What on Earth is HP doing with its gaming laptop branding?

Among HP’s galore announcements for CES, its biggest wide alteration is for its gaming division. HP’s Omen statement of gaming laptops, monitors, and desktops are dropping the HP sanction entirely and alternatively will henceforth beryllium branded arsenic HyperX. The HP Omen 16 Max laptop becomes the HyperX Omen 16 Max. HP Omen monitors will go HyperX Omen monitors. And moreover the HP Victus 15’s belief successor will beryllium a HyperX Omen 15.

This each strikes maine arsenic odd, and each these caller computers and monitors pinch the spelled-out HyperX aliases shortened Hx logos look a spot low-rent to my eyes. There’s conscionable thing astir that logo connected a machine that seems chintzy.

HyperX was a gaming marque that HP acquired successful 2021. At that time, it was well-known and regarded for its gaming headsets, mice, microphones, and keyboards, but it started back successful 2002 nether Kingston making DDR1 RAM sticks. Omen, connected the different hand, has a pedigree based successful making existent computers. It stems from the lineage of different HP acquisition, VoodooPC, a Canadian institution founded measurement backmost successful 1991 that made unsocial desktops.

If you’ve ne'er knowledgeable lower-back symptom and are truthful excessively young to beryllium acquainted pinch VoodooPC, PC World’s look backmost astatine the 2009 HP Firebird gives a bully glimpse into the company’s ingenuity. And HP’s ain cube-shaped Omen X desktop from 2016 was different illustration of the bold creation it inherited (and besides squandered) pinch Voodoo / Omen.

I whitethorn not person the emotion for HyperX for illustration immoderate folks do, but I’ve sewage thing against its products aliases the darling position it had among gamers pre-HP acquisition. It made bully accessories, including headsets that were beloved for their lightweight comfortableness and streaming-focused microphones known for their iconic RGB lighting. Even recently, nether HP, it introduced immoderate absorbing mice pinch caller ideas astir customization.

But it was ever an accessory marque and often a “bang for your buck” 1 astatine that. So it’s ace weird to maine that the accessory marque now has its sanction elevated to laptop, desktop, and show position alternatively of the higher-level Omen sanction trickling down to immoderate keyboards, mice, headsets, and mics. (Not that I’m rooting for the HyperX sanction to spell away.)

When I spot that logo connected a laptop I can’t thief reasoning of no-name brands sold by the likes of Amazon and Newegg — the types I show family and friends to enactment distant from successful favour of established ones for illustration HP Omen / Victus, Lenovo Legion, and Asus ROG (to sanction a few). I cognize that’s not the lawsuit pinch HyperX, and I’ll get utilized to recommending them the aforesaid I do pinch the balanced HP models now. But this feels for illustration an unforced error.

As HP reps were excitedly telling maine astir their caller unified branding, it took maine correct backmost to a twelvemonth ago, watching Dell execs willfully sprout themselves successful the ft erstwhile they announced the decease of their XPS brand successful favour of lesser-sounding laptop names. 364 days later, Dell is doing an about-face and XPS laptops are back. When Dell COO Jeff Clarke precocious announced that reversal to a room afloat of media members and analysts, he capitulated, “Marketing matters.” Now, HyperX-ing each the things feels for illustration a likewise bad omen for HP.