HP Pavilion 15-ab052ng Notebook Review

Unfortunately, only two of the three installed USB ports support the modern USB 3.0 standard. However, that should not be a limitation in everyday use. The obsolete Fast Ethernet port (100 Mbit/s) is even more annoying since it is hardly suitable for high-speed data sharing in the age of terabyte hard drives. External monitors can only be connected to the Pavilion 15 via HDMI 1.4a, restricting 4K monitors to a frame rate of 30 Hz (Full HD: 60 Hz).

Apart from some details (hard to access SD card reader, HDMI port too close to the front), the positioning of the individual interfaces seems well considered and ergonomic. The DVD burner on the left makes the layout more suitable for right-handed users.

Communication

HP has reinvested the money saved on the Ethernet adapter in the Wi-Fi module. The Pavilion 15 is one of the few devices in this price range that supports all-important wireless standards in both the 2.4 and 5 GHz band (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac + Bluetooth 4.0). Although Intel's Dual-Band Wireless-AC 3160 is limited to single-stream transmissions (1x1, max. 433 Mbit/s), the gross speed of approximately 30 MB/s that we ascertained under ideal conditions is impressive. The range and connection stability in conjunction with the TP-Link Archer C7 router also made a good impression.

Accessories

As often is the case, the included accessories are limited to the suitable power supply and quick start guide. No other items, such as driver DVDs, are in the box. However, that is not really a problem since our installation of Windows 10 Pro - only FreeDOS was preloaded ex-factory - identified almost all components without any problem. Missing drivers and BIOS updates can be downloaded from the manufacturer's website.

Maintenance

The buyer will not find a maintenance hatch on the Pavilion 15. Instead, it will be necessary to release all screws on the underside (some hidden under the stoppers and covers) before carefully levering off the casing's halves with a credit card. We would recommend that only savvy users do this. Potential upgrade options inside include replacing the Wi-Fi module and 2.5-inch hard drive, among other things. Furthermore, one of the two memory banks is empty.

Warranty

The purchase price includes a one-year manufacturer's warranty, which can be extended via Care Packs for a surcharge. An upgrade to a total of 3 years pick-up and return service (U4819E) costs approximately 100 Euros (~$114).

Bright, high-contrast and viewing angle stable – in our tests, the Full HD screen in the Pavilion 17 surprised us with its above average qualities. Can the screen of the 15-inch model, with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, keep up with that? Unfortunately, not: Apart from the decent pixel density of 141 PPI, the installed TN panel disappoints in almost every aspect. Although the LED backlight manages without potentially flickering PWM control, and achieves a homogeneous illumination, the maximum brightness is limited to a poor 200 cd/m². This might be sufficient indoors most of the time, but higher brightness reserves will often be needed in bright offices or near windows.

Although AMD defines a configurable TDP frame of 12 to 35 watts, most laptop manufacturers limit the power dissipation to approximately 15 watts. The reason for that is: Many devices are offered with Intel processors, which also have a TDP of 15 watts in the case of ULV chips. Thus, the power supply, cooling system and other components can be directly adopted from the respective sister model based on a different CPU platform.

The Pavilion can only partially utilize the potential clock headroom of the A10-8700P  due to this dissipation limit. Instead of the maximum possible 3.2 GHz, we observed around 2.9 GHz in single thread applications, and even 2.3 GHz were achieved when all four cores were fully loaded (battery and AC mode). Therefore, the Carrizo APU reaches the level of a Core i3 from the Broadwell generation in the ideal case, but can also occasionally fall behind by 20 to 25% in poorly parallelized software.

The limited budget was not enough for an SSD in this case. Nevertheless, HP has found a good compromise of costs, storage capacity and speed with a 1000 GB SSHD from Seagate. Thanks to the additional 8 GB of flash memory - fully automated and invisible to the user - frequently used files are cached and loading Windows and smaller programs (e.g. the browser) are hardly slower than with a full-fledged SSD.

Standard benchmarks, such as HD Tune, reflect this advantage, which evolves after a certain period of usage only very insufficiently. The tool records an average transfer rate of 89.7 MB/s and access time of 18.7 milliseconds in sequential read - other 5400 rpm hard drives without a fast flash memory cache achieve similar rates.

Regular readers of our reviews will know that we have not exactly lavished AMDs dual-graphics technology with praise in the past. The issues and drawbacks of an asynchronous Crossfire array were usually significantly bigger than the resulting performance gains. That, however, seems to be slowly changing. The Radeon R8 M365DX, composed of the processor's Radeon R6 GPU and dedicated Radeon R7 M360, virtually outruns the mid-range competition from Nvidia under Windows 10 and with updated graphic drivers - at least in the 3DMark benchmarks. A lead of approximately 30% on a GeForce 840M that hardly calculates slower than the latest GeForce 940M is more than impressive in relation to the price range.

Undoubtedly, one of the highlights of the Carrizo platform is the integrated HEVC/H.265 decoder that we dealt with extensively in our architecture article. It should actually run natively and without third-party software under Windows 10. However, the display remained black in all videos in our tests. Apparently, there is still a problem with the driver. We finally managed playback via Media Player Classic, but only at very high CPU load.

The laptop heats up moderately in both idle and full load, and never exceeds 40 degrees Celsius (~104 degrees Fahrenheit) anywhere. Many areas of the device remain considerably cooler, and the user can always work without any impairments. The Pavilion can also be unhesitatingly used on the lap during basic tasks like browsing.

Unfortunately, none of the programs we tested could record the APU's core temperature. However, problems should not evolve since the dedicated Radeon R7 M360 (that is connected to the same heat pipe as the processor) only reached an uncritical 74 degrees Celsius (~165 degrees Fahrenheit) even during the stress test. The A10-8700P occasionally throttles to approximately 1.6 GHz because it reaches the manufacturer's defined TDP limit. The Radeon GPU also throttles slightly, and drops from 1125 to 1034 MHz.

Naturally, some cutbacks and compromises have to be accepted in a laptop from the 500 Euro (~$568) price range - nevertheless HP has managed to create a solid product for this comparatively low price. The Pavilion 15 convinces with its decently built casing, well-tuned keyboard, and low noise and temperature development, among other things. The extensive configuration is particularly striking: Plenty of storage, a Full HD resolution screen, Wi-Fi in 802.11 ac standard - these features are not at all a matter of course even in more expensive devices. The CPU performance of the A10-8700P is, as expected, on par with a modern Core i3, while the graphics performance of the Crossfire array ranges somewhere between a GeForce 820M and GeForce 940M depending on the game.

The touchpad's stiff and spongy keys made a rather mixed impression, and the extremely short battery life disappointed us. However, that should not be a problem when the laptop is mainly used on the desk. Furthermore, the screen's relatively low maximum brightness will not be as significant here. In our opinion, HP could have also omitted the slow Fast Ethernet port - or installed a marginally more expensive Gbit LAN adapter from the outset.

The bottom line is: The Pavilion has nevertheless earned a purchase recommendation with its outstanding price-performance ratio, in case the buyer can accept the mentioned shortcomings.