HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15.6" Core i5-8300H 15.6-inch

HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15.6" Core i5-8300H 15.6-inch

HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15.6" Core i5-8300H 15.6-inch

The Good The HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop has a respectable mix of components for solid performance for both everyday tasks and gaming. The design is nicer than most other mainstream gaming laptops.

The Bad HP's configuration options are limited compared to its competitors and other features are behind the curve, too. No gaming-oriented extra features, beyond its green glowing keyboard.

The Bottom Line The HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop is as straightforward as its name. You'll find solid gaming performance and just enough of an edge to keep things interesting.

The Pavilion Gaming Laptop isn't as aggressive or cutting-edge as HP's Omen gaming line, though that's sort of the point. The PC maker promotes it as a solid, reliable laptop for gaming and everyday tasks and it definitely lives up to that.


You won't find the latest Nvidia RTX graphics chips inside, and it doesn't have gaming extras such as RGB LED keyboard lighting or GPU overclocking. What you do get is snappy multitasking and gaming performance and a design that stands out from the run-of-the-mill. It's a 15.6-inch, budget-minded laptop that's not too flashy.

Price as reviewed	$999
Display size/resolution	15.6-inch, 1,920x1,080-pixel display
CPU	2.2GHz Intel Core i7-8750H
Memory	16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,666MHz
Graphics	4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
Storage	1TB HDD, 128GB SSD
Networking	802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth 4.2
Operating system	Window 10 Home (64-bit)

View full gallerySarah Tew/CNET
That green gaming glow

Like Dell's G series gaming laptops, this Pavilion is relatively thin and light for a budget-minded gaming laptop and is more angular than the rest of the Pavilion line, especially at the rear where the fan vents jut out beyond the lid's bottom. Beyond that, there's a subtle green tint to the HP logo on top and the acid green backlit keyboard to help give it a "gaming laptop" look.

If you don't like green, it comes in white and violet versions, too. The former would be a nice option if you need your gaming laptop to be less conspicuous in an office environment. The green does look nice, though, and it's a nice change from all the red typically used on entry-level gaming laptops. The keys remain easy to read with the backlight off. Even the font choice is interesting.

The keyboard is comfortable to use as well, with enough travel to keep a hard touch typist like me from feeling tired after all-day use. Aside from the WASD keys being outlined, there are no other gaming features to the keyboard and no software to set up macros or anything like that. The touchpad is acceptable for everyday use, if unremarkable. It doesn't have discrete buttons, which I personally like to have for games where a mouse isn't entirely necessary.

View full gallerySarah Tew/CNET
Something's gotta give

On sub- gaming laptops, it's not uncommon for the display quality to suffer for the lower price. The full-HD 60Hz panel on this configuration is no different. It's by no means bad, with good off-angle viewing and contrast, but it's not terribly bright and the color gamut and accuracy isn't ideal for content creation. HP does, however, offer a 144Hz panel for better gaming performance or a 4K-resolution display aimed at content creators.

If you're planning to keep this on a desk most of the time, the Pavilion has a satisfactory port selection for your peripherals. On the right is power, USB 3.1 Type-C Gen 1 and USB 3.1 Type-A Gen 1 -- both for data only -- HDMI 1.4 out, Ethernet and a combo headphone/mic jack. Two more USB 3.1 Type-A Gen 1 ports are on the left with an SD card slot. Those are all just a notch below what you'd find on something like the Dell G5, which has a Thunderbolt 3 USB-C port, HDMI 2.0 out and Gigabit Ethernet.

Lastly, while HP talks up the B&O-tuned speakers on this system, they're nothing to get too excited about. You'll want external speakers or a good headset for movies, music and gaming.
View full gallerySarah Tew/CNET
Gaming high and low

The Pavilion was able to hold its own against similarly priced and configured gaming laptops. Older games such as Deus Ex: Mankind Divided were playable on high settings with the 1050 Ti, but needed a drop to medium to make them enjoyable. For the newer Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Far Cry 5 I set them to medium/normal to keep gameplay smooth throughout. Sessions of Fortnite were definitely playable, though, as was Overwatch, all at its native 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution with high detail settings.


