HP Pavilion 15z Review: An Attractive Mid-Range Laptop

HP Pavilion 15z: At First Glance

As I hinted in the title of this article, the HP Pavilion 15z is an attractive laptop at first glance. Even more appealing is the fact that the laptop comes with a solid AMD processor.

Notably, the AMD processor is an eye-catching factor for this laptop. It gives the HP Pavilion 15z an edge to rival its competitors that are equipped with newer Intel processors.

Furthermore, the sleek design of the laptop is admirable compared to the previous model’s. To make it even more amazing, the HP Pavilion’s $649.99 price tag is very reasonable for a mid-range laptop.

From the looks of it, the HP Pavilion 15z might just be an all-around perfect laptop. Can it be?

Let’s hold off on that thought while I look into its hardware specs and performance.

HP Pavilion 15z: Design, Dimensions & Weight

Upon setting my eyes on the HP Pavilion 15z, I totally felt like I was looking at a premium laptop. As far as aesthetics are concerned, the chassis of the laptop looks sleek and attractive.

At the center of the Pavilion’s lid, there’s a silver glossy HP logo. The logo adds a subtle contrast to the natural silver of the lid. 

Before I proceed, it is important to mention that there are two other color options for this HP Pavilion laptop – Fog blue or Warm gold.

As for our review unit, it came painted in natural silver. The matte finish on the laptop complements the natural silver color. 

My excitement for what I saw on the exterior of the laptop made me quickly open up its lid to examine the interior in greater detail. I’d like to add that opening the laptop was quite smooth and without any fragility.

With the laptop opened, the silver color was notably awesome on the keyboard and trackpad area.

Looking at the display, I was impressed by the thin dark bezels that surrounded it. Although I would have loved a thinner bezel to see more of the display. 

Nevertheless, the laptop’s bezel is thin enough for a laptop of its class. 

The HP Pavilion 15z’s display can either come in HD or FHD, depending on your preferences. Ideally, you should opt for the FHD display.

However, note that the FHD display options understandably cost more than the HD display model. 

Even so, its price is not too expensive. At the time of writing this article, you can get a Full HD display for $623.00.

Some may argue that this laptop is pricey, but for a 15-inch laptop with optional touchscreen capability, the price tag is a bargain. Away from the display, my fingers seemed to resonate well with the well-matched full-sized keyboard and its numeric keypad. 

Furthermore, HP Pavilion ensures to provide a premium feel on both the keyboard and the touchpad. While typing and browsing on the laptop, I was not bothered by any limitations.

As for the size, HP Pavilion 15z measures 360.1 x 233.9 x 17.7 mm and weighs 1750.80 g. The laptop is lighter than the 15-inch HP Pavilion x360 – 15-BK117CL laptop that weighs 2300 g.

In terms of the port options, HP Pavilion 15z features two USB Type-A ports, a USB Type-C port, an HDMI port, and a headphone jack. The port option provided is decent enough, but there is no RJ45 port to connect to a wired computer network.

Based on all the analysis so far, the HP Pavilion 15z offers a commendable design that outclasses the design of most of its counterparts.

Hence, I will be giving the HP Pavilion 15z a rating of seven in this design review section.

HP Pavilion 15z: Processor (CPU) Performance

Powered by a powerful octa-core AMD Ryzen 7 4700U processor, the HP Pavilion 15z is capable of excelling in the workplace. Furthermore, the processor offers 8 MB cache memory and a boost frequency of 4.10 GHz.

No doubt, the processor’s performance is comparable to the performance you get on high-end processors. In other words, HP Pavilion 15z will deliver outstanding processor performance.

I was able to confirm its efficiency when I had 20 chrome tabs opened on the laptop. At the same time, I was also able to run Android Studio Emulator in the background without any difficulties.

Following my initial positive experience, I decided to run the Cinebench R15 test for a more in-depth analysis. The Cinebench is a credible CPU test tool that gives a value for the performance results of a laptop’s processor.

After running this Cinebench test, HP Pavilion 15z-eh000 scored 180 points on the single-core test. Meanwhile, the laptop scored 1091 points in the multi-core test.

Interestingly, the HP Pavilion 15z outperforms the Acer Swift 3 SF314-42. Although both laptops have the same processor, the HP Pavilion 15z makes a stronger performance claim.

To be more specific, the Acer Swift 3 SF314-42 scored 1035 points on the Cinebench 15 multi-core test. 

On another test, the HP Pavilion 15z was outranked by the HP Pavilion 14-ce3040ng. The HP Pavilion 14-ce3040ng received 190 points in the Cinebench R15 single-core test.

However, HP Pavilion 15z turned the tide in the multi-core test with its 1091 points. It totally outclassed the HP Pavilion 14-ce3040ng that had a disappointing score of 691 points.

According to the data we have at this point, the HP Pavilion 15z is capable of providing plenty of computing power. For this reason, I will be rating the HP Pavilion 15z an eighgt in this processor performance review.

HP Pavilion 15z: Memory (RAM) Performance

The HP Pavilion 15z offers a standard memory size of 8 GB SDRAM. The perk here is that the laptop comes with 2 memory slots.

As a result, the laptop supports a maximum configuration of 16 GB – each slot supports 8 GB. 

However, with just the 8 GB RAM, the laptop can multitask excellently.

As stated previously, the HP Pavilion 15z can be upgraded to 16 GB RAM, which is the configuration I have for this review. With this memory size, HP Pavilion 15z performed like a powerhouse – yes, I am candid about that!

Moreover, the laptop proved its performance when it comfortably rendered a 4K video and while running 20 chrome tabs. I was amazed by the speed at which the laptop handled multiple tasks.

