HP Pavilion Aero 13 review: Light enough to be your constant companion

HP Pavilion Aero 13 price in India: Rs 79,999 

HP Pavilion Aero 13: Design and aesthetics

Traditionally, the Pavilion range is reserved for budget laptops. It is the Envy range that HP uses to show the design prowess and fancy features in premium laptops. But the Pavilion Aero 13 is getting all the high-end features that are usually reserved for premium notebooks.

To begin with, the Aero 13 is made of a magnesium-aluminum alloy and its beautifully simple construction stuck in my head throughout the testing period. My review unit has this gold finish, which immediately attracts you and feels contemporary.

The Aero 13 gives an impression of a premium notebook. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

What makes the Aero 13 so unique is its light and thin form factor. At 2.1 pounds (roughly 970 grams), HP Aero 13 is one of the lightest notebooks you can buy. The LG Gram 14 is another competing ultraportable notebook in this space. Although travel has been restricted due to the pandemic, I am pretty sure the Aero 13 will become the go-to notebook for many who are always on the go.

The Aero 13 looks modern with its thin bezels with a 90 per cent screen-to-body ratio. The hinge is strong and there is no wobble to the screen. You get a full-size HDMI 2.0 port, USB-A port, and USB-C port along the left-hand side and a second USB-A port on the right. What it lacks is the support for Thunderbolt (it’s an AMD-powered machine) as well as an SD card reader. And yes, there is no 1080p camera. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 offer wireless connectivity.

HP Pavilion Aero 13: Display and sound

The Aero 13 is HP’s first notebook with a 16:10 aspect ratio display. Simply put, the screen is taller, bezels are smaller, and you get more screen space without increasing the footprint of the laptop. The 13.3-inch IPS panel (1920x1200p) is very bright and vibrant. You can even play games or watch videos in direct sunlight without any glare. Viewing angles are great, as is the contrast. The sound from the bottom-mounted Bang & Olufsen (B&O) speakers isn’t great but they seem fine for attending Zoom calls or for casual music.

The Aero 13’s keyboard feels light and fast and I find it a breeze to type on. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

HP Pavilion Aero 13: Keyboard and touchpad

I am a big fan of the keyboard found on HP’s high-end Spectre range. This one, though, doesn’t match that level though it is still comfortable to use on the Aero 13. It has decent key travel, though lacks the clickiness one would find on high-end notebooks. The Aero 13’s keyboard feels light and fast and I find it a breeze to type on. There’s a backlight like in other devices of this price range. The touchpad is large and spacious and has a smooth surface, while supporting Microsoft’s Precision touchpad drivers.

The Aero 13 will become the go-to notebook for many who are always on the go. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

HP Pavilion Aero 13: Performance and battery

In terms of the Aero 13 configurations, my review unit came with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600U processor with Radeon graphics, 16 GB RAM, and 512GB of storage. Is it fast? The short answer is absolutely yes! It’s no surprise that it’s faster than your old Windows notebook or previous-generation MacBook Air. I haven’t benchmarked it but I can tell you this notebook is going to be a lot faster. I edited a couple of videos, performed some photo editing tasks, and it could handle all my daily Chrome tabs without crashing. This notebook can be used for gaming, though keep your expectations low.

Battery life is interesting on the Aero 13. I got close to 10 hours of battery life when running my screen at 50 per cent brightness. With the Aero 13, I would imagine that I could get several hours of actual work out of it on battery for the first time. This is a good indication.

You can find a physical fingerprint reader on the Aero 13, but it lacks an SD card reader. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

HP Pavilion Aero 13: Should you buy it?

To me, the Aero 13 is the kind of notebook I would personally want to buy. It’s small, lightweight, and reliable enough to be my personal computer. It isn’t a cheap notebook and costs Rs 79,999. That said, this is a powerful machine that will easily handle most tasks with ease. Not to forget, the Aero 13 is a mainstream notebook aimed at average users.