HP unveiled today its first-ever gaming laptop running on AMD processors. The Pavilion Gaming 15 is an affordable 15-inch system that pairs AMD Ryzen CPUs with Nvidia GeForce GTX graphics.
The Pavilion Gaming 15 will be available in September with a starting price of $799.
HP Pavilion Gaming 15 Specs
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | HP Pavilion Gaming 15 |
| Starting Price | $799 |
| Display | 15.6-inch, 1080p at 144Hz |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 3350H, Ryzen 7 |
| RAM | 8GB, TBD |
| Graphics | Nvidia GTX 1050, GTX 1660 Ti |
| Storage | Up to 1TB |
| Ports | USB 3.1 Type-C, USB 3.1 Type-A, USB 2.0, Ethernet, HDMI, headphone/mic, SD card |
| Size | 14.2 x 10.1 x 0.9 inches |
| Weight | 5 pounds |
HP's new gaming laptop is all about giving mainstream gamers enough power to play the latest games at a low price. That said, the Pavilion Gaming 15 isn't the slimmest or lightest laptop, and even the topped-out configuration has what we consider a mid-range GPU.
What the Pavilion Gaming 15 does offer is an interesting aesthetic, strong components and a display made for gaming. The laptop's 15.6-inch, 144Hz panel is flanked by slim displays that give the Pavilion a 79% screen-to-body ratio, an impressive figure for such an affordable system.
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Aesthetically, the Pavilion Gaming 15 is tame by gaming laptop standards. However, the system does come in a pair of unique colors: green and purple. There's not much gamery flair to the chassis apart from the pops of color against the laptop's smooth black surfaces.
The Pavilion Gaming 15 isn't the best option if you're looking for something portable. However, at 0.9 inches thick and 5 pounds, the laptop is small enough to carry around from room to room and is even more compact than its predecessor despite top-firing speakers taking up a good chunk of its deck.
The Pavilion's keyboard backlighting matches the color of the laptop, so the keys will glow either green, purple or the standard white (sorry sRGB fans) depending on which model you choose.
Performance will also depend on your configuration, but the Pavilion is firmly into mid-range territory. On the processor side, you can choose between an AMD Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 CPU, these being the first AMD chips inside of an HP gaming machine.
And on the gaming front, casual gamers can opt for an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 GPU while those who want to crank up the frames can go with the newer GTX 1660 Ti with Max-Q graphics. Storage caps out at 1TB PCIe SSD if you want both speed and space.
Also, don't worry about gaming with the Pavilion on your lap even when you're pushing those components to their limits; HP claims it improved the new system's cooling with larger vents and heat pipes compared to last year's model.
So far, the Pavilion Gaming 15 seems like a decent notebook that should offer good performance and a smooth 144Hz display. If it does so at the $799 base price, then we could be looking at a serious winner.
