Now, theHPOMEN 35L provides a new ultra-powerful, high-end option in a relatively compact, mid-sized case.
You don’t have to pay an absurd amount to get through the door, either.
From custom rigs to pre-built towers, I’ve used them all.
This review was made possible thanks to a review sample provided by HP.
HP had no input nor saw the contents of this review prior to publication.
Finally, theHP OMEN 35L with AMD CPUs and NVIDIA GPUs can be hadfrom $1,369.99 at HP.
A great desktop PC has great looks and build quality, but ease-of-use and easy access matter, too.
This tower does not come with a keyboard and mouse in the box by default.
The OMEN 35L is covered by HP’s 1-year limited warranty.
Those who don’t need quite so much can save by configuring their own OMEN 35L.
From left to right; the multi-purpose 3.5mm audio jack, USB Type-C 10Gbps, and two USB Type-A 5Gbps ports alongside the centered power button.(Image credit: Windows Central | Zachary Boddy)
The HP OMEN 35L is sleek and beautiful, with tasteful branding and thoughtful design elements.
This is a handsome tower, and I can’t find any weaknesses in the build quality.
HP also packed the OMEN 35L with plenty of ports, but there are some oddities here.
From top to bottom; the four USB Type-A 2.0, Thunderbolt 4, USB Type-C 10GBps, two USB Type-A 5GBps, Ethernet, audio in/out, HDMI, and DisplayPort ports.(Image credit: Windows Central | Zachary Boddy)
First, let’s cover what youdoget.
If your GPU dies, or you want to disconnect it for troubleshooting, you’re out of luck.
For the purpose of this review, though, I’ll be focusing on the new stuff.
The OMEN 35L can pack some serious power, but it’ll never be themostpowerful.
Thermally, the HP OMEN 35L is excellent.
There’s obviously headroom to play with overclocking.
I’ve also noticed some occasional coil whine.
The HP OMEN 35L’s SSD isn’t anything impressive, but it’s not slow.(Image credit: Windows Central)
That helps achieve this compact stature, but inevitable leaves less space for expansion slots and upgrades.
For one, HP used standard parts for the OMEN 35L.
To get inside, you simply loosen the thumb screws and slide the panels off.
The OMEN 35L comfortably beats the most powerful laptops we’ve ever tested, as it should.(Image credit: Windows Central)
There’s also a single bay for SATA hard drives.
Everything else is well laid out and simple to access.
Once you uninstall everything you don’t need, you may still run into some issues.
History is repeated, with the OMEN 35L also beating the Intel 14th Gen Dell XPS Desktop and Intel 13th Gen Lenovo Legion Tower 7i.(Image credit: Windows Central)
My OMEN 35L regularly refuses to turn the display off according to my power parameters, for example.
So I set it to a clock, instead.
There’s just one other problem, though.
General productivity sees the OMEN 35L fall several places, possibly due to SSD and RAM speeds.(Image credit: Windows Central)
Eventually, I resorted to using Recovery Mode, which worked; finally, I was inside the BIOS…
Except my keyboard wasn’t being recognized.
At least the OMEN 35L is anAI PC, right?
The RTX 4080 SUPER is a better GPU, but the new Core Ultra still can’t get it over the Lenovo Legion Tower 7i.(Image credit: Windows Central)
You’re paying extra for the aesthetics, but this is a great PC.
Performance
4/5 By every metric, the HP OMEN 35L is a phenomenal performer with great thermals…
But it’s no more impressive at gaming than its predecessors, even from two years ago.
When encoding 4K video, the HP OMEN 35L posts our fastest time so far.(Image credit: Windows Central)
Is it the most luxurious, the smallest, or the fastest?
No, but the OMEN 35L is an excellent combination of all three.
There are also lots of configuration options to get the perfect computer right off the bat.
This desktop does a great job keeping itself cool under pressure.
Those after every frame they can find are better off with Intel 14th Gen…
Although it may be worth waiting for new AMD and NVIDIA hardware to arrive, too.
With some firmware and driver updates, it could become even better.
Toolless access, standard parts, a fully modular power supply… What more could you ask for?
Gaming performance hasn’t enjoyed a major upgrade, but this is an awesome tower regardless.
The OMEN 35L’s cable management isn’t going to earn it a place in a museum, but it does keep most of the cables out of sight behind a shroud.
The OMEN Gaming Hub gives you full cotnrol over all these lights and displays, and you get a fair amount of performance options, too.
Fans, RAM, and GPU lighting can all be controlled separately… but the LCD display on the CPU liquid cooler was hit or miss for me, with some widgets flat out not working.
I might be able to find better gaming performance elsewhere, but I’d be more than happy to use the OMEN 35L as my one and only desktop PC.
