A cost effective laptop that instead of trying to be flashy and cool by going thin or looking cool went the other way instead with no flashiness but thickcer chasis and lot of vents which helped a lot in overall temperatures of the laptop which also helped in reducing the noise of the machien and also reduced the temperatures on the keyboard not just CPU/GPU.
CPU has been power/thermally limited and that's an excellent thing. Lenovo should learn something from HP in this regard.
Due to this the CPU remains quite cool and the scores we get are are the scores one can expect if they want to use the laptop for long.
There were a few things that were bothersome and you have to decide to live with them which are: high SSD temps, wifi temps, second SSD an unusual 2230 size which is hard to come by, power button built into the laptop, a bit chuknier machine when you start comparing with other laptops in this price range but that helps with thermals.
Expect a bit lower gaming perfomrance if you check the exact FPS number but not noticable, however the lower temps are a big win.
Cautions
In no way should one assume the Intel vairant with 14th gen Intel is anyways similar to this. Intel has their own problems.
DON'T GET ANY HP IF YOU CAN'T GET 3 years
ADP.. Here's why HP in countries like India, forces you to get laptop only from them
directly(either offline or online) just
so they can sell overpriced(₹10k) ADP.
Even though it's unjust and other platforms like Amazon and Flipkart
have better offers, I WILL NOT
RECOMMEND ANY HP PRODUCT without extra ADP.
Power button built inside the keybaord is a well known thing about laptop repair people. Go ask them. Putting this key in the keyboard means it will wear out quickly and will need replacing but since it's part of the keyboard, you will have to replace the whole keybaord yourself which can be expesive if done without ADP.
Extreme mode and GPU by default performs lower than they can actually do. Use Best mode(Monster/Master/Custom whatever the f it's called) to get the best GPU and CPU performance in which the temps are still under checkk.
Extra Notes/To confirm later/FAQ for people who can't find something on it.
Please comment on youtube video if you have more.
8945HX is the 8940HX just 0.1GHz faster.
Don't be confused by online reviews such as Notebookcheck as they don't do testing themselves and allow others to submit data there and dependingg on who submitted the scores can vary wildly. Check exact laptop reviews if you have to.
The CPU has been hard lmiited thermally and HP says they might optimize it later but I am writing this review consdiering that they don't do a BIOS update later that pushes a lot more power to the CPU thereby making it toasty, even if it does, you should be able to tweak it to keep temps low. Hence, a recent review for the same is necessary. If I find evidence of it, I will update this line here.
8945HX/8940HX only support maximum RAM of 5200Mhz. Remember it's older Zen 4. So there is no point wondering why it doens't have 5600Mhz RAM.
Included SSD's ASIC controller runs hot hovering between 80-90°C stress test however when getting a model with pre-insatlled small heatink and heatpads the temps are quite low. To confirm what model is in India.
Pros/Cons
Pros
Usually cheaper than other preimum laptops like Lenovo's Legion, Acer's Predator, Dell's Alienware & Asus' ROG Strix
CPU
8945HX
8945HX has been power/thermally limited and that's a excellent thing as the CPU remains quite cool and doesn't just break benchmark scores just for the sake of coming top in some youtuber's comparision list by letting the CPU cross boiling point and with AMD CPUs it's not even needed in the first place.
This is the older Zen 4 architecture and not the newer Zen 5. Hence, the newer 9955HX CPU from AMD or the 275HX from Intel will give 10-15% more single core performance but do check the temps those CPU reach also.
Even with that I would consider the single core performance to be quite adequate for most users and with 16 cores for gamers also.
CPU gives consistent performance while still staying cool (82W@84°C). Yes it's a bit less than other laptops with the same chip(-12%) but they all do it with a toasty CPU. I prefer this.
Stress Test results:
GPU
5060
At stock it's slightly lower than other laptops but with over clock it runs perfectly fine and can be compaared to other laptops with the same CPU GPU combo in all games.
And in esports titles at low 1080p settings it gets higher FPS than similar configured laptops(I suspect this is due to not letting the CPU run hot where it's not needed).
Display:
Is good enough for gaming and everyday use but not for professionals who want color accurate scree.(100% sRGB but not 100% DCI-P3)
16" 1200p 165Hz and 400 nits, anti-glare and 100% sRGB: All means pretty decent screen fro the price, although the blue might be too blue out of the box hence some calibration will be needed but atleast the hardware is decent enough.
