HP Pavilion Plus Laptop 14 review: A zippy and affordable OLED laptop

Price When Reviewed

828.99

Best Prices Today: HP Pavilion Plus Laptop 14

$1178.99

HP’s Pavilion laptops current because the epitome of mainstream all-rounder laptops–equally primed for work as they’re for gentle leisure, in addition they don’t value an arm and a leg. Indeed, HP’s latest Pavilion Plus Laptop 14 suits that invoice completely, with an upgraded Intel 13th Generation chip and a stunning OLED show. It’s even ideally priced to go forth and fill workplaces and dwelling rooms all over the place.

That mentioned, this latest mannequin does one thing even higher than its forebear. It has an extended battery life. For me, this straightforward improve ushers in a brand new period for the Pavilion model, elevating it up a spot to nearer the extra premium manufacturers in HP’s lineup. Read on to study extra.

Looking for extra choices? Check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best laptops out there proper now.

HP Pavilion Plus 14: Specifications

The HP Pavilion Plus Laptop 14 is available in Intel Core i5-1335U or Intel Core i7-1355U flavors, each of which function Intel Iris Xe graphics assist. The laptop computer could be configured with one in every of three show choices–both (1920x1200p) or (2560x1600p) IPS panels or, for my part, the cream of the crop, a (2880x1800p) OLED panel. The full specs of my evaluation unit are as follows:

• CPU: Intel i7-1355U
• RAM: 16GB DDR5 / 5200MHz
• Graphics: Intel Iris Xe
• Display: 14-inch, 2.8K (2880 x 1800), OLED, 120Hz refresh price, 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut, non-touch delicate
• Storage: 512GB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD
• Webcam: HP Wide Vision 5MP IR digital camera
• Connectivity: Thunderbolt 4, USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm combo jack
• Networking: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3
• Battery capability: 68WHrs
• Dimensions: 12.36 x 8.94 x 0.68 inches
• Weight: 3.19 lbs (1.45kg)
• Cost: Base $1178.99 (at present $828.99) at HP

This $1,178.99 configuration feels about proper the place it needs to be from a value perspective, however in case you dial down the specs to an Intel i5-1355U CPU and 1920 x1200p IPS show, an entry stage Pavilion Plus Laptop 14 prices simply $828.99. When you think about what you’re getting in your cash, that looks like excellent worth.

That’s to not say you received’t discover that worth elsewhere. You can at present purchase an Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED, which comes with a barely extra highly effective Intel i5-1340P processor for simply $999. However, it’s slightly chunkier and heavier than the Pavilion Plus.

A lighter, extra ultra-portable choice could be discovered within the Acer Swift 3 OLED. You can at present choose up a mannequin with an Intel i7-12700H and Iris Xe graphics for $1,199.99 at Best Buy.

HP Pavilion Plus 14: Design and construct

Having spent my first afternoon with the Pavilion Plus Laptop 14, it turned instantly clear the place this laptop computer suits into HP’s lineup–that’s, slightly nearer to the HP Envy and HP Spectre Series than earlier Pavilions do. In truth, it’s actually going to steal away among the extra refined and discerning consumers from the latter manufacturers.

Yes people, the Pavilion Plus 14 exudes that ultra-portable swank that you simply’d often need to drop upwards of $2,000 for, the type that makes you wish to simply flip it and do some unfold sheeting only for the enjoyment of it.

What I like most about it’s the clear-cut angles that taper down on the edges for a crisp uniform shut. I additionally actually like the colour choices–there being three tasteful ones to select from. There’s the extra personalized-looking Tranquil Pink and Moonlight Blue hues, or else a extra productivity-friendly Natural Silver colour additionally seems aplomb. All three colours are fairly delicate, nevertheless, and may simply mix into any workplace surroundings.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

The Pavilion Plus Laptop 14 spans a beneficiant 12.3 x 8.94 x 0.68 inches in measurement, which makes it virtually the identical measurement as each the 14-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon and the 14-inch Asus Vivobook S14 Flip OLED, the principle distinction being the thickness. The Vivobook is chunkier measuring 0.70 of an inch thick, the Slim 7 Carbon, however, is barely thinner, measuring a mere 0.6 of an inch thick.

