Best Deal Today
The HP 15 line has always been the face of HP’s consumer budget marque, and the HP 15- fc0099nr slots right in; it may not be the most powerful laptop you’re buying this year, but it has a lot going for it. For students and office users on a tight budget, it has the features to complete college assignments and crunch numbers at the office without looking ugly or slowing down when in the middle of a presentation.
The model we have here packs the right specs for the price, featuring an AMD Ryzen 3 processor, 8GB RAM, and 128GB SSD storage, and comes with Windows 11 Home in S Mode. Well, for the midrange user, that may not look like much, but for the casual office user or student looking for a Chromebook alternative, this HP looks promising both on paper and in use.
Plus, it arrives in an attractive case, with a slim enough form that looks more premium than it costs, and it comes with enough ports to make it fully usable, no matter how you want to use it.
HP 15- fc0099nr Specifications
The specs of our review unit are as follows:
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 3 7320U
- Storage: 128GB SSD
- Memory: 8GB
- Display: 15.6-inch 1366×768 IPS Display
- Operating System: Windows 11 Home – S mode
- Weight: 3.5 pounds
- Dimensions: 14.17 x 0.73 x 9.29 inches
Design & Features
The HP 15- fc0099nr is a budget laptop designed for anyone looking for an affordable computing alternative to the Chromebooks that dominate the budget category. Even with the low asking price, HP does a fine job in designing this laptop – a silver exterior with black keyboard keys, making the laptop appear more expensive than it costs. Measuring 14.17 x 0.73 x 9.29 and weighing just under 3.5 pounds, this laptop is in the same ballpark as the competing Acer Aspire 3, but slightly heavier than the Asus VivoBook S14 (3.07 pounds).
The bezels surrounding the screen are fairly slim (HP claims a 78% screen-to-body ratio), though the top and bottom borders are thicker to accommodate the webcam and HP logo at the bottom. The webcam has a privacy shutter, as you’d find on the Lenovo ThinkPad and a few other laptops released since late last year.
The HP’s right side is plain except for a single USB port and a charging connector. On the left side, there’s another USB 3.1 Type-A port and one USB 3.1 Type-C port, along with an HDMI video output and an audio jack. Wireless connectivity comes via Wi-Fi 5.3 (802.11ac) and Bluetooth, but it is not the newer Wi-Fi 6E.
Display, Keyboard & Touchpad
The HP 15- fc0099nr has a 14.6-inch IPS display with a maximum resolution of 1366 x 768 and uses integrated AMD Radeon graphics. Most laptops come with 1080p screens lately, so anything below that feels like a raw deal, but it’s still usable for watching movies and working on tasks, and with a peak brightness of 250 nits, it doesn’t get as bright as HP’s high-end productivity laptops. Yes, there are better screens out there if you want to spend more, especially if you’re keen on 4K content.
The 15- fc0099nr features a usable keyboard that is comfortable to use. The keys offer excellent travel, not as good as the Lenovo ThinkPad T490, but still better than most notebooks in this price range. Another exciting feature of this keyboard is that the power switch is situated on the top-right of the keyboard instead of the side of the chassis.
The keycaps are comparable to those on the HP Envy 13; however, there isn’t enough space to accommodate a number pad because of the 15-inch profile. The trackpad is a little difficult to use right out of the box, but once you raise the sensitivity level in the settings, it’s simple to use. After reviewing the Asus ZenBook 14, which has the smoothest trackpad, I believe that all other trackpads are inadequate for my needs.
Performance
With an AMD Ryzen 3 7320U processor, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB SSD storage, the HP 15- fc0099nr is an entry-level configuration capable machine that will meet most daily productivity needs – office work, spreadsheets, school work, and casual movie watching. The
The AMD Ryzen 3 7320U is a mobile processor for budget laptops in the Mendocino series. It integrates four older Zen 2 cores and clocks from 2.4GHz to 4.1GHz. For basic daily use, it delivers a punch; the laptop won’t feel sluggish, but don’t expect to run any complex tasks or top-tier multitasking. In all its worthiness, it doesn’t feel like a lesser desktop replacement laptop.
What it doesn’t do, however, is offer much in the way of gaming performance. It relies on integrated AMD Radeon graphics, which, while not worse, doesn’t promise much in terms of gaming performance. Again, while it feels perfectly slick on this laptop, you can’t use it as a gaming solution. After all, you’re not buying this HP 14 Laptop for its gaming prowess, so we can’t base our review on just how fine it plays games.
If you’re looking to buy the HP 15- fc0099nr, you’re most likely not too keen on having a laptop with cutting-edge tech, not at this price point. Still, the idea that this laptop has a premium design and has the power to run most of your daily tasks could supersede any shortcomings it might have.
HP’s budget-priced Laptop delivers good basic perfromance but is short on creature comforts.
Battery Life
On performance, the HP 15- fc0099nr is a laptop that easily punches above its weight. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for its battery life. With reduced brightness up to 50% and PCMark 10’s benchmark that simulates office work, the HP 15 laptop lasts around eight and a half hours, which is practically an hour less than the figure HP quotes.
Compared to the competition, the HP 15- fc0099nr doesn’t stack up nicely – the Asus ZenBook 14 lasts well over 12 hours, and our favorite Windows machine, Microsoft Surface Laptop 3, makes it to 8 hours 45 minutes.
HP 15- fc0099nr Review: Verdict
For office or college use, the HP 15- fc0099nr is a great laptop that’s wallet-friendly and free of any major design or feature faults, but has plenty to offer. If you can grab it for the sale price projected at the time of writing, the deal gets even better.
It’s become increasingly rare to find a laptop at this price that gets two of the most important things right: value and performance. The HP 15- fc0099nr does that and does it well. In my book, this blend of wins makes it a good enough productivity and light entertainment laptop that won’t break the bank, but I just wish it had a Full HD screen.
For a little more money, the Asus VivoBook Go offers an AMD Ryzen 5 processor, 512GB SSD storage, 8GB RAM, and a Full HD (1080p) resolution screen – it remains our Editors’ Choice for entry-level laptops.
Price Comparison
