| Rating | Where to buy |
 | Amazon.com *Same or similar item |
HP 15 Ay011nr Notebook features a full HD anti-glare display, sixth generation Intel Core i5 6200U 2.3GHz dual-core processor, 8GB DDR3L-SDRAM, Intel 520 HD graphics and 1TB 5400 Hard Drive (or 128 GB SSD). Any laptop with such configuration should be able to handle multitasking fast and furiously. Let’s see how good the HP 15 ay011nr actually is.
Design and features
With the brush metal texture on its lid and around the keyboard makes this HP 15 notebook look elegant and expensive. It feels good to touch too. On its left panel, it has headphone/microphone port, a USB 2.0 port, a USB 3.0 port, HDMI, RJ-45 port, power-in port, and the vent.
On its right panel, it has the optical drive, the other USB 2.0 port, SD card reader, lock, and two LED indicators. I personally prefer LED indicators to be on the front, so it is convenient to keep an eye on the HD LED indicator. But as with HP’s most other laptops, this one also has the LED indicators on the side panel. The keyboard and touchpad are of good built and they look and feel nice too. Its down-firing speakers are located on the front side. It has Led indicator for Caps Lock, mute buttons, charging port, and LAN port. It weighs 4.7 pounds including the removable battery.
Ay011nr comes with Windows 10 Home edition, an HD webcam, 802.11ac connectivity standard and Bluetooth version 4.0.
Performance
HP 15 ay011nr notebook we received for reviewing had 128GB SSD instead of the 1TB Hard Drive (you can order any of the two). We found HP ay011nr to be very quick in loading and closing windows, and other programs. The full HD anti-glare display is colorful and bright. Yet, under various lighting conditions, there were glares.
We used Adobe CS6 64-bit, Microsoft Office 2016, Autocad 2017 32-bit, and was able to play some not-so-old games (Silent Hill Home Coming, NFS MW 2005, Battlefield 2 and 3 etc. in low or medium detail). So, if you are not a hardcore gamer and satisfied with playing games that were released five or more years ago, you will have a good time with this laptop. Wi-Fi was flawless and lightning fast. The DVD R/W was able to read a five-year-old disk. SD card reader and WAN port performed flawlessly too.
HP 15 ay011nr notebook doesn’t have a VGA port, so if you want to connect it to a bigger screen, make sure the larger display has HDMI port. After fully charging the battery, we used the laptop continuously for five hours playing games, browsing the internet, and using the above-mentioned software. After about five hours of using, the battery still had 20% backup left. Simply put HP ay011nr’s battery backup is excellent. The laptop did get a little warm during our use, but it remained quiet throughout the entire period. The fan didn’t make noise even when we were playing games or engaged multi-tasking. The laptop performed very fast the entire time.
| Pros | Cons |
| Sixth generation Intel Core-i5 processor, 128-GB SSD / 1-TB HDD, 8-GB DDR3L RAM, Full HD display, fast and reliable. | No VGA port, only one USB 3.0 port. |
Conclusion
HP 15 ay011nr notebook is one of the most stylish and feature-rich laptops under $500. It is surprisingly fast and reliable. It is adequately powerful to run the most recent software. You can even play older graphics intensive games in low or mid details using this laptop. You can choose between 1TB Hard Drive or 128GB SSD. We recommend the 128GB SSD if you have external Hard Drives. It will make the laptop even faster. Its battery backup is praiseworthy. We highly recommend HP 15-ay011nr for home, office, or school use.
Specification
Screen Size: 15.6 inches
Resolution: 1920×1080 pixels
Processor: 2.3 GHz Core i5 6200U
RAM: 8 GB DDR3L SDRAM
Hard Drive: 1024 GB mechanical_hard_drive/ 128 GB SDD
Graphics Processor: Intel HD 520 (shared)
Wireless Type: 802.11 A/C
Number of USB 3.0 Ports: 1
Number of USB 2.0 Ports: 2
Operating System: Windows 10
Item Weight: 4.7 pounds
Dimensions: 10 x 15.1 x 0.9 inches
Optical Drive Type: DVD+RW
Batteries: 1 Lithium ion batteries required. (included)