Today we will show you a laptop that is meant for home or office work and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. It's called HP Pavilion 15 (15-eh3000) and it offers 15W AMD 7000 CPU options. These are the Barcelo-U Refresh Zen 3 chips, not the new Zen 4 iterations but still, their performance is more than enough for casual daily tasks or for editing MS documents (especially if you get the optional 8-core processor). The device isn't expensive and that's why it's not loaded with features but it has all the essentials for normal usage. Like a full-sized keyboard with a NumPad, a Web camera, decent port selection (for the price), as well as Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 for connectivity. Interestingly, the memory isn't soldered which is good news for all users who are looking for a decent-priced notebook. You can choose between six display models - two touchscreens and four non-touch units. We can spot two 768p and one 1080p TN panel so read the specs very carefully before buying. Our advice is to get one of the optional Full HD IPS screens that offer better viewing angles. You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/hp-pavilion-15-15-eh3000/ Specs, Drivers, What's in the box Drivers All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/hp-pavilion-15-laptop-pc-15-eh3000/2101549717 What's in the box? Inside the packaging, you will find the mandatory manuals and a barrel-style plug 45W charger. Some devices are bundled with a 65W adapter. Design and construction The design is clean and the machine looks very similar to some other business devices from the same brand, like the HP ProBook 450 G10. The matte finish doesn't attract a lot of fingerprints which is nice to see. The machine is made mostly of plastic but that has its positive side - the weight is 1.75 kilos. The profile thickness is also good for a 15-incher - 17.9 mm. Yes, the portability of this notebook should be one of its key selling points. Unfortunately, you can't open the lid with a single hand it flexes badly if you try to twist it a bit. Sadly, the middle and the lower part of the keyboard deck is bending during typing and the same applies to the upper zones of the two palm rest areas. The rigidity of the chassis is nothing to write home about but that is somehow normal given the price tag. At least the bezels around the panel are thin. The top one houses a 720p Web camera with temporal noise reduction. The lid has a lever system that slightly raises the back of the base when you almost reach the maximum angle of opening (which isn't very wide at all). The full-sized keyboard has a NumPad section and big keycaps. Their travel is decent at best but the feedback is pleasantly ckicky. The board is comfortable enough for long typing sessions. However, the backlight is optional so you have to pay more if you like to use your notebook in a dimmed room during the night. The size of the "Up" and "Down" Arrow keys is reduced. The optional fingerprint reader is placed on the right palm rest zone. The touchpad is an average unit - it's not smooth and it could be more accurate but overall, the pad will do the job for normal usage. Flipping the laptop upside down reveals two long rubber feet, a ventilation grill, and two speaker cutouts. The hot air is guided through a vent on the back and some amount of heat makes its way to the display under heavy CPU load. Ports On the left side, there is an HDMI 2.1, a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port with charging capabilities, a USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 2) port with charging and DisplayPort 1.4 functions, and an Audio combo jack. On the right, you get the power plug, a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port that supports charging, and a security slot. Display quality, Health impact (PWM), Sound HP Pavilion 15 (15-eh3000) is equipped with a Full HD IPS panel, model number AUO AUO5799 (A156HAN01.0). It comes with a 60Hz refresh rate. Its diagonal is 15.6" (39.6 cm), and the resolution - 1920 x 1080p. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:9, the pixel density – 142 ppi, and their pitch – 0.18 x 0.18 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 60 cm (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels). Viewing angles are good. We offer images at different angles to evaluate the quality. Also, a video with locked focus and exposure. The maximum measured brightness is 295 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 276 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 10%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 6500K. In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. The illustration below shows how matters are for operational brightness levels (approximately 140 nits) – in this particular case at 69% Brightness (White level = 141 cd/m2, Black level = 0.11 cd/m2). Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work (a maximum tolerance of 2.0 ). The contrast ratio is good – 1300:1. To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy. Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook. Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day. The yellow dotted line shows HP Pavilion 15 (15-eh3000)'s color gamut coverage. Its display covers 52% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976 and 40% of DCI-P3. Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode. We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile. Below you can compare the scores of the HP Pavilion 15 (15-eh3000) with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right). The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light. The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions. Response time (Gaming capabilities) We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa. We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 28 ms. After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude. Health Impact: PWM (Screen flickering) Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM. HP Pavilion 15 (15-eh3000)'s display doesn't flicker at any brightness level. This makes the screen pretty comfortable for long periods of use. Health Impact: Blue light emissions Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light. Health Impact: Gloss-level measurement Glossy-coated displays are sometimes inconvenient in high ambient light conditions. We show the level of reflection on the screen for the respective laptop when the display