The HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 (2021) is an entry-level gaming laptop that's available with AMD Ryzen 5000-series CPUs and dedicated NVIDIA GPUs. It's made entirely of plastic, yet it feels well built and solid. It's also very easy to access the internals if you need to upgrade the RAM or add a 2.5 inch hard drive. The user experience is decent overall: the keys on the keyboard are well spaced and have a good amount of travel, and there's a Numpad if you often do calculations or work in spreadsheets. Its touchpad tracks movements well, although it has some trouble with multi-touch gestures. There's a decent selection of ports, including a dedicated HDMI 2.0 port and three total USB ports to connect all your peripherals, but its single USB-C port only supports data transfer and video output, so you can't use it to charge the laptop. Unfortunately, the screen looks washed out due to its narrow color gamut, and it doesn't get bright enough for use outdoors or in bright rooms. Also, it has poor battery life and can't get through a full workday, and it gets noticeably hot and very loud under load. You'll likely need a dedicated microphone for video conferences as the built-in microphone records muffled, nasally audio.
We tested the Pavilion Gaming Laptop with a 1080p 60Hz display, an AMD Ryzen 5 5600H, a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 GPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. The Ryzen 5 5600H is more than enough for most modern AAA titles and heavy creative workloads, but you can get the more powerful Ryzen 7 5800H if you need more cores and threads for applications like physics simulations or video editing. If you want features like ray-tracing or DLSS upscaling in your games, we suggest you opt for the RTX 3050 or 3050Ti as the 1650 doesn't support either of them. Finally, you can upgrade to a 144Hz display for more fluid movement, which can improve aim in FPS games and potentially improve cursor precision in MOBAs.
Our Verdict
The HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop is adequate for school use. It has a well-built, solid chassis, a very good keyboard that doesn't feel tiring to type on over time, and a touchpad that tracks movements well. Additionally, it's available with amazingly fast AMD CPUs and dedicated NVIDIA GPUs, great for students who edit video or work with 3D renders. Unfortunately, it's on the bulkier and heavier side, making it a little difficult to carry around everywhere. Also, its battery lasts only a little over six hours of light productivity, so you'll also need to bring its dedicated barrel-plug charger since you can't charge via USB-C. Its screen doesn't get bright enough for comfortable use outdoors, and its microphone records bad-sounding audio.
- Good, sturdy-feeling build.
- Fast AMD CPUs and powerful NVIDIA dedicated graphics.
- Keyboard doesn't cause fatigue over extended periods.
- Numpad makes it easier to do calculations or work in spreadsheets.
- Battery lasts only a little over six hours of light productivity.
- A little too bulky and heavy to bring everywhere.
- Need to bring dedicated power adapter since there's no support for USB-C charging.
- Webcam loses fine details, and microphone sounds bad.
The HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop is decent for playing games. Its H-series AMD Ryzen CPUs and dedicated NVIDIA GPUs run modern AAA games decently well, although you'll need to opt for the more powerful RTX 3050 or 3050Ti GPUs if you want smoother gameplay at maximum graphical settings. It barely throttles, meaning you can play at maximum performance for extended periods. The port selection should be enough for all your peripherals, including a dedicated HDMI 2.0 port to output to an external display. Additionally, you can upgrade the RAM and 2.5 inch storage drive. Unfortunately, it gets hot and loud under load. You can opt for a 144Hz display if you prefer a smoother experience.
- Fast AMD CPUs and powerful NVIDIA dedicated graphics.
- Very little throttling over time.
- Upgradeable RAM and 2.5 inch drive slot.
- GTX 1650 isn't power enough to run AAA games smoothly at max settings.
- Gets hot and loud under load.
The HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop is mediocre for multimedia use. While its 15 inch 1080p monitor looks decently sharp, it looks washed out and doesn't get very bright. This means it can't provide a satisfactory HDR viewing experience, and it also isn't suitable for use in very brightly lit rooms as it can't fully overcome glare. It can barely get through a single full-length film on battery power, so you'll need to keep it plugged in if you expect to binge a TV series. Additionally, its speakers don't get very loud and are heavy in the low treble, so content might not sound as rich.
- IPS panel has a decent contrast ratio.
- Virtually silent when idle or under light workloads.
- Screen looks washed out and doesn't get bright enough to overcome glare.
- Battery barely lasts through a single full-length film.
- Speakers don't get very loud.
The HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop is great for workstation use. It scores amazingly well in benchmarks and is very well suited for running 3D rendering tasks, making it a compelling option for people who work in 3D modeling or animation. Additionally, there's very little throttling over time, so the laptop stays near its full performance during extended rendering or computational workloads. You can opt for the more powerful Ryzen 7 5800H if you need more CPU power for highly threaded tasks, while the higher-end RTX 3050 and 3050Ti will provide a sizable boost in ray-traced renders and neural network dataset training.
- Fast AMD CPUs and powerful NVIDIA dedicated graphics.
- Very little throttling over time.
- Upgradeable RAM and 2.5 inch drive slot.
- Remarkably fast SSD.
- Gets hot and loud under load.
The HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop is satisfactory for business use. It feels well built despite its entirely plastic chassis, and you can get it with optional white backlighting if the green accents are too much for you. Its keyboard keys are well spaced and don't cause fatigue when typing over extended periods, and there's a Numpad for easy number input if you work frequently in spreadsheets. There's a decent port selection, enough to output to an external display and hook up some wired peripherals, and it provides more than enough performance for even the heaviest multitaskers. Unfortunately, it isn't very portable, and its battery can't last through a full workday. Also, the webcam loses most fine details, and the built-in microphone records muffled, nasally audio, so it isn't optimal for video conferences.
- Good, sturdy-feeling build.
- Keyboard doesn't cause fatigue over extended periods.
- Numpad makes it easier to do calculations or work in spreadsheets.
- RAM and storage are serviceable.
- Battery lasts only a little over six hours of light productivity.
- A little too bulky and heavy to bring everywhere.
- Screen looks washed out and doesn't get bright enough to overcome glare.
- Webcam loses fine details, and microphone sounds bad.
Changelog
- Updated Feb 29, 2024: Added mention of the Lenovo LOQ 15 (2023) as an alternative available with NVIDIA 40-series GPUs in the GPU section.
- Updated Feb 08, 2022: Review published.
- Updated Jan 31, 2022: Early access published.
- Updated Jan 18, 2022: Our testers have started testing this product.
Check Price
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 (model 15-ec2008ca) with an AMD Ryzen 5 5600H CPU, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 dedicated GPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD, in the Shadow Black color scheme with Acid Green backlighting. All the components are configurable; see the table below for all the options. Keep in mind that most vendors, including HP, sell laptops as pre-built models with pre-determined configurations instead of letting customers choose the parts individually. As a result, it may be hard to find the exact configuration you want.
There are other models of the HP Pavilion 15 Gaming that use different port layouts and Intel CPUs, so to avoid confusion, our review only applies to the 15-ec2000 series.
| Screen |
|
|---|---|
| CPU |
|
| GPU |
|
| RAM |
|
| Storage |
|
| Color |
|
Our display and performance results are only valid for the configuration we tested. If you come across a different configuration option not listed above, or you have a similar HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop that doesn't correspond to our review, let us know, and we'll update it. Some tests, like black uniformity and color accuracy, may vary between individual units.
You can see our unit's label here.
Popular Laptop Comparisons
The HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop is an entry-level gaming laptop that performs about the same as other laptops in its class. It's available with H-series AMD Ryzen CPUs and mid-range NVIDIA dedicated GPUs that provide good framerates in most AAA games at 1080p, with only a few tweaks to the graphical settings. It also performs very well for creative tasks like 3D renders and video editing. Unfortunately, its speakers don't get very loud, it suffers from poor battery life, and it gets very hot and loud under load.
The HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 (2021) and the Acer Nitro 5 15 (2020) are both entry-level gaming laptops that perform about the same when playing games. The HP is available with newer AMD Ryzen 5000-series Ryzen CPUs, which provide slightly better performance compared to the Ryzen 4000-series CPUs on the Acer; however, newer versions of the Nitro 5 are available. The HP is better as a workstation as you can get it with either an NVIDIA RTX 3050 or 3050Ti dedicated GPU, both of which provide a better experience in 3D rendering and computational workloads compared to the GTX 1650 or 1650Ti on the Acer. On the other hand, the Acer is better for school and multimedia use thanks to its significantly longer battery life, better-quality microphone, much brighter screen, and louder, better-sounding speakers. Unfortunately, the Acer's keyboard sometimes doesn't register some keystrokes, which could be frustrating during competitive gaming matches.
The HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 (2021) and the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M1, 2021) are two very different laptops. The MacBook runs macOS and is designed for use as a creative workstation, and even though its M1 Pro or Max chip performs well in some games, it's far superior in video editing and 3D renders thanks to its significantly faster threaded performance, much larger unified memory, and dedicated video encoders and decoders. Additionally, the MacBook provides a far superior user experience thanks to its significantly brighter, more color-accurate, better-looking display, and it has a better-feeling keyboard, a larger, better-tracking touchpad, and louder, bassier speakers. On the other hand, the HP runs Windows and is designed for gaming, with a choice of entry-level dedicated NVIDIA GPUs and fast H-series AMD Ryzen CPUs that perform decently in most games. Unfortunately, like most gaming laptops, the HP's battery is much worse than the MacBook's.
The HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 (2020) and the HP Pavilion x360 14 (2021) are both Windows laptops that are part of HP's Pavilion lineup. The x360 is better for school and multimedia use because its battery lasts much longer, it's significantly more portable, and you can use its 360-degree hinge to fold the laptop into tablet mode. The x360's microphone records better-sounding audio, it runs much cooler and quieter, its speakers get much louder, and its USB-C port supports charging the laptop. On the other hand, the Pavilion Gaming is much better suited for gaming and as a workstation, as it's available with powerful AMD Ryzen H-series CPUs and dedicated NVIDIA GPUs. Additionally, its keyboard and touchpad feel better to use.
The Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15 (2021) is a basic laptop meant for light productivity tasks, while the HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 (2021) is meant for gaming and other graphically intensive tasks. The Lenovo is better if you need something more compact and lightweight to take around, and its battery also lasts much longer, and the laptop runs much cooler. On the other hand, the HP is much larger and heavier, but it's equipped with powerful AMD Ryzen H-series CPUs and dedicated entry-level NVIDIA GPUs that are significantly better suited for heavy workloads like gaming, 3D design, and physics simulations.
Test Results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for videos & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for videos & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for videos & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
