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HP 15z-ba000 Notebook Review

Tangled up in blue. The HP Notebook 15z is a run-of-the-mill, 15.6-inch notebook designed to fulfill basic needs. While it fails to stand out from the crowd, it offers "just enough" performance for everyday tasks and has no real significant shortcomings aside from a fairly high price.

The HP 15z is a notebook designed to appeal to potential buyers with its colorful design at a fairly affordable starting price. At the time of writing, HP offers the AMD-based notebooks at a starting price of $260 with quad-core E2 APU, Radeon R2 graphics, 4 GB of RAM, and a 500 GB platter-based hard drive. Our configuration with Quad-Core A6-7310 APU, AMD Radeon™ R4 Graphics, 8 GB RAM and SSD sells for about $420. Touch is also available for just $20 more - a quite affordable option, we think. Speaking of options: unlike Acer with their E5 and a plethora of different versions available both on the web site and through various outlets, HP just offers one base model on their website which can be configured at the time of purchase. Competitors are aplenty and range from various versions of the Acer Aspire E5 - we reviewed the E5-574-53YZ and the Aspire E5-575G with dedicated graphics just recently - to the Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NEAsus F555LJ, and models like HP's own 250 G4

HP 15z-ba000 (15z Series)
Processor
AMD A6-7310 4 x 2 - 2.4 GHz, Carrizo-L
Graphics adapter
AMD Radeon R4 (Beema), Core: 800 MHz, Memory: 800 MHz, 15.301.2301.1002
Memory
8 GB 
, DDR3L-1600
Display
15.60 inch 16:10, 1366 x 768 pixel 100 PPI, no, BOE06A4, TN, glossy: yes
Mainboard
AMD K16.3 IMC
Storage
Soundcard
ATI/AMD Kaveri - High Definition Audio Controller
Connections
2 USB 2.0, 1 USB 3.0 / 3.1 Gen1, 1 HDMI, 1 Kensington Lock, Audio Connections: 3.5 mm audio combo-jack, Card Reader: SD multi-format, Brightness Sensor
Networking
Realtek RTL8101 (10/100MBit/s), Realtek RTL8723BE Wireless LAN 802.11n PCI-E NIC (b/g/n = Wi-Fi 4/), Bluetooth 4.0
Optical drive
HP DVDRW GUD1N
Size
height x width x depth (in mm): 24.1 x 384 x 254.5 ( = 0.95 x 15.12 x 10.02 in)
Battery
31 Wh, 2831 mAh Lithium-Ion
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 Bit
Camera
Webcam: HD
Additional features
Speakers: stereo, Keyboard: Chiclet, 12 Months Warranty
Weight
2.048 kg ( = 72.24 oz / 4.52 pounds), Power Supply: 252 g ( = 8.89 oz / 0.56 pounds)
Price
520 USD
Note: The manufacturer may use components from different suppliers including display panels, drives or memory sticks with similar specifications.

 

Case

Moderate opening angle and weakish display hinges.
Moderate opening angle and weakish display hinges.

At a first glance, the notebook looks quite stylish with its grooved display lid and nicely rounded corners. Closer inspection reveals an all-plastic design, which of course is what's to be expected in this segment of the market. The standard color is what HP calls "turbo silver", with "white silver ", "cardinal red", "dreamy teal" and "noble blue" - our version - available as $10 upgrades. In each case, the notebook consists of a roughly textured black bottom shell, a black bezel, and a colored (smooth) keyboard tray and display back. The build quality is decent enough, although the materials tend to feel somewhat cheap to the touch and not all the edges are completely flush. The base unit resists twisting fairly well with only faint creaking sounds, but the lid is torsionally much less rigid. Pressure on the back of the display results in immediate discoloration and wobbles on the panel. Despite the fact that the lid features a corrugated design, finger prints are quite visible, which came as a bit of a surprise.

The hinges are fairly stiff but fail to prevent display wobbles. While this is not a problem for our review unit, it might be more of a nuisance if the 15z was to be configured with a touchscreen.

Most budget 15.6-inch multimedia and office notebooks measure around 15 x 10 x 1 inches - and the HP 15z is no exception. For a comparison of the footprint, please take a look at the graphic below. Weighing in at about 2050 grams (4.5 lbs) - definitely on the lighter side - the notebook is easy to carry as well. The rounded corners help quite a bit during transport, as it's easy to slide the notebook into a bag, so the 15z is less cumbersome to haul around than some of its competitors.

382 mm / 15 inch 256 mm / 10.1 inch 29.2 mm / 1.15 inch 2.2 kg4.94 lbs384.3 mm / 15.1 inch 254.6 mm / 10 inch 24.3 mm / 0.957 inch 2.1 kg4.63 lbs384 mm / 15.1 inch 254.5 mm / 10 inch 24.1 mm / 0.949 inch 2 kg4.52 lbs380 mm / 15 inch 259.9 mm / 10.2 inch 23.5 mm / 0.925 inch 2.2 kg4.81 lbs379 mm / 14.9 inch 260 mm / 10.2 inch 22.9 mm / 0.902 inch 2.2 kg4.85 lbs297 mm / 11.7 inch 210 mm / 8.27 inch 1 mm / 0.03937 inch 5.7 g0.01257 lbs

Connectivity

As far as the physical ports are concerned, the notebook offers the bare minimum. The HP 15z-ba000 only has one USB 3.0 port, so copying data lets say from a thumb drive to an external hard drive can take its time. All the ports are unfortunately located on the left and right sides in front of the mid-line, so contention with plugged in peripherals might be an issue - particularly for left handers when an HDMI cable is connected. 

Front: no connectivity
Front: no connectivity
Rear: no connectivity
Rear: no connectivity
Left side: power, RJ-45, HDMI, USB 3.0, USB 2.0
Left side: power, RJ-45, HDMI, USB 3.0, USB 2.0
Right side: SD card reader, USB 2.0, DVD-RW, Kensington lock slot
Right side: SD card reader, USB 2.0, DVD-RW, Kensington lock slot

SD Card Reader

With transfer speeds of 25.1 MB/s during the 1 GB transfer test, the card reader likely only runs at USB 2.0 speeds. Most direct competitors aren't any faster, so we deem this performance to be acceptable. For our tests, we use a Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II reference card.

