This is an in-depth comparison of the 2018 HP Omen 15 and Asus ROG Strix Scar II. You may be wondering which one is the better choice since both laptops are similar in terms of specs and features, but there are few major differences between them that you should definitely know to make a wise choice.
General Info
| HP Omen 15 | Asus Scar II | |
| Brand | HP | Asus |
| Model | Omen 15 | Strick Scar II |
| Model Number | 15-EN0001AX | GL504GM-ES155T |
| Weight | 2.37 Kg | 2.4 Kg |
| OS | Windows 10 Home | Windows 10 |
| Display | 15.6 Inch | 15.6 Inch |
| Colors | Mica Silver | Gun Metal |
If it comes to design we prefer the style of the Asus Scar 2. It has no red accents and no fancy shapes at all. The top panel is metal with brushed aluminium texture and the ROG logo that you can light up with RGB colors. The rest of the body is made of polycarbonate that feels very solid. On the deck, you have a carbon fiber pattern and more skin on one half. The Omen has a plastic top panel with a red logo, 4 red lines, and a carbon fiber pattern in combination with a brushed metal finish. The deck is made of metal and it also has a brushed metal texture, however at the bottom you will find the plastic again.
Inside we have the opposite situation. we prefer the look of the Omen because we think that it’s cleaner. The elegant touchpad with the minimalist looking keyboard makes Omen’s interior look more toned. Scar 2 has more gamer-looking inside. If it comes to dimensions the HP Omen is slightly smaller but the weight is about the same for both laptops. we think they both are pretty portable so carrying any of them every day should not be a problem.
Specification
| HP Omen 15 | Asus Scar II | |
| Processor | Ryzen 5 Hexa Core 4600H | Intel Core i7-8750H (8th Gen) |
| Graphics | NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1650 Ti | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 |
| Chipset | – | Intel HM370 |
| RAM | 8 GB DDR4 RAM | 16 GB DDR4 RAM |
| Storage | 512 GB SSD | 1 TB |
| SSD Capacity | 512 GB SSD | 256 GB SSD |
Performance
| HP Omen 15 | Asus Scar II | ||
| Clockspeed | 3.0 Ghz | 2.2 Ghz | |
| Graphic Processor | NVIDIA | GeForce | |
| Processor | GTX 1650 Ti | GTX 1060 | |
| Graphic Ram | 4 GB GDDR6 | 6 GB |
Display
| HP Omen 15 | Asus Scar II | |
| Display Type | Full HD LED | IPS |
| Display Size | 15.6 Inches | 15.6 Inches |
| Display Resolution | 1920 x 1080 Pixels | 1920 x 1080 Pixels |
| Display Touchscreen | No | No |
| Dimensions | 357 x 239 x 22.5 mm | 361 x 262 x 26.1 mm |
The display in Omen is a 1080p 144Hz IPS panel with about 9ms response time and G-Sync support. It’s fast enough for gaming and the G-Sync provides additional smoothness for a better gaming experience. You can also buy Omen with 60Hz 1080p or 4K at 60Hz display. The Asus Scar 2 has only 1080p 144Hz IPS pannel but thanks to 3ms response time it provides a smoother gaming experience. However, G-Sync is not available here.
The color accuracy of 144Hz models is almost the same for both laptops. The Scar 2 can reproduce 97% of the sRGB color gamut, 75% of AdobeRGB, and the brightness is 329 nits. For Omen the sRGB color coverage is 96%, 74% for AdobeRGB, and the brightness is 329 nits too. However, we found that Scar’s display has colder tones to the colors while Omen’s colors are a little bit warmer.
Multimedia
| HP Omen 15 | Asus Scar II | ||
| Web-cam | Yes | HD 720P Webcam | |
| Speakers | Built-in Dual Speakers | Built-in Dual Speakers | |
| Microphone Jack | Built-in Microphone | Yes | |
| Wireless Lan | Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX 200 (2×2) | IEEE 802.11ac | |
| Bluetooth | Yes 5.0v | Yes 5.0v | |
| Sd Card Reader | Yes | 2 Slots |
In terms of sound, the Asus Scar 2 just crashes the HP Omen 15, as well as it crashes other gaming laptops that we’ve tested. we have never seen a laptop with such a good bass presentation. Every shot and every explosion in-game sounds full and punchy. Mids and highs are just on point and it’s loud enough.
Battery
| HP Omen 15 | Asus Scar II | |
| Battery Cell | 3 Cell | 4 Cell |
| Power Supply | 150 W Smart AC power adapter | 180 W AC Adapter W |
| Battery Type | Li-Ion | Lithium-Ion Polymer |
| Battery Life | – | Up to 5-6 Hrs |
As for the battery life we managed to use Asus for 4.5 up to 5 hours when browsing the web and doing light productivity work. When the gaming battery died after 1.5 hours. Omen achieved almost the same results – 4.5 hours for light work and 1.5 hours for gaming.
Which is better!
Alright, it seems to be everything that you need to know to wisely choose one of these laptops but before we finish let us share our closing thoughts. So if it comes to the Asus Scar 2 we think that this is the laptop for those who are looking for solid performance at low temperatures. It has a great cooling system which is one of the best among 15″ laptops. The display in Scar is the fastest and smoothest 144Hz panel that we’ve seen so far. It has good color reproduction, remarkable speakers, and a useful keyboard with additional keys. The advantage of Scar II is for sure a good price to performance and quality ratio – it’s not the cheapest out there but in my opinion, it’s worth that price since Asus made no compromises in terms of performance and overall quality of this laptop.
Omen is not that far behind in terms of quality and features. It has an interesting design, excellent 144Hz display plus few other options including 240Hz, and a wide range of configurations from budget ones with GTX 1050 to high-end RTX 2070 Max-Q. For the weak sides of Omen, we can include higher temperatures and a lack of control over the fans.