Regardless of the memory options – 8 GB or 16 GB, the laptop will deliver excellent performance. To test its performance further, I ran the PCMark 10 on the HP Pavilion 15z.

The PCMark 10 is a reliable benchmark test tool for determining the performance of a computer under multiple running tasks. Based on the test results, the HP Pavilion 15z received a score of 4915.

This score is higher than the average benchmark test score of 4854.

However, its score is lower in comparison with the Lenovo IdeaPad L340‘s score of 5100. Apparently, the Lenovo IdeaPad L340 outperforms the HP Pavilion 15z when it comes to memory performance.

In another comparison, the HP Pavilion 15z beat the Lenovo IdeaPad 330S’ PCMark score of 3609. 

For its solid performance in handling several tasks at once, I rate HP Pavilion 15z’s RAM performance an eight out of ten in this memory review section.

HP Pavilion 15z: Storage Options & Performance

The HP Pavilion 15z comes with different storage options. Firstly, the base storage configuration you can get for the laptop is 128 GB SSD.

You can also decide to buy the HP Pavilion with a 256 GB, or 512 GB storage capacity. The highest storage configuration you can get for the laptop is a 1TB SSD. 

You can go for any of the storage options depending on your nature of work. In any case, the storage type the HP Pavilion comes with is the solid-state drive (SSD) which is currently the best drive for storage.

Hence, you can expect an efficient storage performance. Also, if you want plenty of storage, you will get that on this laptop with the 512 GB, or 1 TB storage size.

Moving to the performance, I ran a Crystaldiskmark test to ascertain the laptop’s work rate. To be clear, the Crystaldiskmark test tool analyses the read and write speed of the storage drive.

Based on the test, the HP Pavilion 15z gives a sequential read speed of 1633 MB/s and a write speed of 922.7 MB/s. Going by this result, the HP Pavilion did fairly better than its competitors.

For instance, it outperformed the Acer Aspire 5 A515 that offers a read speed of 1176 MB/s and a write speed of 992.5 MB/s. The HP Pavilion also outperformed the Lenovo Ideapad S540-15IML.

The Lenovo Ideapad S540-15IML achieved 1156 MB/s write speed and 1136 MB read speed.

In comparison with its competitors, the HP Pavilion 15z is outstanding. As you are aware, a storage device’s speed is determined by its read and write speeds. 

Aside from the adequate storage performance of this HP laptop, you also have decent storage options. Hence, the HP Pavilion 15z scores an eight in this storage option and performance section.

HP Pavilion 15z: Graphics Card Performance

The HP Pavilion 15z comes with an integrated AMD Radeon Graphics card. This graphics card operates at a maximum frequency of 1600 MHz.

An integrated graphics card shares the CPU’s memory when performing graphics tasks. As a result, an integrated graphics card cannot adequately handle demanding graphics tasks.

Meanwhile, dedicated graphics cards have a VRAM that assists with graphics tasks. In that light, laptops that are designed for high graphics tasks will mostly come with a dedicated graphics card.

Although the HP Pavilion 15z comes with an integrated graphics card, it still delivered an impressive gaming performance. I was able to confirm this when I ran some games on the laptop.

For instance, HP Pavilion 15z ran Resident Evil Village at 37 fps on low settings. Even the new modern game Hitman 3 played at 48 fps on low settings.

You might have noticed this too, the decent gaming performance can only be achieved on low game settings. This performance is expected since the laptop is not designed for gaming.

Away from the gaming performance, I ran a 3D mark test to further evaluate the graphics capability. The 3D Mark test evaluates a laptop’s graphics card performance in terms of gaming and visual effects.

On the test, the HP Pavilion 15z scored 3100 points. It scored higher than the average benchmark score of 2919.

In comparison, the HP Pavilion 15z outscored the Lenovo ThinkPad L15 that had 2135 points on the same test. However, the HP laptop was fairly below the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7’s 3196 points.

Overall, the AMD Radeon Graphics is suitable for average graphics tasks and light gaming. For that, I will rate the HP Pavilion 15z a eight in this GPU Performance Review.

HP Pavilion 15z: Battery Life & Performance

The  HP Pavilion 15z is powered by a 3-cell 45 Wh, Li-ion battery. Sadly, I could not get the specified battery life for the laptop from HP.

However, I put the battery through a real-life test to have a clue of how long the battery can last. Before I proceeded with the test, I ensured the battery was fully charged.

Furthermore, I set the laptop’s brightness to 50% while the volume was at the maximum level. Afterward, I continuously played videos on the laptop till the battery drained out.

On the test, the HP Pavilion 15z lasted for 6 hours, 30 minutes. In comparison, the ASUS VivoBook S533 lasted 2 hours more than the HP Pavilion 15z on the same test. 

I was not impressed with the HP Pavilion’s video playback runtime, so I moved on to the web browsing test. On this test, the HP Pavilion 15z lasted 7 hours 15 minutes. 

The HP Pavilion lasted an hour longer than the Lenovo ThinkPad L15 that lasted for 6 hours 48minutes.

In conclusion, the HP Pavilion 15z offers fair battery life for everyday computing tasks. For this, I will be rating the HP Pavilion 15z a six in this battery life and performance section.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

The budget-friendly HP Pavilion 15z has a premium feel that makes it appear and look more expensive than it is. However, the graphics performance and the battery performance of the laptop are a bit disappointing.

In spite of that, some other sections of my review have proved the performance of the HP Pavilion to be satisfying. Also, the HP Pavilion 15z has been able to stand out among its competitors in some cases.

In conclusion, If you need a mid-range laptop to efficiently manage productivity apps, the HP Pavilion 15z might just be the right plug.

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