SD Card Reader
average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs)
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
 
57.8 MB/s +130%
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
 
26.6 MB/s +6%
HP 15z-ba000
 
25.1 MB/s
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
 
19.8 MB/s -21%
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
 
16.5 MB/s -34%
maximum AS SSD Seq Read Test (1GB)
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
 
89.2 MB/s +163%
HP 15z-ba000
 
33.9 MB/s
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
 
28.07 MB/s -17%
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
 
26 MB/s -23%
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
 
25.6 MB/s -24%

Communication

In addition to a cable-bound Ethernet connection courtesy of a Realtek RTL8101 (only 10/100MBit, not Gigabit) chip, the notebook also ships with a 1x1 Realtek RTL8723BE Wireless LAN 802.11n PCI-E NIC (b/g/n) module with Bluetooth 4.0 on board. Note: the base configuration on HP's site includes a b/g/n module without Bluetooth; our module costs an extra $20. According to our jperf tests, real-world transfer speeds - the module supports only 2.4 GHz - top out at about 49 mbps when at a distance of one meter from the Linksys EA8500 802.11ac test router.

jperf client
jperf client
jperf server
jperf server
Networking
iperf Server (receive) TCP 1 m
Apple MacBook 12 (Early 2016) 1.1 GHz
Broadcom 802.11ac
570 MBit/s +1178%
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 Wireless Network Adapter
276 MBit/s +519%
HP 15z-ba000
Realtek RTL8723BE Wireless LAN 802.11n PCI-E NIC
44.6 MBit/s
iperf Client (transmit) TCP 1 m
Apple MacBook 12 (Early 2016) 1.1 GHz
Broadcom 802.11ac
397 MBit/s +697%
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 Wireless Network Adapter
334 MBit/s +571%
HP 15z-ba000
Realtek RTL8723BE Wireless LAN 802.11n PCI-E NIC
49.8 MBit/s

Accessories

Aside from the notebook, the power adapter, and a quick-start guide, the shipping carton is empty. HP doesn't have any dedicated accessories, but offers various generic accessories - from carrying cases and external hard drives to LoJack theft protection - on their website.

Maintenance

The chassis consists of a bottom shell into which the keyboard tray is inserted. The removal proves to be somewhat difficult: in our case, we removed the screws, but eventually stopped trying to remove the shell because it appeared likely that we would damage the little tabs connecting it and the keyboard tray in the process. Our review unit came equipped with 8 GB of RAM and an SSD, so upgrades likely wouldn't be needed in the near future anyway.

Warranty

HP covers the 15z for a period of 12 months against manufacturer's defect. Additional coverage - at least when added at the time of ordering - is fairly inexpensive: HP's 3 year Pickup and Return Support w/Accidental Damage Protection only costs $72, which seems well worth it.

Input Devices

Keyboard

The chiclet keyboard features a dedicated number pad, but lacks a backlight. The slightly textured keys are decently sized and completely flat with ample spacing. Travel is average for this style of keyboard and the key depression is crisp enough, although we'd prefer slightly more feedback. Nonetheless, we were able to type at a decent clip with very few errors. The top of the base unit flexes a little while typing, but not unduly so. Just like the Acer E5-574-53YZ, the up and down arrows are combined into a single key, which might be a problem for users who navigate primarily with the cursor keys. 

Touchpad

The top of the base unit is one continuous piece of material. The touchpad is integrated, although it doesn't sit flush with the rest of the deck, but in a slight depression of sorts, which makes it easy to find the edges when gliding the finger across the surface. Special adjustment software isn't offered, so the user has to contend with the Windows mouse & touchpad settings. While the touchpad worked well overall, at times we found it difficult to navigate with a high degree of precision. Because of the single-surface design - which makes a clickpad not feasible - there are two dedicated left and right mouse buttons, which are primarily supported in the middle, so the tilt to the left and to the right when not hit dead center. 

Overall a very decent keyboard
Overall a very decent keyboard
The touchpad is less cooperative at times
The touchpad is less cooperative at times
The up and down arrows take up the space of a single key
The up and down arrows take up the space of a single key

Display

Subpixel array
Subpixel array

The glossy 15.6-inch TN display in the HP 15z offers almost class-leading performance. Granted, that doesn't say that much - but with an average brightness of 232 nits, the notebook beats out the other notebooks mentioned in our comparison, save for the Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE, which is similarly bright. The resolution is very low at 1366 x 768 and, with the resulting pixel density of about 100 PPI, text is not as sharp as we would hope for. The Acer E5-574-53YZ has an advantage here with a much higher resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The contrast ratio is quite decent at 635:1, but the brightness distribution is very low at only 80 %. Still, during normal operation, the dimmer right bottom quadrant wasn't really noticeable.

Backlight bleeding around the edges is not an issue.

