It's the Labor Day weekend, and now's a great time for you to get started with a brand new hobby: 3D printing. Creality's flash sale for Labor Day has slashed the prices of its flagship range of 3D printers, with up to 50% off right now. If you've been waiting for the chance to jump into the 3D printing world, this is the perfect opportunity.

You've got some of Creality's best printers on sale right now, along with resin and filament discounts for those who need to top up their materials. One of the biggest discounts you'll want to take advantage of is the Creality K1, which is down to just $299 right now, saving you half compared to its usual list price.

● Check out Creality's 3D printer deals

Other sales you'll want to look at include the beginner-friendly Creality Ender 3 V3 Plus, now priced at just $339, along with the Creality SparkX i7, which features in our best 3D printers guide and has dropped to just $229.

That said, these Labor Day 3D printer sales won't last forever. These discounts are running until September 15, 2026, at 23:59 ET, although Creality might pull the sale early if it proves too popular, so you'll want to get your order in quickly. You can check out our roundup of Creality's best discounts on 3D printers below.

Creality 3D Printer Deals

Creality 3D Printer Filament and Resin Deals

Creality 3D Printer Accessories

More Tech Deals

Check out our Amazon Labor Day and Best Buy Labor Day tech deals pages for more limited-time discounts this weekend.

If you're looking for further savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, or CPU Deals pages.

You can also join the Tom's Hardware deals Discord for up-to-the-minute hardware deals.

Mini-PC maker Minisforum just launched the latest upgrades to its flagship products at IFA 2026 in Berlin, Germany. The first is the AI Agent NAS N5 Max-P495, an upgrade to the brand’s flagship NAS with pre-installed OpenClaw that was launched earlier this year, and it’s followed by the MS-S1 Max-P495, a mini-PC designed for AI computing. Both devices feature AMD’s latest Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 495 processor with an integrated Radeon 8065S GPU, delivering up to 131 TOPS of AI performance, and can be configured with up to 192GB of unified memory, of which 160GB could be allocated as graphics memory.

The AI Agent NAS N5 Max-P495 can accommodate up to 200TB of local storage, making it useful for storing large amounts of data locally. When paired with the Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 495, you can use this to run your AI agents like OpenClaw or Hermes Agent directly on your storage solution. This gives you privacy, ensuring that all your data stays on your machines, while the local storage cuts latency and helps you (and your AI) get things done speedily. Minisforum says that the N5 MAX-P495 is designed “as a centralized backed for data, models, knowledge, and long-running AI workloads.” It would also help cut or keep your AI inference costs in control, especially as agentic AI is known to use up 1000x more tokens compared to standard AI.

Now, if you need something powerful for your professional or creative workflow, Minisforum has the MS-S1 Max-P495 for you. Just like the NAS, this is an update of the company’s top-of-the-line MS-S1 mini-PC, which previously featured an AMD Ryzen AI Max 395+ APU. This device, which now uses the Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 495, is optimized for AI compute, with its processor delivering 55 TOPS from a dedicated NPU for a total AI performance of 131 TOPS, and support for various models from labs like Gemma, OpenAI, and Qwen. More importantly, it’s easily scalable, with four units easily deployable in a 2U rack.

This makes it an excellent alternative to the Mac mini and Mac Studio, which are in short supply because of the local AI boom. But even if you’re not into AI but just need something small that doesn’t compromise on performance, the MS-S1 Max-P495 can still deliver. You can order it with as much as 192GB of unified memory to ensure that you do not run out of RAM for 3D rendering, video editing, and even computational fluid dynamics. The 8060S on the older Ryzen AI Max 395+ is also quite capable for 1080p gaming, so we wouldn’t be surprised if you can comfortably play on this new mini-PC, too.

If you’re experimenting with AI and want something powerful to help run your models, the N5 Max-P495 and the MS-S1 Max-P495 are great devices to consider for your upgrade. Just make sure that your agents have proper safeguards so that it doesn’t end up accidentally deleting your entire home directory. Unfortunately, we don’t have pricing and availability for these two AI devices at the moment, but if you want to see them for yourself and you happen to be in Berlin, drop by IFA from September 4 to 8, 2026.

Best Buy is throwing a huge sale for Labor Day, meaning you can grab a big discount on tech right now. In fact, you can save up to $900 on select gaming laptops, along with $500 off a new MacBook. Gaming PCs are on sale, too, with up to $600 knocked off big-brand tech, along with monitor savings of up to $500 also available.

● Check out Best Buy's tech sales

It's the end of the summer break, and with back-to-school deals all around us, now could be the best opportunity to pick up a bargain before the prices go up again. The PC hardware market is running super hot right now, with RAM and SSD costs pushing prices up, and a deal from a big retailer like Best Buy is a great way to treat yourself without breaking the bank.

