Skip to main content

HP launches an ultralight Pavilion laptop with Ryzen 5000 for just $749

HP announced its lightest consumer laptop today — the Ryzen 5000-powered HP Pavilion Aero 13. It weighs less than a kilogram and promises entertainment, productivity, and a great connection all in one. It’s available in four color options, Pale Rose Gold, Warm Gold, Ceramic White, and Natural Silver, which offer a nice variety of color palettes for you to choose from.

Apart from boasting a lightweight body, HP’s latest release is the first Pavilion laptop to host a full magnesium aluminum chassis, which helps it stay so light.

The chassis also has fairly premium look for laptop of this price, sporting four-sided narrow bezels and a durable body. The HP Aero 13 is also the first Pavilion laptop with a 90% screen-to-body ratio. Those thin bezels should make for enjoyable content viewing as well as a modern aesthetic.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

HP’s newest is expected to be able to leverage Windows 11 when updated and hosts the latest AMD Ryzen 7 5800U. This eight-core processor has been a popular option in midrange laptops, promising impressive multicore application and multitasking performance. It’s also been updated to Wi-Fi 6, the latest standard in wireless connectivity.

The Aero 13 features a battery life of up to 10.5 hours, which sounds pretty good if the laptop lives up to its spec sheet. It sports the company’s first 13.3-inch diagonal display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and a 2.5K resolution. Its ratio gives it 10% more vertical viewing space than a traditional 16:9 aspect ratio, so that’s another feature that might ensure a slightly more enjoyable experience for watching movies or surfing the web. The HP Aero 13 has a 400-nit brightness display and, in theory, offers a 100% sRGB with a wide color palette.

HP's new Pavilion Aero 13 laptop.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

HP has been extra mindful of the environment in designing the Pavilion Aero 13. It’s made with post-consumer recycled and ocean-bound plastics and features water-based paint, which helps reduce VOC emissions. Its outer box and fiber cushions are 100% sustainably sourced and recyclable. The Pavilion 13 Aero is also EPEAT Gold Registered and Energy Star certified as a part of HP’s efforts to deliver a sustainable PC portfolio.

The HP Pavilion Aero 13 is expected to be available at HP.com at the beginning of July for a starting price of $749. It will be available at select retailers coming this fall.

Dua Rashid
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Dua is a media studies graduate student at The New School. She has been hooked on technology since she was a kid and used to…
Don’t just buy the latest version of a laptop. It’s not always worth it
The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 laptop, opened with a colorful wallpaper on the screen.

When shopping for a laptop, it's hard not to get sucked into buying the latest model. They're often widely available and marketed as the next big thing.

But as a reviewer who tests dozens of new laptops every year, I know the secret that laptop brands don't want to tell you. It's that more often than not, the latest version of a laptop may offer a very mild update to the previous generation, often just swapping in one CPU for another. That means if you can find the previous generation for cheaper, it's often a better use of your money. The key, though, is learning how to recognize a minor spec update on a laptop from something that's actually worth paying more for.
When updates just aren't enough

Read more
One of the most ambitious gaming laptops just got even better
Someone using the Razer Blade 14 on a table.

The Razer Blade 14 has long been one of my favorite gaming laptops, especially when we're talking about extremely compact, yet powerful options. For 2023, Razer has now announced an upgrade to the machine, bringing not only the latest RTX 40-series graphics, but also up to the anticipated new AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS processor.

I call it "ambitious" because it was an attempt to reduce the size of the popular Razer Blade formula down to something even smaller: a true "stealth" gaming laptop, and a great vehicle for AMD's Ryzen platform.

Read more
AMD might have just enabled MacBook-like gaming laptops, but I’m still skeptical
The AMD Ryzen CPU and Radeon GPU stickers on the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 2022 laptop.

AMD revealed its new Ryzen 7040U series processors for laptops, with bold claims that the chips not only beat the competition from Intel but also outpace the MacBook M2. Perhaps most impressive is that AMD says the processors can handle 1080p gaming with their integrated graphics, possibly enabling a string of thin and light gaming laptops.

I'm still skeptical, mostly on the back of AMD's vague benchmarks and lack of battery testing. Let's get performance out of the way first, though. As you can see in the chart below, AMD is claiming the integrated Radeon 780M GPU can outpace Intel's Iris Xe graphics by upwards of 239% at 1080p.

Read more