The HP Pavilion Plus 14 (model 14-eh0xxx) is one of the most screen-forward 14-inch values in the mid-range tier — a 13th-generation Intel Core i5-1335U, 16 GB of DDR4 RAM, a 512 GB NVMe SSD, and a 14-inch 2.2K IPS display in a sub-$900 chassis. It’s the laptop for buyers who want sharper text and more vertical pixels than a standard 1080p screen without stepping up to the OLED-equipped ZenBook or MacBook Air tiers. This review covers what the Pavilion Plus 14 actually delivers at its $899 MSRP — and the compromises HP made to hit that price while keeping the screen as the headline feature.
The Pavilion Plus 14 is the laptop for buyers who want a portable 14-inch machine with a higher-resolution display than the typical mid-range laptop, 16 GB of RAM as standard, and a modern Intel CPU — but won’t pay the $1,200+ tier for OLED. It’s a compact aluminum-topped chassis around 1.4 kg, designed for everyday productivity, schoolwork, and light creative tasks. It’s a fit for:
Where the Pavilion Plus 14 falls short: the integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics mean no serious gaming and limited GPU-accelerated creative work. If you need discrete GPU power for video editing or 3D rendering, step up to the Acer Swift X 14 (with RTX 4050) at $999 or the ASUS ZenBook 14 OLED with the H-series chip. If battery life is your top priority and you’re willing to give up Windows, the Apple MacBook Air M2 at $999 (often $799 on sale) is the obvious cross-shop.
| Component | Configuration |
|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i5-1335U (2 P-cores + 8 E-cores, 12 threads, 4.6 GHz P-core boost) |
| GPU | Intel Iris Xe Graphics (integrated, 80 EUs) |
| Memory | 16 GB DDR4-3200 (soldered, not upgradeable on most SKUs) |
| Storage | 512 GB PCIe NVMe SSD (M.2, user-replaceable) |
| Display | 14-inch IPS, 2240 x 1400 (2.2K), 16:10 aspect ratio, ~300 nits |
| Weight | 1.4 kg (3.09 lbs) |
| Battery | 51 Wh (claimed up to 9 hours; real-world 6-7 hours) |
| Ports | USB-C (Thunderbolt 4 on select SKUs), 2x USB-A 3.2, HDMI 2.1, 3.5 mm audio, microSD |
| Wireless | Wi-Fi 6E (ax), Bluetooth 5.3 |
| MSRP at launch (2023) | $899 |
The 14-inch 2.2K (2240 x 1400) IPS display is the standout feature at this price. Most mid-range laptops in the same generation ship with a standard 1920 x 1080 panel — the Pavilion Plus 14’s higher resolution and 16:10 aspect ratio give you noticeably more vertical space for documents, spreadsheets, and web pages without making text feel cramped. The matte IPS panel reaches about 300 nits (fine for indoor use, marginal in direct sunlight) and has the wide viewing angles IPS is known for.
At 2240 x 1400, text rendering is sharp at Windows’s default 150% scaling. The 16:10 aspect ratio is a real productivity win versus older 16:9 panels — you see more of a document or web page without scrolling. Color coverage is roughly 100% sRGB, which is enough for general productivity work and casual photo editing, though it’s not wide enough for serious print design or video color grading. If you need true OLED contrast or DCI-P3 coverage, step up to the ASUS ZenBook 14 OLED (UM3402) at $849 or the HP Spectre x360 14 at $1,449.
There’s no high-refresh-rate option on this SKU — it’s a standard 60 Hz panel. For productivity and content consumption, 60 Hz is fine; if you’re a competitive gamer, look at a 120 Hz+ machine instead.
Intel’s Core i5-1335U is a 13th-generation Raptor Lake chip with two performance cores, eight efficiency cores, and twelve threads total. It has a 15 W default TDP that HP can tune up or down depending on the chassis’s thermal budget. For everyday productivity — browser tabs, Office apps, Slack, Zoom, light Photoshop — the 1335U is more than fast enough and stays cool under sustained load.
