Most laptops that are meant for productivity are great at handling office work and impressing your coworkers in a meeting. But when it comes to gaming, they give up without a fight. There's a clear gap between regular laptops and gaming laptops. You have two choices: a gaming laptop with all the bells and whistles, or a sleek laptop that struggles with games from 10 years ago - there's no middle ground. But the HP Pavilion Plus 16 (ab0456TX) is a different beast altogether. It looks like a serious laptop for professionals with its subtle colour and refined design, but under the hood, it has a powerful CPU and GPU combo that can run some of the hottest AAA games at a decent frame rate. I've been testing it for a week and here's what I think. Design The HP Pavilion Plus 16, the 2023 variant, combines stylish design with practical functionality. It features a three-sided metal body and aluminium display shell with a frosted surface that enhances its modern, elegant look while resisting fingerprints. This choice of premium materials feels both aesthetic and durable. In terms of portability, this 16-inch laptop measures 357 x 253.5 x 17.7mm and weighs approximately 1.89kg. That's nearly 2kg, which you'll definitely feel in your bag. I personally think laptops above Rs 1 lakh should shed some budget-laptop weight, but bringing a 16-inch below 2kg is an achievement. For reference, the MacBook Pro 16 weighs 2.1kg. The slim profile does impress, enhanced by the laptop's curved lower edges that make it seem thinner than its 17.7mm measurement. I'm also particularly fond of its subdued silver colour that masks scuffs or oil from frequent handling - especially useful given my somewhat sweaty palms. The minimalist, professional design also appeals, as does the snazzy alternative HP logo reserved for premium models. Display, speakers, camera I was immediately impressed with the 16-inch 16:10 display when I first opened up the Pavilion Plus 16. The crisp 2560 x 1600 resolution paired with great colours and contrast made watching videos or working with photos a wonderful experience. Despite being an IPS panel rather than AMOLED, blacks were surprisingly dark. Viewing angles were also excellent with practically no noticeable color shifting. Having that extra vertical space compared to a traditional 16:9 display proved valuable for productivity tasks like viewing spreadsheets or documents. My only gripe with the display was that it sometimes seemed to dip down to as low as 60Hz (or was it 48Hz? I really couldn’t tell), which felt extremely choppy after getting accustomed to the 120Hz peak. Meanwhile, the speakers were a bit of a letdown, especially compared to other laptops this size. The sound is clear in the midrange which is great for calls and videos. However, maximum volume is lacking – any amount of background noise immediately makes it difficult to follow dialogue, forcing you to turn on subtitles. Bass response also falls short when listening to music, lacking punch and weight. Placement along the front edges probably doesn't help the acoustic performance much. On the other hand, HP absolutely nailed it with the 5MP webcam. Image quality holds up remarkably well in challenging lighting from dim rooms to bright sunlight. It's easily among the best I've tested and even high-end models from other brands can't touch it. Performance The 2023 HP Pavilion Plus 16 packs quite the punch. At its core lies a zippy 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700H CPU, teaming up with a sprightly 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM to blast through demanding tasks. Creative professionals will also appreciate the potent NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 graphics, while the generous 1TB PCIe SSD offers capacious storage for large projects. In testing, this machine impresses with its swift responsiveness when multitasking intensive workloads. The Pavilion Plus never stalled, even when I had dozens of Edge tabs open. I am not very big on gaming these days but I did try some Doom Eternal, Forza Horizon 4, and Trackmania – three of my favourites from when I did play regularly. While they are not exactly demanding, they ran perfectly fine, although frame rates understandably (it’s an RTX 3050 after all) take a hit at maxed-out ultra settings. The laptop didn’t once feel like it was struggling because its fan always ran so quiet. Battery life is average considering the potent performance. Expect around 5 hours of continuous use for productivity tasks. Charging speed is decent but not outstanding - I managed to juice up the 68Wh battery from near empty to full in close to 2 hours. Verdict The HP Pavilion Plus 16 delivers powerful performance and a gorgeous display in a slim, professional chassis. Though battery life and speakers could be better, it's an excellent productivity laptop that can also handle moderate gaming. For creatives seeking solid performance, a 16-inch screen, and an elegant design, the HP Pavilion Plus 16 is easy to recommend.
