Sub Total
Excluding delivery and voucher code discounts.
Go to basket

Free Delivery on all orders to UK mainland within 3 working days.

HP TECH TAKES /...

Exploring today's technology for tomorrow's possibilities
Which is the Best VR-Ready Laptop from HP?

Which is the Best VR-Ready Laptop from HP?

Jolene Dobbin
|
Virtual reality (VR) has made its ceremonious arrival into the gaming world and it’s here to stay.
If you haven’t yet experienced this immersive and transformative gaming environment phenomenon, then you will most likely be doing so in the near future. The technology is not only consistently improving, but it’s also coming in at lower price points.
A VR laptop is one that is fast enough to run virtual reality games or applications, and some laptops are engineered specifically to play VR games. Here are the best HP VR-ready laptops today.

VR headsets for your laptop

The two major options for VR headsets are the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive. These integrated headsets offer unique features - such as microphones, stereo headphones, and handheld input devices - to track your movements, enhance your field of vision, and keep you fully immersed in your VR game.
The Oculus Rift offers striking optics and impressive audio quality, with highly advanced lenses that are constructed precisely for VR. Thanks to a whip-fast 90 frames per second (fps) refresh rate, a low-latency tracking system, and borderless optical fidelity, you won’t experience lag time, pauses, or tears.
The Rift comes with an Oculus Remote and Xbox One™ wireless controller to help you expertly maneuver your way through VR games with sensors that understand finger placement. So depending on your game, the control morphs into whichever item you’re either holding or moving around.
The HTC Vive is another option for your VR headset. The Vive lets you create a virtual room, and accurately tracks your hand and head gestures and movements (no matter how small) to project them into your VR environment.
It has a 1200 x 1200-pixel screen that refreshes at an incredibly fast 90 fps, like the Oculus Rift. The ergonomic Vive controllers provide sensors and an intuitive trigger that displays dynamic controls, in game, that change as needed for precision gaming.
To convey visual information that the human eye can see as “real,” it’s necessary to have a frame rate of at least 60 fps. And with the appropriate VR-ready gaming PC powering it, both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive deliver 90 fps.

Recommended specs

What kind of gaming system do you need to run VR games for either Oculus Rift or HTC Vive? A VR-ready gaming laptop must be powerful enough to deliver two high-quality video feeds to the gaming headset.
It also displays camera angles dynamically depending on where you’re moving your head and body in real 3D space, tracks motion controllers, and displays their representations in real-time.
Here are the minimum recommended specs for both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive:

1. Oculus Rift

GRAPHICS CARD
• NVIDIA® GTX™ 1060
• AMD Radeon™ RX 480
ALTERNATIVE GRAPHICS CARD
• NVIDIA GTX 970
• AMD Radeon R9 290
CPU
• Intel® Core™ i5-4590
• AMD Ryzen™ 5 1500X or greater
MEMORY
• 8GB+ RAM
VIDEO OUTPUT
• Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output
USB PORTS
• Three open USB 3.0 ports
• One USB 2.0 or better port
OPERATING SYSTEM (OS)
• Windows 10

2. HTC Vive

GRAPHICS CARD
• NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 970
• AMD Radeon R9 290 equivalent or better
CPU
• Intel i5-4590
• AMD FX 8350
MEMORY
• 4GB+ RAM
VIDEO OUTPUT
• HDMI 1.4
• DisplayPort 1.2 or newer
USB PORTS
• One USB 2.0 or better port
OPERATING SYSTEM (OS)
• Windows 7 SP1
• Windows 8.1 or later
• Windows 10

HP VR-ready gaming systems

To create the immersive experience that VR gamers need, it takes a lot of processing power as well as advanced graphics cards. HP collaborated with Oculus and HTC to make sure that select systems are furnishing the best VR experience with Oculus Rift and HTC Vive certification.
The HP OMEN lineup features VR-ready PC gaming systems that are tuned and tested for the ideal VR experience. Select HP OMEN PC options include powerful HTC Vive hardware along with all of the other hardware needed for a truly winning VR experience.
With 6th Generation Intel Core processors with overclocking capacity, HP OMEN PCs are equipped to address VR demands. In addition, HP OMEN laptops feature up to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 graphics.

1. HP OMEN 15T GAMING LAPTOP

The HP OMEN 15t gaming laptop is a part of the HP OMEN family, one of HP’s best and most ground-breaking gaming laptop brands. It has an 8th Generation Intel Core i7-8750H processor, which is one of Intel’s fastest processors, along with a 1TB hard drive.
It boasts enough memory for VR gaming and more with 8GB of RAM, in addition to Intel Optane™ memory, which is Intel’s innovative memory upgrade, at 16GB PCIe® NVMe. Intel Optane speeds your system’s performance and responsiveness without sacrificing the storage on your hard drive.
The 15.6-inch diagonal display is anti-glare, micro-edge, and energy-efficient WLED-backlit. And it has full high definition (FHD) at 1080p or optional 4K resolution.
An NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card, which is an integral member of the high-performing GeForce GTX 10 series, helps ensure that you’re ready for an awesome VR gaming experience.
The HP OMEN 15t is topped off with a zoned backlit keyboard and 26-key rollover that will help speed up your gaming reflexes.