247.5
cd/m²
243.6
cd/m²
237.6
cd/m²
242.1
cd/m²
244.5
cd/m²
226.2
cd/m²
216
cd/m²
232.9
cd/m²
197.8
cd/m²
Distribution of brightness
BOE06A4 tested with X-Rite i1Pro 2
Maximum: 247.5 cd/m² (Nits) Average: 232 cd/m² Minimum: 14.4 cd/m²
Brightness Distribution: 80 %
Center on Battery: 244.5 cd/m²
Contrast: 635:1 (Black: 0.385 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 8.62 | 0.5-29.43 Ø5
ΔE Greyscale 9.8 | 0.57-98 Ø5.3
57.71% sRGB (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
39.86% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
39.86% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
57.7% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
38.58% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.09
HP 15z-ba000
BOE06A4, TN, 15.60, 1366x768
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
AU Optronics AUO38ED / AUO B156HTN03.8, TN, 15.60, 1920x1080
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
ChiMei, TN LED, 15.60, 1366x768
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
LG Philips LP156WHU-TPG1, TN LED, 15.60, 1366x768
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
156AT37-T01 (SDC4141), TN, 15.60, 1366x768
Display
-4%
13%
-4%
-5%
Display P3 Coverage
38.58
37.21
-4%
43.63
13%
37.06
-4%
36.7
-5%
sRGB Coverage
57.7
56
-3%
65.1
13%
55.8
-3%
55.3
-4%
AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage
39.86
38.44
-4%
45.1
13%
38.29
-4%
37.92
-5%
Response Times
11%
21%
-8%
7%
Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% *
41.2 ?(18.4, 22.8)
42.4 ?(21.2, 21.2)
-3%
42 ?(22, 20)
-2%
27 ?(7, 20)
34%
22 ?(12, 10)
47%
Response Time Black / White *
33.6 ?(14.8, 18.8)
25.6 ?(8.4, 17.2)
24%
24 ?(8, 16)
29%
22 ?(11, 11)
35%
20 ?(8, 12)
40%
PWM Frequency
595 ?(99)
806 ?(90)
35%
50 ?(80)
-92%
200 ?(90)
-66%
Screen
-14%
-6%
-3%
-21%
Brightness middle
244.5
213.4
-13%
220
-10%
200
-18%
251
3%
Brightness
232
209
-10%
203
-12%
198
-15%
236
2%
Brightness Distribution
80
86
8%
83
4%
83
4%
85
6%
Black Level *
0.385
0.351
9%
0.49
-27%
0.28
27%
0.44
-14%
Contrast
635
608
-4%
449
-29%
714
12%
570
-10%
Colorchecker dE 2000 *
8.62
13.35
-55%
8.95
-4%
10.63
-23%
14.58
-69%
Colorchecker dE 2000 max. *
17.38
21.79
-25%
15.89
9%
15.69
10%
24.59
-41%
Greyscale dE 2000 *
9.8
13.59
-39%
10.59
-8%
11.19
-14%
16.8
-71%
Gamma
2.09 105%
2.7 81%
2.51 88%
1.78 124%
2.33 94%
CCT
11391 57%
18870 34%
12049 54%
11258 58%
27039 24%
Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998)
39.86
38.44
-4%
41
3%
35
-12%
35
-12%
Color Space (Percent of sRGB)
57.71
56.01
-3%
65
13%
56
-3%
56
-3%
Total Average (Program / Settings)
-2% / -8%
9% / 3%
-5% / -4%
-6% / -13%

* ... smaller is better

As far as coverage of the color spaces is concerned, the HP 15z is no standout: its TN panel offers sRGB coverage of under 58 %; AdobeRGB is covered to less than 40 %. Semi-professional photo and video editors of course need to look elsewhere, but the display actually performs on par with its peers here.

sRGB vs. HP 15z
sRGB vs. HP 15z
AdobeRGB vs. HP 15z
AdobeRGB vs. HP 15z
HP 15z vs. Aspire E5
HP 15z vs. Aspire E5

Our measurements with the X-Rite spectrophotometer show better-than-average color and grayscale performance for the class with DeltaE-deviations of below 10 for both. Calibration reduced the DeltaE-deviations to about 3.3 and 1.4, which is a good result. At 100 % saturation, blue and purple are the only offenders with higher deviations, but the display now appears to be free of any color casts. 

ColorChecker, pre-calibration
ColorChecker, pre-calibration
Grayscale, pre-calibration
Grayscale, pre-calibration
Saturation, pre-calibration
Saturation, pre-calibration
ColorChecker, post calibration
ColorChecker, post calibration
Grayscale, post calibration
Grayscale, post calibration
Saturation, post calibration
Saturation, post calibration

Despite the decent enough brightness, outdoor use is not one of the notebook's strengths, as the panel is glossy and prone to reflections. We had no major issues working in the shade, although we frequently found ourselves adjusting the display angle to avoid reflections - but that is necessary indoors as well in brighter environments. Under a cloudy sky, eye strain is unavoidable in the long run and direct sunlight is out of the question. The screenshot on the right shows the display panel under an overcast sky. 

Display Response Times

Display response times show how fast the screen is able to change from one color to the next. Slow response times can lead to afterimages and can cause moving objects to appear blurry (ghosting). Gamers of fast-paced 3D titles should pay special attention to fast response times.
       Response Time Black to White
33.6 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined↗ 14.8 ms rise
↘ 18.8 ms fall
The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers.
In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 89 % of all devices are better.
This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (21.6 ms).
       Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey
41.2 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined↗ 18.4 ms rise
↘ 22.8 ms fall
The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers.
In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.2 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 61 % of all devices are better.
This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (33.9 ms).

Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)

To dim the screen, some notebooks will simply cycle the backlight on and off in rapid succession - a method called Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) . This cycling frequency should ideally be undetectable to the human eye. If said frequency is too low, users with sensitive eyes may experience strain or headaches or even notice the flickering altogether.
Screen flickering / PWM detected 595 Hz ≤ 99 % brightness setting

The display backlight flickers at 595 Hz (worst case, e.g., utilizing PWM) Flickering detected at a brightness setting of 99 % and below. There should be no flickering or PWM above this brightness setting.

The frequency of 595 Hz is quite high, so most users sensitive to PWM should not notice any flickering.

In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 18110 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured.

Viewing angle stability is decent enough for a budget TN panel. Angle changes in the horizontal plane - even extreme ones - don't impact the picture quality much at all. When viewed from above, the screen eventually washes out; when the display is tilted away from the user, the screen darkens and color shifts start to occur at the top left and right corners. Watching a movie with friends is certainly not out of the question as long as the panel is adjusted properly in the vertical plane.

Performance

Our review notebook comes equipped with a quad-core A6-7310 APU, AMD Radeon R4 graphics card, 8 GB RAM and a 128 GB SSD drive. For $80 more, the user can specify the A8-7410 with R5 GPU; 12 GB of RAM (1x 8 GB, 1 x 4 GB) cost $150 extra - pretty steep in our opinion, particularly since the RAM always runs in single-channel mode. The base configuration at $260 comes with a platter-based 500 GB drive; an upgrade to the 128 GB M.2 SSD is only $40 and a no-brainer in our opinion. 

Processor

AMD's A6-7310 is a mobile quad-core SoC primarily designed to operate at a low TDP of 12 to 25 watts and is thus particularly well-suited for entry-level notebooks and subnotebooks. The four cores operate at a maximum of 2.4 GHz; the nominal frequency is 2 GHz. During our CPU benchmark tests, the CPU operated primarily at 2 GHz and only occasionally utilized the Turbo. Looking at the Cinebench scores, the A6-7310 can't even quite compete with the Intel Core i3-5005U, which ends up between 10 % to 60 % faster during the Cinebench R11.5 single/multi tests. One has to step down to Intel's Pentium series of processors - something like the Pentium N3540 - to end up with roughly equivalent performance. 

