Hp Pavilion Gaming 15 Gtx 1050

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Kylee Evancho

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Aug 3, 2024, 11:52:02 AM8/3/24

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Like Dell's G series gaming laptops, this Pavilion is relatively thin and light for a budget-minded gaming laptop and is more angular than the rest of the Pavilion line, especially at the rear where the fan vents jut out beyond the lid's bottom. Beyond that, there's a subtle green tint to the HP logo on top and the acid green backlit keyboard to help give it a "gaming laptop" look.

If you don't like green, it comes in white and violet versions, too. The former would be a nice option if you need your gaming laptop to be less conspicuous in an office environment. The green does look nice, though, and it's a nice change from all the red typically used on entry-level gaming laptops. The keys remain easy to read with the backlight off. Even the font choice is interesting.

The keyboard is comfortable to use as well, with enough travel to keep a hard touch typist like me from feeling tired after all-day use. Aside from the WASD keys being outlined, there are no other gaming features to the keyboard and no software to set up macros or anything like that. The touchpad is acceptable for everyday use, if unremarkable. It doesn't have discrete buttons, which I personally like to have for games where a mouse isn't entirely necessary.

On sub-$1,000 gaming laptops, it's not uncommon for the display quality to suffer for the lower price. The full-HD 60Hz panel on this configuration is no different. It's by no means bad, with good off-angle viewing and contrast, but it's not terribly bright and the color gamut and accuracy isn't ideal for content creation. HP does, however, offer a 144Hz panel for better gaming performance or a 4K-resolution display aimed at content creators.

If you're planning to keep this on a desk most of the time, the Pavilion has a satisfactory port selection for your peripherals. On the right is power, USB 3.1 Type-C Gen 1 and USB 3.1 Type-A Gen 1 -- both for data only -- HDMI 1.4 out, Ethernet and a combo headphone/mic jack. Two more USB 3.1 Type-A Gen 1 ports are on the left with an SD card slot. Those are all just a notch below what you'd find on something like the Dell G5, which has a Thunderbolt 3 USB-C port, HDMI 2.0 out and Gigabit Ethernet.

The Pavilion was able to hold its own against similarly priced and configured gaming laptops. Older games such as Deus Ex: Mankind Divided were playable on high settings with the 1050 Ti, but needed a drop to medium to make them enjoyable. For the newer Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Far Cry 5 I set them to medium/normal to keep gameplay smooth throughout. Sessions of Fortnite were definitely playable, though, as was Overwatch, all at its native 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution with high detail settings.

The dual fans try their best to keep the Pavilion cool. You can definitely hear them working, that's for sure. Just keep it off your lap and on a hard surface when you're stressing the system.

As its name somewhat implies, the HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop is a straightforward, no-nonsense laptop for PC gaming and whatever else you need to get done. Other gaming laptops in this range can feel cheap and plasticky, but that's not the case here and its subtle gamer design is more appealing for everyday use. Gaming performance is strong, too, for what you're paying.