HP makes a wide range of amazing laptops to suit basically everyone, but it can be difficult to know what the best HP laptop for your needs is going to be.
This is where we’ve decided to step in. Our team of experts review multiple HP laptops, ranging from office-grade ultrabooks to powerful gaming laptops that can breeze through the latest AAA titles. From here, we’ve assembled this list of the best HP offerings.
One HP laptop isn’t going to suit everyone, so we’ve been sure to include a wide range of laptops that people can get behind. This can range from an all-conquering gaming laptop to a more standard ultrabook for general day-to-day usage, and some slightly more affordable choices, too.
With these HP candidates, much like when we test laptops generally, we’ve made sure to focus on features that people care about. These include how good a screen looks and how bright it is, whether the processor can cope with gaming or day-to-day work, and whether the battery life will be enough to get you through a working day.
To get these real-world results, our team of experts has used each laptop on this list for a least a couple of weeks, as well as using benchmark software and pieces of equipment such as colorimeters in order to get accurate and comparable results. There isn’t much of a need to agonise over any incremental point differences if you’re taking benchmark results into your buying decisions, but it is interesting to see which CPUs and GPUs perform the best from each manufacturer, be it AMD, Intel, Qualcomm or otherwise.
If you can’t find an HP laptop from the list you like at the moment, feel free to bookmark the page, as we’ll be updating this frequently as more laptops from Hewlett Packard pass through our Trusted Labs. It’s also worth checking out our Best Laptop, Best Ultrabook, Best Student Laptop and Best Budget Laptop pages for a more general look, as well at our lists of the best Asus laptops, the best Lenovo laptops and the best Dell laptops if you want something more specific.
Best HP laptop at a glance
HP Pavilion 14 – Best value laptopHP Pavilion 15 (2020) – Best 15-inch laptopHP Omen 16 (2021) – Best gaming laptopHP Victus 16 (2021) – Best affordable gaming laptop
How we test
Every laptop we review goes through a series of uniform checks designed to gauge key things including build quality, performance, screen quality and battery life.
These include formal synthetic benchmarks and scripted tests, plus a series of real world checks, such as how well it runs the most frequently used apps.
We also make sure to use every laptop we review as our primary device for at least a week to ensure our review is as accurate as possible.
Snappy processor and integrated graphics for most tasks
Stylish, pink outer shell
Solid anti-glare display works in most settings
Battery life could be better
Non-backlit keyboard
Display looks a little dim in bright areas
Beefy processor for day-to-day-tasks
Solid display in most settings
Stylish, sleek looks with good build quality
Sub-par battery life
Great connectivity and features
Solid 1080p gaming performance
Excellent AMD processor
High-quality, high-resolution screen
AMD graphics can’t compete with Nvidia
Mediocre build quality
Keyboard and trackpad disappoint
Rock-solid mainstream gaming power
Impressive AMD Ryzen 7 CPU
Cheaper than the competition
Quieter than most gaming laptops
Bland, washed-out display
Mediocre connectivity
Irritating power button
HP Pavilion 14 (2020)
Best value laptop
Pros
Snappy processor and integrated graphics for most tasksStylish, pink outer shellSolid anti-glare display works in most settings
Cons
Battery life could be betterNon-backlit keyboardDisplay looks a little dim in bright areas
The HP Pavilion 14 (2020) is our top pick for the best value HP laptop we’ve tested, and it’s for good reason too.
It’s a lot more stylish than other mid-range laptops we’ve tested, with a pink-tinted aluminium casing that we also thought was well-made. With this styling also comes an especially professional aesthetic whereas previous brightly coloured HP laptops signalled a much cheaper look.
The port selection here is rather good, with a range of options including USB-A, USB-C, HDMI out, an SD card reader and headphone/mic combo jack, while the keyboard feels tactile with a good level of travel. The fact it isn’t backlit though is fiddly if you’re someone who works after dark, but at least the trackpad is large and offers similarly tactile buttons to the keyboard.
When it comes to the display, HP didn’t spring any surprises, opting for a 14-inch IPS panel with a Full HD resolution. In testing, this proved to offer some good colours and levels of detail that worked well for day-to-day tasks.
Under the hood, the Pavilion 14 packs in an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor that powered it to some decent results in our benchmark tests, beating off competition from the likes of Honor and Microsoft. The 8GB of DDR4 RAM on offer also proved enough for basic multitasking, and it was also possible to engage in some light gaming with the Pavilion 14’s Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics. The 256GB SSD on offer provides a decent amount of space for you to load on apps and documents, although may fill up quickly if you’ve got some sizeable applications and programs you’re using; it is quite a speedy drive though, with 968.24 MB/s write and 2490.93 MB/s read speeds.
It’s got some decent endurance, with the Pavilion 14 lasting for 8hrs 18 minutes in our PC Mark 10 benchmark test, which means you’ll be able to just get through a working day before needing to charge it back up again. It’s worth noting though that this duration falls a little short against those similarly priced rivals from Honor and Microsoft that both lasted closer to nine hours overall.
Reviewer: Reece Bithrey
Full review: HP Pavilion 14 (2020) review
HP Pavilion 15 (2020)
Best 15-inch laptop
Pros
Beefy processor for day-to-day-tasksSolid display in most settingsStylish, sleek looks with good build quality
Cons
Sub-par battery life
The HP Pavilion 15 (2020) offers a slightly larger screen than the Pavilion 14 above and is a good middle ground for between more compact offerings and much larger panels.
There’s a 15.6-inch Full HD IPS panel on offer, which provides enough screen real estate for both day-to-day working and unwinding with a film on Netflix. In addition, we found the FHD resolution to be of major help in offering a good level of detail, and the fact this is an IPS panel also lent itself to offering up some great viewing angles.
