The HP 15" Laptop is an excellent choice for everyday tasks, offering decent performance for general use, web browsing, and light office work at a budget-friendly price. It has a Full HD display with good color accuracy, making it suitable for casual media consumption. Its portability is a strong point, with a lightweight design and respectable battery life, ideal for users who need to work on the go. However, it's not designed for intensive tasks like gaming, 3D rendering, or machine learning, due to its less powerful processor and integrated graphics.
On the other hand, the MSI Raider 18 HX is a powerhouse designed for high-end gaming and demanding professional workloads such as 3D modeling, machine learning, and engineering tasks. Its large, high-resolution Mini LED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and touchscreen capability provides an exceptional visual experience, especially for fast-motion content and tasks requiring color precision. The laptop's top-tier GPU and CPU, along with ample RAM, ensure outstanding performance in intensive applications. However, its size, weight, and significantly higher price tag make it less portable and more of a desktop replacement. Additionally, the battery life is shorter, which is common in high-performance laptops due to their power-hungry components.
In summary, if you prioritize portability, have a limited budget, and need a laptop for general use, the HP 15" Laptop is the way to go. But if you're looking for a laptop that can handle the most demanding tasks with a superior display and aren't concerned about portability or cost, the MSI Raider 18 HX would be the better choice. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the HP 15" Laptop
Good portability
Advantages of the MSI Raider 18 HX
Very good for general use
Best in class for engineering and design
Excellent for gaming and AI
Very good for software development
Excellent for content creation
Excellent overall display quality
Good overall build quality
Very good speakers
Good keyboard
Key differences
General Use
6.7/10
8.8/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
250.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
1000.0 nits
6.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
9.0 Hours
6.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
7.0/10
7.8/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
5.0/10
The MSI Raider 18 HX is very good for general use, while the HP 15" Laptop is only fair.
PerfectRec’s General Use Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for general productivity, web browsing, streaming, video calls, and running a wide variety of apps and programs.
Gaming and AI
5.9/10
9.0/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.7/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
8.7/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
8.0/10
The MSI Raider 18 HX is excellent for gaming and AI, while the HP 15" Laptop is poor.
PerfectRec’s Gaming and AI Score strongly emphasizes graphics processing capability, while also taking into account other factors that impact suitability for gaming and AI work.
Engineering and Design
6.2/10
9.6/10
5.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.9/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.7/10
8.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
The MSI Raider 18 HX is best in class for engineering and design, while the HP 15" Laptop is only fair.
PerfectRec’s Engineering and Design Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for graphic design and 3D rendering work.
Content Creation
6.9/10
9.1/10
5.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.9/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
8.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
The MSI Raider 18 HX is excellent for content creation, while the HP 15" Laptop is only fair.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
6.7/10
8.8/10
5.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.9/10
8.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
6.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
7.0/10
The MSI Raider 18 HX is very good for software development, while the HP 15" Laptop is only fair.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
Screen Quality
6.3/10
9.4/10
15.6in
SIZE
18.0in
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
250.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
1000.0 nits
The MSI Raider 18 HX has a better screen than the HP 15" Laptop for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
PerfectRec’s screen quality scores take into account various important factors that are relevant for different use cases.
Battery
6.0 Hours
9.0 Hours
The HP 15" Laptop has 6 hours of battery life. The MSI Raider 18 HX has 9 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Good
Poor
15.6in
SIZE
18.0in
3.7 lbs
WEIGHT
7.9 lbs
0.7in
THICKNESS
1.2in
The HP 15" Laptop has good portability, while the MSI Raider 18 HX has poor portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
6.0/10
7.4/10
The MSI Raider 18 HX has good build quality, while the HP 15" Laptop has only fair build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$378
$3,999
$0
$1,000
$2,000
$3,000
$4,000
The HP 15" Laptop has a price of $378 and the MSI Raider 18 HX costs $3,999.
"Chances are high that the HP 15 is one of the first laptops to pop up when you search for an inexpensive notebook. Indeed, its price tag is very tempting for many, and of course, this is the reason for its popularity. However, the HP 15" suffers from poor performance due to low power consumption. On the bright side, one of the good things about it is the port selection. On the inside, this includes two SODIMM slots for memory, an M.2 PCIe x4 slot for storage, and a SATA drive bay. However, the TN panel, and mediocre input devices are not ideal."
Get a great deal on the HP 15" Laptop or the MSI Raider 18 HX
About HP
HP, also known as Hewlett-Packard, is an American technology company that develops personal computers and computer peripherals. In the laptop industry, HP is known for its entry level Essential series laptops, its mid-range Pavilion, Envy, and Victus series, and high-end Omen and Spectre series, in addition to its business-oriented EliteBook, ProBook, and Dragonfly series laptops. HP laptops generally undercut other mainstream competitors in terms of price, placing itself as the value-oriented mainstream brand.
About MSI
MSI, also known as Micro-Star International, is a Taiwanese technology corporation. MSI is known for their wide range of gaming devices. Their series include the entry-level Cyborg/Thin and Sword/Katana series, the mid-range Bravo/Delta and Crosshair/Pulse series, and their high-end Vector, Raider, Stealth, and Titan GT series. At every performance level, MSI offers a variety of devices with varying balances between performance, battery life, weight, and price, making them a solid option to consider at every price point.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
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