HP 15-fd000 15.6" 15-FD0130 Moonlight Blue 2024

The HP 15-fd000 is a basic touchscreen laptop that handles everyday tasks without drama. Its best feature is the 512GB SSD, which is a solid inclusion at this price. Buy it if you find it under $650 and only need a machine for browsing, streaming, and light work.

The i3-N305 is a little 8-core chip that sips power and stays quiet, which is great for battery life and fan noise. It'll zip through web tabs and document editing without complaint. But our database puts this CPU in the bottom quarter of laptops we track, so don't expect miracles. The 8GB of RAM is the real bottleneck here, sitting at the 13th percentile. Multitasking gets tight fast, and the Intel UHD graphics are a weak spot for anything beyond video playback. The 512GB SSD is solidly average, which is actually a win at this price.

Stacked against something like a MacBook Pro M4 Pro or an ASUS ProArt PX13, this HP looks like it's from a different decade, and that's fine because it costs a fraction of the price. The real fight is with other budget Windows laptops. A Lenovo IdeaPad or Acer Aspire in the same range will often trade the touchscreen for a better processor or more RAM. The HP's standout feature is that touch display, but you're giving up CPU and GPU performance to get it. The Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro 360 is in another universe of screen quality and speed, but you'll pay triple for the privilege.

Pricing on this model is all over the map, with a spread of nearly $14,000 across vendors, which is frankly absurd. The real price you should pay is at the low end, around $600. At that number, you're getting a functional touchscreen laptop with a modern Wi-Fi card and enough storage. If you see it creeping past $700, walk away. There are better screens and more RAM to be had for not much more money.

The HP 15-fd000 is a budget laptop that doesn't try to be anything it's not. You get a 15.6-inch touchscreen, a decent 512GB SSD, and an 8-core Intel i3-N305 that handles the basics without making a fuss. It's thin, light, and comes in a nice Moonlight Blue finish that looks cleaner than most plastic laptops at this end of the pool.

But the corners cut here are pretty obvious once you start pushing it. 8GB of RAM is tight for Windows 11, the screen is just okay, and the integrated graphics mean you can forget about gaming or heavy creative work. This is a machine for browsing, streaming, and Office apps, and it knows its lane.

If you need to run demanding software, keep more than a dozen browser tabs open, or care about screen quality for photo editing, look elsewhere. The 8GB of RAM and weak CPU will frustrate you within a year. Anyone who wants to game, even casually, should avoid this entirely and find something with a dedicated GPU or at least a stronger AMD integrated chip.

This laptop is for students, casual home users, or anyone who needs a simple Windows machine for web browsing, email, and streaming. The touchscreen makes it a decent pick for older relatives who prefer tapping over trackpads. If your workload stays inside a browser and Microsoft Office, it'll serve you fine. Just don't ask it to do any heavy lifting.