HP Pavilion 15z Laptop review

 

HP Pavilion 15z Laptop Sleekbook review Features

• Windows 10 Home 64
• AMD Quad-Core A8-7410 Processor + AMD Radeon(TM) R5 Graphics
• 8GB DDR3L – 1 DIMM
• 39.6 cm (15.6″)

• PROS

  Eye-catching design, Good price. Clear, bright screen. Numeric keypad. Removable battery. HDMI and Ethernet ports, Brighter style, Backlit keyboard, Type numbers easily, powerful audio experience

• CONS

  Keyboard feels mediocre. No touch screen. Short battery life. USB 3.0 ports are black.

The 15z-b000 is sufficient for the non-demanding user, giving them a quad-core processor, competitive 3D graphics, and a good-sized hard drive for storage. Shining spots include a really nice screen and a removable battery (important if you think that sealed batteries speed up planned obsolescence). This system is ultimately held back by its short battery life, so-so performance, and better-featured competitors with the same price or better.

The system comes with a pair of USB 3.0 ports, SD card reader, a single USB 2.0 port, HDMI, and Ethernet ports. Unfortunately the USB 3.0 ports are black, like the single USB 2.0 port, so you have to be carful you’re not plugging a speedy USB 3.0 drive in the slower USB 2.0 port. HDMI and full-size Ethernet is a nice touch and comes in useful if you need to connect to a wired router or HDTV.

The HP Pavilion Sleekbook 15z is a tractable, utilitarian ultraportable, with a good feature set. It’s going to serve a general user well, particularly if you’re limited to a sub-$600 budget and need a full keyboard.

It’s not wise to expect too much from a budget laptop in terms of ports and connections. In this case, it’s a pair of USB 3.0 ports, an extra USB 2.0 port, and HDMI, an SD card reader, and an Ethernet jack. The Ethernet jack fits into the slim body because of a hinged jaw.

Performance

The 15z comes with a quad-core AMD A8 processor with integrated graphics. The integrated graphics are competitive with the Intel HD Graphics 4000 found in some competing laptops and ultrabooks, but the A8 is a quite a bit slower on the other benchmark tests. Suffice to say that you might be waiting a while if you like to edit videos or photos as a hobby. The 15z is fast enough to display 1080p HD video (scaled down to the 1,366-by-768 screen) with nary a hiccup or skipped frame. Web surfing is also sufficiently fast, though the system’s PCMark 7 becnhmark score lagged its competition.

Specs