Cinebench R10
Rendering Multiple CPUs 32Bit
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
Intel Core i5-6267U
10902 Points +149%
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
Intel Core i7-6500U
10803 Points +147%
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
Intel Core i5-5200U
8672 Points +98%
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
Intel Core i3-5005U
6897 Points +58%
HP 15z-ba000
AMD A6-7310
4373 Points
Rendering Single 32Bit
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
Intel Core i7-6500U
4984 Points +183%
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
Intel Core i5-6267U
4984 Points +183%
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
Intel Core i5-5200U
4134 Points +135%
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
Intel Core i3-5005U
3113 Points +77%
HP 15z-ba000
AMD A6-7310
1761 Points
Cinebench R11.5
CPU Single 64Bit
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
Intel Core i5-6267U
1.5 Points +159%
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
Intel Core i5-5200U
1.28 Points +121%
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
Intel Core i3-5005U
0.92 Points +59%
HP 15z-ba000
AMD A6-7310
0.58 Points
CPU Multi 64Bit
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
Intel Core i5-6267U
3.57 Points +72%
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
Intel Core i5-5200U
2.81 Points +35%
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
Intel Core i3-5005U
2.28 Points +10%
HP 15z-ba000
AMD A6-7310
2.08 Points
Cinebench R15
CPU Single 64Bit
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
Intel Core i7-6500U
131 Points +198%
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
Intel Core i5-6267U
131 Points +198%
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
Intel Core i5-5200U
108 Points +145%
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
Intel Core i3-5005U
81 Points +84%
HP 15z-ba000
AMD A6-7310
44 Points
CPU Multi 64Bit
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
Intel Core i5-6267U
321 Points +170%
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
Intel Core i7-6500U
312 Points +162%
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
Intel Core i5-5200U
257 Points +116%
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
Intel Core i3-5005U
206 Points +73%
HP 15z-ba000
AMD A6-7310
119 Points
Super Pi Mod 1.5 XS 32M - 32M
HP 15z-ba000
AMD A6-7310
1430 s *
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
Intel Core i5-6267U
710 s * +50%

* ... smaller is better

Cinebench R10 Shading 32Bit
2657
Cinebench R10 Rendering Multiple CPUs 32Bit
4373
Cinebench R10 Rendering Single 32Bit
1761
Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL 64Bit
15.2 fps
Cinebench R11.5 CPU Multi 64Bit
2.08 Points
Cinebench R11.5 CPU Single 64Bit
0.58 Points
Cinebench R15 Ref. Match 64Bit
98 %
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64Bit
15.93 fps
Cinebench R15 CPU Multi 64Bit
119 Points
Cinebench R15 CPU Single 64Bit
44 Points
Help

System Performance

The subtests of the PCMark 8 benchmark tests tell a similar story as far as the overall performance is concerned, with the A6 trailing notebooks with Intel CPUs - and particularly those equipped with dedicated graphics cards - by a substantial margin. Even the Lenovo G70-80 80FF00H0GE with Pentium 3825U and Broadwell HD graphics gives the A6 with R4 graphics a run for the money and performs 10 to 20 % better. Things are not as bad as they seem, however: thanks to the SSD, the perceived performance of the HP 15z is actually quite snappy. Bootup is quite quick and program launches generally don't take that long, either. We certainly prefer a lower-powered system with SSD to one with a more powerful CPU, but platter-based storage.

PCMark 8
Home Score Accelerated v2
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
Iris Graphics 550, 6267U, Toshiba MQ02ABD100H
3665 Points +87%
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
GeForce 920MX, 6500U, WDC Scorpio Blue WD10JPCX-24UE4T0
3497 Points +78%
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
Radeon R5 M330, 5200U, HGST Travelstar 5K1000 HTS541010A9E680
3237 Points +65%
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
GeForce 920M, 5005U, Toshiba MQ01ABD100
2752 Points +40%
Lenovo G70-80 80FF00H0GE
HD Graphics (Broadwell), 3825U, Seagate Momentus SpinPoint M8 ST1000LM024
2437 Points +24%
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
1960 Points
Work Score Accelerated v2
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
Iris Graphics 550, 6267U, Toshiba MQ02ABD100H
4408 Points +49%
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
GeForce 920MX, 6500U, WDC Scorpio Blue WD10JPCX-24UE4T0
4281 Points +45%
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
Radeon R5 M330, 5200U, HGST Travelstar 5K1000 HTS541010A9E680
4249 Points +44%
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
GeForce 920M, 5005U, Toshiba MQ01ABD100
3410 Points +16%
Lenovo G70-80 80FF00H0GE
HD Graphics (Broadwell), 3825U, Seagate Momentus SpinPoint M8 ST1000LM024
3272 Points +11%
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
2952 Points
Creative Score Accelerated v2
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
Iris Graphics 550, 6267U, Toshiba MQ02ABD100H
4403 Points +109%
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
GeForce 920MX, 6500U, WDC Scorpio Blue WD10JPCX-24UE4T0
3825 Points +82%
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
Radeon R5 M330, 5200U, HGST Travelstar 5K1000 HTS541010A9E680
3735 Points +78%
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
GeForce 920M, 5005U, Toshiba MQ01ABD100
2969 Points +41%
Lenovo G70-80 80FF00H0GE
HD Graphics (Broadwell), 3825U, Seagate Momentus SpinPoint M8 ST1000LM024
2496 Points +19%
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
2104 Points
PCMark 7 Score
3288 points
PCMark 8 Home Score Accelerated v2
1960 points
PCMark 8 Creative Score Accelerated v2
2104 points
PCMark 8 Work Score Accelerated v2
2952 points
Help

Storage Devices

The M.2 SSD from Adata (model IM2S3138E-128GM-B) has a capacity of 128GB and is a very decent performer - particularly when one considers that the direct competitors are all equipped with conventional hard drives. Users who need more storage and would like a larger SSD are out of luck however: HP only offers this 128 GB drive in addition to regular 2.5-inch 1 TB and 2 TB drives.

