Hello guys.

I decided to create this thread to share my experiences with a New HP Pavilion Gaming 15 Laptop and the pros and cons (Spoiler alert: Most are Cons).

WARNING: By no means I'm hating on it, I love HP and I like the Pavilion but after using it for 6 months I found many things that HP could've done but didn't because of it being "The most budget gaming laptop"

First are the Laptop's spec that I bought:

• A Ryzen 5 5600H (6C/12T) Boost 4.2 GHz Single Core and 3.8 GHz Multi 6-Core

• RTX 3050 Laptop GPU with 60W TGP

• 8 GB RAM Dual Channel 2 x 4 GB

• 256 Gb NVMe SSD and 1 Tb HDD 7200 RPM

• A 60 Hz Display

Now the Pros:

1. The laptop has a good battery-life considering it's only a 52.5 Wh, I clocked 4:30 hours with basic workload (YTP playback, Wifi, some installation)

2. The RTX 3050, while only 60W did compare to the 75W one in terms of FPS so if you see a low priced 60W RTX 3050 Laptop, just go for it (Just make sure it has DB 2.0 !!!!)

Now the Cons:

1. In Morocco, this laptop was at 1150 USD. I bought it at that price and only because this is what I found within the budget (1200 USD) [As basically even the other budget gaming brands are expensive] yet with the performance, it's a loss for me.

2. The Laptop ships with 8 GB RAM Dual Channel, meaning I have to spend more money to upgrade the RAM to 16 GB, meaning the true cost is more of 1250 USD.

3. Now the real set of problem starts: The GPU ! I know HP targetted extreme budget friendly in their Pavilion brand...but seriously ???? No Dynamic Boost 2.0 ?? Meaning my RTX 3050 can't go to 75W and only stays at 60W. knowing that CPU is not usually being used, that extra performance is worth it. I only found that the laptop doesn't have DB 2.0 AFTER I bought it, reviewers on YTP didn't specify this and other brands with Budget friendly laptops have DB 2.0 (I can forgive not having the MUX Switch as that's in more premium laptops.... but NOT not having Dynamic Boost 2.0)

4. Thermals ! I did buy the laptop new, I also found that people had problems with the 2020 year model with the GTX 1650 ! but those were are said to be resolved. The laptop has only one heat sink shared between CPU and GPU with one one exhaust from the rear in the middle were the Dual Fans are located. The fans were tested using the "Speedfan" software and I found that the fan speed when in stress test (Meaning 100%) is 3550~ RPM. For comparaison, My current Lenovo Legion 5 hits 4500 RPM at 100% speed; I saw in reviews that Premium ASUS Laptops (Zephyrus or Strix) also hits 4500 RPM at 100%.

I should note that HP Pavilion Gaming did throttle ALOT! (Cyberpunk 2077 tested and CPU Temp is 96-97°C !! // During Installation the CPU Temp reaches 99-100°C ! which drops the clocks and TDP!) Sure Local temperature here is 31°C but I use a Dual fan cooling pad and the laptop is cleaned from dust, I suspect the Thermal Paste but the laptop is bought new, I wonder if HP decide to use cheap thermal paste because it's bad if they did !

5) The lack of customization in the OMEN Gaming Hub. In the Victus and Omen, you can choose performance modes in the inbuilt software, something the Pavilion DOES NOT have ! At least let us choose Performance Modes...not that it will make a difference with Point 4 as CPU TDP never exceeds 45W (Even with AIDA64 Stress Test) and 60W TGP Limit of the RTX 3050 ! (For comparaison: In my Legion 5 with a Ryzen 7 5800H, the CPU reaches 78W under stress test with a relatively safe 90-91°C temp)

6) My laptop was advertised with 144Hz display, turns out I bought the 60Hz one, the store didn't have the "Try before you buy" and no replacements so ALWAYS TRY BEFORE YOU BUY !! If a store doesn't offer this option ! even the offer is tempting, DON'T !

7) Finally, the lack of BIOS Customization, the only thing I found interesting is "Laptop Fan Always ON: OFF/ON", the others are features that soooo minimal and should be in the Desktop, not BIOS like Backlit Keyboard light time and Battery saving feature.