HP Pavilion Power 15
- Good Value Laptop for Price
- Bang & Olufsen Audio
- nVidia GPU (Not AMD)
- GPU Supports SLI
ASUS TUF FX505DY
- Better GPU (Slightly)
- Better Display
- Higher Memory SSD
- Aesthetically better
15-EC0000NA
Overall, this is a well priced Laptop for the spec. Set realistic aims with this one and it will treat you well... just don't hope for 60FPS and maximum detail.
HP are trying to get into the Gaming Laptop market, focusing their intentions on Good Spec laptops which don’t have to break the bank. The Greatest thing about this Power 15 by HP is that it’s very affordable.
The Specs aren’t going to change the world, but they are enough to offer you a sufficient gaming experience.
The specs set a decent benchmark though and offer you an entry point into online PC gaming. The AMD Ryzen 5 3550H Processor is sufficient, running at a standard clockspeed for 2.1ghz & the Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz.
In benchmarks, this has beaten the Intel Core i7-7700HQ, so the old saying that Intel always provide better results than the AMD sockets may not ring true in this instance.
Accompanying the processor is the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050, which is an entry level graphics card. It’s been tested on the latest games which are quite graphically intense and can hit over:
100 Frames Per Second on LOW Settings (1280×720)
36 Frames Per second on Medium (1920×1080)
28 Frames per second on High (1920×1080)
On quad-hd, it hit just under 20 FPS, so we didn’t bother checking out 4K.
With these settings though, it’s more than playable on Medium/High, which is a good output for a Laptop this price.
The onboard 256GB SSD should keep things snappy too, so you won’t have any trouble with your PC boot times. If Music’s your thing, you’ll also be impressed with the Bang & Olufsen speakers which are integrated into the device. They won’t replace your Home Audio, but they provide more ‘Bang’ than the standard integrated audio.
Overall, this is a well priced Laptop for the spec. Set realistic aims with this one and it will treat you well... just don't hope for 60FPS and maximum detail.
Equipped with the same processor, the FX505DY will offer a similar output to the HP alternative. However, the benchmark for the GPU is slightly better, which will enable you to receive a few more Frames Per Second than you would receive from the HP.
Although, we struggle to believe that you’d actually see the difference.
It’s worth wondering if it’s worth paying almost £100 more for such minimal upgrades.
It’s certainly a better looking laptop though, in addition to offering a much better screen.
If you opt for this model against the HP, you’ll also get 512GB SSD instead of the 256GB, which at the very least offers you more space for games.
Overall, it’s another good entry gaming laptop. However, the price tag is pushing closer towards mid-level, so it’s worth noting that another £100 or so will get you a better laptop.
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