We've put together some of the biggest and best discounts on offer from Best Buy below.

Best Buy Labor Day Gaming Laptop and Handheld Deals

Best Buy Labor Day Gaming PC Deals

Best Buy Labor Day Monitor Deals

AI development might not be the wild west it was when ChatGPT burst onto the scene a few years ago, but it's still very much a frontier, with no clear boundaries and few yardsticks. But for AI developers on the frontier, they're pulling hard towards dual goals of ever greater intelligence and ever cheaper per-token pricing, and it's leading to a real back-and-forth of who's truly ahead, with some winners only holding the top spot for a few hours.

Although Anthropic's Claude Fable and Opus models have been consistently competitive at the very top of the intelligence charts, they're also some of the most costly to use. For more general use, some are paying closer attention to the "Pareto Frontier," where peak intelligence and minimal cost reach the pinnacle, and there the competition is fierce and ever-changing.

Hot off the screeching reversal of companies' tokenmaxing plans earlier this year, this increased focus on getting the cost of AI down has left us running headfirst into Jevons paradox again, too. As token costs for high-intelligence models have come down, token usage has exploded over 25 times in the past year, and doubled in the past month alone.

People may not want to spend more on AI, but they appear to be using a lot more of it when they can afford to.

Long live the King(s)

Despite its radical and rapid ascension, the big winners in the AI industry haven't changed much since its inception. It may have had a few penny drop, "Deepseek moments," where there's been a frenzied scramble by everyone to get ahead of some new threat, but by and large OpenAI and Anthropic have been scuffling at the top of the intelligence pile, Google and Meta have been bouncing around the more efficient and cost-effective middle, and xAI's Grok has been there in the background, grabbing headlines for all the wrong reasons.

That's largely still the state of play in September 2026. Although benchmarks are gamed during model design and real-world use is more representative of actual real-world use, Anthropic's best are still considered by most to be the smartest. Fable 5.1, Fable 5, and Claude Opus all rank in the top four of ArtificialAnalysis' Intelligence Index test, as does OpenRouters and BenchLM even have them take all the podium spots.

While ahead, though, Anthropic's models don't hold an enormous lead. Fable 5.1 might score a 66 on ArtificialAnalysis' benchmark, but OpenAI's GPT 5.6 Sol (max) manages a 61. Grok 4.6 (high) and Kimi K3 (max) are capable of scores above 60, and the new Meta Muse Spark 1.3 (max) can hit 62 - though we don't have cost comparison pricing for it yet.

The same is true across other benchmarks from other companies.

But where the top models nudge each other back and forth with light tweaks and slight bumps in capability, there's much greater distinction in the mid-range. And not on intelligence, but on price.

Even With Cost Cuts, Frontier Models are Very Expensive

Major AI developers know they have a pricing problem. Following the jump to per-token pricing earlier this year, budgets were blown, and even the AI CEOs started talking publicly about making AI more affordable. How that will help them ever reach profitability remains to be seen, but the writing is absolutely on the wall.

And even then, the top AI models are absurdly expensive compared to the models on the Pareto frontier.

Claude Fable 5.1 comes with a 75% cut in the cost of its cache write pricing, and Artificial Analysis still clocked it at $3.69 per task on its Intelligence Index test. That comes from much more expensive answers and reasoning, because while Fable 5.0 has more expensive cache write costs, it's $3.14 per benchmark task. But that's 50% more expensive than Claude Opus 5 on the same task, which is double again the cost of GPT 5.6 Sol.

Then costs really start to crater, especially when you consider the intelligence of the more affordable models.

Google's Gemini 3.8 Flash (high) is a powerful model, able to score a 59 on the Intelligence Index test. But it costs a mere $0.58 per task on the Index test - less than 1/6th the price of Claude Fable 5.1, with just a 10% drop in intelligence scoring. OpenAI's GPT 5.6 Sol (high) costs $0.43, with an intelligence score of 57.

Chinese competition is right there in the mix, too. The daunting Kimi K3 (max) can manage a 60 on the intelligence benchmark, with a per-task cost of $0.84, while its Kimi K3 (low) variant offers a 48 score on intelligence at just $0.24 per task. Deepseek V4 Pro is arguably one of the most impressive, with a 53 and $0.27, respectively.

At the time of writing, Meta's Muse Spark 1.3 (xhigh) holds the Pareto frontier title, with a score of 61 and a per-task cost of just $0.55. It stole that top spot from Google's Gemini 3.8 Flash, which wore the crown for just 3.5 hours.