is turned off and the measurement angle is 60° (in this case, the result is 68.3 GU). Sound HP Pavilion 15 (15-eh3000)'s B&O speakers produce a sound of very good quality and high maximum volume. Its low, mid, and high tones are clear of deviations. Buy our profiles Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for HP Pavilion 15 (15-eh3000) configurations with 15.6" AUO AUO5799 (A156HAN01.0) (1920 x 1080) IPS. *Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at bg.laptopmedia@gmail.com. Read more about the profiles HERE. Performance: CPU, GPU, Gaming Tests All benchmarks and tests were conducted with the Balanced preset activated in the Windows “Power & Battery” menu. Also. the "Fan always on" function in the BIOS is enabled. CPU options This device is offered with the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U or AMD Ryzen 7 7730U. GPU options You get only integrated graphics, no dGPUs here. Gaming tests CS:GO HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings) HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings) Average FPS 135 fps 79 fps 55 fps DOTA 2 HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings) HD 1080p, High (Check settings) Average FPS 114 fps 65 fps 38 fps [eBook Guide + Tools] How to MAX OUT your Laptop Temperatures and comfort, Battery Life Max CPU load In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering. Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp. AMD Ryzen 7 7730U (15W TDP) 0:02 - 0:10 sec 0:15 - 0:30 sec 10:00 - 15:00 min HP Pavilion 15 (15-eh3000) 2.78 GHz @ 55°C @ 30W 2.60 GHz @ 60°C @ 25W 2.33 GHz @ 70°C @ 20W Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 6 (AMD) 3.13 GHz @ 79°C @ 45W 3.03 GHz @ 96°C @ 43W 2.89 GHz @ 91°C @ 38W Lenovo ThinkPad E16 Gen 1 (AMD) 2.71 GHz @ 47°C @ 30W 2.71 GHz @ 58°C @ 30W 2.75 GHz @ 78°C @ 30W Dell Vostro 15 3535 2.70 GHz @ 71°C @ 29W 2.47 GHz @ 75°C @ 25W 2.39 GHz @ 84°C @ 23W Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (14″ AMD, Gen 8) 2.75 GHz @ 80°C @ 29W 2.56 GHz @ 87°C @ 25W 2.37 GHz @ 85°C @ 20W Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5 (14" AMD, Gen 8) 2.56 GHz @ 56°C @ 28W 2.55 GHz @ 63°C @ 27W 2.49 GHz @ 67°C @ 24W Acer Aspire 5 (A515-48M) 3.17 GHz @ 63°C @ 44W 2.97 GHz @ 71°C @ 37W 3.02 GHz @ 82°C @ 37W The frequencies under load of the Ryzen 7 7730U are always above the base clock of 2.00 GHz which is good. The temperatures are surprisingly low, especially in short and medium loads. Comfort during full load The single fan isn't noisy at all, actually, it's hard to hear it unless the CPU isn't pounded with serious stress. Of course, when the processor is doing the heavy lifting, you can heat the fan but it's almost quiet. In this scenario, the left side of the board is slightly warm but not hot. This laptop is tuned for comfort over maximum performance. Battery Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. This laptop comes with a 41Wh battery pack. It lasts for 8 hours and 20 minutes of Web browsing or 6 hours and 40 minutes of video playback. To achieve that, you have to apply the Balanced preset in the Windows “Power & Battery” menu and disable the "Fan always on" function in the BIOS. Disassembly, Upgrade options, and Maintenance To get inside this notebook, you need to undo six Phillips-head screws. Two of them are visible while the other four are hidden. You have to unglue the two rubber feet to gain access to the other four screws. After that, pry the bottom panel, starting from the back. Here's how the bottom plate looks on the inside. The battery is a 41Wh model. The connector is built into the unit so if you want to remove it you have to wear gloves to avoid short circuits. The next step is to undo the six Phillips-head screws that are keeping the unit fixed to the chassis. The battery lasts for 8 hours and 20 minutes of Web browsing or 6 hours and 40 minutes of video playback. Given the small capacity, the result is good. The two SODIMM slots can handle up to 16GB of DDR4-3200 MHz RAM in dual-channel mode. As for storage, there is just one M.2 PCIe x4 slot that supports Gen 4 SSDs. There is a thin thermal pad below the preinstalled NVMe. The speed of the SSD is limited to Gen 3 values. The cooling system comprises one fan, two long heat pipes, one large heat sink, and a heat spreader. Storage performance Our laptop is equipped with a 1TB KIOXIA KBG50ZNV1T02. Below you can see some benchmarks of this NVMe. Its temperatures under load are low - just 43°C. Verdict The HP Pavilion 15 (15-eh3000) is an unpretentious device that offers good performance for casual everyday tasks or normal office usage like editing documents or video calls. The refreshed Zen 3 CPUs are still powerful enough for such work and if your laptop has dual-channel memory, you can play some light games such as CS:GO or Dota 2 after work. The processor can sustain decent clocks under any kind of load and the temperatures are on the low side thanks to the cooling with two heat pipes and one fan. The upgradability is decent - you get two SODDIMs for DDR4 memory which is a rare find in this price category. It's a bit disappointing that the maximum amount of RAM is just 16GB of memory. The single M.2 slot is compatible with Gen 4 SSDs but their speed will be limited to the Gen 3 standard. The portability is good, the device isn't heavy and it has a profile of 17.9 mm - not bad for a 15.6-inch form factor. The chassis isn't among the most solid ones that we've seen - we spot a lot of flexes on both the lid and the base. Still, the sturdiness of the laptop isn't catastrophic but the keyboard deck is spongy during typing which isn't pleasant. On the other hand, the board is good enough for long typing sessions. The IPS display (AUO AUO5799 (A156HAN01.0)) isn't impressive with its low sRGB coverage but it has a good contrast ratio and comfortable viewing angles. Most importantly, it's PWM-free so your eyes will be spared if you are going to use the machine for long hours. The battery has a modest capacity of just 41Wh but the autonomous work on a single charge is for sure nice - more than 8 hours of Web browsing. The port selection isn't wide but it's fine considering the price class - three USB ports, LAN, and an HDMI 2.1. Last but not least, the cooling fan isn't noisy. The HP Pavilion 15 (15-eh3000) is an inexpensive device that offers an optional IPS display, a comfortable keyboard, and good battery life. You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/hp-pavilion-15-15-eh3000/