2. HP OMEN 17-INCH GAMING LAPTOP

Larger and more powerful than the HP OMEN 15t, the HP OMEN 17-inch gaming laptop gives you a 6-core Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of memory, and a 1TB hard drive.
You’ll enjoy near-SSD performance without sacrificing your traditional hard drive’s storage thanks to 16GB of Intel Optane memory for storage acceleration. This smart system accelerator learns from your everyday computing. So you can enhance your performance, in turn, with responsiveness, speed, and accuracy.
Excel at VR gaming with a larger surface area and sharp details via a 17.3-inch diagonal FHD IPS anti-glare WLED-backlit display with a 1080 p resolution and NVIDIA G-SYNC™ technology.
The Dragon Red backlit keyboard with highlighted WASD and customizable macros detects your keystrokes to help you avoid frustrating lag and image ghosting. And it happens to look pretty cool, too.

3. HP OMEN 17T GAMING LAPTOP

For more viewing area, check out the HP OMEN 17t gaming laptop. This 17.3-inch FHD display offers a larger screen space as well as a 120 Hz refresh rate to explore, fight, and play without experiencing any image ghosting or lagging during your VR gameplay.
It has an Intel Core i7-8750H processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphics, a 1TB hard drive, and 8GB of memory.
You can be certain that every one of your keystrokes is registered thanks to a backlit keyboard with customizable macros and 26-key rollover. Bang & Olufsen (B&O) dual speakers and HP Audio Boost help ensure that you’ll enjoy a rich audio experience for your VR gameplay.
All HP OMEN gaming laptops give you Bluetooth wireless and external ports (HDMI, Thunderbolt™, USB, and Mini DisplayPort™) to plug in monitors and gaming peripherals; they’re built for connectivity.

4. HP PAVILION 15T QUAD GAMING LAPTOP

One of the best gaming laptops that is also affordable, the HP Pavilion 15t Quad with 2GB gfx has a responsive 8th Generation Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 1TB hard drive.
It features a 15.6-inch, edge-to-edge display with a 144 Hz refresh rate and a 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 non-integrated graphics card, which means that you can easily swap it out should your future VR gaming needs change.
Enjoy rich and authentic audio with tuning by B&O Play, front-firing speakers, and HP Audio Boost. Play for hours at a time without worrying about being eliminated or losing a life thanks to a 10-hour-plus battery life with the baseline FHD display, and up to 7 hours and 30 minutes with the optional 4K UHD panel.
And fast throughput from WiFi supporting gigabit speeds on select models ensures improved connectivity.

5. HP PAVILION 15T HEXA-CORE GAMING LAPTOP

The HP Pavilion 15t Hexa-Core gaming laptop is designed to help you excel at gaming as well as other tasks. It has a high-performing 6-core Intel Core i7 processor (8750H), a 1TB hard drive, and 8GB of memory.
An NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 with 2GB of discrete graphics helps equip you with the performance you need for your VR gaming experience.
See more of your games on a stunning, edge-to-edge 15.6-inch display, and distinct LED lighting with matching accents are available in either Ultra Violet or Shadow Black with Ghost White.
Enjoy textured, authentic audio with HP Audio Boost, front-firing speakers, and crisp tuning by B&O PLAY. And a battery life of 10-plus hours will keep you playing without worrying about having to charge up.

6. HP PAVILION 15CX GAMING LAPTOP

The HP Pavilion 15cx gaming laptop offers more power in the same footprint as the HP Pavilion 15t Hexa Core.
Stand out during your VR gameplay with this powerful, responsive, and sleek laptop with a Hexa-Core 8th Generation Intel Core i7 processor, 12GB of RAM, and 1TB HDD of storage. And it has 128GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD, so lagging during your game won’t be an issue.
Play the latest resource-intensive triple-A (AAA) games with amazing picture quality, thanks to an FHD display, 1080p resolution with a 144 Hz refresh rate, and advanced NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 discrete graphics. WiFi gigabit speed on certain models gives you enhanced connectivity with fast throughput.
Get the performance and power that you will need to play from anywhere with the HP OMEN 15-inch gaming laptop. It has an 8th Generation 6-core Intel Core i7-8750H processor with a base clock speed of 2.2 GHz with up to 4.1 GHz with Intel Turbo Boost Technology.
This increases your processor's frequency by tapping into thermal and power headroom to give you the speed you need, when you need it, while enhancing energy efficiency when you don’t.
This gaming laptop delivers desktop-class graphics performance with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 dedicated graphics. Its 15.6-inch immersive, narrow-bezel, micro-edge, ultra high definition (4K UHD) display with a 144 Hz refresh rate lets you see details in your PC games.
Quicken your reaction times with the zoned, 26-key backlit keyboard. Enjoy easy upgrades and maintenance with single panel access to 16GB memory, 512GB SSD storage, and 1TB HDD.
And a generous port selection lets you plug in external displays plus your favorite gaming accessories.

