With its Pavilion Aero 13, HP is trying to woo consumers in India who need a portable everyday laptop with a good mix of performance and overall experience. Of course, the Pavilion Aero 13 isn’t a mass-market product but is targeted at working individuals who need an everyday laptop and, thanks to its design, it looks appealing and lightweight. The new Aero 13 is also an attempt by HP to strengthen its sub-Rs 1 lakh laptop segment position.

In a recently released report by IDC on the traditional PC market, including desktops, laptops, and more, HP maintained its top spot in the overall PC category in India. The company has an impressive market share of 28.5 per cent, but rivals like Dell, Lenovo, Acer, and Asus are not giving up easily.

The good thing about the Aero 13 is that HP has made the overall package appealing not just by looks but by form factor as well. The company says that the new Aero 13 is its lightest AMD-based consumer laptop and is made of ocean-bound plastics. I spent a few weeks with the all-new HP Pavilion Aero 13 to find out whether the laptop is an excellent option for those who want an allrounder. Read on to find out.

HP Pavilion Aero 13 review: Ultra-light design that scores high

HP’s Pavilion line of notebooks sits right with the company’s more premium Spectre and Envy laptops. But thanks to the pricing of the new Pavilion Aero 13, it sits under Rs 1 lakh mark and caters to consumers who are looking at an ultra-lightweight design that is not only easy on the eyes but also the pocket.

The all-new Pavilion Aero 13 is also the lightest AMD-based consumer laptop that weighs less than 1 kilogram, 970 grams to be precise. This is the first Pavilion laptop with a full magnesium chassis and uses ocean-bound plastics. Now, there are two things about the choice of materials used for the HP Pavilion Aero 13. First, it is incredibly lightweight, which makes it ideal for portable use – be it anywhere – a cafe or while sitting on a metro train. But, the choice of material also means that the durability factor isn’t there. I mean, you can’t compare the Pavilion Aero 13 with the MacBook Air M1 in terms of durability.

But, in my opinion, I’m ready to make the compromise on the solid build if I get a super-light laptop that I can carry in my sling bag. Plus, the materials used for the Pavilion Aero 13 are good enough and don’t feel cheap. So, what you get is an ultra-portable laptop with a magnesium design.

The next thing that scores well is the colour options of the HP Pavilion Aero 13. It comes in Ceramic White, Natural Silver, and Pale Rose Gold colours. We got the Pale Rose Gold for our review, and it looks stunning.

The design mixed with the colour combination is a head-turner for people around you. Plus, the laptop scores big on the convenience of carrying it around without any hassle.

I loved the keyboard of the HP Pavilion Aero 13, which is backlit. It’s an excellent keyboard if you are someone whose work requires a lot of typing. The buttons give a nice clicky feel, and ample spacing means you can type words even without looking at the keyboard.

The palm rest area is wide, so there is enough space to place your hand while typing. The HP Pavilion Aero 13 ships with a fingerprint reader placed on the right of the touchpad, more towards the corner. It is quick to use and works flawlessly every time. The laptop comes with speakers from Bang & Olufsen, and there is branding right next to the fingerprint scanner.

The power button is placed on top of the keyboard, but I would have liked it if it was placed slightly differently from the regular keyboard so that it would have been even more convenient to use. Since I have been using the laptop for weeks, so it wasn’t too uncomfortable for me. But it’s just something that’s worth pointing out.

From design to display, the HP Pavilion Aero 13 ships with an IPS panel. The 13.3-inch display offers 1920×1200 pixels screen resolution with a peak brightness of 44 nits. Another good thing about the HP Pavilion Aero 13 is it sports an anti-glare and flicker-free panel, which means using the display under different light conditions will be less annoying. In addition, the 16:10 aspect ratio is excellent for a lot of tasks.

For everyday use, the HP Pavilion Aero 13 offers an excellent display panel and should serve its purpose for most conditions. It is vivid and offers crisp quality texts and sharp images.

However, where I felt slightly disappointed was during multimedia consumption. While watching HD content on the screen of the laptop, I felt that HP could have shipped a slighter, better panel with the Pavilion Aero 13. At this price, I have seen better quality screens on laptops. Another minor issue I felt was that the hinge doesn’t allow the screen to tilt to a wider angle, which means you will constantly adjust the screen for the perfect viewing angle.