HP 15z-ba000
Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
Toshiba MQ02ABD100H
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
HGST Travelstar 5K1000 HTS541010A9E680
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
WDC Scorpio Blue WD10JPCX-24UE4T0
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
Toshiba MQ01ABD100
CrystalDiskMark 3.0
-89%
-85%
-82%
-87%
Read Seq
397.9
100.8
-75%
101
-75%
115.9
-71%
105.6
-73%
Write Seq
171.4
57.4
-67%
99.6
-42%
113.3
-34%
93.4
-46%
Read 512
367.5
31.19
-92%
38.12
-90%
39.02
-89%
31.7
-91%
Write 512
172.3
38.67
-78%
42.22
-75%
55.6
-68%
27.54
-84%
Read 4k
26.11
0.509
-98%
0.522
-98%
0.44
-98%
0.374
-99%
Write 4k
52.3
0.615
-99%
1.29
-98%
1.188
-98%
0.72
-99%
Read 4k QD32
164.3
0.351
-100%
1.116
-99%
1.125
-99%
0.694
-100%
Write 4k QD32
132.8
0.605
-100%
1.287
-99%
1.245
-99%
0.646
-100%
Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
Transfer Rate Minimum: 222.3 MB/s
Transfer Rate Maximum: 329.4 MB/s
Transfer Rate Average: 295.8 MB/s
Access Time: 0.108 ms
Burst Rate: 196.2 MB/s
CPU Usage: 13 %

GPU Performance

The A6-7310 features an integrated AMD Radeon R4 graphics card. The GPU is DirectX 12 compatible and comes with 128 shader cores across two Compute Units and runs at 800 MHz. Looking at the synthetic benchmark scores, the GPU best compares to the older Haswell-generation Intel HD Graphics 4200-4400 from 2013. 

3DMark 11
1280x720 Performance GPU
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
Intel Iris Graphics 550, 6267U
2421 Points +217%
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
NVIDIA GeForce 920MX, 6500U
1835 Points +140%
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
AMD Radeon R5 M330, 5200U
1834 Points +140%
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
NVIDIA GeForce 920M, 5005U
1666 Points +118%
HP 15z-ba000
AMD Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310
763 Points
Toshiba Portege Z30t-A-10X
Intel HD Graphics 4400, 4500U
757 Points -1%
Lenovo G70-80 80FF00H0GE
Intel HD Graphics (Broadwell), 3825U
641 Points -16%
1280x720 Performance Combined
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
Intel Iris Graphics 550, 6267U
2157 Points +183%
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
NVIDIA GeForce 920MX, 6500U
1598 Points +110%
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
AMD Radeon R5 M330, 5200U
1525 Points +100%
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
NVIDIA GeForce 920M, 5005U
1422 Points +87%
HP 15z-ba000
AMD Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310
761 Points
Lenovo G70-80 80FF00H0GE
Intel HD Graphics (Broadwell), 3825U
721 Points -5%
Toshiba Portege Z30t-A-10X
Intel HD Graphics 4400, 4500U
701 Points -8%
3DMark
1280x720 Cloud Gate Standard Graphics
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
Intel Iris Graphics 550, 6267U
11093 Points +262%
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
NVIDIA GeForce 920M, 5005U
7453 Points +143%
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
AMD Radeon R5 M330, 5200U
5592 Points +82%
Toshiba Portege Z30t-A-10X
Intel HD Graphics 4400, 4500U
4844 Points +58%
Lenovo G70-80 80FF00H0GE
Intel HD Graphics (Broadwell), 3825U
4015 Points +31%
HP 15z-ba000
AMD Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310
3068 Points
1920x1080 Fire Strike Graphics
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
NVIDIA GeForce 920M, 5005U
1172 Points +125%
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
Intel Iris Graphics 550, 6267U
1114 Points +114%
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
AMD Radeon R5 M330, 5200U
1010 Points +94%
Toshiba Portege Z30t-A-10X
Intel HD Graphics 4400, 4500U
575 Points +11%
HP 15z-ba000
AMD Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310
520 Points
Lenovo G70-80 80FF00H0GE
Intel HD Graphics (Broadwell), 3825U
463 Points -11%
3DMark 11 Performance
837 points
3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score
2459 points
3DMark Fire Strike Score
493 points
Help

Gaming Performance

From the synthetic benchmark scores we can surmise that the gaming performance is not going to be overly exciting. Older games are generally playable at low resolutions up to the native 1366 x 768 and at low settings, but the 15z struggles with pretty much all newer games regardless of the settings. Once again, the Radeon R4 performs very closely to the older Intel HD generations.

