i do audio work for video games: creating sfx in a daw(digital audio workstation) and or composing midi mockup scores using kontakt and a ton of heavy ram use orchestral sample library. the 32g ram on this and the 1tb ssd is a HUGE boon for audio work! i use both ableton and reaper daw. they load super snappy. my kontakt heavy projects load ultra fast now (versus the pc tower i was using, which was still quite powerful).
the laptop runs fairly quiet even at heavier cpu loads. i composed a piece of music for a game of thrones video game which ran about 60-70% cpu on my other, fastest computer(the pc tower). this hp laptop, it clocks in at a cool 50%. so ive been able to have tons of cpu intense plugins (such as ozone8 or reaktor) running in the daw projects no problem. i was able to turn the cpu down to 0% in the windows power management panel and set the cooling to passive- which causes the laptop to run slower, but basically run silent because less heat generation. which is perfect when i need to record foley or my own voice for use with creatures in the games. i can then turn the cpu back up to full speed when composing or integrating the sound and music into the games.
the graphics card on this isnt 100% the best but im still able to run unity and hook up sounds into 3d games that way without any lag via a 2k screen. really this isnt a gaming pc (only due to the level/integration of its graphics card) like you might not be able to easily run the latest greatest fps at full settings and stream on twitch at the same time without some drop in frame rate(but who knows maybe u can? i didnt test this fully), but im confident you could still run just about any game regardless (w tweaked setting most likely).
just as a test i loaded up one of my all time fav games: skyrim, and one of the heftier mods and it seemed to run amazingly well in 2k (with all the game's graphics settings turned up). i havent tried video capturing a game like that but with the right settings in obs i think it could work fine (probably no more than 60fps id imagine).
i do do a lot of video capturing for my job: getting animations and vfx clips to bring into the daw to make sound effects with and so far this laptop does not even blink w those basic vid cap tasks.
i also do photography and video editing on the side for my own projects. photoshop runs like a total breeze on this! ive never had a smoother photoshop experience, personally. after effects is fast to edit/splice preview etc but some of the render times (especially when using twixtor) still take time. a 20 minute time stretched(200% vector blend) 2k video with color correction and film grain layers added took about 2+hr to render. so obvs not the best laptop out there for major video effects work but i think still totally doable and capable for those working more in the premiere type video editing layout arena.
my only complaint is that the laptop feels cheapo plastic (this is my first non mac in a while so theres that) so for work-traveling(which is why i ultimately got this) i think ill need to get a good solid case and just treat this like a newborn baby during its life span.
with the crazy power of this thing, given the requirements of my audio/photoshop work, i think this will be a super solid computer for me for the next 10years at least. and for $800 what a crazy steal!
| Standing screen display size | 15.6 Inches |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1080 pixels |
| Max Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1080 Pixels |
| Processor | 4.3 GHz amd_ryzen_7 |
| RAM | 32 GB SDRAM |
| Memory Speed | 1.8 GHz |
| Hard Drive | 1 TB SSD |
| Graphics Coprocessor | AMD Radeon Graphics |
| Chipset Brand | AMD |
| Card Description | AMD Radeon Graphics |
| Wireless Type | Bluetooth |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 2 |
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 2 |
