HP 15 15.6 inch Review

Alright, let's talk about this HP 15.6 inch laptop. It's a budget-friendly machine that tries to do a bit of everything. You get a touchscreen, a discrete GPU, and a 512GB SSD, all for under $400.

But you can feel the corners they cut to hit that price. The screen is a low-res 1366x768 panel, and the AMD 7520U CPU is a pretty basic chip. It's a classic case of 'you get what you pay for'.

The performance is a mixed bag. The AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme GPU is the star here, landing in the 64th percentile. That means it can handle some light gaming and video playback just fine. The 512GB NVMe SSD is also a solid plus. The big letdowns are the CPU and screen. The 7520U CPU is in the 16th percentile, so don't expect it to blaze through heavy workloads. And that screen? It's in the bottom 3rd percentile. The 1366x768 resolution on a 15.6-inch display looks fuzzy and dated.

At $379, it's hard to complain too much. You're getting a discrete GPU and a touchscreen, which is rare at this price. The value is there if your needs are very basic. Just know you're making big trade-offs, especially with that awful screen and weak CPU.

This HP is in a totally different league than the MacBook Pro or high-end gaming laptops like the MSI Vector. Those are for power users. A more direct budget competitor might be a Chromebook or a basic Lenovo IdeaPad. Compared to those, this HP's discrete GPU gives it a slight edge for very casual gaming. But something like the ASUS Zenbook Duo, while more expensive, offers way more screen and build quality for your money. This HP is strictly for the tightest budgets.

Buy this only if your budget is absolutely locked at $400 and you need Windows 11 with a touchscreen. It's a decent pick for very basic web browsing, document editing, and extremely light gaming. Students on a severe budget might consider it, but the poor screen and low RAM will hurt for multitasking. For anyone else, saving up a bit more for a better screen and CPU is a much smarter move.