HP Pavilion Aero 13 review: Specifications

Processor – AMD Ryzen 5 5600U (up to 4.2GHz max boost clock, six cores), AMD Radeon Graphics
Display – 13.3-inch WUXGA (1920X1200 pixels) IPS display with 400 nits brightness
RAM – 16GB DDR4
Storage – Up to 512GB SSD
Webcam – 720p HD camera
Keyboard – Backlit keyboard
Connectivity ports – 1 x USB Type-C, 3.5mm audio jack, 2 x USB-A, and 1 HDMI 2.0
Operating system – Windows 10 Home
Audio – Audio by B&O; Dual speakers; HP Audio Boost
Battery – 43 Wh, comes with 65 W Smart AC power adapter
Weight – 970 grams
Other features – Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax, Bluetooth 5.2, Windows Hello fingerprint authentication

HP Pavilion Aero 13 review: Performance that impresses

From multitasking to image editing on Lightroom, the HP Pavilion Aero 13 can handle everything with ease. If your work requires a lot of keyboard use, then it would be a treat to use the keyboard on the HP Pavilion Aero 13.

The AMD Ryzen 5-powered laptop ships with 16GB of RAM, which helps it handle multiple Chrome tabs (up to 30), and multiple apps in the background with ease. The laptop was also able to handle a bit of light gaming and launched apps smoothly. However, considering that the AMD Radeon Graphics isn’t the best out there to handle heavy-intensive games, we would recommend looking for another option if you’re someone who loves to play AAA game titles on your personal laptop. For anything else, the HP Pavilion Aero 13 is an allrounder.

Mainly during the review, the Pavilion Aero 13 was a silent machine, except when I was testing it on battery with a bit of gaming in which I heard some fan noise. Another department where HP seems to have cut costs is with the webcam. I wish that the HP Pavilion Aero 13 shipped with a better quality webcam, and the laptop would have become an excellent choice for your video calls, which now play a more crucial role in the post-pandemic era.

It runs on Windows 10 Home, which is an excellent choice for the machine. However, we wish that HP reduced the number of bloatware apps it ships with the Aero 13. Throughout the review, we kept getting notifications from random apps that either needed registration or got updated. This isn’t something I saw on the Spectre or Envy range of laptops by the brand.

The speakers on the HP Pavilion Aero 13 are shipped by Bang & Olufsen. While the speaker quality is excellent but doesn’t rely on it while watching a movie in the surroundings with ambient noise. The speakers are good for one person’s use, at max.

I have already talked about the keyboard on the Pavilion Aero 13, but I will say it again, the laptop ships with an excellent keyboard which is a treat for typing long-form pieces. The touchpad on the laptop is decent, but if you’re someone who requires precision while working on an Excel sheet or more such services, then you prefer using a Bluetooth mouse.

Another department where I believe HP has been limited ports. Yes, the laptop ships with 1 USB Type-C, 2 x USB A, and 1 HDMI 2.0 port. There’s a 3.5mm audio jack as well onboard. However, limited ports mean that you have to be careful with how you use the ports on the Aero 13 because there aren’t many.

HP Pavilion Aero 13 review: Battery could have been better

The HP Pavilion Aero 13, just like other AMD powered laptops, delivers decent battery performance. On a full charge, the laptop can offer up to six hours of battery life. The battery performance can also vary depending on specific settings, like keeping brightness at 50 per cent and turning off the keyboard backlit slightly, pushing the battery life to up to seven hours.

Thanks to the 65W charging adapter, the device supports quick charge. We noticed that the laptop fully charges from 10 to 100 per cent within an hour during our tests, which is impressive.

Of course, with slight gaming, the battery life does reduce, but that’s standard. With its super-light design, the HP Pavilion Aero 13 is a great portable device for your office work, be it anywhere – even a cafe.

In our video loop test, where we run a Full-HD video in a loop and measure the time until the laptop battery is fully drained. The Pavilion Aero 13 lasted for roughly six hours, which is good enough for a laptop of this size.

HP Pavilion Aero 13 review: Verdict

HP Pavilion Aero 13 is a great looking portable laptop. It should cater to most young professionals who are looking for a stylish-looking everyday laptop. It is lightweight, and in Pale Rose Gold the colour option looks stunning. But, the HP Pavilion Aero 13 has its share of shortcomings which also play a part in keeping the prices in check.

While the design is the biggest USP of the HP Pavilion Aero 13, the display isn’t the best I have used. The laptop offers snappy performance and should be an excellent everyday laptop. However, it isn’t an ideal machine for gamers, so look elsewhere.

At Rs 79,999, the HP Pavilion Aero 13 can be a great super light laptop that can handle almost all tasks.

Talking about alternatives, users who have the budget but need more from their next laptop can look at the Asus Zenbook Duo 14, HP Pavilion x360, or a slightly cheaper Microsoft Surface Laptop Go.

If you have the budget and are looking beyond Windows, then the MacBook Air M1 is an excellent option and is currently available with discounts.