The real advantage of the 1335U at this tier isn’t raw speed; it’s the headroom that 16 GB of RAM gives you. Most sub-$800 laptops ship with 8 GB, which means you’ll start hitting the RAM ceiling once you have 20+ browser tabs open, run a video call, and try to do anything else simultaneously. The Pavilion Plus 14’s 16 GB lets you actually multitask without the system swapping to disk. The 512 GB NVMe SSD is fast enough to keep boot and app launch times under 10 seconds.
For gaming: the integrated Iris Xe GPU will run older and indie titles (Stardew Valley, Hollow Knight, Hades, esports titles at low settings) at 1080p fine. Modern AAA games are not realistic at playable frame rates on integrated graphics. If gaming matters, the Acer Swift X 14 with the RTX 4050 at $999 is the right step up. For content creation, the 16 GB of RAM and 13th-gen i5 are adequate for 1080p video editing in Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve, but the lack of a discrete GPU means rendering will be slow.
The Pavilion Plus 14 uses an aluminum lid paired with a polycarbonate (plastic) bottom panel. The aluminum lid gives the laptop a more premium feel than all-plastic competitors and resists fingerprints better than glossy finishes. The hinge is firm enough for one-handed opening but not so stiff that you can’t adjust the angle on your lap. At 1.4 kg it’s noticeably lighter than 15-inch mid-range laptops and roughly the same weight as the Lenovo IdeaPad 5 14″ or ASUS ZenBook 14.
The keyboard is full-size with reasonable key travel for an ultraportable — typing feels closer to a ThinkPad than to a low-travel MacBook keyboard. There’s no dedicated numpad on this 14-inch model, which is normal for the form factor. The trackpad is a plastic-surface Precision unit; it tracks accurately and the click feels decent, though not as solid as a glass-surface trackpad on a premium laptop.
Port selection is solid for the class: USB-C (with Thunderbolt 4 on select SKUs), two USB-A 3.2 for legacy peripherals, HDMI 2.1 for external displays, a 3.5 mm audio jack, and a microSD card reader. There’s no Ethernet on this model. The webcam is 1080p (a step up from the 720p webcams common in this price tier) — fine for video calls, with HP’s temporal noise reduction helping in low light.
Speakers are bottom-firing and tuned by Bang & Olufsen — they’re fine for system sounds and the occasional YouTube video, but for music or movies, headphones or external speakers are recommended. The fan stays quiet under normal use and only ramps up under sustained CPU load.
One note on wireless: the Pavilion Plus 14 ships with Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax) and Bluetooth 5.3, which is current-generation and competitive with mid-range and premium laptops in 2023-2024. If your home network is Wi-Fi 6E-capable, you’ll get the full throughput benefit.
Buy the Pavilion Plus 14 if: you want a 14-inch mid-range laptop with a sharper 2.2K display, 16 GB of RAM, and a current-generation Intel CPU for under $900. The combination of a high-resolution 16:10 screen, comfortable keyboard, and full port selection in a 1.4 kg package is hard to beat at this price.
Skip it if: you need discrete GPU power for gaming or creative work (step up to the Acer Swift X 14 with RTX 4050), you want OLED contrast or DCI-P3 color coverage (look at the ASUS ZenBook 14 OLED UM3402 at $849 or the HP Spectre x360 14 at $1,449), or you want the absolute best battery life on the market (the Apple MacBook Air M2 at $999 / often $799 on sale still wins there). Also skip if you specifically need RAM upgradeability — most SKUs have soldered 16 GB.
The HP Pavilion Plus 14 is the mid-range 14-inch laptop to buy if you value display quality and don’t need a discrete GPU. The 2.2K 16:10 IPS panel, 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB SSD, and current-generation Intel i5 in a 1.4 kg chassis hit the right balance for productivity-focused buyers who want a step up from 1080p without paying premium-tier prices. The lack of a discrete GPU and the soldered RAM are the real compromises, and for most buyers in this price bracket, they’re compromises you can live with. At $899 MSRP, this is the kind of laptop that replaces a five-year-old machine and feels like a meaningful upgrade — particularly if you’re moving from 1080p to 2.2K for the first time. If your budget caps out near $900 and you want a sharp, portable, well-built Windows laptop, the Pavilion Plus 14 is the strongest 14-inch answer in the mid-range class right now.
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