HP Notebook 15 ay011nr Review: An Energy-Saving Notebook

iTechGuides is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more

HP Notebook 15 ay011nr: At First Glance

The HP Notebook 15 ay011nr comes with a few features that are not so commonly found on notebooks of today. One of these features is a SuperMulti DVD burner.

In addition to that, this laptop also has an impressive display, and decent overall performance. Moreover, it is also an ENERGY STAR product which means that it will save you some money on your electricity bill.

Thankfully, the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr offers all these features at a mid-range price. Speaking of which, as of February 2022 when I wrote this review, the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr sells for $408.00.

In this introduction, you have been enlightened on a few things about the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr. However, to discover more things about it, read the remaining sections of this review.

HP Notebook 15 ay011nr: Design, Dimension, and Weight

It is rare to see affordable laptops with sleek and modern looks however, the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr begs to differ. This laptop’s premium look comes from its plastic chassis with metal polish and aluminum finishing.

Also, the smoothness of the chassis makes it scratch-resistant and it’s also durable. Simply put, this laptop looks solid even with its plastic body.

As for the color, the laptop comes in deep black color with some very rare red variants. That said, let’s talk about the laptop’s lid in particular.

As with most if not all HP laptops, the Notebook 15 ay011nr’s lid is blank except for an HP logo. The logo is designed in a shiny silver color and is located at the center of the lid.

Besides this logo, there’s nothing much to talk about on the Notebook 15 ay011nr’s lid.

Meanwhile, the lid of the laptop rests on two small hinges. Thankfully, the hinges are strong enough to keep the display in position even when pushed with a little force.

Furthermore, when you open the lid, you will find this laptop’s 15.6-inch display with thick bezels around it. Although thick bezels are ugly, the top bezel makes up for that by housing a TrueVision HD webcam.

The webcam is good enough for making video calls thankfully, it also has an integrated digital microphone.

Back to the display, it has an FHD (1920 x 1080) resolution which makes the colors of pictures and movies very sharp.

In addition to its crisp resolution, this display is also SVA anti-glare WLED-backlit. As an SVA (super viewing angles) display, the Notebook 15 ay011nr’s display promises to deliver better viewing angles.

Hence, viewing the display of this laptop from different angles should not pose a problem. In terms of the anti-glare feature of this laptop, it helps the display handle reflection better.

Hence, when using the Notebook 15 ay011nr outdoors or in well-lit rooms, screen reflection will not be an issue.

Despite having a lot going for it, the display of the Notebook 15 ay011nr is not touchscreen-enabled. However, touchscreen functionality would have driven the laptop’s price higher.

Having talked about the display of this laptop, let’s proceed to the keyboard. It is a full-size island-style keyboard with a separate 10-key numeric keypad.

The keys provide a satisfying click and a soft pleasant feel. Also, the keys have decent key travel which makes it comfortable to type.

By key travel, we mean how deep the keys go down when fully pressed.

Overall, the keyboard delivers a nice typing experience. However, it is non-backlit and thus will be difficult to use in a dim area.

Even at that, the keyboard isn’t a deal-breaker as most work environments are well-lit.

Moving on, below the keyboard lies a touchpad that comes with dedicated click buttons. It is, however, located slightly off-center and closer to the left side which may cause some inconvenience while using it.

On a favorable note, this touchpad supports Windows 10 multi-gesture supports. Hence, you will be able to perform gestures like multi-finger swipes and taps.

Away from the laptop’s deck, we move to the bottom where we see openings for two speakers with DTS Studio Sound technology. DTS Studio is a technology that filters sound on TVs and mobile devices to give you an optimal sound experience.

In line with this, the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr’s speakers offer a pretty good equalizer effect. But then, the sound output gets better when this laptop is placed on a flat surface.

Also, I won’t forget to mention that the bass from these speakers is small. Additionally, the clarity of the sounds from the speakers tends to suffer a bit at full volume.

With the speakers and sound out of the way, another area where the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr does well is its connection ports.

Speaking of ports, the left side of this laptop houses an Ethernet port, one HDMI port, and one USB 3.0 port. Also on the left side, there’s one USB 2.0 port, a headset jack, and a microphone combo jack.

Turning to the right-hand side, you’ll get an optical drive slot, one USB 2.0 port, and a card reader slot.

In addition to that, this laptop is also adequate for wireless connectivity. To be specific, it features Bluetooth 4.0, and 802.11ac WiFi.