Get in, we're going token shopping

The perspective and approach of the business community to AI use has been equally terrifying and fascinating. While we've all felt the fear of AI invalidating skills we've spent years acquiring, business leaders have swung massively between demanding AI use at a grand scale and then quickly following it up with, "oh god, no, not that much."

Uber famously blew through its annual AI budget in just a few months, and tokenmaxxing leaderboards saw one unnamed company eat through half a billion dollars worth of tokens in just a few weeks. But while everyone is certainly taking costs a lot more seriously than they once were, that's not slowing AI usage. Indeed, as more effective intelligence has become more affordable, token usage is exploding.

One of OpenRouter's engineers published a chart showing that overall paid token use had increased 25 times in the past year, and doubled over the past month alone.

This increase appears to be coming from some of those middle-of-the-pack, affordable intelligence models. According to OpenRouter's LLM rankings, the most used model for the past month was OpenAI's GPT 5.6 Luna, with close to 12 trillion tokens. With its intelligence score of 52 and a per-task cost of just $0.05, it's right on the Pareto line at the cheapest end of the spectrum.

Right behind it, though, is Chinese developer Z-Ai with its GLM 5.3 Flash. It's at 11.4 trillion tokens in the past month, a more than 1,000% increase month to month. Its intelligence-to-price ratio is 57 to $0.09. Deepseek v4 Flash is right there with it, and other Chinese, intelligent-enough but very-affordable models round out the pack.

In comparison, the major, expensive models are barely being used at all. Fable 5's monthly use is in the low billions of output tokens, and even OpenAI, with its massive user base, is only cracking 1.8T monthly tokens with its 5.6 Sol.

Jevons strikes again

Besides the bonkers business model for many of those involved, there are intriguing patterns emerging in AI usage. People can find ways to use lots of tokens, but they are only willing to pay so much for them. They want intelligence at as low a price as possible, and there is a crossover point where one becomes more important than the other.

While cynics argue that benchmarks are gamed, and boosters are still heralding the coming of their AI savior, the actual economics of the industry paint a much clearer picture. Intelligence has a price, but it's much lower than some of the frontier model developers are able to build it for. As models become ever more efficient and the hardware for inference grows ever more powerful, we may reach a point where what large language models can do effectively is affordable enough that anyone can use it as much as they want.

What that means for the major companies who spent hundreds of billions of dollars to get us to that point, very much remains to be seen.

When NVIDIA launched the GeForce RTX 50 series, a major part of the hype surrounding the new GPU family was its support for DLSS Multi-Frame Generation. This feature was officially locked to the new RTX 50 "Blackwell" GPUs, but modders have been working on unlocking it for RTX 40-series cards for a while now. NVIDIA is clearly aware of these efforts, as it recently pushed an over-the-air update via the NVIDIA App that seemed targeted at blocking them due to its odd changes. Yet, as pointed out by Sebastian Castellanos on X, enterprising hackers had already found a workaround just hours later.

At the launch of Blackwell, NVIDIA explained that bringing Multi-Frame Generation to previous-generation RTX 40-series cards wasn't possible because those GPUs relied on a hardware optical flow generator incapable of producing multiple interpolated frames per rendered frame. Instead, Blackwell introduced a software-based optical flow method executed directly on the GPU shader cores without requiring the hardware unit. To tech-savvy gamers, the obvious question arose: why not use that same software method on Ada Lovelace GPUs and bypass their hardware optical flow units? NVIDIA showed no interest in enabling this, leading many to assume it was technically impossible.

Put simply, it's possible. There are apparently various roadblocks within NVIDIA's software, but the strength of the PC platform lies in its openness; users can freely modify software running on their own hardware. And so, at least three distinct mods have emerged to unlock DLSS Multi-Frame Generation across multiple titles. It began with a Cyberpunk 2077 mod by creator "dashdogy" that relied on game-specific modding frameworks, but the technique has since been adapted into a broader ReShade plugin applicable to almost any game, and that's just one of at least three different multi-game unlock mods I found.

It's obviously in the company's best interest to protect its marketing narrative, and the narrative is that Multi-Frame Generation doesn't work on GeForce RTX 40 series graphics cards. However, user reports across X and Reddit tell a different story. Users report that the mods not only work, but also deliver surprisingly smooth frame pacing. NVIDIA had previously warned that Blackwell's specialized hardware flip metering was mandatory for proper frame pacing with multi-frame generation, but dashdogy noted that his mod backports "Blackwell-specific frame timing instructions to allow Ada to place the frames in the correct positions," suggesting that MFG's purported hardware dependency was greatly exaggerated.

