All Of HP's New Pavilion PCs

HP updated its mainstream Pavilion lineup at a Back-To-School product showcase in New York City. Although it makes little sense to dive into the back-to-school season when the current school year has yet to conclude, HP’s new offerings give consumers something to look forward to this autumn with new laptops, x360s, desktops and all-in-one (AIO) PCs.

The Clamshells Cometh (In Many Colors)

HP’s classic Pavilion “clamshell” notebooks have been updated to include the latest 6^th generation (Skylake) processors from Intel, and 15.6-inch models can also feature 7^th generation AMD A-series processors. In addition, the new Pavilion laptops offer moderately powerful graphics subsystem options--up to an Nvidia GTX 960M dedicated GPU or AMD Radeon R7 graphics.

The company claimed the 14- and 15.6-inch models are 11-22 percent thinner and lighter than their predecessors, and every size of the HP Pavilion notebook comes in five new colors including Natural Silver, Modern Gold, Dragonfly Blue, Cardinal Red or Sport Purple, in addition to the previously available Blizzard White or Onyx Black.

The Pavilion series of laptops keep it simple with single storage options, which includes up to a 512 GB M.2 SATA SSD or 2 TB HDD. It also features a dual storage option consisting of a 128 GB M.2 SATA SSD and up to a 2 TB HDD on select models.

The 14-inch model has a discrete GPU option in the form of an Nvidia GeForce 940MX graphics module, but the 15.6-inch Pavilion laptop has even more dedicated graphics choices, including a GTX 950M or GTX 960M. The 15.6-inch model is also the only size that offers AMD Radeon R7 graphics when equipped with an AMD 7^th generation processor. The 17.3-inch Pavilion laptop offers only an Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M if you want a dedicated graphics card.

The HP Pavilion notebooks start at just $539.99 for the 14-inch version, with the 15.6-inch model starting at $579.99 and the HP Power Pavilion 17.3-inch model costing $899.99 at entry level.

A Bigger, Better (And More Colorful) HP Pavilion x360

The Pavilion lineup also received a refresh to its x360 offerings, with updated versions of the 11.6- and 13.3-inch models shedding some weight and becoming even thinner than before. There’s also a new 15.6-inch x360 with an optional Nvidia GeForce 930M graphics card.

The 15.6-inch x360 is new to the lineup, and it’s the largest Pavilion x360 HP has ever offered. It takes after the recently announced HP Envy x360 notebook with its screen size and functionality, but the Pavilion x360 laptops stay in the mainstream market segment’s price point by excluding some costly configuration options that are featured in the Envy-series counterparts, such as Intel Iris Graphics, high-capacity PCIe SSDs and 4K screen options. The Pavilion-series x360 notebooks also lack AMD processor options for the time being.

We found it odd that the 15.6-inch model was not as generous with its maximum memory capacity as the 13.3-inch version, which can feature up to 16 GB of RAM. The 15.6-inch edition is limited to just 8 GB of RAM, but it’s also the only Pavilion x360 that can sport an Nvidia GeForce 930M dedicated GPU, offering graphics horsepower that the smaller x360s cannot. The tradeoff for an optional discrete graphics card appears to be a lower memory capacity. The 15.6-inch model is also the only version of the Pavilion x360 that can sport up to an Intel Core i7 processor.

The HP Pavilion x360 laptops come in the same five aforementioned colors of the Pavilion clamshells, including Natural Silver, Modern Gold, Dragonfly Blue, Cardinal Red and Sport Purple.

A Cutting-Edge (To-Edge) Pavilion AIO

HP also revealed its new Pavilion All-In-One (AIO) PC, which is available in 23.8- and 27-inch models. The 23.8-inch model can optionally feature a new micro-edge display, which reduces the border width by 75 percent compared to other edge-to-edge AIOs.

The 23.8- and 27-inch models both support the latest 6^th generation (Skylake) Intel processors or 7^th generation AMD APUs, but the micro-edge display version can accommodate only Intel CPUs. The micro-edge display also prohibits the addition of a touchscreen. However, it does sport a privacy camera, which can pop up out of the chassis when it’s in use, or be retracted to hide and disable the camera and microphone for an added sense of privacy.

Another interesting engineering choice is the lack of any pure SSD options, with the Pavilion AIO PCs offering up to 3 TB mechanical hard drives or up to 1 TB hybrid SSHDs. The absence of an M.2 SSD or even a non-hybrid 2.5-inch SATA SSD is disappointing, although many users purchasing an AIO machine are generally less concerned with storage speed than its functionality. However, 3 TB HDD is plenty of space for pictures and movies, and non-enthusiast users are unlikely to be dissuaded by the storage configuration of the Pavilion AIOs.

All of the Pavilion AIOs come in Turbo Silver (if Natural Silver isn’t enough for you), and HP doesn’t offer additional assorted colors like the other Pavilion devices. The new HP Pavilion AIOs start at $699.99 for the 23.8-inch model, $749.99 for the 23.8-inch edition with the micro-edge display, and $999.99 for the 27-inch version.

Smaller (And More Colorful) Pavilion Desktops

HP claimed its new Pavilion desktop systems are now 30 percent smaller than previous generations, and they feature the latest Intel Celeron and Core-series processors (up to an i7) and AMD’s newest 7^th generation processors, up to an A12 processor with Radeon R7 graphics.

The new Pavilion desktops don’t offer an SSD of any kind, which wouldn’t likely be an issue for consumers interested in the entry-level performance of an HP Pavilion desktop system. These PCs are designed for home and office productivity and multi-tasking, but the new Pavilion desktops could also be ideal for those with light gaming aspirations by offering up to an Nvidia GTX 750 Ti and AMD Radeon R7 graphics.

Not much has changed with the Pavilion desktop aside from the smaller chassis and updated processors, but a back-to-school lineup update (at least, this one) wouldn’t be complete without more color options. The new Pavilion desktops come in Natural Silver, Blizzard White and Twinkle Black and start at only $499.99.

HP certainly seems to offer plenty of variety in its new consumer Pavilion lineup, with both a range of performance in the featured components, and if nothing else, colors. The new HP Pavilion lineup starts trickling to market in mid-May, starting with the x360s and 15.6- and 17.3-inch clamshell laptops, followed by the desktops and 14-inch Pavilion laptop in June, and the AIO PCs in July.

Derek Forrest is an Associate Contributing Writer for Tom’s Hardware and Tom’s IT Pro. Follow Derek Forrest on Twitter. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.