HP Pavilion 15 (2021) Laptop Review: 11th Gen Intel and GeForce MX450 Combo

When compared to the older 2019 design, the 2021 model has narrower top and bottom bezels for a smaller footprint while using the same metal and plastic materials. The speaker grilles along the top of the keyboard are now gone for a more simplistic appearance. It's a basic matte impression with none of the flashy chrome-cut trims or sharp MacBook-like edges of the Spectre or Envy, respectively. Whether it looks any better than a competing Asus VivoBook or Lenovo IdeaPad is up to user preference.

Chassis rigidity is weak around the lid and front corners of the base where the system is most susceptible to twisting. It's only a bit better than the aforementioned VivoBook or IdeaPad but not enough to really make a difference in the long term.

Port options are decent for the size. We're surprised to see HDMI 2.0 instead of 1.4 meaning the system properly supports external monitors of up to 4K at 60 FPS. There is no Thunderbolt support, however, as HP wants users to upgrade to the costlier Envy or Spectre series instead.

DisplayPort via USB-C appears to be broken on our unit as shown here. The image on the external monitor would twitch and display incorrectly no matter the settings. We even tried different monitors and laptops, but the results wouldn't change. This seems to be limited to the USB-C port as video-out via HDMI would work without any issues.

The Intel AX201 comes standard for Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity much like on most other Tiger Lake-U laptops. Connection is stable and without any issues when paired to our Netgear RAX200 test router.

Camera quality remains unchanged gen-to-gen. We would at least like to see a camera kill switch or privacy shutter much like on most other laptops these days. There is no IR camera for Windows Hello support.

HP Pavilion laptops are traditionally difficult to crack open and it's no different here. The bottom panel hides four screws underneath the rubber feet to dissuade end-user servicing. Even after removing all the screws, we still found the panel difficult to remove without damaging the chassis. End-user upgrades like RAM and storage and therefore more difficult than it needs to be.

There are no extras in the box other than the barrel-type AC adapter and paperwork. A one-year limited manufacturer warranty applies.

Keyboard

Keyboard layout has changed slightly from the 2019 model. The power button, for example, is now a regular keyboard key instead of being off to the left corner. Otherwise, the typing experience remains largely the same. Feedback is surprisingly firm and with good travel to be better than the spongier and lighter keys of the Asus VivoBook or Lenovo IdeaPad.

The NumPad keys offer similar feedback to the QWERTY keys for a good sense of uniformity. It's unfortunate that the NumPad keys are narrower and therefore more cramped for larger fingers.

Though the Core i7-1165G7 has become ubiquitous, it's the GeForce MX450 GPU that separates the Pavilion 15 from most other Ultrabooks. Laptops with Tiger Lake CPUs typically lack discrete graphics options since the integrated Intel Iris Xe GPU competes directly with the GeForce MX series.

AMD Ryzen options are available for lower prices with similar display, RAM, and storage options. However, they lack the GeForce MX GPU and AX201 Wi-Fi 6 wireless of the Intel SKUs.

Our unit was set to High Performance mode prior to running any performance benchmarks below for the highest possible scores.

Single-thread performance is slightly above the average Core i7-1165G7 laptop in our database by a few percentage points while multi-thread performance is slightly under. Overall performance is somewhat lacking as a result as CineBench scores are comparable to the older and cheaper Core i5-1035G1 even though we know the Core i7-1165G7 is capable of much more. The ADATA Xenia, for example, offers up to 25 to 30 percent faster multi-thread performance than our HP despite the fact that both systems come with the same processor.