Earlier attempts to enable multi-frame generation on Ada Lovelace relied on GPU spoofing or hybrid solutions, like combining standard 2x DLSS Frame Generation with AMD's FSR 3 or Lossless Scaling's software frame generation. Those workarounds were significantly clunkier than native game mods that utilize NVIDIA's own DLSS-G framework. While I couldn't get this latest mod working in the limited time before publication, community developers have not only bypassed the latest roadblocks thrown up by Mean Green, but in fact, they've released at least two more updates for the mod in the last ten hours since Castellanos' X post.

All of this coincides rather neatly with the contentious rollout of DLSS 5 "Neural Rendering," which is another technology originally pitched as an RTX 50-series exclusive before NVIDIA made a last-minute reversal to promise it for RTX 40-series cards as well. That shift may well have been driven by hackers porting DLSS 5 Neural Rendering not just to older NVIDIA architectures, but even to AMD Radeon GPUs. Once it became common knowledge that DLSS 5 runs on non-Blackwell hardware, continuing to claim hardware exclusivity risked a major loss of consumer trust. It'll be fascinating to see if NVIDIA will pivot on DLSS Multi-Frame Generation in the same way. While it would be a nice bone to throw the company's loyal previous-generation customers, we wouldn't bet on it.

It’s not often we find deals on video cards, but Walmart has a whopper for any gamer who needs a boost. Get your hands on the MSI GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G Shadow 2X OC Plus for only $569.99. While this card certainly isn’t at its lowest price ever, it is the lowest-priced RTX 5060 Ti 16GB we could find on Amazon ($759.99), Newegg ($799.99 - also an MSI Shadow), or Best Buy (also a $779.99 MSI Shadow), and by an incredible $200. As you may have noticed, the median price for an RTX 5060 Ti 16GB in early August was just over $800, a 39% jump from June, when you could find it for $570 at Walmart right now.

• Check out this deal at Walmart

The Shadow 2X OC Plus version sports an all-black, performance-focused design with two large fans to keep the card running cool during long gaming sessions. The shadowy appearance is sure to blend in with a black-themed build (sorry, no integrated RGBs). It’s one of the smaller 5060 Ti’s out there (8.8 x 4.9 x 1.6-inches - a 1.5-slot card) compared to the triple-fan options, which means it can fit inside many small form-factor chassis for a small but still powerful system.

The card uses a full-length PCIe slot (runs at x8 speeds) and is powered by a single 6+2 PCIe connector—plenty for its 180W power envelope. Video outputs consist of three DisplayPort (v2.1b) and one HDMI (v.2.1b) ports - standard fare. Base core clocks start at 2,407 MHz and boost to at least 2,646 MHz, while the ample 16GB of GDDR7 RAM runs at 28 Gbps across a 128-bit bus. The 5060 Ti 16GB is a decidedly mid-range part that plays well at 1080p and 1440p resolutions, offering an average of over 105 frames per second across 11 rasterized games at 1080p and 73 frames per second at the more intensive 1440p, which is plenty for today’s games (don’t forget about DLSS and MFG!). That said, we are aware that the AMD Radeon 9070 GRE exists, and if you can find it for less, it's faster all around, even with ray tracing. Choose your poison, as each has its positives and negatives.

You know we’re not in a good market when $570 for an MSI RTX 5060 Ti 16G Shadow 2x OC Plus is a great deal, but here we are, and this is a great deal considering it’s the lowest-priced RTX 5060 Ti and by an incredible $200 (~25% off).

In today’s AI-dominated tech space, gamers have been bombarded with rising prices for storage, memory, and even GPUs. So gamers are increasingly looking for value when purchasing a new system. To that end, HP is attempting to deliver solid gaming performance at an accessible price with the HyperX Omen 15. It’s worth noting that the Omen now takes the place of the Victus 15 in HP’s mainstream gaming laptop range, with the Omen Max occupying the top spot.

The Omen 15 has a strong foundation with a Core Ultra 9 processor, 32GB of RAM, a 15.3-inch 1800p OLED display, and a sleek design. HP delivers all this for just over $2,000, and it has strong gaming performance, but there are compromises in chassis construction and features you’d expect at this price point.

Design of the HyperX Omen 15

The Omen 15 shares its design language with the slightly larger Omen Max 16 that I previously reviewed. It’s an unassuming design, finished in Shadow Black, with just a hint of shimmering flakes if you look closely under light. There aren’t any garish design flourishes or additional RGB effects (other than the keyboard).

Like the Omen Max 16, the Omen 15 identifies itself with an “O15” script on the right side of the deck. Given that the Omen 15 is less than half the price of its larger sibling, you only get an aluminum lid. Everything else, including the upper and lower chassis, is constructed of a much cheaper (and more pliable) plastic.