BioShock Infinite
1920x1080 Ultra Preset, DX11 (DDOF) (sort by value)
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
5.1 fps
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
Iris Graphics 550, 6267U, Toshiba MQ02ABD100H
8.9 fps +75%
Toshiba Portege Z30t-A-10X
HD Graphics 4400, 4500U, Toshiba HG6 THNSNJ256GMCU
3.4 fps -33%
1366x768 High Preset (sort by value)
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
15 fps
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
Iris Graphics 550, 6267U, Toshiba MQ02ABD100H
38.2 fps +155%
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
Radeon R5 M330, 5200U, HGST Travelstar 5K1000 HTS541010A9E680
23.3 fps +55%
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
GeForce 920MX, 6500U, WDC Scorpio Blue WD10JPCX-24UE4T0
34.8 fps +132%
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
GeForce 920M, 5005U, Toshiba MQ01ABD100
29.89 fps +99%
Toshiba Portege Z30t-A-10X
HD Graphics 4400, 4500U, Toshiba HG6 THNSNJ256GMCU
10.1 fps -33%
1366x768 Medium Preset (sort by value)
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
17.7 fps
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
Iris Graphics 550, 6267U, Toshiba MQ02ABD100H
44.8 fps +153%
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
Radeon R5 M330, 5200U, HGST Travelstar 5K1000 HTS541010A9E680
28.1 fps +59%
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
GeForce 920MX, 6500U, WDC Scorpio Blue WD10JPCX-24UE4T0
41.8 fps +136%
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
GeForce 920M, 5005U, Toshiba MQ01ABD100
35.31 fps +99%
Toshiba Portege Z30t-A-10X
HD Graphics 4400, 4500U, Toshiba HG6 THNSNJ256GMCU
12.1 fps -32%
1280x720 Very Low Preset (sort by value)
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
32.9 fps
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
Iris Graphics 550, 6267U, Toshiba MQ02ABD100H
74.2 fps +126%
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
Radeon R5 M330, 5200U, HGST Travelstar 5K1000 HTS541010A9E680
49.2 fps +50%
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
GeForce 920MX, 6500U, WDC Scorpio Blue WD10JPCX-24UE4T0
76.9 fps +134%
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
GeForce 920M, 5005U, Toshiba MQ01ABD100
62.4 fps +90%
Toshiba Portege Z30t-A-10X
HD Graphics 4400, 4500U, Toshiba HG6 THNSNJ256GMCU
24.9 fps -24%
Tomb Raider
1920x1080 Ultra Preset AA:FX AF:16x (sort by value)
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
6.2 fps
Toshiba Portege Z30t-A-10X
HD Graphics 4400, 4500U, Toshiba HG6 THNSNJ256GMCU
5 fps -19%
1366x768 High Preset AA:FX AF:8x (sort by value)
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
13.9 fps
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
Radeon R5 M330, 5200U, HGST Travelstar 5K1000 HTS541010A9E680
23.9 fps +72%
Toshiba Portege Z30t-A-10X
HD Graphics 4400, 4500U, Toshiba HG6 THNSNJ256GMCU
9.3 fps -33%
1366x768 Normal Preset AA:FX AF:4x (sort by value)
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
18.7 fps
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
Radeon R5 M330, 5200U, HGST Travelstar 5K1000 HTS541010A9E680
31.7 fps +70%
Toshiba Portege Z30t-A-10X
HD Graphics 4400, 4500U, Toshiba HG6 THNSNJ256GMCU
16.5 fps -12%
1024x768 Low Preset (sort by value)
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
35.7 fps
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
Radeon R5 M330, 5200U, HGST Travelstar 5K1000 HTS541010A9E680
63.1 fps +77%
Toshiba Portege Z30t-A-10X
HD Graphics 4400, 4500U, Toshiba HG6 THNSNJ256GMCU
35.4 fps -1%
Rise of the Tomb Raider
1366x768 Medium Preset AF:2x (sort by value)
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
6.7 fps
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
Radeon R5 M330, 5200U, HGST Travelstar 5K1000 HTS541010A9E680
12.6 fps +88%
1024x768 Lowest Preset (sort by value)
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
11.9 fps
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
Radeon R5 M330, 5200U, HGST Travelstar 5K1000 HTS541010A9E680
20.6 fps +73%
Metro: Last Light
1920x1080 Very High (DX11) AF:16x (sort by value)
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
4 fps
1366x768 High (DX11) AF:16x (sort by value)
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
8.2 fps
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
GeForce 920MX, 6500U, WDC Scorpio Blue WD10JPCX-24UE4T0
18.4 fps +124%
1366x768 Medium (DX10) AF:4x (sort by value)
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
11.3 fps
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
GeForce 920MX, 6500U, WDC Scorpio Blue WD10JPCX-24UE4T0
32.4 fps +187%
1024x768 Low (DX10) AF:4x (sort by value)
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
26.3 fps
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
GeForce 920MX, 6500U, WDC Scorpio Blue WD10JPCX-24UE4T0
42.9 fps +63%
Anno 2070
1920x1080 Very High Preset AA:on AF:4x (sort by value)
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
5.1 fps
Toshiba Portege Z30t-A-10X
HD Graphics 4400, 4500U, Toshiba HG6 THNSNJ256GMCU
7.1 fps +39%
1366x768 High Preset AA:on AF:2x (sort by value)
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
13.2 fps
Toshiba Portege Z30t-A-10X
HD Graphics 4400, 4500U, Toshiba HG6 THNSNJ256GMCU
14.8 fps +12%
1366x768 Medium Preset AA:on (sort by value)
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
20.9 fps
Toshiba Portege Z30t-A-10X
HD Graphics 4400, 4500U, Toshiba HG6 THNSNJ256GMCU
23.1 fps +11%
1024x768 Low Preset (sort by value)
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
47.2 fps
Toshiba Portege Z30t-A-10X
HD Graphics 4400, 4500U, Toshiba HG6 THNSNJ256GMCU
43.1 fps -9%
low med. high ultra
Anno 2070 (2011) 47.2 20.9 13.2 5.1
Tomb Raider (2013) 35.7 18.7 13.9 6.2
BioShock Infinite (2013) 32.9 17.7 15 5.1
Metro: Last Light (2013) 26.3 11.3 8.2 4
Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016) 11.9 6.7

Stress Test

As always, we run our stress test with the tools Prime95 and Furmark to identify potential throttling or stability issues. With Prime95 running, the CPU cores started out at 2.0 GHz and a temperature of 44 degrees C. The fan increased its speed noticeably after about 10 seconds with the temperature increasing to 68 degrees. After about 10 minutes, the cores fluctuated between 1.8 and 2.0 GHz at a temperature of about 71 degrees C. GPU load with Furmark had the GPU running at a steady 800 MHz with very occasional dips to 300 Mhz at an initial temperature of 57 degrees. 30 minutes later, the temperature had reached a maximum of 61 degrees with the GPU still running at 800 MHz. With Prime95 and FurMark running in parallel we saw the CPU dropping to about 1.4 GHz within the first 10 seconds, while the GPU maintained 800 MHz. An hour later, we observed the same CPU speed with the GPU now occasionally dropping to 654 MHz. The temperature had stabilized at 68 degrees C. Unigine Valley simulates gaming loads better then the other stress tests. Here, the CPU remained at about 1.4 GHz with the GPU running at 800 MHz. Once again, we observed infrequent dips to 654 Mhz. The temperature remained at just 61 degrees, so not critical at all.

Heat buildup is never an issue, as a re-run of 3DMark 11 after the stress test showed a nearly identical score. The score did drop by about 15 % with the notebook running on battery - here, both CPU and GPU performance dropped by equal margins.

