HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2019 review – faster, better, but not stronger

Earlier this year HP has updated its Pavilion Gaming laptop brand with a whole new design, that according to them is going to provide a lot better cooling capability. When we tested the 17-inch version we were surprised that it wasn’t just a marketing gimmick, but they have actually increased the size of the ventilation grills and the exhaust cut-outs.

What is even better is that they did so with their 15-inch version model as well. We are clearly going to question that in this review, and we are going to evaluate the new 1080p 144Hz display, as it is going to be the best choice for this configuration. Additionally, you can spec out the machine with Intel’s 6-core monster, the Core i7-9750H and up to GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q. One thing is sure for now – the new model looks far more capable and surely has a better build quality than its predecessor.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/hp-pavilion-gaming-15-2019/

Contents


Specs Sheet

HP Pavilion Gaming 15 (15-dk0000, dk1000, dk2000) - Specs

  • BOE080D
  • Color accuracy  5.1  2.6
  • LGD05FE
  • Color accuracy  2.8  1.2
  • HDD/SSD
  • up to 8000GB SSD + up to 2000GB HDD
  • RAM
  • up to 64GB
  • OS
  • Windows 10 Home, No OS, Windows 11 Home, Windows 10 Pro, Windows 11 Pro
  • Battery
  • 52.5Wh, 3-cell
  • Body material
  • Plastic / Polycarbonate
  • Dimensions
  • - x - x 23.4 mm (0.00" x 0.00" x 0.92")
  • Weight
  • 2.23 kg (4.9 lbs)
  • Ports and connectivity
  • 1x USB Type-C
  • 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps)
  • 3x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • HDMI
  • Ethernet LAN
  • Gigabit Ethernet
  • Wi-Fi
  • Bluetooth
  • Audio jack
  • 3.5mm audio jack
  • Features
  • Fingerprint reader
  • Web camera
  • HD 720p
  • Backlit keyboard
  • optional
  • Microphone
  • Digital dual-array microphones
  • Speakers
  • Optical drive

All HP Pavilion Gaming 15 (15-dk0000, dk1000, dk2000) configurations

#CommissionsEarned

What’s in the box?

Inside the package, you’ll find the laptop itself, as well as some paperwork and a 200W power adapter (for the GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q model).


Design and construction

Quite frankly, this year’s design looks bulkier than what we saw last year. However, dealing with numbers, we see the opposite. The Pavilion Gaming 15 (2019) weighs the same 2.30 kg but has a thinner profile – 25.4mm vs 23.4mm. Nevertheless, the laptop still features a plastic base and lid cover, which makes it less durable than the Omen machines.

As we imagined, the lid of this notebook cannot be opened with a single hand. Not only the hinge is stiff to open, but in an upright position, we experienced some shaking when you push the lid gently. After all, we have to take into consideration that this is a budget line of gaming machines.

Next, we move to the base, where we are met by a huge grill on its top – courtesy to the Pavilion legacy of the machine. Ultimately, this is where the speakers reside, which means they are firing towards the user – a definite plus for the Pavilion Gaming. Then, there is the keyboard. It has large keycaps and a full-sized NumberPad section. Moreover, it has a decent key travel, combined with clicky feedback. Of course, there are some downsides – like the bunched up “Up” and “Down” arrow keys for example.

Additionally, the plastic material on the base is not helping in the resistance to bending. You are definitely going to experience that in casual typing. On the bright side, the touchpad is pretty nice. It is accurate and responsive, which works great in unison with the 144Hz refresh rate of the display. Not only that, but the touchpad is slightly larger than what we are used to on Windows machines.

Turning the laptop upside-down reveals the enlarged ventilation grill, which is left alone here. Expectedly, the hot air is escaping from the also enlarged grills at the back, which should result in lower noise levels.

Ports

On the left side, there is an HDMI 2.1 connector, a USB Type-A 3.1 (Gen. 1) port (Sleep and Charge function), a Gigabit Ethernet port, a USB Type-C 3.1 (Gen. 2) port and an SD card reader. Then on the right, you will see the charging plug, two USB Type-A 3.1 (Gen. 1) ports and an audio combo jack.


Disassembly, upgrade options and maintenance

The procedure to disassemble this notebook is incredibly similar to the on the HP Omen of recent years. There are three very short in length Phillips-head screws towards the front of the device and four extremely long in comparison, but still of the same type, towards the back. After you remove them, you can begin the prying process, which in our opinion is one of the more difficult ones. Just have patience and definitely use plastic tools, rather than metal ones.

As far as the cooling goes, there are two heat pipes directly cooling the CPU and the GPU. Additionally, there is a tiny one that is dedicated to the graphics card, or more accurately – its memory modules. At the top, there is an additional one (keep in mind that the two smaller heat pipes are not connected to a heat sink), that dissipates the heat from the VRMs.