That’s with the lid shut. Opening the lid reveals the laptop computer’s splendid show, which is framed up in an excellent 16:10 facet ratio. It supplies a way more beneficiant viewing house than the now dated-looking 16:9 facet ratio and provides you the impression that you simply’re taking a look at a 15-inch show.

The Pavilion Plus Laptop 14 additionally hits a house run for being an ultraportable. At 3.3 kilos, it isn’t as light-weight as say, the two.46 pound Lenovo X1 Carbon Gen 11, but it surely’s nonetheless gentle sufficient to choose up and maintain in a single hand.

When it involves the construct high quality, it conjures up each confidence and warning. The lid which is comprised primarily of plastic does flex slightly when sufficient pressure is utilized to it. On the opposite hand, the bottom of the chassis is comprised primarily of steel and will face up to a good quantity of battering.

HP Pavilion Plus 14: Keyboard and trackpad

There’s plenty of room to stretch out on the laptop computer’s full-sized keyboard. It has giant areas to relaxation your arms both facet of the trackpad. The keyboard can be properly backlit with a white gentle that’s delicate, with out being distractingly glary.

The key spacing can be beneficiant, however the keys sound thwacky and loud and are sadly missing the type of rebound that I like for lengthy writing stints. The trackpad can be beneficiant in measurement and feels clean and comfy. But it’s additionally fairly loud. It made a hole sound after I clicked it. Still, it was responsive and correct, permitting me to glide my fingers across the OLED show with ease and precision.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

HP Pavilion Plus 14: Connectivity and audio

The HP Pavilion Plus Laptop 14’s I/O providing is kind of easy, however there’s sufficient there to successfully use it as a cell workstation. It has a pair of USB-C ports and a pair of USB-A ports in addition to an HDMI port and a 3.5mm combo jack.

I did discover myself at instances wishing it had an SD card reader, which might have made it slightly simpler for modifying pictures straight from my DSLR, however the assortment nonetheless lined most of my wants–sufficient to comfortably run a mouse, exterior keyboard, and two exterior shows.

One of the USB-C ports is the actually helpful Thunderbolt 4 variety, which bestows the short file switch velocity of as much as 40Gb/s – I used to be effectively happy by how briskly it allowed me to load on all my ordinary benchmarking packages which may often take as much as half an hour.

The laptop computer’s audio comes courtesy of two downwards going through Bang and Olufson audio system positioned on the entrance of the chassis. They produce a pleasant clear treble and mid-range sound that may have been even clearer nonetheless had they been oriented in an upward going through path. Their bass protection is slightly underwhelming, too. Bass notes can sound like simply faucets generally slightly booms.

Still, for a fuller soundscape, I merely wanted to plug in a encompass sound headset since my OLED mannequin supported DTS:X Ultra know-how. This introduced a dimensionality to the audio that actually livened up movies.

HP Pavilion Plus 14: Display and webcam

There’s no denying that the Pavilion Plus’s attractive 2.8K decision OLED show is the gem in its crown that may seal the deal for a lot of potential consumers. Having tried a whole lot of OLED shows in laptops, I used to be actually impressed by the wealthy hues within the 100 % DCI-P3 colour panel, which made even probably the most rudimentary work a vibrant and colourful expertise.

The panel can be remarkably clean due to its 48-120Hz variable refresh price. If you’re unfamiliar with how that works, the laptop computer merely scales the speed to fulfill the wants of the type of utility you’re utilizing. The Pavilion Plus additionally helps customary and HDR modes and each are moderately vivid. I measured 398 nits in customary mode and 456 nits most brightness in HDR mode and, only for the report, I might fairly simply see particulars on the show within the well-lit elements of my front room.

