My perfectly rated 2.2lb HP Pavilion Aero 13 laptop is a freaking steal at $479

HP Pavilion Aero 13
(Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

If you're looking for the best Black Friday deal on a laptop this HP Pavilion Aero 13 is the winner espeically for it's sub-$500 price.

Late last year, I reviewed the HP Pavilion Aero featuring AMD processors and gave it a perfect score, which is super rare. The reasons are obvious: It weighs less than 2.2 lbs (0.9kg), has excellent performance, has a non-cheap design that looks great, and it has an exceptionally good keyboard, touchpad, and display.

HP is running a fire sale on this one and instead of it being $800 it can be yours for $479.99, a savings of $320.

As someone who mostly spends their time reviewing high-end laptops that can run north of $2,000, the HP Pavilion Aero was the first “budget” laptop that I could easily use as my daily driver with no regrets. 

Its chassis is all-metal instead of cheap plastic and the cutouts for the speakers and vents are tiny, drilled holes that look awesome.

HP Pavilion Aero 13 Laptop $800 $479.99 at HP.com

HP Pavilion Aero 13 Laptop <a href="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?awinmid=7168&awinaffid=103504&clickref=hawk-custom-tracking&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hp.com%2Fus-en%2Fshop%2Fpdp%2Fhp-pavilion-aero-laptop-13z-be100-502q9av-1" data-link-merchant="hp.com"">$800 $479.99 at HP.com

If you only have $500 to spend on a laptop this year this is the only one you should consider. It weighs just 2.2lbs, has a 16:10 display, is powered by AMD Ryzen, and it looks great. 

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CategoryHP Pavilion Aero 13
Operating systemWindows 10 Home (Windows 11-ready)
ProcessorAMD Ryzen 5 5600U
AMD Ryzen 7 5800U
GraphicsAMD Radeon graphics
Display13.3-inch, 16:10 aspect ratio, 400 nits, 100% sRGB
1920x1200 (WUXGA)
2560x1600 (WQXGA)
Ports2x Type-A
1x Type-C (PD)
HDMI
Headphone/mic
Camera720p front-facing, dual mics
Audio2x Bang & Olufsen (bottom)
BatteryUp to 10.5 hours
WirelessWi-Fi 6 (1x2) and Bluetooth 5.2
Wi-Fi 6 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.2
Weight2.2 pounds (0.9kg)
ColorPale rose gold
Warm gold
Ceramic white
Natural silver
PriceFrom $749

The 13.3-inch 16:10 display has a 90% screen-to-body ratio and 100% sRGB color gamut. You rarely find such features in a laptop that costs <$800!

Ports are modern with two Type-A, one Type-C with power delivery (PD), HDMI output, and a standard headphone/mic jack. You also get Wi-Fi 6 and very up-to-date Bluetooth 5.2.

The model HP has on sale today features Windows 11 Home, 8GB of RAM, AMD Radeon graphics, 256GB SSD for storage, and is powered by an AMD Ryzen 5 5625U (4.3GHz with 6 cores and 12 threads). 

The Pavilion Aero 13 is the perfect laptop for students, people who spend a lot of time on the web, movie watchers, those who work in Microsoft Office, or even some light gaming (especially Xbox Cloud Gaming).

HP Pavilion Aero 13

(Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

Heck, it even gets good battery life clocking in over 10 hours in our synthetic battery test and around 8 hours in my real-world usage.

Look, I’ve used this laptop and it’s fantastic. To pay less than $500 for it is absurd as you are getting a great-looking, all-metal laptop that weighs a featherlight 2.2 lbs with an edge-to-edge keyboard. If you’re on a budget (and who isn’t these days) and you are looking for the perfect productivity laptop that ticks all the core boxes, the HP Pavilion Aero (13z-be100) is a hard and easy recommendation.

Go get it!

Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.