With this WiFi card, the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr guarantees faster video streaming on the web.

Now let us proceed to the size and weight of the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr. In that regard, it measures 384 x 255 x 23.7 mm (W x D x H) and weighs 2,140 g.

In comparison, the 15.6-inch HP 15-AY196NR measures 384.3 x 254.6 x 24.3 mm (W x D x H) and weighs 2,150 g. That’s a little bigger and heavier than the Notebook 15 ay011nr.

But then, the Dell Inspiron 15 5000 is more portable than the two laptops above. Precisely, Dell Inspiron 15 5000 measures 356.1 x 234.5 x 14.15mm (W x D x H) and weighs 1,714g.

So far, we have seen that the design of HP Notebook 15 ay011nr impresses in more ways than not. It has a good-quality display and enough port selection.

It is also more portable than some laptops in its category.

Thus, I will be rating the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr an eight out of ten in this design, dimension, and weight review section.

HP Notebook 15 ay011nr: Processor (CPU) Performance

The HP Notebook 15 ay011nr runs on a dual-core Intel Core i5-6200U processor. This 6th generation processor has 3 MB of cache memory.

Intel manufactured this CPU in 2015 using the Skylake microarchitecture. Intel’s target with the Skylake architecture is graphics performance improvements, power reduction, and enhanced security features.

Hence, we expect that this processor will deliver all these advantages mentioned above.

For more information about this processor, it has a base frequency of 2.3 GHz. Better still, the base frequency can be boosted to a maximum of 2.80 GHz.

Certainly, a Core i5 processor with such a frequency range should be good for running demanding applications and most games. Also, the laptop should be able to run many applications simultaneously without a slowdown.

For a better assessment of this laptop, let’s consider its result in a Cinebench R10 test. A Cinebench test evaluates a processor’s power by putting its cores through some stressful workloads.

Hence, the Cinebench test is in two parts – the single-core and multi-core. With the single-core test, only one processor core is used to carry out tasks.

Meanwhile, in the multi-core test, all the processor cores are used to carry out tasks. However, it is worthy of note that a higher score in this benchmark test denotes better performance.

Thankfully, the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr’s CPU got a total of 4,383 points in the single-core test. Meanwhile, it scored a total of 9,871 points in the multi-core test.

In comparison with the Dell Inspiron 15 5000, the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr performed better. However, the Dell Inspiron 15 5000 runs on an older generation Core i5-5200U CPU.

Specifically, the Dell Inspiron 15 5000 scored 4,137 points and 8,642 points in the single-core and multi-core tests respectively.

From the benchmark test result, the HP Notebook 15 processor’s performance is impressive. Therefore, I will rate it an eight out of ten in this section of the review.

HP Notebook 15 ay011nr: Memory (RAM) Performance

The HP Notebook 15 ay011nr has one RAM slot for a DDR3L-1600 SDRAM. The laptop ships with an 8 GB standard RAM capacity which is also the maximum it can take.

This implies that you can’t upgrade the laptop’s RAM further.

Thankfully, with 8 GB RAM on this laptop, it is a sufficient multitasking device. To be specific, you should be able to navigate smoothly between a dozen Chrome tabs simultaneously on this laptop.

At this point, it would have been nice to include this laptop’s performance in a PCMark benchmark. However, I am unable to get information about that.

Therefore, in the absence of PCMark, I will share with you this laptop’s performance in an Octane V2 benchmark test. Octane V2 test is a benchmark developed by Google which measures how fast a computer’s browser can load pages.

To a large extent, a computer’s performance in this test will depend on its RAM. Meanwhile, a higher score on this test also shows a better performance of the laptop.

With respect to the test result, the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr’s RAM recorded a total of 27,593 points. That’s quite above the category average score of 25,164 points for this test.

In comparison, the HP 15 AY041WM got a total of 13,598 points in this test. This isn’t surprising as the HP 15 AY041WM comes with less powerful specs than HP Notebook 15 ay011nr.

Specifically, the HP 15 AY041WM has a standard 4 GB RAM and Intel Core i3-6100U processor.

Putting into consideration the performance of the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr in this test, I believe it deserves an eight out of ten for its memory performance.

HP Notebook 15 ay011nr: Storage Options and Performance

The HP Notebook 15 ay011nr has a 5,400 RPM SATA HDD storage and supports a maximum capacity of 1 TB.

