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The 7 Best 15-inch Laptops from HP
Jolene Dobbin
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December 8, 2019
Laptops with 15.6-inch screens are the ideal size; they’re not too large and unwieldy, but they’re also not so small as to limit your productivity or entertainment options. They’re portable, weighing no more than about 5.5 lbs, yet often powerful enough to keep you working or playing for hours. We have a number of 15-inch laptops at HP with the ideal specifications to accomplish whatever job that you have. Here are 7 of the best.
1. HP Pavilion 15t gaming laptop
HP Pavilion gaming laptops are part of a trusted brand that features both mainstream and performance attributes that will let you shine at whatever you’re doing, whether that’s creating content, playing games, streaming video, or multi-tasking in the office. The HP Pavilion Gaming 15t is thin and lightweight at only 0.92 inches high and 4.92 lbs.
Yet it’s a powerful gaming laptop that’s equipped with a high-performance 9th Generation Intel® Core i5 9300H quad-core processor, 8GB of memory (RAM), and a 256GB PCIe solid-state drive (SSD) hard drive. It’s also a great budget laptop that’s priced at under $800.
Built on the most advanced gaming GPU
The HP Pavilion 15t has a 3GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050 graphics card that is a member of the high-performing GeForce GTX 10 series. This card is built on the NVIDIA Pascal™ architecture. Pascal helps increase speed and power efficiency to boost your multimedia experience with fast performance.
Fast battery charge and speedy connectivity
This laptop features a micro-edge bezel 15.6-inch diagonal Full-High Definition (FHD) display for 1080p gaming with a 60 Hz refresh rate. So you can be sure that you’re focused on and engaged in all the glorious details of your game…or content-creating experience. It also boasts a fast battery charge, letting you recharge your battery approximately 50% within only 45 minutes when your system is off. And WiFi supporting gigabit speeds ensure enhanced connectivity with speedy throughput.
A dual-fan system provides enhanced thermal cooling, and wide rear corner vents and air inlets maximize airflow to help keep the laptop cool when you’re using it for long periods of time. You'll also enjoy authentically tuned sound and a vibrant media experience thanks to front-firing dual speakers, audio by B&O, and HP Audio Boost - smart amplification technology enabling clear, dynamic sound.
2. HP Pavilion 15-inch gaming laptop
Another great 15-inch gaming laptop in the HP Pavilion family, and one of the best 15-inch laptops under $1,000, adds even more performance playing power to your arsenal. The HP Gaming Pavilion 15-dk0030nr laptop also features a 15.6-inch diagonal FHD IPS anti-glare display, 8GB RAM, and 256GB SSD hard drive. This laptop, however, packs a powerful punch with its high-performing central processing unit (CPU) and GPU. It features the latest 9th Generation hexa-core (that’s 6 full cores), 12-thread Intel Core i7 9750H with Intel Turbo Boost technology. When you need extra power and speed, Turbo Boost increases your processor's frequency dynamically. And when you need more time on-the-go, a long battery life of up to 6 hours and 15 minutes has you covered.
Advanced real-time graphics capabilities
The GPU in this laptop is a true performer as well. An NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics card built on Turing architecture, one of the most powerful and advanced GPU architectures created, carries out real-time ray tracing for advanced graphics capabilities plus programmable shading technologies. The graphics card also has 6GB of dedicated GDDR6 video RAM (vRAM) - the world’s fastest currently - and Max-Q design, which gives you the perfect amount of GPU performance from the thinnest-possible design. Max-Q equates into a quieter laptop: it helps the GPU produce less heat because it uses less power, and therefore requires fewer fan rotations.
3. HP Pavilion 15t touch laptop
This laptop from the HP Pavilion 15 laptop series is another ideal option in the 15-inch display range. The HP Pavilion Laptop 15t touch has a slim profile at only 0.7 inches and 4.27 lbs, so you can take it anywhere, yet it’s powerful enough to keep you productive when you need to be. It’s fueled by a quad-core 8th Generation i7 8565U with up to 4 GHz and 8MB cache and an Intel UHD Graphics 620 GPU (or up to NVIDIA GeForce MX250 with 4GB GDDR5 vRAM). This laptop also has 1TB of SATA storage and 8GB of DDR4-2400 RAM, linked by 16GB Intel Optane Memory. Optane speeds system responsiveness and performance without sacrificing HDD storage.
