Cons: Domestic or student laptop, not a powerhouse laptop.
If there's one reason why HP is one of the leading computer manufacturers worldwide is because of its exceptional customer service. Buying an HP laptop means you don't have to worry if something goes wrong down the line since HP will help you solve your issues quickly and effectively. It's with this in mind that today we'd like to tackle one of HP's most interesting proposals to date, the touchscreen laptop under the name of HP 15-ac120nr.
Aside from providing a touchscreen experience at an affordable price (check price here), the HP 15-ac120nr offers a great set of specs such as a 5th generation Core i3 processor, an ample 750 GB hard drive as well as a powerful integrated graphics card. This is by no means what some would call a "hardcore laptop" but it will suffice as a desktop replacement in most cases. However, don't take our word for it, read on through our review of the HP 15-ac120nr and find out if it's what you need or if it falls short.
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In depth review of the HP 15-ac120nr
At first glance...
Upon first sight you'll notice that the HP 15-ac120nr doesn't distinguish itself for it's design. In fact, it opts for a rather sober aesthetic that blends well within the crowd. The touchscreen notebook sports a standard HD Backlit WLED 15.6 inch screen with your typical 1366 by 768 pixel resolution and a 16:9 aspect ratio. It's worth noting that, as we mentioned previously, we are looking at a touchscreen over here so there's that in case you would like to access such a function.
Personally I don't really see the point in touchscreens for most scenarios however for stuff like design and for children I may fathom their appeal. Either way, if it doesn't cost extra it's always a welcome bonus.
Personally I don't really see the point in touchscreens for most scenarios however for stuff like design and for children I may fathom their appeal. Either way, if it doesn't cost extra it's always a welcome bonus.
The keyboard maintains the same island style that most HP laptops feature. This is a good thing since it provides with overall good ergonomics for all those late nights typing away at our future hollywood screenplay ;)
As far as dimensions go, it's within what we've come to expect for a mid range laptop, that is a 0.96 inch thickness factor and a weight of just 4.83 pounds. So it's not exactly light as a feather but it's still well within what we would call portable, especially when compared to other more robust models in the market.
What's inside? How will it perform on everyday tasks?
I believe you guys get the idea, it's a laptop geared towards the not-so demanding users that will need to run complex and heavy programs on their laptops.
When it comes down to multitasking, this HP model comes with 4 GB of DDR3L SDRAM which is pretty much the basic amount of RAM needed to multitask properly on a Windows 10 laptop. We're not going to lie to you, if you're a heavy multitasker who needs to run several programs at any given time you might wanna opt for something around the 6-8 GB neighbourhood.
Otherwise, if you have 3-4 programs running in the background then you won't really notice the difference between 4 GB and more RAM.
How about Gaming?
As far as gaming is concerned this is not a fully blown gaming laptop since it sports an Intel HD 5500 graphics card. That said, it will execute decently some games from the 2014/2015 circuit. Still a dedicated Nvidia GeForce 820M will perform between 25 and 30% better.
More to the point, some games that you can play on the HP 15-ac120nr at a high resolution (and a decent frame rate) are Sims 4, Fifa 16 and GTA V for example.
Games that you won't be able to play unless you want to end up smashing your laptop against the pavement are: Assasins Creed Unity, the Witcher 3 and Fallout 4, for example.
Let's talk storage and battery life
Aside from RAM and CPU these are the other most important features for most users. Fortunately, in a mid range laptop there never seems to be a lack of storage nowadays. On the notebook at hand we've got 750 GB of hard drive storage working at a standard speed of 5400 rpm which should allow you to store roughly 1000 HD movies.
When it comes to battery life, HP has remained tight-lipped about the specifics but we do know that this model comes with a 4 cell battery which by our estimations, on this review of the HP 15-ac120nr, should deliver anywhere between 3 to 5 hours of battery life. I know it's not groundbreaking battery life but if that's what you're after then at these prices you should really turn towards an Acer laptop.
Ports and whatnot...
Ports are generally the most neglected aspect when we start studying our options, mostly because they're pretty much the same on most laptops and to nobody's surprise such is the case of the HP 15-ac120nr. To this point, on this notebook we've got one USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 ports, your standard HDMI and ethernet port, a card reader and of course a DVD reader.
HP didn't forget to include an HD webcam as well and in terms of connectivity we've got a WiFi b/g/n antena. Sure, it's not your up and coming a/b/g/n/ac connectivity but since most home routers only support b/g/n there's not much of a problem, unless you went out of your way to buy a top of the line router in which case you would likely notice the difference.
The wrap up...
As our review over the HP 15-ac120nr comes to a close it's time to share some of our final thoughts on HP's latest touchscreen laptop. All in all we're pretty excited about it. It offers comprehensive power at a very reasonable price and if we also take into account that it has a touchscreen it truly has everything on it's side to be a winner.
This laptop is best suited for students, home users and work users. For gamers as well as people who develop graphically intense activities it might come up short but for the rest of us mere mortals who'll use it to surf the web, edit docs, write, skype with old pals, stream movies and such it's more than enough to fit the bill and it's most definitely a solid purchase option. If you love it as much as us then click here to see it's availability.
Still on the fence? See what people are saying about this laptop here!