HP Omen X 2S Review: A Sleek, Dual-Screen RTX Gaming Beast

In the last 5 years, gaming notebooks have essentially reached performance parity with desktop systems and made it easier for gamers to experience their favorite PC games virtually anywhere, without losing out on image quality or performance. However, because most components perform similarly in any given form factor, manufacturers are constantly striving to predict what the next hot desirable feature may be, to help their devices stand out from the crowd.

HP’s 15-inch Omen X 2S banks on dual screens being the next big feature and packs an innovative, two-display setup into a sleek, lightweight gaming notebook. Using multiple displays isn’t a new feature by any means – many of us at HotHardware have been using auxiliary displays on our desktops since the CRT days when Matrox still had mindshare among gamers with its game-changing, dual-display supporting Millennium G400. We’ve even seen peripheral makers like Logitech add LCDs to the top of its G15 gaming keyboard, but that required games and applications to have plugins that supported the display. 

The HP Omen X 2S simply places a 6-inch, touch screen, with a 1080p resolution, right above the keyboard that appears as a standard display to Windows. Fortunately for HP, most games can now run in full screen windowed mode and Windows 10 has solid multi-display support. However, we’ll dive deeper into the mobile dual screen life later in this review...

HP Omen X 2S Specifications & Features

Model	Omen X 2S
Processor	9th Generation Intel Core i7-9750H Six-Core (12MB Cache, up to 4.5GHz)
Display	15.6-inch 1080p (1920x1080), 144 Hz, G-Sync, micro-edge WLED-backlit
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q 8GB GDDR6
Memory	16GB DDR4 2666 MHz (2x8GB)
Storage	1TB Western Digital PC SN720 NVMe M.2 SSD
Ethernet	Integrated Gigabit Realtek Gaming GBe PCIe chipset
Wireless Connectivity	802.11ac Dual-Band, 2.4GHz & 5GHz, BT (2x2) Intel Wireless-AC 9560
Interface (Left)	Power Port, HDMI, 2x USB 3.1 (Gen 1), Ethernet, 3.5mm Headphone & Microphone combo jack
Ports (Right)	USB Type-C (Thunderbolt 3.0), USB 3.1 (Gen 1)
Extras	NA
Cameras	1080p
Operating System	Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Battery	6-cell (72WHr)
Dimensions	14.26 x 10.3 x 0.78 inches
Weight	5.24 pounds
Warranty	1-year
Price	$2,599 As configured and tested

HP packs the Omen X 2S with 9th Gen Intel Core i7 and i9 processors and NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics options. Your two CPU choices are the six core Core i7-9750H or eight-core Core i9-9880H. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 MaxQ and RTX 2080 MaxQ are the only two GPU options, with 8GB GDDR6 standard on both. Since the Omen X 2S is a slim notebook that’s under an inch thick, the MaxQ design GPUs were employed to meet thermal requirements.

Three 15.6-inch display choices for the machine include 1080p and 4K resolutions. If you opt for 1080p, there are 144Hz or 240Hz refresh rates available, while the 4K display is 60Hz. All panels are IPS, anti-glare, micro-edge WLED-backlit and support NVIDIA GSYNC technology.

Up to 32GB of DDR4-2666 RAM is available, which is standard fare. The storage options are interesting though; standard PCIe NVMe SSDs in 256GB, 512GB, 1TB and 2TB are available as expected. The third option that stands out is the Intel H10 512GB SSD with 32GB Optane memory option. We find this option quite odd as it costs the same as the 512GB NVMe option, but theoretically may be lower performer in some scenarios.


The Omen X 2S we received featured a Western Digital SN720 1TB drive rated at 3,400MB/s read and 2,800MB/s write. If we assume the 512GB is the same model or in the same performance ballpark, its still faster than the Intel Optane Memory H10’s 2,400MB/s and 1,800MB/s read/write performance, though the Intel Optane Memory H10 will offer better 4K transfers, for snappier responsiveness, with data that's been cached in the Optane Memory -- you can read our full review of the H10 for a more in-depth explanation on how the technology works.

HP's base pricing starts at $1,899.99 for the Omen X 2S, which gets you an Intel Core i7-9750H with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 MaxQ, 1080p 144Hz GSync display, 16GB RAM and 256GB NVMe SSD. Checking off every option yields a Core i9-9880H, GeForce RTX 2080 MaxQ, 1080p 240 Hz GSync display, 32GB RAM and 2TB SSD for $3,699. HP sent us a mid-range review unit currently available for $2,599 with the Core i7-9750H, GeForce RTX 2080 MaxQ, 1080p 144Hz GSync display, 16GB DDR4 and 1TB NVMe SSD.

Let’s take a closer look at the hardware design to see what else the HP Omen X 2S has to offer, aside from two screens…