HP 15-ay091ms Signature Edition Notebook (15.6″, Intel Core i3, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD)

The HP 15-ay091ms Signature Edition is a 15.6″ touchscreen notebook PC, currently exclusively sold by Microsoft Store. It is a budget laptop, but it still delivers very decent specifications. For $400, the HP 15-ay091ms offers a lower-mid-range Intel Core i3 processor, capacious system memory, and a large hard disk drive.

Yes, the display is touch-enabled with 10-finger input support, but other than that it isn’t an impressive LCD panel. You get the common and mediocre pixel count of 1366-by-768 pixels. IPS technology which enables wide viewing angles is missing on this model. Besides touchscreen input, you can work on the 15-ay091ms using the built-in keyboard with numeric pad and multi-touch trackpad with dedicated buttons for left and right clicks.

Under the hood, this plastic-covered notebook carries the 6th Generation Intel Core i3-6100U dual-core processor, 8GB RAM, a 1-Terabyte hard disk drive with Windows 10 Home OS installed, a DVD writer, and a 3-cell 31 WHr battery. The i3-6100U is a quite capable processor. The chip can handle all the usual tasks an average user might throw at it, be it Internet stuff, productivity applications, or media consumption. The CPU features built-in Intel HD 520 graphics processor. The HD 520 enables you to play some of the popular PC games, but certainly not the latest hardware-demanding blockbusters. For more info on the HD 520 capabilities, you can check out this review. The capacious 8GB RAM ensures no seatbacks when it comes to multitasking, while the 1TB HDD offers ample of storage space for your audio & video libraries and other files. When you’re off the electrical grid, the laptop is powered by a 31 WHr battery. It’s not a great battery capacity, but nevertheless the 15-ay091ms is officially claimed to provide a very good battery life of “up to 6 hours and 15 minutes”.

The HP 15-ay091ms Signature Edition features stereo speakers, a web camera with common 720p picture quality, 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless, wired Ethernet LAN, and Bluetooth connections, two USB 2.0 ports and a USB 3.0 port, a multi-format media card reader, and a audio headphones / microphone jack.

Here are the specs of the HP 15-ay091ms Signature Edition with descriptions of its features. For comparison against other laptops, you can use the "Compare Specs" button.

Brand	HP
Screen Size	15.6-inch This is by far the most popular laptop screen size. It provides a lot of screen real estate, while avoiding bulkiness of the 17.3" laptops.
Screen Resolution	1366x768 pixels HD This is an entry-level screen resolution, oftentimes found on budget laptops. It doesn't deliver picture sharpness and space on the screen like the Full HD or higher resolution laptop displays do.
Touchscreen	Finger multi-touch input The screen supports finger touch input, including multi-touch gestures.
Other Display Specs	TN type Displays based on the old TN technology lack wide viewing angles you can find on IPS screens. The colors may look washed out or inverted at certain viewing angles.
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i3-6100U 6th Gen "Skylake" Dual-Core 2.3GHz 3MB Cache (User Benchmark CPU score: 36)
Graphics (GPU)	Intel HD 520 integrated graphics (for the lightest gaming)
System Memory (RAM) Size	8GB RAM The 8GB RAM size is the standard one in 2023. It provides comfortable multi-tasking for the most home and office users.
Data Storage	1000GB (1TB) HDD 1TB is an excellent storage capacity, but HDD is a slow type of storage.
DVD Optical Drive	DVD writer
Keyboard & Input	Non-backlit keyboard with dedicated number pad The keyboard has a separate numeric pad on the right side of the keyboard, but it has no keyboard backlight. Touchpad with separate physical click buttons The touchpad features physical left and right click buttons, as opposed to click buttons integrated into the touchpad surface. Touchscreen
Speakers & Audio	Stereo speakers As usual, the device features a pair of built-in stereo speakers. Combo microphone and headphones audio jack This laptop has the ordinary 3.5mm combo audio jack that supports both headphone output and microphone input simultaneously.
Camera	Front-facing web camera Laptops usually feature a frontal webcam located on the display bezel. This laptop is no exception.
Wi-Fi Wireless	802.11N 802.11N is an old Wi-Fi standard, precursor of the 802.11AC and the latest 802.11AX with improved data transfer speeds and connectivity. 802.11N is rarely used in modern laptops.
Ethernet Network Port	Yes This laptop has an Ethernet LAN port for wired internet and networking connectivity.
Bluetooth	Yes This laptop has a built-in Bluetooth module. It enables you to connect the computer to Bluetooth mice and other Bluetooth peripherals, smartphones, and other Bluetooth-equipped devices.
Mobile broadband (4G LTE)	No
USB Ports	2 x USB 2.0 + 1 x USB 3.0 A total of three full-size Type A USB ports.
Video Output Ports	1 x HDMI HDMI is a widely used digital video output port. You can find HDMI-in ports on most computer monitors and TVs.
Media Card Reader	SD card reader The laptop has a slot for full-size SD memory cards, used in many digital cameras. You can also use microSD cards with a card adapter.
Battery	"Up to 6 hours and 15 minutes" of battery life 31 WHr capacity
Weight	4.7 pounds
Height	1"
Width	15.1"
Depth	10"
Windows Version	Windows 10 Home Windows 10 Home is aimed at the regular home and office computer users. Only select business users need the Professional edition. Windows 10 Home users are eligible for a free upgrade to the latest Windows 11 Home.
Warranty	1-year A typical laptop warranty.