HP 15 15.6 Grey 2025

The HP 15 pairs a strong Ryzen 7 5825U with 16GB RAM and a touchscreen for $719. It's a solid everyday laptop, but the small battery, weak display colors, and limited ports hold it back. Worth buying if you need a budget-friendly daily driver, not if you need power or longevity.

The Ryzen 7 5825U is the star here. Eight cores and a 4.5GHz boost clock give this thing real muscle for multitasking, spreadsheets, and even some light photo editing. The 16GB of DDR4 RAM helps, though it's not the fastest memory out there. The integrated Radeon Graphics are fine for basic tasks but won't handle modern games or heavy GPU work. Storage is a 512GB NVMe SSD, which is snappy for boot times and app launches. The display is a 1080p IPS touchscreen at 300 nits, which is usable but not exciting, and the 45% NTSC color coverage means colors look a bit washed out if you're doing any serious creative work.

Stacked against the competition, the HP 15 feels like a budget option in a room full of premium machines. The Apple MacBook Pro M5 and Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition absolutely crush it in battery life, build quality, and display quality, but they also cost way more. The ASUS ROG Zephyrus and Lenovo Legion 5i are gaming-focused and blow the HP out of the water on GPU performance, though they're heavier and pricier. The MSI Creator A13V is a better pick for creative work with its superior screen and GPU. The HP 15's main advantage is price and portability, but you're giving up a lot to get there.

At $719 USD, the HP 15 is a mixed bag on value. You're getting a legit 8-core processor, 16GB of RAM, and a touchscreen, which is a decent combo for under $750. But the small battery, limited ports, and mediocre screen hold it back. If you just need a dependable daily driver for office work and web browsing, it's a reasonable deal. If you want something that'll last all day on a charge or handle creative work, you'll probably want to spend a bit more elsewhere.

The HP 15 is a budget-friendly 15.6-inch touchscreen laptop that tries to do a little bit of everything. It packs a Ryzen 7 5825U, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB NVMe SSD into a 3.52-pound chassis. On paper, that sounds like a solid everyday machine for work, school, and light creative tasks.

But the scores tell a more honest story. Our database puts this thing right around the middle of the pack for CPU, screen, and storage, with weaker showings for ports, RAM speed, and reliability. It's not a bad laptop, but it's not a standout either. You're getting a capable processor in a fairly average package.

Skip this if you need serious battery life, a color-accurate display, or any kind of gaming or GPU-heavy performance. The 41Wh battery won't get you through a full workday, the 45% NTSC screen is a letdown for photo or video work, and the integrated graphics are a non-starter for modern games. Also, if you rely on lots of peripherals, the single USB-C port and lack of Thunderbolt will frustrate you.

This laptop is for someone who needs a capable Windows machine for everyday tasks without breaking the bank. Students, office workers, and casual users will appreciate the Ryzen 7's speed and the touchscreen. It's not for gamers, serious creators, or anyone who needs all-day battery life. If you fit that first group, the HP 15 gets the job done. If you don't, keep looking.