The desk easily deforms when pressing on it, and the whole laptop flexes with minimal effort, twisting it from corner to corner. The overall feel of the laptop doesn’t quite seem up to par with what I’d expect from a gaming laptop priced over $2,000.

There’s also another interesting omission when looking around the chassis. Despite its price tag, there are no Thunderbolt ports. And you only get one USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port on the back, beside an HDMI 2.1 port. There’s a GbE Ethernet port and a USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port on the right side of the chassis, while a proprietary barrel-style power port, another USB-A port, and a 3.5 mm combo audio jack are on the left.

Our Omen 15 review unit measures 13.5 x 9.96 x 0.93 inches and weighs 4.89 pounds. For comparison, the Gigabyte Aero X16 is 14 x 9.9 x 0.78 inches and 4.2 pounds, while the Framework Laptop 16 measures 14.03 x 11.43 x 0.82 inches and 5.29 pounds. Finally, the Predator Triton 14 AI is 12.68 x 8.84 x 0.71 inches and 3.5 pounds (due to its smaller 14.5-inch display).

HyperX Omen 15 Specifications

Gaming and Graphics on the HyperX Omen 15

Our Omen 15 review unit came configured with an Intel Core Ultra 9 386H processor, 32GB of DDR5-5600 memory, and a GeForce RTX 5070 GPU (85W TGP).

As for the assembled competitors, we have the Aero X16 (Ryzen AI 7 350, 32GB, RTX 5070 85W), Predator Triton 14 AI (Core Ultra 9 288V, RTX 5070 110W), and Framework Laptop 16 (Ryzen AI 7 350, RTX 5070 100W).

I’ve been playing a lot of Battlefield 6 recently, and I tend to run at native resolution in Overkill detail mode, with DLSS Quality and frame generation enabled. However, I dialed it back to High detail mode instead of Overkill to accommodate just 8GB of memory on the RTX 5070. Using these settings, I was able to average between 70 and 85 frames per second.

We start off our gaming benchmarks with Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Highest settings), where the Omen 15 started off on the right foot with 126 FPS at 1080p resolution and 60 FPS at 1800p. The Framework Laptop 16 eked out 6 additional FPS at 1080p and another 17 at its native resolution. However, we still consider it a good showing, given that the RTX 5070 in the Omen 15 operates at a 85W TGP (versus 100W for the Framework) and at a higher native resolution (1800p versus 1600p).

Cyberpunk 2077 (Ray Tracing Ultra settings) again saw the Omen 15 in second place to the Laptop 16. This time, it hit 35 FPS at 1080p resolution compared to 38 FPS for the Laptop 16. Performance at 1800p was in the single digits for the Omen 15, while the Laptop 16 managed 18 FPS. Both are slideshow-worthy numbers that are nothing to brag about.

Far Cry 6 (Ultra settings) was a high point for the Omen 15, which bested all competitors with 107 FPS at 1080p resolution. Cranking the dial to 1800p, that figure dropped to 69 FPS, compared to 70 FPS for the Aero X16 running at 1600p. The Laptop 16 forged ahead with 83 FPS at 1600p.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Medium settings) was something of a sore spot for the Omen 15 (59 FPS at 1080p), which fell well below the Aero X16 (78 FPS) and the Laptop 16 (91 FPS). Boosting the resolution to 1800p also saw the Omen 15 in third place, with 35 FPS, well off the pace set by the Laptop 16 (57 FPS).

Forza Horizon 6 (Ultra settings) is a more recent benchmark in our testing suite, and so far, the Omen 15 is the only entry in this class of gaming laptops. With that said, the Omen 15 achieved 80 FPS at 1080p and 51 FPS at 1800p.

On our Metro Exodus stress test, the Omen 15 review unit averaged 141.62 FPS at 1080p across 15 loops using the RTX preset. The CPU performance cores averaged 3.52 GHz, the efficiency cores averaged 2.82 GHz, and the low-power efficiency cores ran at 1.9 GHz. The RTX 5070 GPU averaged 2.0 GHz.

Productivity Performance on the HyperX Omen 15

With a Core Ultra 9 386H processor, 32GB of DDR5-5600 memory, and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD onboard, we expected solid performance from the Omen 15. Those expectations were met in terms of CPU performance, while storage performance lagged a bit behind the competition.

The Omen 15 performed well in Geekbench 6, hitting 2,857 in the single-core benchmark, keeping it right in the mix with the other competitors. However, it sprinted out ahead of the pack in multi-core, delivering 15,916 compared to 14,074 on the second-place Aero X16.

