HP 15 AY041WM Review: A Simple But Relatively Powerful Laptop

HP 15 AY041WM: At First Glance

The HP 15 AY041WM looks no different from other notebook computers in the AY000 series. However, its starting price of $299.95 as of February 2022 shows that it may offer more than just the usual look.

One important thing to mention is that the HP 15 AY041WM is also an ENERGY STAR product which implies that it uses less energy. Therefore, this laptop can save you money on your electricity bill.

Having said that, let’s proceed to find out the performance of this laptop from the remaining sections of this review.

HP 15 AY041WM: Design, Dimension, and Weight

The HP 15 AY041WM has an appealing, sleek design. In fact, the design is evidently one of this laptop’s selling points.

The chassis of this laptop is made of a strong plastic material that gives it a sturdy look. This plastic chassis comes in silver color with a glossy finish.

Well, an aluminum chassis would have been better on this laptop than a plastic one. Nevertheless, the HP 15 AY041WM’s plastic chassis is quite rigid.

The lid of this laptop looks simple with just a gray-colored HP logo at the center. The HP 15 AY041WM also has two hinges that are actually stronger than they look.

Impressive enough, these hinges make the laptop’s display remain in position even when pushed with a little force.

Furthermore, opening the lid of this laptop unveils even more interesting features.

These features include the laptop’s 15.6-inch, HD (1366 x 786) resolution display. Thankfully, the screen size is big enough for a notebook computer.

As an HD resolution laptop, the HP 15 AY041WM is suitable for watching videos and doing some image editing work.

Moreover, you’ll get to enjoy this display’s touchscreen functionality with an SVA WLED backlight.

For clarity, an SVA (standard viewing angles) display is a type of Vertical Alignment (VA) display panel with better viewing angles. Therefore, the image quality of this display will be okay when you view the screen from the sides, above or below.

Meanwhile, a WLED (White Light Emitting Diode) display is a type of display that is more energy-efficient than LCD displays. Hence, the HP 15 AY041WM should deliver a decent battery performance which we will verify shortly.

Awfully, for this laptop, HP didn’t seem to pay much attention to the importance of narrow bezels. Possibly, this is the reason why the HP 15 AY041WM has wide bezels around its display.

On a better note, the top bezel houses HP’s TrueVision HD Webcam. The image quality from this camera will be decent as long as the place is well-lit.

Also, the top bezel houses a digital microphone for sound recording. The mic’s position is ideal especially during video calls when you wouldn’t want to stoop down to talk.

Down to the laptop’s base, we see an island-style keyboard with integrated number keys. For clarity, an island-style keyboard is a type of keyboard with rows of rectangular plastic keys that resemble erasers.

Disappointingly, this keyboard is non-backlit which means that you’ll find it difficult to use this keyboard in a dim area.

That said, below this keyboard lies a touchpad with multi-touch gesture support. The touchpad is very responsive, decent in size, and has dedicated buttons.

Unfortunately, the HP 15 AY041WM has just a few ports. Specifically, the left-hand side of this laptop has a charging port and an Ethernet port.

Still, on this left side, you’ll get one HDMI port and two USB 2.0 ports. Meanwhile, on the right-hand side, you’ll see one USB 3.0 and a card reader slot.

Interestingly, the HP 15 AY041WM features Bluetooth 4.0 and Intel’s 802.11ac Wi-Fi card for wireless connectivity. This Intel’s 802.11ac Wi-Fi offers a transfer rate of up to 900 MB/s.

Without a doubt, this laptop’s Wi-Fi card is dozens of times faster than the 802.11n Wi-Fi card found in some notebooks.

Coming to the dimensions and weight, the HP 15 AY041WM measures 384.3 x 254.6 x 24.3 mm (W x D x H). Meanwhile, it weighs just 2,040 g.

In comparison, the predecessor – HP 15-AY039WM measures 384.30 x 254.51 x 24.38 mm (W x D x H). Meanwhile, it weighs 2,720 g.