Keep working (or playing) more
Its 15.6-inch diagonal HD SVA BrightView display has a WLED backlit touch screen that lets you accomplish more, and faster, by multi-tasking and controlling your laptop directly from the screen. Stay connected and keep working with WiFi or Bluetooth support and a battery with a decidedly long life of up to 9 hours and 30 minutes and video playback of up to 7 hours and 30 minutes.
Look cool while doing so
Another perk is that it looks really cool. This slim and stylish powerhouse features a modern-looking design with a polished all-metal finish that’s available in several stunning colors including mineral silver, natural silver combined with ceramic white, velvet burgundy, fog blue, or warm gold. The full-size island-style elevated keyboard comes in natural silver, cloud blue, or luminous gold, and the HP Wide Vision HD Camera with dual array digital microphone comes in natural silver.
4. HP OMEN 15t laptop
HP OMEN laptops are among HP’s best laptop brands for gaming, and the HP OMEN 15t laptop is one of the best 15-inch gaming laptops available. It features a powerful hexa-core 8th Generation Intel Core i7 8750H with up to 4.1 GHz and 9MB of cache. The GPU that will be powering your games and applications is an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 with Max-Q design. This Pascal-architected graphics card offers 8GB of GDDR5 video RAM, a base speed of 1,506 MHz, and boosted speeds of 1,683 MHz. And it’s perfect for gaming at both FHD and Quad HD (QHD) resolutions.
More storage capacity and responsiveness
The HP OMEN 15t also has a generous amount of memory and storage with 16GB of RAM and 1TB SATA combined with 128GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD. This dual-storage configuration, which includes both a traditional hard drive and an SSD drive, gives you more storage capacity, quick boot-up times, and responsiveness. Single-panel access to the HDD, SSD, and RAM lets you upgrade or maintain your laptop easily and conveniently.
Test your gaming reflexes
The 15.6-inch diagonal FHD 144 Hz IPS display is anti-glare, micro-edged, and WLED-backlit so you can see every little detail in your game or work project. And the full-size zoned backlit keyboard with numeric keypad and illuminated WASD keys - in eye-catching dragon red legend - is specifically designed to enhance your gaming reflexes. Anti-ghosting with 26-key rollover means that every keystroke will be detected and precise.
Race car inspired cooling
The HP OMEN 15t laptop features enhanced thermal solutions. High-performance cooling is built-in and inspired by race cars with vents and grids located strategically on the bottom and sides, cooling down internal components with continuous airflow. This laptop is also built for your connectivity needs. It offers a plentiful amount of ports, including external ports (HDMI, Thunderbolt 3, USB, and Mini DisplayPort) to plug in accessories and external displays.
5. HP OMEN X 2S 15 laptop
The HP OMEN X 2S 15 laptop is the world’s first dual-screen gaming laptop and arguably the best 15-inch gaming laptop on the market today. This laptop has an integrated, revolutionary, and industry-first 6-inch 1080p resolution touch screen that’s mounted directly on the keyboard right under the primary screen. The second screen lets you display and interact with applications like Spotify, Discord, Twitch, and more, all without interrupting gameplay. This second screen also enables real-time screen mirroring so that you can duplicate parts of or magnify images from the laptop’s primary screen.
Built on powerful architectures
The HP OMEN X 2S has 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD storage, and a powerful hexa-core 9th Generation i7 9750H with 12MB cache, a 2.6 GHz base frequency and up to 4.5 GHz base frequency with Intel Turbo Boost Technology. It has a superior GPU, too: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 is built on the highly advanced Turing architecture, so it can run powerful, real-time artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to create lifelike images, shadows, and much more. The RTX 2070 offers a fast memory speed of 14 Gbps memory speed, along with 8GB of GDDR6 video RAM, enabling 60 frames per second (FPS) when playing games.
Enhanced graphics technology
Its 15.6-inch FHD screen has a 240 Hz refresh rate and is an IPS anti-glare micro-edge WLED-backlit display. And its 5.98-inch diagonal secondary screen is FHD IPS BrightView micro-edge WLED-backlit multitouch-enabled edge-to-edge glass. It also features NVIDIA G-Sync technology, which synchronizes display refresh rates to the GPU. G-Sync enhances gameplay by minimizing display stuttering, input lagging, and screen tearing during your game or when you’re watching videos so that objects appear crisp and more sharply focused.
