP, in item, is especially welcoming to hereafter upgrades, with standard parts joined past a simple, easy-to-access design with plenty of room to work in. Upgrading to the biggest graphics cards isn't an issue, and you're free to swap out literally everything down to the motherboard if you lot wish.

The Cryo Chamber on the new Omen 45L is probably the only part you wouldn't upgrade, but even on this PC, everything else can exist swapped out with ease.

Alienware's Aurora desktops are equally receptive to upgrades, just not quite as easily every bit those from HP. This is in part downwardly to the design, and while using standard parts is absolutely fine, in that location'southward less space to work with inside the PC, with a piddling less liberty over using any cooler you lot wish, for example. The same goes for the ability supply.

So, as with price, HP edges it, here for but being easier to live with.

The bottom line

Whether you become an Alienware Aurora or an HP Omen desktop, you're getting a meridian-tier gaming PC. At that place's no out-and-out bad choice, simply depending on your specific hardware requirements, future plans, and importantly, budget, recommending an HP Omen is a fiddling easier.

HP certainly has a wider selection and a more than attractive entry-level model, and the added ease of upgrades in the future is also important. The HP Omen 45L is currently our top choice for the best gaming PC and its predecessor, the Omen 30L, was too its predecessor on that list. Buying HP Omen is definitely a smart call.

Omen 45l Reco

HP Omen 45L

Innovative rig enthusiasts will honey

The 45L does away with needless fancy blueprint and packs powerful parts into an like shooting fish in a barrel-to-access case that makes information technology easy to game on.

Aurora R13

Alienware Aurora R13

The latest Alienware Aurora is an incredible thing

The latest Aurora comes with twelfth Gen Intel processors and up to an RTX 3090 GPU for insane power in a stylish and compact body.

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