Stress CPU only
Stress CPU only
Stress GPU only
Stress GPU only
Stress CPU & GPU
Stress CPU & GPU
Stress Unigine Valley
Stress Unigine Valley
CPU Clock (GHz) GPU Clock (MHz) Average CPU Temperature (°C) Average GPU Temperature (°C)
Prime95 Stress 2.0 - 68 -
FurMark Stress - 800 - 61
Prime95 + FurMark Stress 1.4 800 68 68
Unigine Heaven Stress 1.4 800 61 61

Emissions

System Noise

(Gray: Background, Red: System idle, Blue: Unigine Valley, Green: Prime95+FurMark)
(Gray: Background, Red: System idle, Blue: Unigine Valley, Green: Prime95+FurMark)

Even during idle, the fan is always running but - at less than 32 dB - the fan noise never gets annoying. Under load, we measured a maximum of 38 dB, which is still acceptable and comparable to the other systems we've mentioned. The fan also remains fairly steady-state - no pulsing or similar - during the stress test, which is certainly appreciated.

Noise Level

Idle
31.6 / 31.6 / 31.6 dB(A)
Load
37.2 / 38.2 dB(A)
  red to green bar
 
 
30 dB
silent
40 dB(A)
audible
50 dB(A)
loud
 
min: dark, med: mid, max: light   Audix TM1 (15 cm distance)   environment noise: 28.6 dB(A)
HP 15z-ba000
Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-7310, Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
Iris Graphics 550, 6267U, Toshiba MQ02ABD100H
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
Radeon R5 M330, 5200U, HGST Travelstar 5K1000 HTS541010A9E680
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
GeForce 920MX, 6500U, WDC Scorpio Blue WD10JPCX-24UE4T0
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
GeForce 920M, 5005U, Toshiba MQ01ABD100
Noise
-1%
-11%
-6%
-3%
off / environment *
28.6
28.8
-1%
31.2
-9%
31.2
-9%
31.3
-9%
Idle Minimum *
31.6
31
2%
33.2
-5%
32.6
-3%
32.1
-2%
Idle Average *
31.6
31
2%
33.2
-5%
32.6
-3%
32.1
-2%
Idle Maximum *
31.6
31
2%
34.6
-9%
33.8
-7%
33.1
-5%
Load Average *
37.2
39.1
-5%
45
-21%
40.2
-8%
37.8
-2%
Load Maximum *
38.2
41
-7%
45.2
-18%
40.4
-6%
37.7
1%

* ... smaller is better

Temperature

HP managed to keep the internal temperatures well in check, and the surface temperatures follow suit. During idle, the temperature tops out at around 25 degrees, so just 5 degrees above ambient. At maximum load levels, the bottom left side gets comparatively warm at up to 43 degrees C. Other budget notebooks perform in a very similar manner. Outstanding in this regard is the Lenovo ThinkPad E560, which only reaches 34 degrees C after a prolonged stress test.

Max. Load
 27.6 °C
82 F
28.6 °C
83 F
20 °C
68 F
 
 26.6 °C
80 F
28.4 °C
83 F
20 °C
68 F
 
 25.8 °C
78 F
28.6 °C
83 F
20.2 °C
68 F
 
Maximum: 28.6 °C = 83 F
Average: 25.1 °C = 77 F
24.2 °C
76 F
26.6 °C
80 F
38.8 °C
102 F
24.4 °C
76 F
29.2 °C
85 F
37.2 °C
99 F
24.6 °C
76 F
28 °C
82 F
43.2 °C
110 F
Maximum: 43.2 °C = 110 F
Average: 30.7 °C = 87 F
Power Supply (max.)  38 °C = 100 F | Room Temperature 20 °C = 68 F | Raytek Raynger ST
(+) The average temperature for the upper side under maximal load is 25.1 °C / 77 F, compared to the average of 31.2 °C / 88 F for the devices in the class Multimedia.
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 28.6 °C / 83 F, compared to the average of 36.9 °C / 98 F, ranging from 21.1 to 71 °C for the class Multimedia.
(±) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 43.2 °C / 110 F, compared to the average of 39.1 °C / 102 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 23.1 °C / 74 F, compared to the device average of 31.2 °C / 88 F.
(+) The palmrests and touchpad are cooler than skin temperature with a maximum of 28.6 °C / 83.5 F and are therefore cool to the touch.
(±) The average temperature of the palmrest area of similar devices was 28.8 °C / 83.8 F (+0.2 °C / 0.3 F).

Speakers

(Red: System idle, Pink: Pink noise)
(Red: System idle, Pink: Pink noise)

The internal stereo speakers are located on the bottom front of the chassis and fire downwards. The sound quality is decent enough for a budget notebook, although bass is of course still lacking, so we still recommend headphones for listening to music. The speakers get decently loud, however and are more than adequate for watching video clips or movies. Voices are clear and easy to understand.

dB(A) 0102030405060708090Deep BassMiddle BassHigh BassLower RangeMidsHigher MidsLower HighsMid HighsUpper HighsSuper Highs2036.539.22535.936.13133.234.14032.534.75033.832.56331.633.28031.23310029.932.81252930.616027.930.220027.536.325026.945.331525.853.640026.748.550025.548.363024.955.680024.759.3100025.362125026.160.7160027.161.4200024.562.6250023.768.1315023.268.4400022.772.8500022.766.7630022.764.3800022.768.41000022.870.41250022.767.81600022.767.2SPL36.678.8N2.739.9median 24.9median 61.4Delta2.210.835.335.132.931.831.83236.535.132.428.93328.936.328.848.32761.52752.924.860.92462.822.763.32269.521.267.82174.82075.919.472.718.97117.770.117.86917.671.817.668.117.671.417.673.717.670.417.571.617.671.617.669.617.459.717.583.630.662.51.5median 69.6median 17.84.72.4hearing rangehide median Pink NoiseHP 15z-ba000Apple MacBook 12 (Early 2016) 1.1 GHz
HP 15z-ba000 audio analysis

(±) | speaker loudness is average but good (72.8 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 23.2% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (12% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(+) | balanced mids - only 4.5% away from median
(±) | linearity of mids is average (7.6% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(±) | higher highs - on average 7.1% higher than median
(±) | linearity of highs is average (9.7% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(-) | overall sound is not linear (30.3% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 95% of all tested devices in this class were better, 2% similar, 3% worse
» The best had a delta of 5%, average was 18%, worst was 45%
Compared to all devices tested
» 86% of all tested devices were better, 3% similar, 11% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%

Apple MacBook 12 (Early 2016) 1.1 GHz audio analysis

(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (83.6 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(±) | reduced bass - on average 11.3% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (14.2% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(+) | balanced mids - only 2.4% away from median
(+) | mids are linear (5.5% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 2% away from median
(+) | highs are linear (4.5% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(+) | overall sound is linear (10.2% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 5% of all tested devices in this class were better, 2% similar, 93% worse
» The best had a delta of 5%, average was 19%, worst was 53%
Compared to all devices tested
» 3% of all tested devices were better, 1% similar, 96% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%

Frequency Comparison (Checkbox selectable!)
Graph 1: Pink Noise 100% Vol.; Graph 2: Audio off

Energy Management

Power Consumption

With a TDP ranging from 12 to 25 watts depending, the AMD APU is actually quite frugal. At idle, the power consumption never exceeded 8 watts and even at maximum load levels, we only observed a maximum power draw of about 27 watts - so it doesn't look like HP approaches the maximum allowable limit in this case. 

