I'm new to PC gaming and have never owned gaming PC. With that said, I'm just looking for something to get me started. The possibility for upgrading would be nice, since my current budget is low (still in school). I've done some research and found the HP Omen to be a decent low-range starter. Here is the link:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-omen-by-hp-desktop-intel-core-i5-8gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060-1tb-hard-drive-brushed-aluminum/5759916.p?skuId=5759916

They have a more recent model with i7, 16 gb of ram and a 1070 gtx, but it's $1,250. I'm not somebody who cares too much about ultra settings or overclocking, I'm coming over from consoles because of the more pragmatic benefits of PC gaming. Including frequent sales and large discounts and customization.

Please temper your expectations, my budget is only at around $1k for the machine itself. I'm just wondering if this is a decent build and if I would be able to upgrade (maybe to a 1070 at some point) and what I could expect.

Thanks in advance.

I'm not an expert on what is and isn't the best hardware, but I find quite a useful tool is to go to a website that will compare your hardware with a games minimum and recommended specs and tell you how well it will run.
So take a game you'd like to be able to play (preferably one at the high end of your likely budget etc.) and compare against that.

For example here's two sites testing the computer you linked against the Witcher 3

http://www.game-debate.com/games/index.php?g_id=3443&game=The+Witcher+III&p_make=Intel&p_deriv=Core+i5-7500+3.4GHz&gc_make=Nvidia&gc_deriv=GeForce+GTX+1060&ram=8&checkSubmit=#systemRequirements

http://gamesystemrequirements.com/game/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt#cresult
(Not sure that link will actually work, you might need to put the specs in again)

Which it comes off pretty well. If you can play the Witcher 3 you can probably play most current games and older, and probably quite a few newer ones too.

tough time to ask since newer GPU coming out, could change the price hugely.
with that price u could build 1 with all the high end stuff, also many of the software included in that system u wont probably even need(i know 1 for sure not to have is McAfee/whatever its called, it's known to be a virus)

upping from 1060 to 1070 doesn't sound like a huge improvement(im not that high knowledge, i know bits and pieces)
dont really need a i7 unless u r doing something heavy, i5's r good enough to do most

It's not that bad, but I would not recommend the 3GB version of the GTX 1060 - for a custom build I would typically recommend either getting a 4GB 1050 Ti if you're on a budget or, better, the 6GB version of the GTX 1060.

Considering the alternative you've mentioned, I'd save up a bit more if I were you and get the i7 + GTX 1070 - that way you'd get a PC which will be able to handle anything the market can throw at it (gaming-wise) for the next couple of years at least. It's also very likely getting the more recent model now will cost you less than it would if you were to upgrade the old one - getting bulk graphics cards is still rather complicated atm due to cryptocurrency miners bumping up most of the prices to ridiculous levels.

I'd also recommend getting a SSD for it as a later upgrade - it has no influence on raw gaming performance, but it will dramatically speed up all I/O operations (games will load a lot quicker, the PC will boot a lot faster etc). The Witcher 3 is not exactly the best example of a highly demanding game these days - I was able to play it @1080p on High with relatively infrequent dips down to 50fps on a laptop packing a GTX 1050 Ti / i7-7700HQ, which I personally consider a modest entry-level gaming laptop.

What about this one?

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-i5675-7806BLU-PUS-Inspiron-Desktop-i7-8700/dp/B079HX9F6W/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1533758874&sr=8-3&keywords=dell+gaming+pc#customerReviews

Better, but there's the 3GB version of the GTX 1060 again, which you'd probably have to upgrade at one point. It also has a 460W PSU, which you may also have to change if you want to get a more powerful graphics card like the GTX 1080 / GTX 1080 Ti.

All in all, I guess it's a pretty good deal considering the price.

Meh, I don't really follow modern games (and particularly graphically intensive games) much, I suppose the Witcher 3 is a few years old by now...

cyberpower let's you pick and choose, lot of free upgrades
https://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Battlebox-2018-Syber

ryzen 7 1700 upgrade
1060 6gb
3000 mhz ram upgrade

Prebuilts are a waste of money.

Better to buy the best parts you can afford individually. Then take them to a technician who you can pay to assemble them for you. Doing that will be cheaper and also give you a lot better of a machine than will buying a prebuilt.

It's a good price, and you will be happy with it. Have fun!

If you haven't noticed, any remotely good graphics cards are still expensive as fuck. #DeathToCryptocurrencies

Seemed expensive to me at first because I got a better system last upgrade for around the same price. Then I thought about it though and I didn't have to buy a case, a power supply, a disc drive, etc. So it's probably about right. You really need 16GB of RAM for the newest games though, even at 1080p, so keep that in mind.