HP additionally deserves credit score for incorporating applied sciences that make the display slightly simpler in your eyes like anti-glare and Low Blue Light. They may not be obvious on a regular basis, however in case you occur to tug an 11 hour working day, your eyes will thank their fortunate stars for these extras.

The Pavilion Plus’s 5MP IR webcam is of an honest high quality and it produces well-lit clear footage more often than not. It offered my visage in natural-looking tones in work conferences and its 88 % area of view ensured the photographs didn’t look unnaturally squashed or stretched.

HP Pavilion Plus 14: Performance

Intel’s 13th Generation U Series CPUs are ideally suited to slim light-weight laptops the place they ship an influence and effectivity profile that may meet the calls for of cell employees. The Pavilion’s Intel i7-1355U is the second strongest CPU on this Series, occupying a rung on the ladder just under the Intel i7-1365U.

If we zoom in shut on the i7-1355U, we see it sports activities 10 cores consisting of eight Efficient cores and two Performance cores. That’s a complete of 12 threads. Despite the comparatively modest core rely, this CPU can muster a most turbo velocity of as much as 5GHz, which is spectacular for a non-gaming laptop computer.

We examined the CPU efficiency utilizing PCWorld benchmarks and Maxon’s Cinebench R20 Multi-Threaded benchmark, which flexes the entire cores of a laptop computer’s CPU. The i7-1355U proved it had sufficient grunt to deal with heavy productiveness duties. It could also be light-weight to raise up, however the laptop computer’s rating of 3,416 means it will possibly confidently deal with heavy jobs like video modifying or encoding.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

This end result was certified by our subsequent check, the PCMark 10 benchmark, which supplies a snapshot of how our laptop computer is more likely to carry out in a variety of widespread workplace duties. An total efficiency rating of 5,446 positioned the Pavilion Plus Laptop 14 simply behind the Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED.

The outcomes of the Handbrake check additionally bide effectively for the laptop computer’s CPU efficiency. Here, the Pavilion Plus completed encoding a 30GB MKV file to MP4 in simply 779 seconds. This end result proves the Pavilion Plus can successfully management its thermals to energy on by way of excessive CPU-loads and end duties shortly.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

As for graphics efficiency, the HP Pavilion Plus Laptop 14 positioned third in 3DMark’s Time Spy benchmark.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

This is a reasonably clear-cut end result that proves the laptop computer’s Intel Iris Xe graphics efficiency is about the place it needs to be for performing gentle graphics-based duties. Sure, you’re not going to get tremendous fast body charges when rendering 3D graphics such as you would with most gaming laptops, however for lighter graphical duties like rendering easy 3D animations, the Pavilion Plus ought to carry out admirably.

HP Pavilion Plus 14: Battery life

I preserve a charger at residence and one other one at work for my Dell Vostro laptop computer, which is typically the one means I can get although a full day. That obsessiveness, I’m blissful to report, is completely pointless for the Pavilion Plus Laptop 14, which lasted 5 hours greater than my Vostro.

To be exact, I recorded 11 hours and 18 minutes on PCWorld’s battery check, which loops a 4K Hollywood video on repeat till the laptop computer switches itself to standby mode. Among the comparisons, that point was solely bettered by the Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED, which had 50 minutes extra endurance.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

Based on that end result, we will say the Pavilion Plus’s 68Whr battery is a good performer when the laptop computer is tasked with gentle jobs like watching movies or working easy apps.

If you wish to do intermittent heavier work like modifying movies or encoding recordsdata, you’re more likely to get quite a bit much less battery life than what we bought right here. But relying on the duty you’re doing, it’s completely doable the Pavilion Plus might nonetheless final to the top of a working day with no need to be recharged.

HP Pavilion Plus 14: Is it value shopping for?

It’s uncommon to discover a laptop computer at this value that will get three of a very powerful issues proper: efficiency, battery life, and a stunning 2.8K OLED show. The HP Pavilion Plus Laptop 14 does simply that and does it effectively. In my e-book, this trifecta of wins makes it a stellar productiveness and lightweight leisure laptop computer that received’t break the financial institution.