HP's Omen X Is A Gaming PC Backpack For VR Headsets

ceratop001

I like the portability of this design and it seems like a good idea. Not sure how I feel about HP behind it; guess we will have to see.

Computing

HP's Omen X Is A Gaming PC Backpack For VR Headsets

Got a shiny new Oculus Rift or HTC Vive? Then you need a powerful gaming-ready computer that can run your VR headset’s demanding high-res, high-refresh displays. But there’s a problem — your big, bulky PC isn’t exactly portable, and VR requires cables. Enter HP’s new concept Omen X, a gaming PC stuffed into a laptopesque form factor, moulded to wear as a backpack, and fitted with hot-swappable batteries.

Teased just after HP introduced its new Omen gaming brand, complete with desktop, laptops and high-end monitor, the Omen X is a concept, but it looks like one that’s already extremely close to becoming a reality. It certainly looks the part — I’d be happy to wear it plus a VR headset, as long as I also had a Ghostbusters vacuum close to hand.

Reports around the ‘net say the Omen X will be fitted with hardcore specs — a high-end Intel Core i7 CPU, DDR4 RAM and fast M.2 solid-state drives — but there’s no confirmed word on what the internal graphics card — the secret sauce for gaming and virtual reality rendering — might be. With the Omen X’s skinny form factor, it’s likely to be a laptop-grade GPU, and in the current generation that would mean something like the GeForce GTX 980M, roughly as powerful as a desktop-grade GTX 970.

According to The Verge, the Omen X design team is targeting a weight of about 4.5 kilograms, making it just about as heavy as a gutsy 17-inch gaming laptop. Its X factor is a pair of removable batteries in the waist belt which power CPU and GPU processing, with a third battery in the device itself functioning as a backup letting you hot-swap extras in and stay connected to your VR world.

But it’s the concept’s overall portability that is its massive selling point. Imagine slinging this across your shoulders, pulling a HTC Vive over your eyes, putting on some noise-cancelling headphones and being properly wireless within a room-scale virtual reality world. HP says it’ll be showing it off within the next month, so expect to see it turn up either at Computex 2016 or E3 a few weeks after. [CNET / The Verge]

Original Story From: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/05/hps-omen-x-is-a-backpack-for-vr-headsets/

Cleffy

MSI also has a concept out. I think the challenge will be in making it resist shocks. Minor shocks can damage a PC. Also it needs sufficient processing power that only a few companies are familiar with getting out of a small form factor.

ceratop001

Cleffy said:

MSI also has a concept out. I think the challenge will be in making it resist shocks. Minor shocks can damage a PC. Also it needs sufficient processing power that only a few companies are familiar with getting out of a small form factor.

  Didn't think about the shocks. You referring to electrical are damage from collisions etc? Are both? I know some laptops have had some electrical shock problems in the past. Shock from collisions could also be a big problem. Maybe the material around the case or around the components could be made shock resistant; if say you hit a wall or accidentally trip and fall down.

Ridelynn

If it's using an SSD (and it appears to be), impact resistance isn't nearly as big a deal as it would otherwise be. Everything else can be BGA soldered to the motherboard and isn't coming off (that's how laptops are constructed for the most part), and the only thing you have to worry about rattling loose is the cooler (again, laptops have this pretty well down as well).

ceratop001

Ridelynn said:

If it's using an SSD (and it appears to be), impact resistance isn't nearly as big a deal as it would otherwise be. Everything else can be BGA soldered to the motherboard and isn't coming off (that's how laptops are constructed for the most part), and the only thing you have to worry about rattling loose is the cooler (again, laptops have this pretty well down as well).

Good point.