Fingerprint reader: Yes
Upgrading RAM: There are two slots: One occupied with a 4GB stick and one free.
Upgrading WiFi: The slot is compatible with both M.2 PCI-E and M.2 CNVi. For WiFi 6, you can use either an Intel AX200 (PCI-E) or Intel AX201 (CNVi). CNVi is Intel's proprietary interface to couple an Intel WiFi card with an Intel CPU and is generally less expensive and preferred.
Upgrading SSD: The slot is compatible with both SATA and NVMe; it is a M.2 2280 slot. There are no additional M.2 slots and no support for 2.5" drives.
Clean-installing Windows: You need to load Intel storage drivers during a clean Windows install
|
Quote
from code65536
First, download Intel's "F6 floppy" driver (f6flpy-x64-vmd.zip) from the following link (back in the 90's and early 2000's, the Windows installer would ask you to press F6 if you needed to load storage drivers before proceeding, and you'd pop in a floppy drive containing the storage drivers and press F6... things work a bit differently these days, obviously, but Intel continues to use that name to label the drivers that you're supposed to use during an OS install):
:
https://www.intel.com/content/www...forms.htm Next, make a folder on the USB flash drive that you're using to install Windows. Doesn't matter where you put it or what you name it. And unzip the contents into that folder. During the Windows install, when you come to the screen where you are supposed to select which drive to install to, you'll see an empty list, since Windows is not able to recognize the drive without the storage driver loaded. Below that list, there should be an option called "load drivers" (or something like that, don't remember the exact wording). Click that, and select the folder that you had created earlier, and follow the prompts. |
https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c06983517
WARRANTY NOTE:
For anyone still watching this thread (@jackharvest adding to Wiki here) please note:
The HP support agent showed "May 2022" as the expiration for the warranty on the two machines I purchased. Noticed it while setting them up prior to Christmas time.
FIX: I got on chat support, and after sending them my invoice from Target, they modified it to be accurate per my purchase date and not the date that Target likely stocked them or unloaded them. This doesn't happen that often, but I guess these were cheap enough, its possible something got screwed up, and the warranty kicked off the timer early by mistake.
MAX RAM Likely 64GB
Here's a screenshot of it running 32GB + 4GB sticks:
Top Comments
This is so much better than the Wal-Mart one.
Display: IPS panel by LG, with vastly better viewing angles and colors than the Chi-Mei TN panel on the Wal-Mart version
CPU: 4-core Tiger Lake i3 vs. the 2-core in the Wal-Mart version
WiFi: The spec page indicates a 1x1 card, but the actual card contained within is a 2x2 card; the Wal-Mart version only had a 1x1 card
Price: $10 cheaper than the Wal-Mart version
And just like the Wal-Mart version, it has two RAM slots, with one populated (DDR4-3200) and one free.
The one and only downside is that the SSD is half the size and is SATA. But if you're going to be opening the computer anyway to throw an extra stick of RAM in, it's not hard to also replace the SSD and upgrade it to something like 500GB. The other upgrade that I'm making, since I'm opening the system up anyway, is replacing the WiFi with an Intel AX201 (can find them for around $10 used on eBay) so that I get WiFi 6.
I've been looking for a laptop in the sub-$300 price bracket to replace the aging dinosaur that my parents are using, and this is by far the best I've seen yet (though it does involve a few simple upgrades to make it great).
If I had to settle for a budget laptop, I'd rather have a faster CPU and an IPS screen. Especially if RAM and SSD can later be upgraded (which I haven't verified).
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"On your PC running Windows 10 in S mode, open Settings > Update & Security > Activation.
In the Switch to Windows 10 Home or Switch to Windows 10 Pro section, select Go to the Store. (If you also see an "Upgrade your edition of Windows" section, be careful not to click the "Go to the Store" link that appears there.)
On the Switch out of S mode (or similar) page that appears in the Microsoft Store, select the Get button. After you see a confirmation message on the page, you'll be able to install apps from outside of the Microsoft Store."
Above is from "https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/switching-out-of-s-mode-in-windows" followed by a long code.
After switching out of S mode to Windows 10 home, is there any way it can then switch back itself after an update and then be stuck in S mode permanently? I am concerned because of the review stating "the laptop went back to S mode and now won't let me out." In addition, a search returned: "Stuck in S Mode - no option to change it - 'get' button is greyed out. HELP PLEASE...!."
Any help would from anyone familiar would be appreciated.
