HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop (2018) review: Plays harder than its price

The Pavilion Gaming Laptop isn't as aggressive or cutting-edge as HP's Omen gaming line, though that's sort of the point. The PC maker promotes it as a solid, reliable laptop for gaming and everyday tasks and it definitely lives up to that. 

7.8

HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop (2018)

The Good

The HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop has a respectable mix of components for solid performance for both everyday tasks and gaming. The design is nicer than most other mainstream gaming laptops.

The Bad

HP's configuration options are limited compared to its competitors and other features are behind the curve, too. No gaming-oriented extra features, beyond its green glowing keyboard.

The Bottom Line

The HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop is as straightforward as its name. You'll find solid gaming performance and just enough of an edge to keep things interesting.

You won't find the latest Nvidia RTX graphics chips inside, and it doesn't have gaming extras such as RGB LED keyboard lighting or GPU overclocking. What you do get is snappy multitasking and gaming performance and a design that stands out from the run-of-the-mill. It's a 15.6-inch, budget-minded laptop that's not too flashy.

Prices start at $780 on HP's site with Nvidia's 2GB GeForce GTX 1050 (£649 in the UK, AU$1,749 in Australia), but I tested a $999 Amazon-exclusive configuration with a stronger 4GB GTX 1050 Ti, which isn't currently an option direct from HP. Generally speaking, it's a good deal for what you're getting in design, specs and performance. But, depending on what you personally want in a $999 gaming laptop, it might not be the best deal at this moment.   

That green gaming glow

Like Dell's G series gaming laptops, this Pavilion is relatively thin and light for a budget-minded gaming laptop and is more angular than the rest of the Pavilion line, especially at the rear where the fan vents jut out beyond the lid's bottom. Beyond that, there's a subtle green tint to the HP logo on top and the acid green backlit keyboard to help give it a "gaming laptop" look.

If you don't like green, it comes in white and violet versions, too. The former would be a nice option if you need your gaming laptop to be less conspicuous in an office environment. The green does look nice, though, and it's a nice change from all the red typically used on entry-level gaming laptops. The keys remain easy to read with the backlight off. Even the font choice is interesting. 

The keyboard is comfortable to use as well, with enough travel to keep a hard touch typist like me from feeling tired after all-day use. Aside from the WASD keys being outlined, there are no other gaming features to the keyboard and no software to set up macros or anything like that. The touchpad is acceptable for everyday use, if unremarkable. It doesn't have discrete buttons, which I personally like to have for games where a mouse isn't entirely necessary. 

Something's gotta give

On sub-$1,000 gaming laptops, it's not uncommon for the display quality to suffer for the lower price. The full-HD 60Hz panel on this configuration is no different. It's by no means bad, with good off-angle viewing and contrast, but it's not terribly bright and the color gamut and accuracy isn't ideal for content creation. HP does, however, offer a 144Hz panel for better gaming performance or a 4K-resolution display aimed at content creators.   

If you're planning to keep this on a desk most of the time, the Pavilion has a satisfactory port selection for your peripherals. On the right is power, USB 3.1 Type-C Gen 1 and USB 3.1 Type-A Gen 1 -- both for data only -- HDMI 1.4 out, Ethernet and a combo headphone/mic jack. Two more USB 3.1 Type-A Gen 1 ports are on the left with an SD card slot. Those are all just a notch below what you'd find on something like the Dell G5, which has a Thunderbolt 3 USB-C port, HDMI 2.0 out and Gigabit Ethernet. 

Lastly, while HP talks up the B&O-tuned speakers on this system, they're nothing to get too excited about. You'll want external speakers or a good headset for movies, music and gaming. 

Gaming high and low

The Pavilion was able to hold its own against similarly priced and configured gaming laptops. Older games such as Deus Ex: Mankind Divided were playable on high settings with the 1050 Ti, but needed a drop to medium to make them enjoyable. For the newer Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Far Cry 5 I set them to medium/normal to keep gameplay smooth throughout. Sessions of Fortnite were definitely playable, though, as was Overwatch, all at its native 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution with high detail settings. 

The dual fans try their best to keep the Pavilion cool. You can definitely hear them working, that's for sure. Just keep it off your lap and on a hard surface when you're stressing the system. 

Battery life is also on par with the competition, coming in at just over 5 hours. And that's on our streaming video test, so don't expect that for gaming. Basically, if you're going out for the day, you'll probably want to bring the power supply and you'll certainly want it if you're gaming.   

HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 2018

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Well-rounded at a reasonable price

As its name somewhat implies, the HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop is a straightforward, no-nonsense laptop for PC gaming and whatever else you need to get done. Other gaming laptops in this range can feel cheap and plasticky, but that's not the case here and its subtle gamer design is more appealing for everyday use. Gaming performance is strong, too, for what you're paying.