HP Pavilion 14 (2022) Review: Build Your Own Budget Laptop

© CNET Josh Goldman/CNET

The HP Pavilion 14 is a budget laptop that looks and performs well for its price. At 3.2 pounds (1.4 kg), the laptop is easy to carry to school or for everyday use. It can also be a good home office laptop that can be easily connected to a desktop monitor, keyboard and mouse, but has a large enough screen for constant use. It's a reliable everyday laptop with a clean design.

The 14-inch laptop can be pre- assembled or customized starting at $650. HP offers several options, including AMD and Intel processors, discrete graphics, and four case colors. This gives you plenty of room to balance your budget and performance needs. But at most, Pavilion 14 costs $1,340. And sweeten the deal before any offer. (Read more about prices, including international prices.)

The pre-configured model I tested costs $800, which isn't bad for a 14-inch 1080p laptop with a 12th-gen Intel Core i5 processor, 16GB of memory, and a 256GB SSD. But at the time of this review , this combo cost just $550 . The HP Pavilion 14 is available in the UK and Australia with AMD processors starting at £630 and AU $1,499 . They are reduced by around £400 and AU$1,199

It is not uncommon for certain models and settings to be on and off. So, if you can wait for the discount, it is definitely worth it as it can be beneficial. For Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday, HP is even discounting rare custom Intel and AMD options, so you can choose exactly the specs you want.

Component options include two AMD processors and three Intel chips up to the Core i7-1255U. With the Intel model, you can add an entry-level Nvidia GeForce MX550 GPU with 2GB for low-end gaming and light content creation. The Pavilion 14 can be configured with 8GB, 12GB, or 16GB of memory and up to 1TB of solid-state storage. The good thing is that neither memory nor storage is soldered to the motherboard, and it's easy to upgrade to a laptop after you start with more RAM or a bigger and faster SSD at a lower price.

© CNET The laptop's power adapter uses a circular connector, but you can use the USB-C port for charging. Josh Goldman/CNET

HP also offers a choice of three displays. All have Full HD resolution (1920x1080 pixels). My review laptop had a basic display which, like the rest of the setup, is suitable for general use. It's not particularly bright, rated at 250 nits, and the reflective coating isn't ideal if you regularly work near windows or bright lights. You can switch to touch screen from this screen. The highest version has 400 nits of brightness and a 100% sRGB color gamut, making it a great option if you're editing photos or videos or just want better color overall.

© Courtesy of CNET The Pavilion 14 has a comfortable backlit keyboard Josh Goldman/CNET

One of the few things that couldn't be improved is the webcam. Before anyone starts spending too much time on video calls, they need a standard 720p HD camera and plenty of light to get a good picture. An upgrade to the 5MP HP webcam would be nice. HP has an advanced lighting app that turns parts of your screen into rings of light to make you look a little better on camera.

If a webcam is important to you, consider the Pavilion 14 Plus . It's a little more expensive, but add a 5-megapixel webcam, a second USB-C port and a microSD card slot, a fingerprint reader, a high-performance processor and graphics, and an OLED screen for sharper, more detailed video.

© CNET The Pavilion 14's steel top and body are made of steel and plastic, including plastics that can be recycled in the ocean. Josh Goldman/CNET

Overall, HP has built a solid budget notebook with the Pavilion 14. There are relatively few downsides. Battery life is not great. In our composite video streaming test, we clocked 6 hours and 51 minutes at 50% screen brightness and 50% headphone volume. In addition, the lid and keyboard cover have flexibility. It is located in the middle of the keyboard and is especially noticeable when you press the trackpad. This makes for a good laptop at a low price.

Otherwise, the HP Pavilion 14 is a great laptop for the price. If long battery life is important and you don't mind being smaller, seriously consider the Pavilion Aero 13 . It 's also good quality and lasted over 10 hours in our tests, and it's only £2. Outside of HP, consider the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i . This 2-in-1 is slightly more expensive, but it beats the Pavilion 14, has a bigger battery, and includes Thunderbolt 4, a USB-C port, an SD card reader, a 1080p webcam with a privacy cover, and a fingerprint scanner.. Reader

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