I switched it out via the Windows Store, and it worked. And then after I updated the BIOS and rebooted, it reverted back to S Mode. I'm not sure why it reverted--whether it was because of the reboot or if it was related to the BIOS update. After it reverted, I couldn't switch it out of S Mode a second time--when I tried, it just got stuck.
I then went into the BIOS settings and reset them (loaded defaults and for good measure reset the TPM) and I also went into Windows recovery and did a system reset. Afterwards, I was able to switch out of S Mode again, and this time the switch persisted and didn't bounce back. Again, I'm not sure which of those two things was the fix: whether it was resetting the BIOS settings or the Windows system reset.
It's also unclear who's fault this is: whether it's HP's or Microsoft's.
In any case, I had planned to replace the SSD and clean-install Windows anyway so I didn't need to do any of that, but after seeing the comments about the S Mode in this thread, I wanted to see if I could get it to switch again before I wiped the system.
It used to be a cheap plastic box with problems.
I switched it out via the Windows Store, and it worked. And then after I updated the BIOS and rebooted, it reverted back to S Mode. I'm not sure why it reverted--whether it was because of the reboot or if it was related to the BIOS update. After it reverted, I couldn't switch it out of S Mode a second time--when I tried, it just got stuck.
I then went into the BIOS settings and reset them (loaded defaults and for good measure reset the TPM) and I also went into Windows recovery and did a system reset. Afterwards, I was able to switch out of S Mode again, and this time the switch persisted and didn't bounce back. Again, I'm not sure which of those two things was the fix: whether it was resetting the BIOS settings or the Windows system reset.
It's also unclear who's fault this is: whether it's HP's or Microsoft's.
In any case, I had planned to replace the SSD and clean-install Windows anyway so I didn't need to do any of that, but after seeing the comments about the S Mode in this thread, I wanted to see if I could get it to switch again before I wiped the system.
https://slickdeals.net/f/15423649-hp-15-6-touchscreen-laptop-amd-ryzen-3-processor-4gb-ram-memory-25...
https://slickdeals.net/share/iphone_app/t/15389917
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Looks like the included SSD is m.2 SATA. Presumably an m.2 NVME SSD would work, does anybody know what length the included drive is? (Hopefully it can take the most-common 2280 size.)
More importantly, is there a space for a 2.5" SATA drive?
A reviewer on Target indicates they upgraded to 2x 8GB sticks of RAM so the 4GB included RAM must not be soldered. That is good. Like this reviewer said, this system should max out at 64GB of RAM with 2x 32GB sticks. (HP likely claims to only "officially" support something like 16GB, this is common practice, but technically inaccurate.)
The system comes with Windows in "S mode" which is a grandparents-friendly super safe mode where only apps from the Windows store are allowed. It is easy to take the system out of "S mode" into normal mode.
As far as upgrading the RAM by installing a single stick to add to the included 4GB stick, a brief search revealed the following current prices, some shopping might give a bit better deal....
4GB DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM - $19 [amazon.com]
8GB DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM - $27 [amazon.com]
16GB DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM - $45 [amazon.com]
32GB DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM - $105 [amazon.com]
One can absolutely mix-and-match sticks of different sizes. E.G. installing a 16GB stick along with the included 4GB stick will work fine and provide 20GB of RAM (note Windows will report less system RAM because a chunk is required to be allocated to the on-chip graphics processor.)
https://slickdeals.net/f/15423649-hp-15-6-touchscreen-laptop-amd-ryzen-3-processor-4gb-ram-memory-25...
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how does AMD Ryzen 3 Processor compare with Intel i3 11th quad-core?
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That said, as I've noted in this thread, there are two areas where the actual HP laptop doesn't match the official spec sheet (the RAM and WiFi that were shipped are both better than what HP lists in the spec sheet).
I switched it out via the Windows Store, and it worked. And then after I updated the BIOS and rebooted, it reverted back to S Mode. I'm not sure why it reverted--whether it was because of the reboot or if it was related to the BIOS update. After it reverted, I couldn't switch it out of S Mode a second time--when I tried, it just got stuck.
I then went into the BIOS settings and reset them (loaded defaults and for good measure reset the TPM) and I also went into Windows recovery and did a system reset. Afterwards, I was able to switch out of S Mode again, and this time the switch persisted and didn't bounce back. Again, I'm not sure which of those two things was the fix: whether it was resetting the BIOS settings or the Windows system reset.
It's also unclear who's fault this is: whether it's HP's or Microsoft's.
In any case, I had planned to replace the SSD and clean-install Windows anyway so I didn't need to do any of that, but after seeing the comments about the S Mode in this thread, I wanted to see if I could get it to switch again before I wiped the system.
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