Power Consumption
Off / Standbydarklight 0.13 / 0.48 Watt
Idledarkmidlight 5.22 / 5.67 / 7.82 Watt
Load midlight 19.67 / 26.72 Watt
 color bar
Key: min: dark, med: mid, max: light        Metrahit Energy
Currently we use the Metrahit Energy, a professional single phase power quality and energy measurement digital multimeter, for our measurements. Find out more about it here. All of our test methods can be found here.
HP 15z-ba000
A6-7310, Radeon R4 (Beema), Adata IM2S3138E-128GM-B, TN, 1366x768, 15.60
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
6267U, Iris Graphics 550, Toshiba MQ02ABD100H, TN, 1920x1080, 15.60
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
5200U, Radeon R5 M330, HGST Travelstar 5K1000 HTS541010A9E680, TN LED, 1366x768, 15.60
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
6500U, GeForce 920MX, WDC Scorpio Blue WD10JPCX-24UE4T0, TN LED, 1366x768, 15.60
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
5005U, GeForce 920M, Toshiba MQ01ABD100, TN, 1366x768, 15.60
Power Consumption
-120%
-26%
-55%
-23%
Idle Minimum *
5.22
11.84
-127%
4
23%
7
-34%
4.2
20%
Idle Average *
5.67
14.16
-150%
6.5
-15%
8
-41%
6.6
-16%
Idle Maximum *
7.82
14.46
-85%
7
10%
8.4
-7%
7.5
4%
Load Average *
19.67
51.69
-163%
36
-83%
38.8
-97%
36.3
-85%
Load Maximum *
26.72
46.56
-74%
43.6
-63%
52.8
-98%
36.5
-37%

* ... smaller is better

Battery Life

Despite the small battery with a capacity of 31 Wh - all but the Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK have larger batteries - the HP 15z lasts surprisingly long on a charge. For the WiFi test, we adjust the display to 150 nits, use the "balanced" profile and loop a script, which calls up different websites to simulate browsing. The notebook lasted over 4 hours here before shutting down - not bad, given the size of the battery. During the ordering process, the buyer can opt to upgrade to a 41 Wh battery for just $10, which might be a good choice for users who know that they frequently won't have access to outlets. Such equipped, the notebook should now last about 5 hours and 30 minutes on a charge and thus would match the run time of the Lenovo Ideapad.

WLAN test
WLAN test
Minimum run time
Minimum run time
Maximum run time
Maximum run time
Battery Runtime
Idle (without WLAN, min brightness)
8h 31min
WiFi Websurfing
4h 07min
Load (maximum brightness)
1h 55min
HP 15z-ba000
A6-7310, Radeon R4 (Beema), 31 Wh
Acer Aspire E5-574-53YZ
6267U, Iris Graphics 550, 37 Wh
HP 250 G4 T6P08ES
5200U, Radeon R5 M330, 41 Wh
Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ISK
6500U, GeForce 920MX, 31 Wh
Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE
5005U, GeForce 920M, 44 Wh
Battery Runtime
-40%
23%
34%
49%
Reader / Idle
511
273
-47%
667
31%
WiFi v1.3
247
180
-27%
342
38%
332
34%
367
49%
Load
115
61
-47%
115
0%

Pros

+ decent performance for the home office
+ SSD drive
+ low weight
+ better-than-average (budget) TN display
+ doesn't get hot or particularly noisy
+ battery life good enough despite smallish battery
+ replaceable battery

Cons

- only one USB 3.0 port
- feels rather cheap to the touch
- display hinges not stiff enough
- glossy display limits outdoor use
- smudge-prone lid
- not exactly a bargain

Verdict

In review: HP 15z-ba000. Test model provided by CUKUSA.com
In review: HP 15z-ba000. Test model provided by CUKUSA.com

HP's 15z looks attractive, runs cool, lasts a reasonable amount on a charge and - thanks to the SSD - offers decent enough perceived performance despite the less-than-stellar synthetic scores. The AMD APU is no speed demon - so we are thankful for the 8 GB of RAM and the SSD, which do their part in improving the performance. The TN display is actually surprisingly good and quite bright to boot. The keyboard doesn't disappoint either, but the touchpad takes some getting used to. Pretty much any integrated Intel graphics card will outperform the Radeon R4, however - and even very entry-level dedicated GPUs like the GeForce 920M in the Toshiba Satellite C55-C-1NE offer twice the frame rates of the integrated Radeon chip.

For basic tasks like word processing or watching videos, the Hp 15z isn't a bad choice. Power users and even very casual gamers should look elsewhere.

Versions of the Aspire E5-575G, which we just reviewed - for example with Core i5-6200U CPU, 8GB Memory, 1 TB HDD, and dedicated GeForce 940MX GPU - can be found for about $500. Unless HP or retailers drop the price significantly, the 15z isn't exactly a bargain.

HP 15z-ba000 - 10/02/2016 v5.1(old)
Bernhard Pechlaner

Chassis
50 / 98 → 51%
Keyboard
77%
Pointing Device
53%
Connectivity
31 / 81 → 39%
Weight
63 / 20-67 → 91%
Battery
76%
Display
72%
Games Performance
51 / 85 → 60%
Application Performance
57 / 92 → 62%
Temperature
95%
Noise
90 / 95 → 95%
Audio
50%
Camera
58 / 85 → 68%
Average
63%
69%
Multimedia - Weighted Average

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Bernhard Pechlaner, 2016-10- 3 (Update: 2020-06- 8)