The dual fans try their best to keep the Pavilion cool. You can definitely hear them working, that's for sure. Just keep it off your lap and on a hard surface when you're stressing the system.

Battery life is also on par with the competition, coming in at just over 5 hours. And that's on our streaming video test, so don't expect that for gaming. Basically, if you're going out for the day, you'll probably want to bring the power supply and you'll certainly want it if you're gaming.

HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 2018
17 PHOTOS
Well-rounded at a reasonable price

As its name somewhat implies, the HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop is a straightforward, no-nonsense laptop for PC gaming and whatever else you need to get done. Other gaming laptops in this range can feel cheap and plasticky, but that's not the case here and its subtle gamer design is more appealing for everyday use. Gaming performance is strong, too, for what you're paying.

Geekbench 4 (multicore)

HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop

20941

Dell G5 15 (5587)

17246

Razer Blade 15

17175

Acer Nitro 5

14220

Lenovo Legion Y530

14171

Asus TUF Gaming FX504GD

11548

NOTE:

 Longer bars indicate better performance

Cinebench R15 CPU (multicore)

HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop

1077

Dell G5 15 (5587)

1043

Razer Blade 15

865

Acer Nitro 5

851

Lenovo Legion Y530

815

Asus TUF Gaming FX504GD

599

NOTE:

 Longer bars indicate better performance

Video playback battery drain test (streaming)

Lenovo Legion Y530

437

Dell G5 15 (5587)

359

Razer Blade 15

345

Acer Nitro 5

333

HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop

308

Asus TUF Gaming FX504GD

300

NOTE:

 Longer bars indicate better performance (in minutes)

3DMark Fire Strike Ultra

Razer Blade 15

3362

Acer Nitro 5

1873

Dell G5 15 (5587)

1851

Lenovo Legion Y530

1825

HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop

1710

Asus TUF Gaming FX504GD

758

NOTE:

 Longer bars indicate better performance

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided gaming test

Razer Blade 15

74.7

Acer Nitro 5

37.7

Dell G5 15 (5587)

37.5

HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop

31.9

Asus TUF Gaming FX504GD

31.2

Lenovo Legion Y530

28.4

NOTE:

 Longer bars indicate better performance (frames per second)

HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15.6" Core i5-8300H 15.6-inch

System configurations

HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.2HGz Intel Core i7-8750H; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,666MHz; 4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Ti; 1TB HDD + 128GB SSD
Dell G5 15 (5587)	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.2HGz Intel Core i7-8750H; 8GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,666MHz; 4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Ti; 1TB HDD + 128GB SSD
Lenovo Legion Y530	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-8300H; 8GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,666MHz; 4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Ti; 1TB HDD + 128GB SSD
Acer Nitro 5	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-8300H; 8GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,660MHz; 4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Ti Graphics; 256GB SSD
Asus TUF Gaming FX504GD	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-8300H; 8GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,660MHz; 4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Graphics; 1TB HDD
Razer Blade 15	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.2HGz Intel Core i7-8750H; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,666MHz; 6GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 2060 with Max-Q Design; 512GB SSD

What’s in the package?

In the package, you will find a 135W power adapter, if your configuration boasts a GTX 1050, 150W for 1050 Ti or 200W for the models with GTX 1060 Max-Q.




Design and construction

As we’ve already mentioned, HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2018 looks completely different compared to its predecessor and this is definitely good news in our case. So far, the Pavilion Gaming notebooks looked more like repainted elegant machines, whereas the new model employs a more aggressive appearance with sharp edges and motifs typical of the gaming segment.






HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2018 (on the left) | HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2017 (on the right)

The most appealing novelty in the Pavilion Gaming design is the removal of the thick bezels around the screen or replacing them with thinner ones to be more precise – just like Lenovo Legion Y530 and ASUS ROG GL504. This is an amazing trend we have been looking forward to in the past few years. Here’s how it affects the size of the notebook:

	Width	Length	Height	Weight
HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2018	365 (-3%)	257	25.4 mm	2.30 kg
HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2017	378	252 (-2%)	24.0 mm (-6%)	2.21 kg (-4%)

The thinner bezels make the laptop thinner, although its predecessor outperforms it in all other aspects. Let’s not forget, however, that Pavilion Gaming 15 2018 is far more powerful so the minimal increase in length and thickness is more than justified.

Although the main order of the day for the chassis is plastic, the main panel around the keyboard is metal which enhances the stability of the body when using the computer.

The keyboard features big and comfortable keys – our only complaint is about the arrows and more precisely the Up and Down ones located right next to each other, whereas their total area is equal to the standard one for the other buttons. There is a NumPad that is also comfortable to use. Additionally, the trackpad is quite wide (11.5 cm), making it very convenient to handle and use gestures.

The notebook lid doesn’t attract fingerprints but such easily appear on the Palm rest area so you will have to clean it from time to time, if you insist on cleanness.

   

Ports

HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2018 is equipped with two USB 3.1 ports, Kensington NanoSaver lock slot, and memory card reader – on the left, plus mic/headphone jack, Ethernet LAN, HDMI 1.4, USB 3.1 Type-A (Sleep & Charge) and USB 3.1 Type-C with DisplayPort 1.2 and support for Sleep & Charge on the right side.

Display quality

HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2018 has a Full HD panel with a model number AUO B156HAN08.2 (AUO82ED). Its diagonal is 15.6-inch (39.62 cm), and the resolution – 1920 х 1080 p. Also, the screen ratio is 16:9, its pixel density – 142 ppi, and pixel pitch – 0.18 х 0.18 mm. The screen turns into Retina when viewed at distance equal to or greater than 24″ (from this distance one’s eye stops differentiating the separate pixels, and it is normal for looking at a laptop).

The measured maximum brightness of 338 nits in the middle of the screen and 330 nits as an average for the whole area, with a maximum deviation of 5%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen is 7690 K – very close to the optimal for the sRGB standard of 6500K. The average color temperature through the grey scale before profiling is 7540K.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from uniformity perspective. In other words the leakage of light from the light source.

The illustration below shows how matters are for operational brightness levels (approximately 140 nits) – in this particular case at 73% Brightness (White level = 141 cd/m2, Black level = 0.11 cd/m2).

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction of the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people in HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

The yellow dotted line shows Pavilion Gaming 15 2018’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers 96% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976 – a prerequisite for a saturated and attractive image.

Battery

Pavilion Gaming 15 2018 is available in configurations with two different batteries in terms of capacity – 52.5Wh and 70Wh. The model we have is equipped with the larger one.

Now, we conduct the battery tests with Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with.
CPU

Currently, HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2018 can be purchased with Core i5-8300H or Core i7-8750H, and this time we recommend choosing the more budget processor as its performance is enough for you to run all titles we can expect in the next few years, and before 8300H turns into a “bottleneck”, one such will turn out to be the GPU in the configuration. Also, you cannot use an external GPU due to the lack of Thunderbolt port.

Since we’re testing a sample, the results of the retail units may be different.
HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2018 (15-cx0000) CPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the CPUs that can be found in the HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2018 (15-cx0000) models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2018 (15-cx0000) model is the best bang for your buck.



Note: The chart shows the cheapest different CPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / CPU.
GPU

While its predecessor was only available with GeForce GTX 1050, GTX 1050 Ti and Radeon RX 550, HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2018 steps up its game and adds the significantly more powerful GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q in addition to the two NVIDIA GPUs.

An AMD solution is also available – Radeon RX 560.

Since we’re testing a sample, the results of the retail units may be different.
HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2018 (15-cx0000) GPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the GPUs that can be found in the HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2018 (15-cx0000) models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2018 (15-cx0000) model is the best bang for your buck.