About the Author

Jolene Dobbin is a contributing writer for HP Tech Takes. Jolene is an East Coast-based writer with experience creating strategic messaging, marketing, and sales content for companies in the high-tech industry.

Disclosure: Our site may get a share of revenue from the sale of the products featured on this page.

Disclaimer

Prices, specifications, availability and terms of offers may change without notice. Price protection, price matching or price guarantees do not apply to Intra-day, Daily Deals or limited-time promotions. Quantity limits may apply to orders, including orders for discounted and promotional items. Despite our best efforts, a small number of items may contain pricing, typography, or photography errors. Correct prices and promotions are validated at the time your order is placed. These terms apply only to products sold by HP.com; reseller offers may vary. Items sold by HP.com are not for immediate resale. Orders that do not comply with HP.com terms, conditions, and limitations may be cancelled. Contract and volume customers not eligible.

HP’s MSRP is subject to discount. HP’s MSRP price is shown as either a stand-alone price or as a strike-through price with a discounted or promotional price also listed. Discounted or promotional pricing is indicated by the presence of an additional higher MSRP strike-through price

The following applies to HP systems with Intel 6th Gen and other future-generation processors on systems shipping with Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 Pro systems downgraded to Windows 7 Professional, Windows 8 Pro, or Windows 8.1: This version of Windows running with the processor or chipsets used in this system has limited support from Microsoft. For more information about Microsoft’s support, please see Microsoft’s Support Lifecycle FAQ at https://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle

Ultrabook, Celeron, Celeron Inside, Core Inside, Intel, Intel Logo, Intel Atom, Intel Atom Inside, Intel Core, Intel Inside, Intel Inside Logo, Intel vPro, Itanium, Itanium Inside, Pentium, Pentium Inside, vPro Inside, Xeon, Xeon Phi, Xeon Inside, and Intel Optane are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries.

In-home warranty is available only on select customizable HP desktop PCs. Need for in-home service is determined by HP support representative. Customer may be required to run system self-test programs or correct reported faults by following advice given over phone. On-site services provided only if issue can't be corrected remotely. Service not available holidays and weekends.

HP will transfer your name and address information, IP address, products ordered and associated costs and other personal information related to processing your application to Bill Me Later®. Bill Me Later will use that data under its privacy policy.

Microsoft Windows 10: Not all features are available in all editions or versions of Windows 10. Systems may require upgraded and/or separately purchased hardware, drivers, software or BIOS update to take full advantage of Windows 10 functionality. Windows 10 is automatically updated, which is always enabled. ISP fees may apply and additional requirements may apply over time for updates. See http://www.microsoft.com.

“Best All In One Printer” and “the easiest printer you’ve ever had to set up” from Wirecutter. ©2020 The Wirecutter, Inc.. All rights reserved. Used under license. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-all-in-one-printer/

Get Marvel’s Avengers when you purchase HP gaming PCs with qualifying 9th gen or 10th gen Intel® Core™ i5, i7 and i9 processors. Redemption code will be sent out by email within 60 days of purchase. Limited quantities and while supply lasts. Offer valid thru 12/31/2020 only while supplies last. We reserve the right to replace titles in the offer for ones of equal or greater value. Certain titles may not be available to all consumers because of age restrictions. The Offer may be changed, cancelled, or suspended at any time, for any reason, without notice, at Intel’s reasonable discretion if its fairness or integrity affected whether due to human or technical error. The Offer sponsor is Intel Corporation, 2200 Mission College Blvd., Santa Clara, CA 95054, USA. To participate you must create an Intel Digital Hub Account, purchase a qualifying product during the redemption period, enter a valid Master Key, and respond to a brief survey. Information you submit is collected, stored, processed, and used on servers in the USA. For more information on offer details, eligibility, restrictions, and our privacy policy, visit https://softwareoffer.intel.com/offer/20Q3-19/terms.

© 2020 MARVEL. © Intel Corporation. Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

The personal information you provide will be used according to the HP Privacy Statement (https://www8.hp.com/us/en/privacy/ww-privacy.html)