HP Pavilion 15.6" 2025, Core i5-1235U, 32GB, 1TB SSD, Silver

The HP Pavilion 15.6" is a RAM and storage monster at a budget price, with 32GB of memory and a 1TB SSD. But the CPU is below average and gaming performance is terrible. Worth it for students and office workers, skip it if you need any real graphics power.

The i5-1235U is a 10-core chip that handles everyday tasks fine, but it sits at the 36th percentile for CPUs in our database. That's below average for a modern laptop, but paired with 32GB of RAM, it punches above its weight for multitasking. The RAM is the star here, landing in the 73rd percentile. You can run a dozen Chrome tabs, Slack, Spotify, and a couple of Excel sheets without the system wheezing. Storage is also solid at the 67th percentile, and 1TB means you won't need an external drive for a while. The weak spot is graphics. Iris Xe is fine for video playback and light photo editing, but it's a 49th percentile GPU at best, and gaming performance is genuinely bad. Don't expect to run anything demanding.

Stacked against the MacBook Pro M4 Pro or the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, this Pavilion looks like a budget machine, because it is. The MacBook and Zephyrus are in a completely different league for performance, display quality, and build. The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i is a gaming beast compared to this. Even the MSI Prestige and Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition outclass it on CPU and screen quality. But none of those cost CAD 1,089. The Pavilion's pitch is simple: maximum RAM and storage for the lowest possible price. On that narrow metric, it holds its own.

At CAD 1,089, this is a decent deal if you need RAM and storage above all else. Most laptops at this price give you 8GB or 16GB of RAM, so 32GB is a genuine differentiator. The 1TB SSD sweetens the pot. But you're paying for memory, not speed. The CPU is mid, the GPU is weak, and the port selection is thin. If your workload is browser-based or office apps, this is a good buy. If you need real processing power, save up for something with a better chip.

The HP Pavilion 15.6" is a workhorse laptop for people who need RAM and storage without paying MacBook money. You get 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, which is honestly overkill for the i5-1235U inside, but it means this thing will chew through browser tabs, spreadsheets, and light dev work without breaking a sweat. The 15.6" FHD IPS screen is anti-glare, which is nice if you work near windows or under harsh office lights.

But let's be real. This is not a gaming machine. The Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics land at a sad 15.1 out of 100 for gaming in our database. That's not a typo. If you want to play anything beyond Solitaire or maybe some light indie titles, this is not your laptop. For students and office workers though, the spec sheet is generous for the price.

Skip this if you need any kind of graphics performance. Gamers, video editors, 3D modelers, and anyone who wants to run demanding software should look elsewhere. The Iris Xe GPU is a dead end for those workloads. Also skip it if you need lots of ports, one USB-C is limiting for a 15.6" laptop in 2025.

Buy this if you're a student or office worker who lives in a browser and needs a million tabs open at once. The 32GB of RAM is the headline feature, and it will keep this laptop feeling snappy for years of basic use. Just don't expect to edit video, run heavy software, or play games. This is a productivity machine in the most literal sense.