Note: The chart shows the cheapest different GPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / GPU.
Gaming tests

The most powerful GPU you can purchase HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2018 with is GTX 1060 Max-Q. Here is how it stacks up against the other GeForce solutions:

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5)	Full HD, High	Full HD, Very High	Full HD, MAX
GeForce GTX 1050 (~)	62 fps	38 fps	–
GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (~)	81 fps	42 fps	–
GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q	90 fps	51 fps	25 fps

Far Cry Primal	Full HD, High	Full HD, Very High	Full HD, MAX
GeForce GTX 1050 (~)	44 fps	35 fps	–
GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (~)	54 fps	44 fps	–
GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q	67 fps	56 fps	51 fps

Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016)	Full HD, Medium	Full HD, Very High	Full HD, MAX
GeForce GTX 1050 (~)	52 fps	24 fps	–
GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (~)	64 fps	32 fps	–
GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q	80 fps	39 fps	25 fps

Temperatures and comfort

We have a new way of torturing laptops, and for gaming machines, it comprises of 100% CPU load plus real gameplay test (Rise of the Tomb Raider).
Max CPU load

In this test we employ 100% load on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.

Average core temperature (base frequency + X); CPU temp.

Core i7-8750H	0:02 – 0:10 sec	0:15 – 0:30 sec	10:00 – 15:00 min
HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2018	2.90 GHz (B+32%) @ 77°C	2.83 GHz (B+29%) @ 84°C	2.62 GHz (B+19%) @ 86°C
Lenovo Legion Y530	3.24 GHz (B+47%) @ 94°C	3.20 GHz (B+45%) @ 94°C	2.97 GHz (B+35%) @ 94°C
Dell G5 15 5587	2.89 GHz (B+31%) @ 72°C	2.71 GHz (B+23%) @ 78°C	2.52 GHz (B+15%) @ 74°C
ASUS ROG GL504	2.59 GHz (B+18%) @ 71°C	2.64 GHz (B+20%) @ 82°C	2.46 GHz (B+12%) @ 74°C

HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2018 establishes a good balance between relatively high frequencies and safe temperature. During an extended load, the latter reaches 86°C which is not a low value, however, the frequency is almost 20% above the base one.
Real gameplay

The test here is longer. The GPU is engaged at its max performance, trying to process as many frames per second as possible.

GTX 1060 Max-Q	GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 2 min)	GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min)
HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2018	1483 MHz @ 80°C	1478 MHz @ 86°C
Dell G5 15 5587	1486 MHz @ 72°C	1484 MHz @ 79°C
HP Omen 15 2017	1367 MHz @ 73°C	1362 MHz @ 76°C

HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2018 performs significantly better compared to the last year’s Omen 15 model when it comes to frequency but at the same time maintains a higher GPU temperature.
Verdict

As we revealed in the title, HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2018 turned out to be a far stronger contender in the battle between the best gaming mid-range laptops along with ASUS ROG GL504 and Lenovo Legion Y530.

In terms of design, Pavilion Gaming 15 2018 shows supremacy over almost all gaming notebooks mainly due to its super thin bezels. We can also say positive things about the aggressive design, as well as the rigidity of the construction.

However, many gamers don’t put aesthetics first and this is perfectly understandable. However, here comes the moment to mark the second serious step forward – the high-quality 144 Hz IPS screen. In addition, thanks to our Design and Gaming profile, the ColorChecker color deviation is only dE = 1.7, and the color gamut covers almost all colors in the sRGB range. What’s more, the brightness and contrast are very high, and PWM is not used, which will be good news for those who intend on playing games all night long (however, we recommend using our Health-Guard profile in these cases).

The only major drawback remains short battery life, although there are not many users that are going to use Pavilion Gaming 15 away from a plug.

Pros
Aggressive design with super thin bezels
Stable construction with an aluminum panel
144 Hz screen with high brightness, contrast and gamut coverage (AUO82ED)
The display doesn’t harm your eyes – it doesn’t use PWM (AUO82ED)
Powerful and clear audio system

Cons
Short battery life
Lack of Thunderbolt port

HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15.6" Core i5-8300H 15.6-inch

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