The Pavilion 13-an0006na is HPs latest small form factor laptop, a small, thin 13″ silver fox with the heart of a lion.
While the Pavilion is technically HP’s entry level model, they’ve chosen to use the rather fetching style from the recent 13” Envy models as inspiration for their latest notebook and, thankfully, it seems to have carried across some of the great quality features alongside it.
From the moment you prise open the silver lid it’s clear this is a quality laptop. The mix of metal and plastic in the case looks great in silver both outside and inside the case. The keyboard looks smart with slightly raised keys that feel comfortable to use and don’t make too much noise to type on. They are background lit with a bright bluish-white light so easy to see in a darkened environment. The trackpad is a little small, not surprising for a 13” laptop. It works well, though isn’t the best one I’ve used but it’s smooth enough for everyday tasks.
The 1920 x 1080 IPS screen has fairly thin bezels around the sides and top with a larger one at the bottom. It’s actually a very nice screen for the price with good 88-degree viewing angles and great colours and brightness. I was very impressed with watching Netflix on this and playing games. Sound comes from the speaker grill behind the keyboard and sounds good for a laptop of this size. It’s not going to fill a room but you don’t expect that in any laptop but it does sound clear.
2 USB 3 ports are included alongside a newer USB C port, which can actually be used to charge the laptop in place of the dedicated charger if you have a USB C plug with enough output. An HDMI port meant I could easily plug this in to a monitor at my desk if needed. Lastly, a small fingerprint scanner adorns the right hand side below the USB C port.
Inside the laptop you’ll find the latest 8th generation intel i5, a four core powerful CPU that can handle plenty of tasks. It’s fast but also efficient, meaning that my battery has lasted 9-10 hours on average. There is no dedicated graphics card in this model but it’s actually surprising that the Intel UHD 620 integrated graphics on this chip can cope with a fair few games on low settings by taking the resolution down to 720p. Even titles like Skyrim and Borderlands 2 work smoothly on the laptop in these settings and it can easily play Roblox and Minecraft in full HD with no problems. 8 GB DDR4-2400 SDRAM gives you enough RAM for everyday tasks and the odd spot of gaming.
Startup is fast with the included 256gb SSD drive, though space is limited once you start adding software. It does have the SD card slot to use for more storage, though. Although the camera is included at the top of the screen it isn’t Windows Hello compatible, which leaves you with the option of logging in with either the fingerprint sensor or a pin. Thankfully, the fingerprint sensor is up to the task and 9 times out of 10 recognised my finger.
From initial setup, Windows takes you through everything needed to start your PC and then HP adds a layer of optional software on top, setup was really easy. Some apps, like Netflix and the Office suite were installed already and there were options for more. These can also be easily uninstalled from the Apps section of Windows settings if not required.
The HP 13-an0006 is a great little 13” laptop that is easy and light to carry around at just 15.4 mm thin but provides a lovely clear, bright display and plenty of power from the intel chip under the hood. It’s ideal for those who don’t want a big laptop using up lots of space but still want to do all the things a full sized pc can do.
HP Pavilion 13-an0006na Laptop
Pros
- Good quality case
- Fingerprint Sensor
- Latest i5 processor
- Great screen with good brightness
Cons
- No dedicated graphics card