The Omen 15 was at the back of the pack on our file transfer test, coming in at 999 MBps from the Samsung MZVMX1T0HCLD-00BH1 SSD versus an average of around just under 1,500 MBps for the other three competitors.

Moving on to our HandBrake test, where we transcode a 4K video file to 1080p, the Omen 15 took the top spot, finishing the task in 3 minutes and 39 seconds. That was about 15 seconds faster than the second-place Aero X16.

Display on the HyperX Omen 15

Our review unit came equipped with a 15.3-inch 2880 x 1800 OLED display. Interestingly, the refresh rate is limited to just 120 Hz, compared to the faster 144 Hz to 165 Hz that we see in competitors like the Aero X16 and Laptop 16.

The Omen 15’s OLED panel performed roughly on par with the rest of the laptops in this segment, as it covered 132.3 percent of the DCI-P3 color space and 186.8 percent of sRGB. It even managed to take the top spot in the brightness category, hitting 460.2 nits compared to 444 nits for the Laptop 16.

I love OLED panels, and the 1800p unit on the Omen 15 just proves that that love shows no sign of abating. Colors looked rich, blacks were jet black, and brightness levels in my home office setting (with an abundance of overhead lighting) were more than adequate.

I played quite a bit of Forza Horizon 6 using the Omen 15, and marveled at the bright, colorful, and reflective car bodies as I competed in various events.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the HyperX Omen 15

There have been noticeable improvements made to the Omen 15’s keyboard, at least compared to the previous Victus 15. The biggest change is the move from half-height arrow keys to full-size. The tiny, half-height function keys have also been enlarged.

HP also boasts of an 8K polling rate for the Omen 15’s keyboard (equating to a response time of 0.125 ms). I wouldn’t consider myself to be a highly competitive gamer, so any upgrades in this area are lost on me. The keyboard also features 4-zone RGB backlighting.

Using the Keyhero.com typing test, I averaged around 87 words per minute with 95% accuracy, which is on par with my typical typing speed. I found the keyboard comfortable for typing and gaming.

There’s nothing particularly noteworthy about the touchpad, which features a top-hinged design. Its surface allowed my finger to glide smoothly, although it is a bit loud and clanky when clicked.

Audio on the HyperX Omen 15

The Omen 15 features stereo speakers supporting DTS:X Ultra and HyperX Audio Control. I was pleasantly surprised by the sound emanating from the speaker, which was rich in volume and clarity. While lacking any real semblance of bass, the underlying output was clean.

I took the opportunity to fire up “Mujahadin and Opium,” which is a horn- and string-filled track by John Barry from The Living Daylights soundtrack. There is just something very chilling about the interplay of the strings and horns; the former of which starts the track, while the latter beautifully fills in classic James Bond tradition.

The speakers also did well to mimic engine sounds as I went corner carving in Forza Horizon 6, be it a high-strung flat-6 or a burbling V8.

Upgradeability of the HyperX Omen 15

Flipping the Omen 15 over to reveal its bottom panel, you’ll find five screws holding it in place. Three of the screws are exposed, while the two corner screws at the back are hidden beneath tiny rubber plugs. I needed to use a safety pin to pry them out, which was annoying.

With the panel removed, you’ll find easy access to the battery, both M.2 SSD bays, the Wi-Fi card, and the two SO-DIMM slots (which are covered by a flexible I/O shield).

Battery Life on the HyperX Omen 15

The Omen 15 is powered by a 70 WHr battery, and it performed well against its peers. Our battery test leverages web browsing, video streaming over Wi-Fi, and OpenGL testing with the screen brightness set at 150 nits.

The HyperX laptop endured for 8 hours and 30 minutes, which was 10 minutes longer than the Laptop 16 and 14 minutes longer than the Predator Triton 14 AI. However, it was no match for the Aero X16, which lasted 9 hours and 13 minutes.

Heat on the HyperX Omen 15

During the Metro Exodus stress test, we measured the Omen 15's keyboard at 95.4 degrees Fahrenheit (F) between the G and H keys, while the touchpad was 85.1 F.

The hottest part of the laptop was near the bottom-rear of the chassis, measuring 110 F.

While running the Metro Exodus stress test, the CPU measured 63.4 degrees Celsius (C). Meanwhile, the RTX 5070 came in at 63.2 C.

Webcam on the HyperX Omen 15

The Omen 15 uses a standard 1080p webcam with IR capabilities, meaning it can be used with Windows Hello biometric authentication in Windows 11.

