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If you're looking at this laptop, you probably already know that it is a budget offering and that there are some things you will have to accept about the laptop's capabilities before buying. Do not buy this expecting it to run every game on ultra settings at high frame rates. As a guide, expect to use the following settings for 60fps:
Brand new AAA titles: 720p / 1080p with medium settings
AAA Titles from 2015 - 2018: 1080p with medium to high settings
Older or less demanding titles: 1080p with high / ultra settings
Positives:
- The Ryzen 4600H processor is a total beast and will not hold the GTX 1650 back at all. This processor is an 'entry level' gaming / productivity offering from AMD which still manages to outperform most of Intel's high-end laptop processors.
- The included 256GB NVME SSD is lightning fast.
- The keyboard is nice to type on and the trackpad is decent. You can set the keyboard backlight to 'always on' in the BIOS if desired.
- Accessing the internals is easy.
- There is room to install a 2.5" SSD and there are 2 RAM slots. You can easily swap the two 4GB modules out for higher capacity modules, but please read the 'good to know' section further down before buying RAM.
- Fan is silent when browsing the internet and other light use.
- Screen backlighting is quite even across the screen. Black depth is actually decent.
- Charges quickly.
- Great performance for the price.
Neutrals:
- Compared to some other gaming laptops, the fans are mostly bearable when gaming, but you will definitely be aware of them.
- The build quality is okay. Nothing special.
- Battery life is okay when not gaming (4 - 5 hours at half brightness, browsing the web and watching a few videos) and probably wouldn't last much longer than an hour
- The audio is adequate. No real bass to speak of, but it doesn't sound tinny.
- Only 2 USB ports, which might be a problem for some people.
- Screen brightness isn't anything special, but fine for indoor use.
Negatives:
- The screen only covers 62% sRGB. Don't expect particularly vibrant colours.
- When connected to my router via wifi, the laptop's internet accessibility would drop every few hours. This doesn't happen on any of my other devices. Updating the wireless card drivers did not fix this. I have managed to fix it by assigning the laptop a static IP address outside of the router's DHCP range. Your mileage may vary as this issue might be specific to my network configuration, but I can't be sure.
Good to know:
- Other people have reported problems upgrading beyond the default 8GB RAM. I put two 8GB 3200MHz modules from Crucial (not the Ballistix type - just the basic stuff) in this laptop and everything works correctly. Some people report that their memory speed is stuck at 2400MHz or 2667MHz - my advice would be to steer clear of RAM that relies on XMP and to go for some more basic RAM with a JEDEC profile onboard.
- I haven't listed the small 256GB SSD as a negative since this is an attribute that is made very clear at the point of purchase. However, if you're not too savvy with this kind of thing, then you should not expect to fit more than 3 to 5 current AAA games on it (if the games ranged from say 40 to 80 GB). If this isn't enough for you, then adding an HDD / SSD should be something to consider.
- If you're planning on putting a mechanical hard drive into the empty drive slot, make sure it is one of the thinner, more modern 2.5" HDDs as there is very little clearance even with a slim SSD.
Overall:
Fast all round and capable of playing all games currently on the market at the time of this review - albeit at 720p / 1080p and lower settings for the very latest graphically intensive AAA games. For slightly older games, you'll have a pleasant experience at higher settings / 1080p. At this price point, you won't find anything else that performs better. The sheer power of the Ryzen 5 4600H also makes it difficult to match even in the used market.
Recommended - so long as you understand the laptop's limitations as set out above.
| Brand | HP |
|---|---|
| Product Dimensions | 36 x 25.7 x 2.35 cm; 2 Kilograms |
| Batteries | 1 Lithium ion batteries required. (included) |
| Item model number | 15-ec1001sa/15-ec1001na |
| Manufacturer | hp |
| Series | HP Pavilion Gaming 15-ec1001sa/15-ec1001na |
| Color | Shadow black |
| Form Factor | Laptop |
| Standing screen display size | 15.6 Inches |
| Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1080 pixels |
| Resolution | 1080p Full HD Pixels |
| Processor Brand | AMD |
| Processor Type | None |
| Processor Speed | 3 GHz |
| Processor Socket | Socket 7 |
| Processor Count | 4 |
| RAM Size | 8 GB |
| Memory Technology | DDR4 |
| Computer Memory Type | DDR4 SDRAM |
| Maximum Memory Supported | 8 GB |
| Hard Disk Description | Flash Memory Solid State |
| Hard Drive Interface | Solid State |
| Audio Details | Headphones |
| Graphics Chipset Brand | NVIDIA |
| Graphics Card Description | GTX 1650 |
| Graphics RAM Type | 72-Pin EDO SIMM Memory |
| Graphics Card Interface | PCI-E |
| Connectivity Type | Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Miracast |
| Wireless Type | Bluetooth, 802.11ac |
| Wattage | 150 watts |
| Optical Drive Type | No Optical Drive |
| Hardware Platform | PC |
| Operating System | Windows 10 |
| Average Battery Standby Life (in hours) | 1 Atm |
| Average Battery Life (in hours) | 8 days |
| Are Batteries Included | Yes |
| Lithium Battery Energy Content | 52.5 Watt Hours |
| Lithium Battery Packaging | Batteries contained in equipment |
| Number Of Lithium Ion Cells | 3 |
| Item Weight | 2 kg |
