Verdict
HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 has the potential to run heavy titles with ease and is also great for productivity. This machine is a great companion for those who love gaming, video editing, binge-watching, and web browsing. —————————————————————–
| Pros | Cons |
| -Impressive processing and gaming power -Great display with narrow bezels – A robust chassis with plenty of ports | -Bulky and heavy design -Poor webcam (as expected) -Short battery life |
Key Features
–15.6-inch FHD Display
The HP Pavilion Gaming laptop has a 15.6-inch FHD+ IPS display that produces good and attractive colors.
-AMD Ryzen 5 5600H Processor
The machine is powered by AMD Ryzen 5 5600H processor that offers overall good performance.
-Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Graphics
It has a dedicated Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 GPU. The dedicated GPU is capable enough to run AAA titles at good framerates.
HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 Photos
Unboxing
Availability
HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15
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The HP Pavilion Gaming 15 is one of the most entry-level gaming laptop options, coming in at around ₹59,000/$724.
Introduction
The entry-level gaming laptop has a different level of the fan base in the gaming laptop market. You can not only enjoy the best of the games but also do productivity tasks without any hiccups. Thanks to (Asus, HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Acer) laptop brands offer entry-level gaming laptops which are managed to stand out with decent build quality, solid performance, and affordable price tags.
The HP Pavilion Gaming 15 is one of the most entry-level gaming laptop options, coming in at around ₹59,000/$724. HP offers several configurations of the HP Pavilion Gaming laptop 15. You could also opt for AMD Ryzen 7 5800H with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050/3050Ti graphics, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD. The HP Pavillion Gaming Laptop 15 ships with only AMD processors and its higher-end variant has Ryzen 7 processor. So, an Intel processor is the thing you want in your laptop I’m sorry to say but this laptop hasn’t offered the Intel chipsets.
The HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 review unit I got, had a 15.6-inch FHD IPS panel with 250 nits peak brightness, AMD Ryzen 5 5600H processor paired with a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 GPU (4GB VRAM), 8GB of DDR4 RAM, and 512GB of M.2 PCle NVMe SSD. I have been testing the HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 for the last two weeks and here are my thoughts.
HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 specs sheet
| Category | Specifications |
| Display | 15.6″ FHD IPS display, 60Hz refresh rate, 250 nits peak brightness, 45% NTSC |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 5 5600H processor |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (4GB VRAM) |
| RAM | 8GB DDR4 3200MHz |
| Storage | 512GB M.2 PCle NVME SSD |
| OS | Windows 11 Home |
| Webcam | 720p HD Camera integrated with dual array digital microphones |
| Keyboard | Full-Size Ultraviolet LED backlit shadow black keyboard |
| Battery | 3-Cell 52.5Wh battery, 150W fast charging support |
| Ports | 1 x USB Type C, 2 x USB Type-A port, 1x HDMI 2.0, 1 x RJ-45, 1 x Headphone jack, 1 x SD Card reader slot |
| Weight | 1.98Kg |
| Color | Shadow Black |
Design
Design is the main factor when it comes to gaming laptops. And HP actually did it, the HP Pavilion gaming laptop 15 has a good-looking design which impressed me a lot. HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 has a very smooth chassis and is entirely made up of plastic material. Though with a plastic build it feels so premium and solid and the outer shell is scratch resistant. You’ll get to see a shiny and eye-grabbler ultraviolet-tinted “HP” logo carved on the outer shell of the machine.
On the laptop deck, there is a geometrical cutout integrated dual speaker in it. An ultraviolet LED backlight is integrated with the keyboard which looks cool and the keycaps are just perfect (a gamer always wants great keys which feel comfortable during gaming and typing). A 130° hinge allows you to adjust the screen according to your needs and yes you can open the laptop with just one finger.
Weight is another factor that matters the most, the HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 weighs 1.98Kg and of course, it feels heavy and bulky. I spent some time with the laptop on my lap while watching Anime, and reading some articles. I can say that it’s a heavy boy. You can’t use this machine on your lap for more than half an hour because of its weight. A matte finish and an angular design make the laptop appear more premium than actually it is.
Connectivity is not the problem you will face with that machine, HP offers plenty of ports on the Pavilion Gaming 15 Laptop. You will see 1 x USB Type C, 2 x USB Type-A ports, 1 x RJ-45, 1 x Headphone jack, 1 x SD Card reader slot, a charging port, and an HDMI 2.0 port (with that you can also connect an external monitor). As for wireless connectivity, you’ll have access to WiFi 6 and Bluetooth v5.2 on this laptop. And in my testing both are works fine, I haven’t faced any issues during connecting the laptop to my WiFi router or pairing my gaming Bluetooth headphones to the laptop.
Display, Speakers, and Webcam
HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 (review unit I have) has a 15.6-inch 1920 x 1080 resolution IPS display with a standard 60Hz refresh rate and 45% NTSC color gamut. The bottom chin of the laptop is so thick while the top and side bezels are very thin and it won’t distract you when working, watching movies, or playing games.
The display of the laptop is bright though its colors are not very accurate (because of the low 45% NTSC color gamut), HP rates it at 250 nits. The laptop’s brightness is perfect for indoor usage but in the outdoor environment, it’ll appear too dim. The display of the laptop is flicker-free at all brightness levels. Color accuracy won’t be an issue for those who just watch movies, play games, web surfs, or deal with word documents.