From the comparison, you can see that the HP 15 AY041WM retains the size of its predecessor. However, it is lighter in weight.

Therefore, to conclude this design section, I’ll rate the HP 15 AY041WM an eight out of ten. This rating is due to the laptop’s look, display technology, and connectivity.

HP 15 AY041WM: Processor (CPU) Performance

The HP 15 AY041WM runs on a dual-core Intel Core i3-6100U processor with 3 MB of cache memory. This processor has a base and maximum frequencies of 2.30 GHz.

Thus, you can not boost its CPU’s frequency above 2.30 GHz.

For more information, Intel manufactures the Core i3-6100U CPU based on the Skylake architecture for very low voltage consumption. For this reason, we should be expecting a longer battery life on this laptop.

Moving on, with this CPU, the HP 15 AY041WM should be able to perform well in everyday computing tasks. To be specific, this laptop shouldn’t have any problem with word processing, web browsing, and playing media.

In addition to these everyday tasks, light multitasking also shouldn’t be a problem for this laptop’s processor.

At this point, let me talk about this processor’s result in a Cinebench R15 benchmark test. To explain, the Cinebench R15 tests a CPU’s capability by utilizing all the CPU cores and threads.

Moreover, this test is performed in two parts – a single-core and a multi-core. A single-core Cinebench score shows how fast the CPU is when only one of its processor cores is in use.

Meanwhile, a multi-core test score shows how fast the CPU is when all of the CPU cores are in use. Therefore, having a high score in each of the phases indicates a better CPU performance.

That said, the HP 15 AY041WM’s CPU got a total of 97 points in a single-core test. Also, this processor got 247 points in the multi-core test.

In comparison, the Dell Inspiron 15 5585 got a total of 135 points in the single-core test. Also, it got 672 points in the multi-core test.

As you can see, the performance gap between the two laptops’ processors is too much. This isn’t surprising as the Dell Inspiron 15 5585 runs on an AMD Ryzen 7 3700U processor.

This is because Intel CPUs tend to drop more quickly in clock rate than an equivalent AMD CPU.

In summary, the HP 15 AY041WM has a fairly good CPU performance. Still, we won’t overlook the CPU’s low clock speed which we can’t boost beyond its base frequency.

Therefore, I will rate the HP 15 AY041WM a seven out of ten in this processor review section.

HP 15 AY041WM: Memory (RAM) Performance

The HP 15 AY041WM is equipped with a DDR4 SDRAM with a frequency of 2133 MHz. Despite having two memory slots, the standard memory that comes with this laptop is 4 GB.

Meanwhile, for better performance, this laptop’s RAM can be upgraded to a maximum of 8 GB. Obviously, an 8 GB RAM should give the laptop more ability to multitask than 4 GB RAM.

However, with the 4 GB RAM on the HP 15 AY041WM model I am reviewing, it should be able to open up to 10 Chrome tabs. Moreover, even with these multiple browser tabs, you can also be streaming an HD video at the same time.

However, you should not expect this laptop to run heavy apps like Android Studio and Corel Draw simultaneously.

At this point, let me highlight this laptop’s productivity test result using an Octane V2 benchmark test. This test measures a computer’s JavaScript engine’s performance by running a set of JavaScript applications.

Note also that a higher score on this test shows a better performance.

Meanwhile, the HP 15 AY041WM got a total of 13,598 points in this test. However, it scored below the average class score of 16,817 points.

In summary, having two RAM slots on this laptop that supports up to 8 GB of RAM is quite commendable. Hence, I will rate the HP 15 AY041WM eight out of ten points in this memory review section.

HP 15 AY041WM: Storage Options and Performance

The HP 15 AY041WM ships with SATA HDD storage which has a speed of 5400 RPM. Thankfully, this laptop supports up to 1 TB of storage space which should be sufficient for most users.

