HP has also unveiled another variant of Omen 15 laptop that comes with 2.2GHz Intel Core i7, Nvidia GTX 1050Ti with 4GB memory or GTX 1060 graphics with 6GB memory, 8 or 16 GB DDR4-2666MHz RAM, and dual storage setup either 128 or 512 GB SSDs and 1TB hard drive.
It is expected that both the variants will come with a 70WHr battery with up to six hours of mixed usage. The laptop is expected to be available on July 29 with a starting price of $979.99, along with HP Reactor Mouse for $79.99 and HP Mouse 400 for $39.99.
For HP, gaming has become a billion-dollar business and this remains one of the world’s fastest-growing PC categories.
In addition, HP unveiled a pair of headphones specifically for whole-day gaming sessions that come with patented thermoelectric cooling technique, instead of fans or cooling gels. The headset comes with 7.1 virtual surround sound, 3D spatial awareness, and noise-canceling unidirectional microphone. It will be made available from the second half of 2018.
In the recently completed second-quarter, strong double-digit sales growth in both the PC and Printer divisions drove HP’s revenue higher by 13%. Consumers’ focus shift to high-growth high-margin products for the gaming and commercial market drove the company’s PC shipments in the upward direction. High-end computers, including gaming machines, lifted the company’s market share.
According to a Bloomberg report, HP will cut about 1% of its 49,000 employees through the end of fiscal 2019. The company projects the restructuring cost to rise by $150-$200 million, including both labor and non-labor related actions. This workforce reduction is more than what HP has originally planned in fiscal 2017 of cutting 3,000 to 4,000 jobs.