Advanced cooling solutions
The HP OMEN X 2S also features an advanced thermal cooling solution with the all-new HP OMEN Tempest cooling technology. The laptop has four-sided venting for five-way airflow with three outlets on the side and two inlets on the bottom. It also enhances performance with Conductonaut liquid metal compound, which improves heat transfer to the heat sink and increases thermal conductivity up to 10x more than thermal grease.
6. HP Pavilion x360 15.6-inch laptop
If you’re looking for more functionality than a standard form factor laptop, consider the HP Pavilion x360 15t laptop. This convertible laptop features 360-degree-rotating hinges that are innovatively engineered, strong, and easily adjustable. They protect the display and keyboard via four convenient modes that include:
- Laptop - default mode, with an angled display and flat keyboard, ideal for traditional working/creating/playing/gaming experiences, anywhere, anytime
- Tablet - detached mode for display, which folds against the back of the keyboard, giving you the flexibility to enjoy touch screen functionality to create, draw, read, or take notes with (or without) a digital pen
- Stand - keyboard folds back as a stand for hands-free viewing (or binging), streaming, or collaborating on the full screen
- Tent - screen is flipped, rotated, and optimized for touch screen use, hiding the keyboard, and giving you more real estate for working or gaming
Durable hinges
The metal hinges are highly durable with a tested and long lifespan, so you can also change modes whenever you want and as many times as you need to. They’re also completely fine for outdoor usage since the hinges help protect against the elements and particulate damage.
More room on the display
This laptop’s 15.6-inch diagonal FHD IPS WLED-backlit multitouch-enabled, three-sided micro-edge display gives you more room to fill your screen with spreadsheets, files, photos, or videos. And you can control the laptop directly from the touch screen. At only 0.81 inches tall and 4.39 lbs, and a long battery life of up to 8 hours and 30 minutes, it will be a snap to take it with you on-the-go.
Storage aplenty
It features 8GB RAM and a 1TB SATA HDD for plenty of storage volume for all of your photo, video, game, or music libraries. It has a dual-core i3 8145U with a 2.1 GHz base frequency and up to 3.9 GHz with Intel Turbo Boost Technology and 4MB cache. And an Intel UHD Graphics 630 graphics card lets you easily create your own content or play your favorite triple-A (AAA) games. It’s also configurable up to a powerful quad-core Intel Core i7 8565U with an AMD Radeon™ 535 graphics card.
7. HP Spectre x360 laptop 15t
Another great choice among the convertibles, and one of the best 15-inch 2-in-1 laptops, is the HP Spectre x360 Laptop 15t touch. The HP Spectre x360 line of convertible laptops provide exceptional reliability, durability, portability, and performance. They’re not only crafted with functionally in mind; they’re also constructed beautifully with an angular, chiseled profile and iconic gem-cut design within a lightweight frame.
4K at your service
The HP Spectre x360 15t touch has 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD storage, and a powerful, yet efficient quad-core i7-8565U along with the Pascal-architected NVIDIA GeForce MX150 GPU with 2GB GDDR5 total dedicated memory. Its 15.6-inch diagonal 4K, or Ultra HD (UHD), IPS micro-edge WLED-backlit display features over 8 million pixels to let you see more of your games, digital files, photos, and videos.
Portable and security-focused
This laptop is portable, at only 4.81 lbs and 0.76 inches high, and has enough long-lasting battery power at up to 13 hours and 45 minutes to last you through your day - and longer. And it’s also designed for security, so you won’t need to worry about its safety while you’re out and about. It has a fingerprint reader, integrated FHD IR webcam, privacy camera kill switch, and an optional integrated privacy screen.
Add accessories
If you’re looking to add more to your new laptop, be sure to check out the latest and greatest accessories. Browse mice, headsets, keyboards, external displays, bags and cases, and more.
About the Author: Jolene Dobbin is a contributing writer for HP® Tech Takes. Jolene is an East Coast-based writer with experience creating strategic messaging, marketing, and sales content for companies in the high-tech industry.
