HP - Pavilion 16.1" Gaming Laptop - Intel Core i5 - 8GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti - 512GB SSD + 32GB Optane
Model: 16-a0032dx
SKU: 6409145
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Customers find value in the Pavilion 16.1" Gaming Laptop's performance, graphics capabilities, and competitive price point, frequently praising its ease of use and keyboard. However, some users express concerns regarding battery life and fan noise, while others mention a need for additional USB ports.
This laptop has exceeded my expectations. Firstly getting it for $699.00 instead of its $899.00 usual price made me pull the trigger. I wanted a thinner laptop that could be used to play games on that still provided a great gaming experience. The 1660 ti with maxq works very well in this laptop. It was easy to get the back off of it and upgrade the memory and put an extra 2tb of storage in it. I spent $160.00 to upgrade those 2 items. A 2tb Seagate 2.5inch drive and 16gb of ddr4 G Skill memory in the form of 2 8gb sticks. Out of the box the memory comes with 2 4gb sticks of ddr4 3200 speed. The i5 processor is more than enough to run this laptop without it sounding like a rocket heading into space. Even when the fan does spin up it isn't super annoying. Hp did a great job managing the Temps in this and it shows to be able to play games at high to ultra settings well since the GPS isn't being tanked by rtx settings. The 144 hz screen was another selling point that made me buy this and it is a buttery smooth experience. It's bright and I haven't had to make any adjustments to get a bright vivid picture. The Intel on-board graphics shares itself with the nvidia gpu so out of game its utilizing the Intel graphics. This means that there is limited adjustments in the nvidia control panel and most if not all if your color enhancements have to be made through the Intel graphics program that's pre-installed. I did HDMI out to an external display that ran at 1440p resolution and to my surprise when I did I was able to have the laptop display this same resolution. When connected to an external display the full functionality of the nvidua control panel is displayed and you can adjust the desktop color settings. I felt it was important to mention this as I thought the nvidia control panel was broken. After doing some searches I discovered that it's just the Intel graphics settings on the laptop override the nvidia ones. Start up is quick with the 512gb ssd that came with this unit. I did not see a protected partition that had the OS recovery on it so I would imagine that you would have to do a recovery online should the need arise. I also do not notice much difference with the 32gb of octane memory but maybe it just needs to learn my habits before it does. The wifi card is not a wifi 6 one but it dioes connect well and maintains a strong signal. I find that the laptop lid must be in the open position to get the best signal. The keyboard is easy to both type and game on. Having 2 USB type 3.1 ports and a USB C port allows for plenty of connectivity. This does have a full size SD card slot and the card does go all the way in so it won't catch when this laptop is stored in a sleeve. It fits in a 15.6 inch sleeve which is really nice and the screen has super thin bezels on the sides. It passes the 1 finger test when opening and doesn't flop when being picked up. The Webcam is 1080p and is at the top bezel providing a great Skype experience. The backlit keyboard is well lit and allows the user to to have 3 brightness modes. Full bright, mid bright, and no brightness. Unfortunately the only drawback and gripe I have is it shuts the backllight off after about 20 seconds and you have to either touch the touch pad or press a key on the keyboard to get it back on. There is no way to set it to stay on for any longer length of time. It also will be green forever. This is fine with me as I just need to see the keys while I am in a dark room and green gives a good glow to them. It is a fully plastic unit so don't expect a metal chassis like the Omens have. It doesn't feel cheap though and to get a 16 inch screen that looks this good and comes with a 144hz refresh rate is pretty sweet. This doesn't have gsync but I haven't had any tearing issues. I have played forza horizon 4, Shadow of the Tombraider, Doom Eternal, and the new Medium game. All of these games have run great on this budget gaming laptop. This was an excellent choice and in my opinion the best option out there at this price point. If you can catch it on discount it's an even better deal. This is my honest opinion and I am not being paid by hp or any one else. This is my experience and my opinion. I am very happy I bought this. It's a well put together machine. I highly reccomend this product to anyone looking for an entry level gaming laptop that isn't going to weigh a ton. The included power brick is enough to run this cpu and gpu without power drain. Just buy it and I guarantee you will be glad you did.
Posted by Viprone25516
I've had this laptop for almost 2 years now, and it still runs just as well as it did when I first bought it. I can run all of my favorite demanding games like Fallout 4, AC Valhalla, etc. (so long and there's not too much going on in the tray) and even with the fans on, it's not too noisy. Beautiful, smooth graphics, smooth display and transition, I adore this laptop still. I also use it for work, on a secondary Windows account, and even with both of them signed in and background apps running, I can still get my work done smoothly. The battery life has aged a little, as I mainly have it plugged in, but even when it's not, I still get hours in without having to plug it back up. 10/10 laptop, and definitely well worth the money. I thought by now I would've had to replace it or had it repaired, but I'm nothing but impressed. I can't recommend this enough, for new or seasoned PC gamers.
Posted by illeador
I recently sold my gaming PC and went for this laptop as a means of being more portable with my gaming and streaming and I am absolutely loving this laptop. The specs are perfect for what I do. The processor is clocked a little lower than I would prefer, but the 10th Gen i5 makes easy work of streaming, browsing, gaming, and anything else you'll be using this laptop for. For graphics, the 1660 Ti is a FANTASTIC piece of hardware to have inside of this laptop. Some games you will have to turn down graphical settings to reach the 100+ FPS to take full advantage of the 144hz panel (MW/Warzone being a prime example). However, for other titles like the Master Chief Collection it easily tears past 150 FPS on the original graphics settings. The only downside for this machine would be the amount of RAM it comes with in the box. 8 GB is plenty for older titles, but if you want to have multiple applications and a game open at the same time, you'll need to upgrade. I recently upgraded to 16 GB but have not tried it out in any games as of writing this review. Overall, I would DEFINITELY recommend this laptop! It's a fantastic first gaming machine and an even better portable alternative to a gaming desktop.
Posted by JoshC
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