Realitivily thick body(3mm) although a bit cumbersome really helped with thermals unlike some recent laptops that chose to go the toher way and thougth going thin and reducing vents would be better.
Neutral
Neutral-Good
Texture feels like plastic but it's solid.
Large intake vents and exhust vents
Clean Setup possible due to some ports at the back.
Rubber Feet at the bottom are solid.
Keyboard layout is quite good.
Network latency in good while gaming.
Neutral-Doesn't Matter
Laptop makes some noise in the extreme mode but very little in performance mode. In gaming, the FPS difference is not notcable in these modes.
Slightly thicker than other gaming laptops but that helps with thermals.
Neutral-Bad
Balance Mode the GPU is heavily limited to 45W so it's recommened to play games in Performance Mode.
Fans in perofmrance mode keep fluctutating between 4100-4800RPM althogh this is not that loud the fact that it's turning off and on brings your mind to it.
Allplastic build. Wehn comparing with other premium metal laptos, it sort of feels plasticy though still strong.
Default Power Mode out of box is Performance in which the CPU perfroms a 15% lower than in the best mode.
8945HX is an older Zen 4 CPU so it only supports a maximum of 5200Mhz RAM.
To confirm this later:
Update: Some models have SSD small heatsink and heatpad installed so it might not be an issue.
Included SSD gets hot under high workload so thermal pads might be needed to keep the temps in check considering the other slot is smaller and you can't simply swap them.
Cons
It's HP: Usual stuff applies like Hinge Problem, Longevity issues, horrible customer care. (Usually I don't put such things in other brands but HP is an exception)
P.S: It's actually an excellent compnay to work for as they keep giving each other incentives and have an excellent atmosphere there, it's only the users who suffer.
Power button built into the keyboard is not a wise decision as it is the one key that is prone to failure and including it on the keyboard means the whole keyboard will need replacing if this key dies.
One SSD Is the large size which which is likely already filled. The other SSD slot is of very small and rare 2230 Size. Those SSDs if available are usually 33% expensive than normal size ssds.
There is enough space for 2280 SSD in the 2230 slot but there is no position to screw in the SSD and sticking the SSD by any means necessary is absolutely not recommended.
Jugaad is well and good for unreliable stuff but when it's something as crucial as data, you don't take chances.
WiFi module is too close to the heat pipes and due to which it casues it to overheat and speeds vary a lot
8945HX
R23 Single: 1949
R23 Multi: 30,300 {Long Run}
CPU only stress tests:
CPU in perfomarnace? mode
80W dropped to 60W
In Master Mode with eveything maxxed out, the CPU ran at 80W and started making some noise
Temp was very cool compared to other laptos just 73°C under PCU stress test
GPU
Fire Strike Extreme: 15550 16107(OC)
TimeSpy: 12038 12510(OC)
Steeel Nomad Light: 12123 12572(OC)
Superposition 1080p Extreme: 6823 7162(OC)
CPU+GPU Stress test(Master Mode):
CPU: 76°C at 55W
GPU: 77°C at 104W
Fans were a bit loud.
But in extremee mode:
CPU: 72°C at 50W
GPU: 71°C at 85W
GPU only stress test(Extreme Mode):
GPU: 71°C at 105W
Master Mode:
74°C at 106W
Gaming
Single Player Games: High Resolution Test: 2560x1600 High with DLSS
Assassin's Creed Shadow: 55fps
Black Myth: Wukong: 63fps
Monster Hunter: Wildlands 56fps
Forza Horizon 5: 76fps
call of duty: 44fps
Shadow of the Tomb Raider: 102fps
Metro: Exodus 64.03
Cyberpunk 2077: 53.85
eSports Games: 1920x1080 Low quality
Overwatch 2: 377
Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail: 169.77
Total War: WARHAMMER III Mirror of Madness: CS:2 184.9
CS:2 445.5
In India the 400nits panel is the one usually soldLots of ventsLots of ventsHDMI Output info which can be wrongPower key built into the keybaord is a bad design choiceNo mention of which thermal paste was actually appliedThese unchecked limits are often wrong and you can upgrade more RAM by yourself as long as the CPU suports it which is 64GB with 8945HX