We consider gaming laptops to be the most powerful. Even non-gamers choose them for their powerful hardware specifications. This growing demand has seen a lot gaming laptops enter the market. Today, a decent gaming laptop costs anywhere between Rs. 60,000 to 70,000. However, many models in this range use older hardware which may not be great by 2019 standards. Some models can be bulky, and some may have average build quality.
In this crowd of laptops, HP’s Gaming Pavilion 15-DK0047TX appears to be a great package. It comes with a premium looking design, has a great build quality and even sports the latest generation hardware. Most importantly, you get all these features by spending a little less than Rs. 80,000. But how important are these features? Do they really make any performance difference, and is this laptop really worth your money?
We reviewed the HP Pavilion 15-DK0047TX to answer these questions.
Design and Build
The HP Gaming Pavilion (DK0047TX) is a 15-inch laptop, which comes in an all-polycarbonate shell. The laptop has a lot of curved contours and it looks like HP got their design inspiration from fighter jets. The laptop looks better than its competition and we especially like the heat vents, which are designed to look like jet thrusters. The device is nicely put together. It has a strong hinge and no loose ends. Weighing close to 2.25kg and with a thickness of 2.34cm, this is one of the sleekest gaming laptop you can find in this price range.
As we mentioned earlier, the entire body of the laptop is made of polycarbonate but despite its matte finish, it attract fingerprints. Once you open the lid, you notice a 15-inch full HD (1920 x 1080) display with thin bezels. The top of the display holds a web camera while the bottom has a HP logo. Below the hinge, are the front facing speakers, which look impressive in their 3D mesh design. Speaking of connectivity, all the ports are placed on the sides. They are easily accessible and you don’t need to worry about wire management even if you connect several devices to it.
Moving on to the keyboard bay, the HP Gaming Pavilion 15-DK0047TX gets a full-size keyboard. The keys light up in violet however, you don’t get an option to customize the colour. All the keys are nicely spaced, and you can comfortably use them even if you have bigger hands. HP has also used a futuristic font styling on the keys, so it matches laptop’s gaming DNA.
Even the trackpad is slightly wider than traditional laptops. This comes handy while scrolling through large spreadsheets or using different tools in your favourite image or video editor. Additionally, the touchpad also supports Microsoft’s Precision Touch technology, so you can use finger gestures, even create shortcuts to open applications and switch between them.
Features
The HP Gaming Pavilion 15-DK0047TX runs on Intel’s Core i5-9300H processor which powers it through most computing tasks. Our review unit came with 8GB of RAM, 256 GB solid-state drive (SSD) and a 1TB hard disk drive. There is also a higher-spec variant which comes with an Intel Core i7-9750H processor and other enhancements. However, the feature that really makes this laptop exceptional is its graphics card.
Most gaming laptops priced between Rs. 60,000 to 70,000 today, sport NVIDIA’s GeForce 1050 graphics card but it is slightly dated by 2019 standards. That’s where the HP Gaming Pavilion 15-DK0047TX get its edge over the others. It runs a NVIDIA GeForce 1650 graphics card which is much faster. In fact, NVIDIA announced the 1650 graphics solutions soon after the launch RTX 2000 series graphics cards, so users could choose a powerful graphic solution at an affordable price.
The HP Pavilion Gaming sports a 15-inch full HD screen. It is an IPS LED panel, so the colours produced are quite vibrant and it also offers great viewing angles. The screen refresh rate on our model was limited to 60Hz, and we would have been happier if it was a 120Hz screen. After all, it’s a gaming laptop and you would prefer higher refresh rate displays to play fast paced games such as Battlefield V. The competition lacks it too. However, you can go for the higher spec model, which comes built with a 144Hz screen.
HP has ensured that the Gaming Pavilion 15-DK0047TX has ample connectivity. It has three USB 3.0 ports along with a Type-C port for faster data transfers. This Type-C port can be also used to charge the device and also for connecting compatible monitors. Additionally, it also has a HDMI port for connecting a projector or an external display.
The HP Pavilion Gaming gets latest Wi-Fi 802.11ac with MIMO support. This technology use multiple transmitters and receivers to transfer large amounts of data at once. It reduces signal interference between the router and the laptop. However, for low-latency online gaming we still recommend using the RJ45 Ethernet port
Performance
Whether you are a gamer or not, expectations from a gaming laptop are always high. Thankfully, the HP Gaming Pavilion fulfils most of them with its 9th generation Core i5-9300H processor. The strength of the laptop is clearly visible through its good result, a score of 4,517 in the PCMark 10 test. This is a pretty strong score in comparison to its competition.
The NVIDIA GeForce 1650 graphics card is primed for gaming. To test the graphic performance, we ran the Street Fighter IV benchmark at full HD resolutions. The laptop managed to get a score of 18,847 with an average framerate of 223.13 fps. You can easily play slightly older gaming titles such as DOTA 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive even in the highest graphic settings. We even ran the Cinebench R15 which gave us a score of 83.53 fps. The HP Gaming Pavilion is also a great machine to use video editing software such as Adobe Premier Pro, After Effects, and more. The graphics solution comes handy there.
Moving on to the actual gaming performance, we played Fortnite for an hour. We tried the auto-adaptive settings of the game, which selected high graphics quality for the best performance. The game runs without any stutter and we got a constant framerate of 65fps. However, when we cranked up the graphics to the Epic setting, there was a drop in frame rate. During our tests, we also noticed that the laptop don’t easily heat up and the cooling system is fantastic at dissipating heat.
The HP Gaming Pavilion 15-DK0047TX comes with a 256GB SSD and a 1TB of HDD storage. The Windows 10 OS runs on the SSD, so it boots up in just 5 seconds. To further test the storage performance, we ran CrystalDiskMark test and were surprised. The SDD drive recorded a read speed of 2832.5 MB/s and a write speed of 1518.9 MB/s. Even the hard drive managed a good read speed of 177.9 MB/s and write speed of 171.7 MB/s. Most gaming laptops in this price range usually come with a 1TB hard drive but rarely with both, an SSD and a hard drive.
The HP Gaming Pavilion comes branded with two front-facing B&O (Bang & Olufsen) speakers. They are loud and clear for playing every day content, however they won’t match the accuracy of headphones. To test the battery life, we ran the Battery Eater Pro test which got an estimate of 1 hour 45 minutes to fully drain the battery. This means, this laptop should last up to 2 hours under heavy usage. However, for longer gaming sessions we recommend using the AC adaptor.
Conclusion
These days, most of us consider gaming laptops to be performance machines. We them to deliver solid performance and in return, we’re ready to pay a bit more for it. In the process of making gaming laptops affordable, brands sometimes compromise on the build quality and design. This is largely noticeable for laptops which are priced between Rs. 60,000 to 70,000.
After our extensive usage, we strongly feel that the HP Gaming Pavilion 15-DK0047TX is void of most of these compromises. This laptop don’t lose any marks in the design section and looks as premium as a Rs. 1 lac rupee model. It also has all the latest generation hardware which make this laptop significantly faster than its competitors. You also get all the connectivity ports, even a bezel-less display that you rarely find in a gaming laptop priced in this range. We strongly feel this laptop is worth the additional amount and that it is a good future-ready option to consider.