The camera is fine, and by no means a standout in any particular area. It covers the basics, offering decent color reproduction, and did a passable job of picking out my facial hair. However, I did notice a fair amount of noise in the image. However, if you mainly use the camera to hop on a few Zoom calls here and there, it’s more than adequate.

HyperX Omen 15 Software and Warranty

HP has no qualms about loading up its systems with a copious amount of apps, as you'll find a variety of software including HP, HP Documentation, HP PC Hardware Diagnostics, HP Smart, HP Privacy Settings, and HP TV+ (and that's not even all of them).

However, the HP utility that you'll probably interact with the most is the Omen Gaming Hub. Here you'll find controls for tweaking nearly every aspect of the system, from power modes to RGB lighting for the keyboard.

The Omen 15 comes with a one-year manufacturer warranty.

HyperX Omen 15 Configurations

Our Omen 15 review unit came configured with an Intel Core Ultra 9 386H processor, 32GB of DDR5-5600 memory, a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, GeForce RTX 5070 GPU, and a 2880 x 1800 OLED 120 Hz display. It’s listed on HP’s website with an MSRP of $2,799, but is currently available for $2,099 with a 25% off coupon.

There are various configurations available with slightly different specs, but the 15-ga0762nr SKU features a Core i7-14650HX processor, 16GB of DDR5-5600 RAM, a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, an RTX 5060 GPU, and a 2560 x 1600 OLED with a 180 Hz refresh rate. This system is priced at $1,999, or just a $100 discount compared to our review unit’s sale price. However, the price disparity makes more sense when you consider our review unit’s MSRP.

Bottom Line

On the one hand, the HyperX Omen 15 has solid gaming performance across the board, and its CPU performance in productivity tasks is top-of-the-class. In addition, the 15.3-inch OLED display looks great and offers an expansive 2880 x 1800 resolution.

On the other hand, the chassis is constructed of cheap and flexy plastic, while SSD performance lags behind its competitors. In addition, the display is limited to a 120 Hz refresh rate, and you don’t get any Thunderbolt ports (if that’s something that’s important to you at this price point).

Where things get even more complicated is with pricing. Our review unit carries an MSRP of $2,799, but HP is currently selling it for $2,099 after discounts. At MSRP, our review unit is an absolute non-starter, while the sale price makes it a much more palatable option. But even at its sale price, we feel that the Gigabyte Aero X16 makes a far more compelling buy at just $1,799.

Denver Water, which supplies the city and its surrounding areas, has imposed Stage 1 drought restrictions in its service area starting August 2026 as water supplies continue to drop. According to Gadget Review, commercial properties like data centers can only water grass twice a week — on Tuesdays and Fridays — until September 30. Starting October 1, lawn sprinklers will be banned for use until the Board of Water Commissioners declares otherwise. However, one resident who was out walking their dog saw that the new AI data center built close to their home was watering its lawn and using so much water that some areas have started to puddle.

“We can’t water our lawns until next summer, at the earliest, but you better believe that they are watering their entire green with so many sprinklers that it’s already making a giant pond, but I can’t water my f****ng tomatoes. I hate it here,” one resident claimed in the video.

This has understandably raised a lot of outrage, especially with all the widespread, bipartisan resistance that these data centers have been facing. However, there are still a lot of unknowns when it comes to the video. Firstly, we do not know when the video was shot; there’s a possibility that it was recorded on either a Tuesday or a Friday, meaning the site was well within its rights to water its lawns, at least until September 30.

The publication also noted several other possibilities: it could be using recycled, non-potable water, which Denver Water explicitly states, “are approved to irrigate any day of the week”; it could hold a variance from the utility provider, granting them permission to water their grass under “special circumstances,” or it was just plainly violating the law. Without further information, there’s just no way we can determine what is going on based on a single video. Nevertheless, this compounds the negative perception that data centers are already facing. Although closed-loop cooling technologies like those from Microsoft and Nvidia have essentially cut data center water consumption for cooling to zero, we still cannot get around the fact that several sites have already caused water issues for their neighbors.

Many people are raising issues about data centers’ massive resource consumption and the other negative effects like noise and air pollution that they could potentially bring to their surroundings. It’s for these reasons that Denver, and hundreds of other jurisdictions, have passed temporary bans and moratoriums on data center development.

AMD announced what it calls "the most powerful workstation in the world" at IFA 2026, dubbed the Threadripper Halo Station. The machine includes a Threadripper Pro 9995WX with 96 Zen 5 cores, dual liquid-cooled Instinct MI350P accelerators "with a path to four," 2TB of DDR5, and 288GB of HBM3E with up to 576GB supported. AMD claims the workstation is capable of running trillion-parameter models.

