If you’re after an affordable laptop under AU$1,000, you’ll often come across models that will do the job, but cut at least a few corners: they're on the chunky side, have cheap plastic chassis, or skimp on a spec or two.
While this HP Laptop 15s-fq4018TU (5U136PA) might have a bland and uninspiring name, its 1.69kg weight and solid construction give the impression that it's a premium design. And at AU$700 on Amazon right now – an impressive 50% off what it costs on the official HP store – it’ll be hard to find a unit that can match its premium look and feel.
It comes with an 11th-Gen Intel Core i5-1155G7 quad-core processor, 8GB of RAM and a 512GB NVMe SSD. Those are solid midrange specs, making this a good choice if you're after a highly portable laptop for general everyday use. HP says its battery will last for over 7 hours of mixed usage, or over 9 if playing video. That’ll be enough to get most of us through a working day.
It’s got a thin-bezel 15.6-inch 1080p IPS screen, which is a good size for delivering a sharp and crisp picture. The IPS panel means you’ll get good colour accuracy and wider viewing angles compared to many of the screens that you’ll find in cheap laptops.
It comes with Windows 11 pre-installed, 2x2 802.11ac Wi-Fi, three USB ports, one of which is Type-C and even a full-sized HDMI 1.4b port for easily connecting an external monitor, TV or projector.
In sum, while there are certainly better specced laptops out there, you’ll have to pay a lot more to get hold of them. In fact, at AU$700 this HP isn’t priced very far above entry-level Chromebooks, and if you want one of the latter with a larger SSD or more memory, you’d be looking at well over $1,000.
It’s the kind of laptop that will happily serve a student. At 1.69kg, it’s not a backbreaker and its outer shell will be able to handle a knock or two, unlike the cheapest plastic units you usually find at this price.
A very solid bargain.