Then come the RAM and the storage. Let’s start with the former. This notebook supports up to 32GB of DDR4 memory, across two RAM DIMMs. Additionally, there is a 2.5″ SATA drive slot and one M.2 slot that supports super-fast NVMe drives.

Battery-wise you can rely on a 52.5Wh energy package.


Display quality

HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2019 has a Full HD IPS panel that works at 144Hz and has a model number LGD05FE. Its diagonal is 15.6″ (39.62 cm), and the resolution 1920 х 1080 pixels. The screen ratio is 16:9, and we are looking at a pixel density of – 142 ppi, and a pitch of 0.18 х 0.18 mm. The screen turns into Retina when viewed at distance equal to or greater than 60cm (24″) (from this distance one’s eye stops differentiating the separate pixels, and it is normal for looking at a laptop).

Its display has excellent viewing angles. We offer images at 45° to evaluate image quality.

The measured maximum brightness of 332 nits in the middle of the screen and 311 nits as an average for the whole area, with a maximum deviation of 10%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen is 7000K – colder than the sRGB standard of 6500K.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. In other words, the leakage of light from the light source.

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. The contrast ratio is good – 810:1 (760:1 after profiling).

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 in 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 an 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 Gaming 15 2019’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers 91% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976.

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 HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2019 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 = 10 ms. Very quick response time for an IPS panel.


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 Gaming 15 2019’s display doesn’t use PMW to adjust its brightness levels. This makes it comfortable for long working or gaming sessions, without harming your eyes in this aspect.

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.

Conclusion

HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2019’s display has a 144Hz refresh rate, Full HD resolution, great viewing angles, and a decent contrast ratio. Moreover, its backlight lacks PWM and it covers 91% of sRGB. Additionally, with the Gaming and Web design profile, the display becomes color-accurate enough for Web design usage.

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 Gaming 15 2019 configurations with 15.6″ 144Hz FHD IPS LGD05FE.

*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 [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Sound

HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2019’s speakers are tuned by Bang & Olufsen. They sound good and fairly loud, which is confirmed by the frequency graph, as there are no deviations across the entire spectrum.


Drivers

You can get all of the drivers and utilities for this laptop from here: https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-pavilion-gaming-15-dk0000-laptop-pc/26122224

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with 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. The Pavilion Gaming 15 2019 is equipped with a 52.5Wh battery pack.

We were able to get 5 hours and 40 minutes of Web browsing and 5 hours of video playback from it.


CPU options

In terms of processors, this model comes with either the Core i5-9300H or the Core i7-9750H.


GPU options

On the other side, the graphics card segment is a bit more populous – you can pick from the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 3GB or 4GB, as well as the GTX 1650 (4GB of GDDR5) and the GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q (6GB of GDDR6).


Gaming tests

Far Cry 5Full HD, Normal (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Ultra (Check settings)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q91 fps84 fps79 fps

rise-of-the-tomb-raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016)Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q116 fps58 fps38 fps

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon WildlandsFull HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)Full HD, Ultra (Check settings)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q71 fps63 fps41 fps

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018)Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Highest (Check settings)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q76 fps69 fps44 fps

Temperatures and comfort

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.

Core i7-9750H (45W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
HP Pavilion Gaming 15 20193.57 GHz (B+37%)@ 81°C2.88 GHz (B+11%)@ 73°C2.66 GHz (B+2%)@ 73°C
Lenovo Legion Y7000 (2019)3.34 GHz (B+28%)@ 72°C3.15 GHz (B+21%)@ 82°C2.99 GHz (B+15%)@ 79°C
Lenovo Legion Y5402.78 GHz (B+7%)@ 74°C3.08 GHz (B+18%)@ 90°C2.87 GHz (B+10%)@ 79°C
ASUS ROG G7313.38 GHz (B+30%)@ 87°C3.43 GHz (B+32%)@ 94°C2.63 GHz @ 73°C
ASUS ROG G5313.41 GHz (B+31%)@ 95°C3.23 GHz (B+24%)@ 95°C2.72 GHz (B+5%)@ 79°C
HP Omen 17 20193.44 GHz (B+32%)@ 86°C2.74 GHz (B+5%)@ 71°C2.67 GHz (B+3%)@ 71°C

In a similar fashion to the Omen 17 2019, the Pavilion Gaming 15 2019 pushes its clock speeds for a short amount of time. After that, the frequency drops drastically (but still above throttling levels), while maintaining low temperature and noise levels.

Real gameplay

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Max-QGPU frequency/ Core temp (after 2 min)GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min)
HP Pavilion Gaming 15 20191400 MHz @ 66°C1365 MHz @ 71°C
HP Pavilion Gaming 17 20191334 MHz @ 67°C1282 MHz @ 75°C
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 TiGPU frequency/ Core temp (after 2 min)GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min)
Lenovo Legion Y7000 (2019)1669 MHz @ 66°C1646 MHz @ 71°C
Lenovo Legion Y5401761 MHz @ 76°C1752 MHz @ 82°C
Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-54)1660 MHz @ 78°C1635 MHz @ 84°C

On the other side, the noise levels are significantly higher during gaming. However, it is not too intrusive, and when you look at the chart, you would see how effective this cooling actually is.