Also Read:- HP 14s Review: A Solid Budget-range Laptop
The speaker grills are mounted on the keyboard deck and it performed decently. Though it was loud for me but lacked bass. The speakers are actually a good choice for listening when playing games or watching media. As for the Webcam, the HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 has a 720p HD Camera (without a privacy shutter) positioned at the top of the screen integrated with dual-array digital microphones. What image quality should you expect from an HD camera? It managed to produce overall natural colors. The image quality is slightly overexposed and lacks some fine details.
Performance
The review unit I have of the HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 ships with an AMD Ryzen 5 5600H processor with 6 performance cores (maximum boost frequency of 4.2GHz ), dedicated Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 GPU (4GB VRAM), 8GB of DDR4 RAM and 512GB of M.2 PCle NVMe SSD.
The Geeknench 5 score of the HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop is 1499 and 7613 points for the single-core and multi-core, which is a decent score when compared to other budget-range gaming laptops. The AMD Ryzen 5 in Cinebench (CPU rendering) test has performed very well. The Cinebench R23 benchmarks of 1,312 and 8,485 for single-core and multi-core performance respectively.
HP offers solid software experience but you’ll get to see some preinstalled bloatware. For eg, McAfee, the app popping up reminds you to activate the antivirus subscription which leads to distraction while doing productive work.
The entry-level NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 GPU has great performance in 3d rendering. I ran blender BMW27 tests, and the HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 with AMD Ryzen 5 5600H renders the 3d model of the BMW 27 car very quickly. The CPU takes 4.2min time to render the entire model while the GPU takes just 2.6min. The dedicated GTX 1650 GPU renders the BMW 27 model much faster than the CPU, so you can count on the GPU for your heavy rendering workloads which gets the work done faster (2x) as compared to the CPU.
As far as gaming goes, the HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 delivers. I spent some time playing Shadow Of The Tomb Raider and Borderlands 3 and my gaming experience was satisfactory with these two bad boys.
The HP Pavilion Gaming 15 averaged 35FPS on Borderlands 3 with fired-on high settings and my experience wasn’t good, it was bearly playable at an averaged FPS. While playing I noticed some stutters in the middle of the intense firefight that frustrated me a lot. If you want smoother gameplay and a higher framerate the only option you have is to set the graphics settings at low.
And, The Pavilion Gaming laptop 15 has managed to offer decent performance in Shadow Of The Tomb Raider. My gameplay was smooth even at high settings and managed to get on averaged 52FPS but I observed some stuttering while playing that wasn’t bad enough to make the gaming experience miserable. During my intense 45 min gameplay session, the laptop did heat up slightly and the fans were loud enough to distract the gameplay. So you’ll want to put on headphones to ensure a good gaming experience. The HP Coolsense software integrated with the laptop automatically adjusts the fan settings as per the workload.
For day-to-day use, the Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 has been a workhorse. My laptop usage usually includes dozens of documents, web stuff, and media consumption. From installing various apps and games, streaming music, and opening multiple chrome tabs (around 17 plus) including YouTube videos on chrome, the HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop handled all productive tasks without any hiccups or performance issues. Overall the machine with the AMD Ryzen 5 processor offers great productivity performance.
In my video encoding test, the HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop was able to complete encoding a 2 min 12-sec 4k video clip in 1 min 25 sec which is a good number.
Keyboard and Touchpad
Opening the lid of the laptop, you’ll see a full-size Ultraviolet LED backlit keyboard. An ultraviolet LED backlight is integrated with the keyboard which looks cool and the keycaps are just perfect. The keys are made up of plastic but it feels so comfortable to type on thanks to the good key travel.
HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 has a decently sized touchpad (measuring approximately 14cm across and 5cm deep) that’s good enough to get the basic job done. The trackpad is smooth, with accurate tracking and plenty of sensitivity.
Battery Life
You can’t expect a full day of battery life on the gaming laptop, and HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 is no different. With just light web browsing, the laptop will last around 5 hours and 36 minutes. It lasts only just 2 hours and 50 minutes while watching movies and anime with full brightness.
Should you buy it?
You should buy this if…
- You need a gaming laptop at an affordable price range.
- You want a laptop for professional video editing or rendering 3D visuals.
- You need a laptop for gaming as well as productivity tasks.
- You want a budget-friendly productivity laptop
You shouldn’t buy this if…
- You want a high-quality display
- You want a lightweight and thin laptop for work and travel
- You need a laptop with long-lasting battery life
Final Thoughts
HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 is an entry-level gaming laptop with AMD’s midrange Ryzen 5 processor paired with dedicated NVIDIA’s entry-level GTX 1650 GPU. The laptop is power efficient enough to handle all productivity tasks without any performance issues and also the 1650 GPU is capable of running most AAA title games at good framerates in 1080p. But the dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 GPU isn’t powerful enough to run AAA games smoothly at high settings. If you want smooth buttery gameplay with high framerates then you’ll need to opt for the more powerful GPUs such as RTX 3050 / RTX 3050Ti.
The Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15’s battery lasts for around 6 hours with just light web browsing and casual document editing work. Overall the laptop offers plenty of eye catchy features at an affordable price. For AMD fans, the HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 is nevertheless an excellent option.
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Abhinav has been writing about technology for over 2 years now. He holds a degree in Engineering and is obsessed about smartphones, Laptops, and wearables. He can always be seen scrolling on Twitter and Instagram while he isn’t working.