HP Pavilion 14 review

Verdict

The HP Pavilion 14 is a great option for anyone looking for a device that looks stylish but also performs well for its price. With a Core i5 of the 11. Just note that the battery life isn't as good as with the Competitors - but if you want style, this laptop has it in abundance.

advantages

Fast processor and integrated graphics for most tasks

Stylish pink outer case

Solid anti-glare display works in most settings

Disadvantages

Battery life could be better

Keyboard without backlight

Display looks a bit dark in bright areas

Availability

United Kingdom

RRP: €649.99

United States of America

MSRP: $499.99

Key Features

Lightweight construction:

The Pavilion 14 weighs 1.41 kg, making it a good option for students and workers on the go

Good port selection:

It comes with a decent range of current and legacy ports, including USB-C, HDMI and an SD card reader

Full HD display:

With a standard 1920 x 1080 IPS panel, the Pavilion 14 is a solid choice for watching videos

introduction

The HP Pavilion 14 has a clean style that might confuse you with a $1,000+ ultrabook.

The same is true in terms of the performance it offers with an 11th Gen Intel Core i5 chip and a fairly attractive design, making this an ideal choice for students.

However, this review spec HP Pavilion 14-dv0007na is currently available for £649.99 / $499.99 and features an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, 256GB of SSD storage and similar integrated Iris Xe graphics seen in previous chips powered Intel-powered MacBooks.

This is a surprisingly good value that fits well into the mix of mid-range Windows-powered laptops and pairs well with the

Honor MagicBook 14

and Microsoft's

Surface Laptop Go

.But is it good enough to compete with the very?

best laptops

design and keyboard

Business class looks with a bold shade of pink

The solid aluminum frame helps make it feel sturdy

Responsive keyboard but no backlight

When you think of a mid-range laptop, you probably don't think of one that feels incredibly well made, nor one that's made out of pink aluminum. That's exactly what HP delivers with the Pavilion 14. It looks and feels amazing like a premium product.

The Pavilion 14 has that quiet yet stylish look that holds up well against laptops that cost two or three times its price. It's a step up from the more affordable, colorful laptops HP offered around five years ago , and adopts a more professional aesthetic that doesn't raise eyebrows in the office.

The bezels are nice and narrow on the sides and top; the bottom one is a bit thicker. That said, the Pavilion 14 still manages to hold a standard 720p webcam for all your Zoom or Teams needs.

A weight of 1.41kg ensures the Pavilion 14 remains solid to feel well made, but also light enough to slip into a bag and take with you to school, university or the office when needed.

This 14-inch device uses a decent touchscreen, but it's not a convertible laptop, so bending the hinge can only do harm.

On the underside, HP has extended the elegant look to the diagonally mounted speakers. In addition, there is the usual partnership with Bang & Olufsen, which gives the Pavilion 14 relatively good-sounding speakers for a cheap notebook.

When it comes to ports, it's business as usual too - HP hasn't skimped on the connectors. You'll find a high-speed Type-C, 2x USB-As, an HDMI, SD card reader and a headphone combo jack. This offers ideal compatibility with many legacy offerings, but it has to be said that a second Type-C would have been desirable.

Windows Hello support is also present and works seamlessly via the small and unobtrusive fingerprint reader located on the bottom right of the keyboard.

The keyboard itself has a compact layout and feels smooth and tactile. Disappointingly, however, it's not backlit, meaning it's not suitable for working after dark. Also, given the laptop's bright pink coloration, it can be confused with silver legends in some lighting conditions it can be difficult to see the buttons themselves.

For such a compact laptop, the Pavilion 14's trackpad is gigantic, offering plenty of travel and smooth tracking. The actual buttons are firm and responsive.

The 1080p resolution is great and displays good colors

250 nits of brightness feels a bit weak

The 16:9 aspect ratio works fine but feels a bit dated

There are no real surprises on the display front: HP has opted for a Full HD IPS display for the Pavilion 14, which offers some good colors and is ideal for everyday use. Its 14-inch screen offers a decent amount of space for working and is compact enough for travelling.

The Pavilion 14's display proved relatively decent for watching university lectures or relaxing with some YouTube videos or Prime Video shows. Viewing angles on the also anti-glare display were fabulous, too. However, the 16:9 aspect ratio feels a bit behind of the curve. Most modern ultrabooks opt for a squarer 16:10, which works better for apps and browsing.

As with the

pavilion 15

, this slightly smaller iteration is also plagued by brightness issues. Its maximum brightness of 250 nits is slightly below the usual 300 nits target for laptops. That being said, the display performs well in normal lighting conditions - just don't expect the best maintain quality when you are outside in bright light.

perfomance

11th Gen Core i5 offers excellent performance speeds

Integrated graphics are ideal for casual gaming

Fast reading and writing of SSDs

Although the HP Pavilion 14 won't shake the world with its technical data, it offers a good overall experience for everyday work in practice.

Under its pink hood is an Intel Core i5-1135G7, which gives it decent scores in both PCMark 10 and Geekbench 5 multi-core tests, beating its closest competitor - the Honor MagicBook 14 - by some margin.

Its 8GB of DDR4 RAM was enough to have multiple Chrome tabs open at the same time. It would be possible to edit a 1080p video on the Pavilion 14.

Given the comparatively high speed of the 11th Gen CPU and the manageable performance of the integrated Intel Xe graphics, it is possible to enjoy light gaming on the Pavilion 14. However, stick to the less intense titles like Minecraft; Crysis will not run on this laptop.

HP Pavilion 14

Honor MagicBook 14

Surface Laptop Go

processor

Intel Core i5-1135G7

AMD Ryzen 5 3500U

Intel Core i5-1035G1

Geekbench 5 single core

1368

792

1205

Geekbench 5 multi-core

4553

3035

4406

PC Mark 10

3889

3301

3296

Its 256GB SSD is pretty standard, but maybe a bit stingy if you're installing a lot of files and programs - it fills up pretty quickly. Its speed was 968.24MB/s writing and 2490.93MB/s reading actually pretty snappy, making it a good choice for turning files on and off.

battery life

Lasts 8h 18min in the benchmark test

Can take a working day

During our PCMark 10 battery benchmark test, the Pavilion 14 lasted HP's stated 8 hours and 18 minutes.

This is ideal for students and office visitors who just get through the whole working day. However, the Pavilion 14 performs better than comparable priced competitors: Microsoft's Surface Laptop Go and the Honor MagicBook 14 lasted almost nine hours in the same test.

Benchmarks are only part of the picture, of course, and the Pavilion 14 comfortably lasted all day before needing to be charged back to 100%. The laptop also features a fast charge feature, which charges to 50% in 45 minutes, allowing you to be in are ready for use again in a very short time.

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