Inside, it packs in an AMD Ryzen 7 4700U processor and while at this point it is a couple of generations old, we found it to produce some excellent results in both real world use and benchmark testing, with scores that beat Windows ultrabooks that are a fair bit more expensive than the Pavilion 15. 16 GB of RAM is more than enough headroom for working, while a 512GB SSD provides a decent capacity for most people.
We thought this laptop looked exceptionally modern too, with thin bezels around the screen, and while it is heavy at 1.75kg, that’s also reflective of how well built the Pavilion 15 is. In addition, the port selection involves a good selection of modern and legacy options, with everything from USB-C and USB-A to HDMI out and an SD-Card reader on offer. We found the keyboard to offer some smooth key action with a responsive keypress, while the trackpad is almost MacBook-like in size, and delivers accurate tracking and responsive buttons.
The only downside to the Pavilion 15 is that its battery life is only just seven and a half hours, as we measured during testing, which means you may need to do a bit of management to get it to last through a full working day. To be fair though, the figure we managed to get out of it closely matches the battery life that HP themselves quote, so, you get what you pay for.
Reviewer: Reece Bithrey
Full review: HP Pavilion 15 (2020) review
HP Omen 16 (2021)
Best gaming laptop
Pros
Great connectivity and featuresSolid 1080p gaming performanceExcellent AMD processorHigh-quality, high-resolution screen
Cons
AMD graphics can’t compete with NvidiaMediocre build qualityKeyboard and trackpad disappoint
If it’s a powerful Hewlett Packard gaming laptop you’re after, look no further than the HP Omen 16 (2021).
The AMD combo of a Ryzen 7 5800H processor and a Radeon RX 6600M GPU provided solid performance at the laptop’s native 1440p resolution and even speedier FPS rates at 1080p. There’s enough speed on offer for pretty much any mainstream game, but it’s worth noting the RX 6600M GPU inside lags behind its Nvidia counterpart, the RTX 3060, which is fitted to similarly priced laptops from Dell, for instance.
On the front of the processor, the Ryzen 7 5800H offered some impressive performance in the benchmarks, and powered this HP Omen 16 (2021) with ease. In addition, 16GB RAM also offered good speed, and the 512GB SSD is positively snappy.
The display is on the larger side for a laptop, offering a 16.1 inch screen, complete with a QHD (2560×1440) resolution, which is a boost compared to more conventional 15.6 inch 1080p options. We found colours to be accurate and the conbtrast to be superb with a colorimeter in hand.
Our reviewer found the design here to be stylish and discreet, with a matte-black aluminium and plastic casing. In addition, the port selection here is handy, with three USB-Cs, as well as HDMI 2.1 out, Mini DisplayPort and an SD card reader, as well as Ethernet. Compared to other gaming laptops though, its outer casing is a little rattly, and the keyboard, while fine for mainstream gameplay, feels a little soft for our liking.
Gaming laptops aren’t going to be the best for battery life, and sure enough, the Omen 16 (2021) lasted for 94 entire minutes in our testing – that’s about average compared to other gaming laptops. In a work test though, it mustered up six and three quarter hours, which is excellent for such a powerful machine. You may need to reach for a lead though to get through the last knockings of a working day, but for the most part, it’s got some decent endurance.
Reviewer: Mike Jennings
Full review: HP Omen 16 (2021) review
HP Victus 16 (2021)
Best affordable gaming laptop
Pros
Rock-solid mainstream gaming powerImpressive AMD Ryzen 7 CPUCheaper than the competition Quieter than most gaming laptops
Cons
Bland, washed-out displayMediocre connectivityIrritating power button
The HP Victus 16 (2021) should be a great option if it’s more of an affordable gaming laptop that you’re after.
The white model we had in for review looked excellent, with a different colour offering sitting it apart compared to more non-descript rivals from the likes of Lenovo and Dell. The all plastic frame does lead to some rattle however, and the build quality is perhaps a little middling. The port selection is okay, with a selection that involves USB-A and USB-C, as well as an SD card reader, Ethernet and HDMI out. For networking, expect to find WiFi 6 for some good speeds.
The Victus 16’s keyboard offers a snappy and quiet keypress, which is better than the softer, mushier keys we’ve tested on other laptops, although there isn’t any RGB lighting, and some of the keys are a little close together.
Its 16.1-inch display offers some extra width which is nice to have, and the Full HD resolution provides reasonable detail, although its 58.8% sRGB colour space coverage is poor. At least the 1714:1 contrast ratio means that colours at least have some depth to them, even if they can look a little bland. The competition from the likes of Dell and Lenovo was also plagued with iffy displays, which is a case in point as to why spending more will get you more for gaming laptop displays especially.
The components inside offer some good mid-range options with a Ryzen 7 5800H processor from AMD and an RTX 3060 GPU from Nvidia. The pair offered good pace when testing games, with frame rates in AAA titles ranging from 60-80fps at 1080p. In addition, the processor on offer provided some excellent performance in our benchmarks, offering speedy results that means the Victus is capable of not only gaming but also other intense workloads such as editing photos and videos.
We found the battery life here to be decent for a gaming laptop, with a total 90 minutes of charge while gaming and 7 hours in our office work benchmark, which is impressive for such a powerful laptop.
Reviewer: Mike Jennings
Full review: HP Victus 16 (2021) review
We also considered…
FAQs
HP Pavilion laptops are some of the more stylish looking mid-range choices in HP’s range, and offer great bang for the buck with solid performance and power in a sleek chassis.
This depends on what you need your HP laptop for. The likes of Pavilion and Envy laptops will be well suited to general working and day to day tasks, while the Victus and Omen lines are designed as gaming candidates.
In short, yes. HP is arguably one of the most reputable laptop brands out there, who make a wide range of greatl laptops to suit a range of purposes.
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