Taking all of the components together, the street price should come out to over $100,000 with just the core components: memory, CPU, and dual GPUs. Configured higher, and with supporting storage, power, and cooling, the workstation could very easily climb over $150,000.

It's essentially a server tray reconfigured into a tower, with an EPYC host replaced with a 96-core Threadripper. AMD didn't share many details about the machine outside of the specs, though it appears to be a system design that AMD's OEM partners will ultimately build and ship. AMD has yet to announce any partners supporting the machine.

The Threadripper Pro 9995WX at the heart of the machine is a 96-core, 192-thread Zen 5 chip that can boost up to 5.4 GHz. It ships with 384 MB of L3 cache and has a TDP of 350W. It's hard to find Threadripper Pro standalone chips in general, but the 9995WX clocks in at around $11,000 to $12,000.

The MI350P accelerators come with 128 CDNA 4 compute units built on TSMC N3. Each accelerator packs 144GB of HBM3E memory, giving the system 288GB of HBM3E. AMD says there's a "path to four," opening up the possibility of two more accelerators bringing 576GB of HBM3E to the system. You'll need plenty of power to feed the GPUs, as each accelerator is rated for up to 600W.

Although AMD says it can support up to four accelerators, the workstation shown off at IFA only has room for two, both of which are liquid-cooled, alongside the Threadripper host. AMD doesn't sell MI350P accelerators on their own in traditional consumer channels, but the estimated price is somewhere around $20,000 per accelerator.

At a system level, the Threadripper Halo Station includes 2TB of DDR5 memory, which is the maximum capacity supported across the eight-channel memory configuration of the Threadripper Pro 9995WX. AMD supports up to DDR5-6400 on the Threadripper, though it made no mention of speed during its IFA presentation. Regardless of speed, 2TB of DDR5 costs about $50,000 right now.

AMD has yet to set a price or release date for the Threadripper Halo Station, though we'll likely hear more about the design from AMD's partners in the near future. An extremely expensive workstation isn't out of the question. The Lenovo ThinkStation P8, for instance, which uses Threadripper Pro CPUs as a host, clocks in at $334,463 right now, maxed out with 2TB of DDR5 and dual Blackwell accelerators.

Sales of discrete graphics processors for consumer PCs were up both sequentially and year-over-year in the second quarter despite soaring prices caused by component shortages, according to a newly released report by Jon Peddie Research. Although PC CPU shipments dropped in Q2 2026 year-over-year amid seasonality and shortages, sales of standalone graphics processors for consumer computers were up 12.2% sequentially and 14.1% YoY, the best market dynamics in some time.

Sales of graphics processing units for consumer PCs — which include integrated and standalone GPUs for desktops and laptops — totaled 75.5 million in the second quarter of 2026, up 10.4% quarter-over-quarter and 1.1% year-over-year, primarily driven by notebooks. This happened as the consumer CPU market contracted by 1.1% YoY amid a massive sequential drop in desktop CPU shipments and a significant rise in mobile CPUs shipments. Desktop GPU shipments declined by 4% quarter-over-quarter, while notebook GPU shipments surged by 16.8%, JPR claims.

But despite declining desktop PC unit shipments and modest growth in notebooks, unit shipments of discrete GPUs increased by 12.2% sequentially and 14.1% year-over-year in Q2 2026, according to JPR data. Jon Peddie Research does not publish absolute numbers of standalone graphics processors shipped in the second quarter, but our estimate is that around 20 million discrete GPUs were sold by AMD, Intel, and Nvidia in Q2, based on attach rates and Nvidia's market share and dynamics.

The results indicate that demand for PCs with discrete graphics remained remarkably resilient despite soaring component prices and slowing demand for desktop PCs. However, JPR's shipment data does not reveal whether the increase was primarily driven by gamers buying graphics cards, stronger demand for gaming notebooks, or other factors.

"The second quarter is typically down compared to the previous quarter," said Dr. Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research. "This quarter, discrete GPUs increased by 12.2%, even while a global memory crisis sent component prices soaring, driven by a mix of supply-side positioning, artificial demand shocks, and localized market dynamics."

Jon Peddie Research has yet to publish its complete desktop AIB report, which is expected later this month and will include market shares for AMD, Intel, and Nvidia; yet it is safe to say that the latter has maintained its undisputed leadership.

As for the overall consumer PC GPU market, Intel retained its leadership with a 56% market share as it increased shipments of consumer CPUs in Q2 2026. Nvidia came second with 23%, which is not bad at all considering that it only ships discrete GPUs. AMD came third with 21% share, up significantly from 14% in the same quarter a year ago, as it managed to gain seven percentage points of the consumer GPU market YoY amid growing sales of its consumer CPUs.