Moreover, you still get one multi-format SD card slot for storage expansion if your files require more storage space.

For the storage performance of the HP 15 AY041WM, let’s consider its result in a CrystalDiskMark 5.5 test. For better understanding, CrystalDiskMark measures the read and write speeds of a storage drive.

Specifically, read speed refers to how fast it takes a storage drive to open a file. Meanwhile, write speed refers to how fast it takes a storage drive to save a file.

Like every other benchmark, a higher score in this test indicates higher speed hence, a better storage performance.

Based on the test, the HP 15 AY041WM recorded a read speed of 549.9 MB/s and a write speed of 458.3 MB/s. In comparison, the Dell Inspiron 15 5585 recorded a read speed of 472.5 MB/s and a write speed of 1,460 MB/s.

The results above mean that the HP 15 AY041WM opens files faster than the Dell Inspiron 15 5585. However, the results show that the Dell Inspiron 15 5585 saves files faster than the HP 15 AY041WM.

Considering all I have said in this section, I will rate the HP 15 AY041WM an eight out of ten.

HP 15 AY041WM: Graphics Card Performance

The HP 15 AY041WM features an Integrated Intel HD Graphics 520. As an integrated GPU, it shares the laptop’s memory with the processor.

Hence, this graphics card is not fit for playing graphics-intensive games. Likewise, you should not expect this laptop to run graphics-demanding applications.

Impressively, this GPU has a base frequency of 300 MHz which you can overclock to a maximum of 1000 MHz. This GPU speed is quite commendable for a non-gaming laptop.

Despite not being a gaming laptop, the HP 15 AY041WM should be able to play low-end games like Zuma Sparkle with this GPU. Also, together with the Intel Core i3 CPU, this GPU should be able to handle image editing with Adobe Photoshop.

To show how well this laptop can render graphics with this GPU, I’ll highlight its score in a 3DMark 11 test. Before I do that, let me inform you about what the test is.

A 3DMark test is a benchmark that tests how well a computer can render 3D graphics. Therefore, achieving a high score in this test indicates a better performance.

The HP 15 AY041WM got a total of 3,764 points in the 3DMark Fire Strike test. In comparison, the Dell Inspiron 15 5585 got a total of 2,999 points in the same test.

With this result, I’ll conclude this section by rating the HP 15 AY041WM an eight out of ten points.

HP 15 AY041WM: Battery Life and Performance

The HP 15 AY041WM is powered by a 3-cell, 31 Wh Li-ion battery. However, HP did not say how long this battery lasts per charge.

Therefore, let’s find out on our own based on the laptop’s specifications provided by walmart.com. According to walmart.com, the HP 15 AY041WM’s battery lasts for 6 hours.

Thus, you may have to plug in this laptop for charging at least once during the working hours of each day.

In comparison, this laptop’s battery life is slightly longer than that of the HP 15-r220ng. To be specific, the latter lasts for 5 hours, 44 minutes during WiFi web surfing.

On the other hand, the two HP laptops battery lives are way below that of the Dell Inspiron 15 5585‘s battery. This Dell Inspiron 15’s battery lasted for 7 hours 1 minute during WiFi web surfing.

As I mentioned in the initial thought section, the HP 15 ay041wm is an ENERGY STAR product. Therefore, besides its battery life, this laptop uses less energy and will save you money on your electricity bill.

Therefore, to conclude this battery review section, I will rate this laptop an eight out of ten.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

There is not much difference between the HP 15 AY041WM and other laptops in the AY000 series. It has a touchscreen 15.6-inch display with an Intel Core i3-6100U processor, 8GB RAM, and a 1TB hard drive.

It also has an integrated Intel HD Graphics 520 that can play light games. However, do not expect high-end gaming performance from this laptop.

Therefore, if you need a fairly decent notebook at an affordable price, the HP 15 AY041WM is a good option.

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