I ’ve been reviewing morebudget laptopslately , or at least those that are good - budget at $ 1,000 or less . That ’s on use , because not everybody has $ 1,500 or more to drop on a laptop . HP ’s Pavilion lineup , which will be transitioning to the budget version of its new OmniBook phone line that covers all the company ’s consumer machines , has served that kind of consumer in the past .
powerful now , the Pavilion Laptop 16 is a machine that hoi polloi might count to for a orotund - format laptop that wo n’t discover the bank . And it has a number of characteristic that straddle the fence between insurance premium and budget but are n’t quite midrange , either . The trouble is , the Pavilion Laptop 16 set about at $ 1,100 , where it seems like it should be offered at a few hundred one dollar bill less .
Update : This review was originally write based on incorrect pricing information . When considering the more accurate price , the laptop computer is a lot more attractive .
Specs and configuration
The Pavilion Laptop 16 starts at $ 650 for a Core Ultra 7 155U , 16 GB of RAM , a 512 GB SSD , and a 16.0 - inch FHD+ information processing show ( with or without touch ) . If you go by the standard HP configurator , the price bulge out at $ 1,100 , and upgrade to 32 GB of RAM and a 2 TB SSD raise the price to $ 1,509 .
At $ 650 , the Pavilion Laptop 16 is a plenty more attractive than its list price , which would be too too expensive . So , as long as you could get it at the sales agreement price , you could feel comfortable in giving it some considerateness .
Design
The Pavilion Laptop 16 is constructed of all Al , and it ’s moderately self-colored . There ’s a niggling act of bendiness in the hat and the keyboard deck demoralise a little under pressure . But overall , the build quality is fine . HP ’s OmniBook card is a lot more hearty , though , and they ’re not that much more expensive ( or around the same cost ) .
The car is also pretty with child , with plastic bezel that are thin along the edges but rather declamatory on top and bottom . That makes the Pavilion Laptop 16 fairly side and rich , although it ’s passably thin at 0.70 in and it ’s just under four pounds in weight . you could get small-scale and thinner 16 - inch laptops , with theSamsung Galaxy Book5 Pro 360being a prime example at just 0.50 inches thick and 3.73 pounds .
Aesthetically , the Pavilion Laptop 16 is very plain , and that ’s fine . Many laptops today have minimalist aim with no bling bling . I keep bear on to HP ’s own OmniBook lineup , because the fellowship knows how to make elegant laptops that are also dim-witted in design . This one is not the in force model of that , though .
Keyboard and touchpad
HP makes some slap-up keyboards , most notably the excellent version they used on their old Spectre card and most latterly on the new OmniBook machines . This one is n’t quite the same . Its keycaps are a fiddling little , and while there ’s a lot of primal spatial arrangement , the permutation are too loose . It ’s not a bad keyboard , exactly , it ’s just that HP has done a lot better .
The touchpad is smaller than it could be given the available space on the medallion repose , and it works well enough as a mechanically skillful variant with reasonably quiet button clicks . It ’s not bad , either , but not as good as the fantabulous haptic touchpad HP uses on some of its machines .
Connectivity and webcam
The Pavilion Laptop 16 is a with child laptop and so there ’s plenty of way for connectivity . While there ’s a large selection of ports , it ’s unsatisfying that none are Thunderbolt 4 . Once again , I ’m reminded that this is a near - budget laptop in design , and at $ 650 , some compromises are necessary . Wireless connectivity is just one footstep behind , which is okay .
The webcam is the first I ’ve ascertain in a while that ’s less than 1080p , at just 720p . Its image is n’t smashing , and the Core Ultra 7 155U chipset does n’t have a flying Neural Processing Unit ( NPU ) to support any on - gimmick AI features . There ’s an infrared television camera for Windows 11 Hello facial recognition , which worked well .
Performance
The Intel Core Ultra 7 155U is a 15 - watt chipset that ’s Intel ’s late generation chipset . It has 12 sum ( two Performance , eight efficient , and two Low - Power Efficient ) and 14 threads , running at up t0 4.8GHz . It ’s been superseded by Intel ’s Core Ultra Series 2 ( Lunar Lake ) and Qualcomm ’s Snapdragon X chipsets that are aimed at much better efficiency . While you’re able to get the New chipsets for around twice the price , not everyone will be willing to compensate that much .
The second problem is that the Pavilion Laptop 16 ’s performance does n’t stand up out . It ’s well dull than Lunar Lake and even more so than Qualcomm ’s in vogue chipsets . It ’s okay for canonic productivity tasks , but it ’s not give-up the ghost to keep up with other present-day laptops . As we ’ll see , it also does n’t have the efficiency benefits of Lunar Lake , so there ’s no effective reason for the via media . And , its Intel Iris Xe integrated art are n’t very fast , meaning it ’s not a great choice for gamers or creators .
Battery life
The Intel Core Ultra 7 155U chipset is a phallus of the premature multiplication that was n’t as focalize on efficiency as newer chipsets like Intel ’s Lunar Lake and Qualcomm ’s Snapdragon X. But , it ’s the lower - ability variation of its generation , so when combine with a low - resolving power IPS display but only 59 W - hours of battery capacity , I was n’t entirely certain what to ask .
I ’ve provided more than a few comparison laptops to give an idea of what to ask from the Pavilion Laptop 16 . It did n’t do badly , exactly , compared to former laptops , but it ’s nowhere near the current crop of auto . You wo n’t get nearly a sidereal day ’s worth of shelling living , even function basic task , compared to many other laptop computer that will get a full day and then some .
Display
The Pavilion Laptop 16 has just one display alternative , a 16.0 - inch 16:10 FHD+ ( 1920 x 1200 ) IPS panel running at 60Hz , which is useable with and without contact . That ’s not high enough resolution for me at this filmdom size , with text that total across as quite pixellated . The display seems plenty brilliant and lightlessness are n’t too grayish , so those are plusses . But , colouring did seem dampen to me .
My colorimeter confirmed those opinion . cleverness is by all odds great at 404 nits , and contrast exceeds our 1,000:1 verge at 1,210:1 . That ’s not OLED - degree of inky blacks , but it ’s near for IPS engineering . coloring material , though , were n’t very all-embracing , at just 69 % of sRGB , 49 % of AdobeRGB , and 49 % of DCI - P3 , where average information science display today descend in at 100 % , 75 % , and 75 % , severally . And color truth was n’t very good at a DeltaE of 2.70 , where productiveness users want 2.0 or better .
Something has to give to fit out a large - sieve laptop computer below $ 700 . Quite often , it ’s the display .
A near-budget laptop that demands (and gets) a near-budget price
This integral reassessment take that you could get the Pavilion Laptop 16 at a sale damage , such as when this review is write at $ 650 . It ’s fast enough for most productiveness users , and it ’s built well enough . But its shelling life is n’t expectant and its display just is n’t colorful enough to expend a stack more money .
But , if you need a large laptop computer and do n’t have a lot of money , then the Pavilion Laptop 16 is well deserving count . You ’ll get a laptop computer that ’s reasonably pleasant to employ and wo n’t break the bank . But verify to await for a sale , because the laptop wo n’t be deserving it at list price .