Gaming comfort

The good thing is that the palm-rest area remained cool throughout the entire test. But then, the middle portion of the keyboard was pretty warm – a hair beneath 50C.


Verdict

In comparison to its predecessor, the Pavilion Gaming 15 2019 is a step ahead in almost every direction. First, of course – the gaming experience. It delivered quite better performance, thanks to the GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q. However, how was it able to do so, when the last model was overheating like crazy – at least in the GPU department.

What remains on a high level is the display. It (LGD05FE) has a good contrast ratio, excellent viewing angles and thanks to the 144Hz refresh rate – super-fast response times. Moreover, we haven’t detected PWM at any brightness level, and it covers 91% of sRGB. What more? Well, when you install our Gaming and Web design profile, its Average dE drops to a value of 1.2, which makes the notebook perfect for Web designers.

While the battery life is not the strongest point of the notebook, we have to keep in mind that we are talking about a 144Hz display. It usually draws a lot more juice than a 60Hz one. With that said, we were able to get 5 hours and 40 minutes of Web browsing and 5 hours straight from the 52.5Wh battery.

Then, there is the upgradability of the Pavilion Gaming 15 2019. It supports up to 32GB of DDR4 memory thanks to its two RAM DIMMs. Additionally, you can put a 2.5″ SATA drive inside, as well as an M.2 NVMe drive for blazingly quick storage.

Well, while there is plenty of choice in the I/O-side, we didn’t see a Thunderbolt port, which is petty. On the bright side, it has an SD card reader and a Gigabit Ethernet connector, both of which are sometimes neglected by manufacturers.

Also, despite we like the overall looks of the device, it doesn’t necessarily mean we are fine with the build quality – its lid can’t be opened with a single hand, there is some flex to the base when you are typing and not on the last place – the entirely plastic build doesn’t help with the structural integrity of the machine, thus making it more fragile than it needs to be.

So if you put your priorities straight, and you are looking at this laptop more like a desktop that you are going to carry around – go for it, you won’t regret it. However, if you want a higher quality product, you can go either for the Omen series or the Helios 300 from Acer.

Pros

  • Adequate price
  • Good keyboard with decent travel, big arrows, and a backlight
  • Capable and relatively quiet cooling solution
  • The display doesn’t flicker at any brightness level (LGD05FE)
  • 144Hz panel has very fast response times (LGD05FE)
  • Covers 91% of sRGB and with the help of our Gaming and Web design profile, reaches an Average dE of 1.1 (LGD05FE)
  • Feature-packed I/O (includes an SD card slot)


Cons

  • Lacks Thunderbolt connectivity
  • Build quality could have been better

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/hp-pavilion-gaming-15-2019/

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Dave
Dave
4 years ago

how would the display quality and color accuracy of the 60 hz screen be?

hangchinhhieu
4 years ago
Reply to  Dave

I think: Full HD IPS panel that works at 144Hz

Brant
Brant
4 years ago

Thank you for this review and all your reviews are very helpful

Nichole Luxford
Nichole Luxford
4 years ago

I just bought one for my kids. However, the SSD is almost full. Is there a slot to add a second ssd? Thanks

BoL
BoL
3 years ago

There should be another m.2 slot or 2.5in bay depending on model. Mine came with an additional m.2

Nelson
Nelson
3 years ago

Thanks for your review! Very helpful! The 1660 Ti model appears to come with only a 256GB SSD. Did you add a HDD? Are all brackets/connectors that are needed to add the HDD already in the laptop? Thanks!

BoL
BoL
3 years ago
Reply to  Nelson

Mine didn’t have a 2.5in drive came with another m.2

Qskata
Qskata
3 years ago
Reply to  Nelson

The laptop is coming with SSD (128gb minimal) and a HDD 1Tb, so there is a lot of memory

Sannd
Sannd
3 years ago

Please share the model number of the reviewed laptop. There are so many iterations of a laptop, it’s difficult to know which other models of the Pavilion Gaming 15 – 2019 use the same display.

Andrew
Andrew
3 years ago

Good review. Build quality is pretty woeful. Had it for a week and it’s already got a tiny dent in corner. Funny thing is, my old HP laptop, which I’ve had for 6 years doesn’t even have a scratch.

junior
junior
3 years ago

just bought the 15-dk0096wm model for 481 bucks (with taxes)… came with gtx 1650 but how i see if have a port for 2.5. Also buy a ssd of 480gb and 16 gb ram for upgrade. All for 590 bucks, is my first laptop with a can do some play games. Is a good price or can have a better deal for that cash?