Thankfully, for most people, 1 TB of storage is sufficient for system and media files. Better still, if you need more storage space, you can utilize the multi-format SD media card reader that this laptop comes with.

Being a multi-format card reader, you can insert different types of flash memory cards on this laptop.

Furthermore, while most laptop models are dropping optical drives, HP Notebook 15 ay011nr retains a SuperMulti DVD burner. With this, you can read and write DVDs as a storage drive.

For a better assessment of this laptop’s storage, let’s consider its file transfer (copy) test result from laptopmag.com. A file transfer test measures the speed with which a storage drive opens or saves files.

Thus, a higher score on the test means faster copy speed which in turn indicates a better performance.

From the test, the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr copied 4.97GB of different media files in 2 minutes and 50 seconds. This amounts to a rate of 29.57 MB/s which is the same transfer rate as that of the Dell Inspiron 17R.

This 29.57 MB/s transfer speed narrowly beats the Dell Inspiron 15 500’s rate of 28.4 MB/s in the same test.

It would have been nice to also include the performance of this laptop in a CrystalDiskMark test. However, due to the absence of that information, I will conclude this section using all I have discussed so far.

In that regard, the maximum storage capacity offered by this laptop is sufficient for most people. It also offers other options for storage expansion.

Therefore, I’ll be rating the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr’s storage a nine out of ten in this review section.

HP Notebook 15 ay011nr: Graphics Card Performance

The HP Notebook 15 ay011nr features an integrated Intel HD Graphics 520. Unfortunately, having an integrated GPU is the first drawback of this laptop in this respect.

This is because an integrated GPU has no Dedicated VRAM (video RAM). Therefore, an integrated GPU will not be able to play high-end games.

Even at that, this GPU’s clock speed is decent. Speaking of which, its speed starts from 300 MHz and you can overclock it to a maximum of 1000 MHz.

Although the Notebook 15 ay011nr isn’t a gaming laptop, its GPU should still play low to mid-range games at low graphics settings.

For a better evaluation of this GPU’s performance, I’ll highlight its score in a 3DMark test. Before I do that, let me tell you what a 3DMark test is all about.

In that regard, 3DMark is a benchmark test that evaluates how well a computer can render 3D graphics. Therefore, achieving a high score on this test indicates a better performance.

Consequently, the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr got a total of 51,066 points in the 3DMark graphics test. In comparison, the Toshiba Satellite L55-C5340 with Intel HD Graphic 5500 GPU recorded a total of 54,638 points.

Overall, the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr’s graphics card is acceptable for a mid-range non-gaming laptop. Hence, I will rate it an eight out of ten in this section of the review.

Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Support on Ko-Fi

HP Notebook 15 ay011nr: Battery Life and Performance

HP fortifies the Notebook 15 ay011nr with a 4-cell 41 Whrs Lithium-ion battery. Although HP did not say how long this battery lasts per charge, I expect this battery to deliver a decent battery life.

However, because this review is aimed at informing you all you need to know about this laptop, I will share its performance in a battery test. This test carried out by laptopmag.com involved setting the screen brightness to 100 nits and browsing the web until the battery drains.

According to the test result, the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr’s battery lasted for 5 hours 51 minutes. Unfortunately, the battery performance of this laptop from this test shows that it is not sufficient to last through a day’s work.

Hence, you may have to take this laptop’s charger along with you everywhere you go.

However, you should be aware that this laptop is an ENERGY STAR product. Energy STAR products are energy-saving electronics devices that consume less power.

Therefore, HP Notebook 15 ay011nrp will not consume much electricity when charging which will in turn 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

The HP Notebook 15 ay011nr does not bring anything new into the notebook world. Instead, it packs some of the strongest features compared to some of its competitors.

These strong features include its FHD resolution display, a 4-cell battery, 8GB RAM, and a 1TB hard drive. It also features a powerful Core i5 processor and a SuperMulti DVD burner.

These features make this laptop ideal for students and office workers. Thankfully, it does not cost much to own an HP Notebook 15 ay011nr hence, most people can afford it.

Therefore, if you are not saving for the latest-in-town laptop, why not give the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr a thought?

I hope you found this HP Notebook 15 ay011nr review helpful. If you found the review helpful, kindly click Yes to “Was this post Helpful?” below.

You could also share your thoughts with the “Leave a Reply” form found at the end of this page.

Finally, for more laptop reviews, visit our Laptop Reviews page. You may also find our Laptop Specs page very helpful.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.