AIO HP 23-q137c i5/ 6GB/ 1TB/ 23 inch FHD TOUCH/ Win 10

HP Pavilion 23 Touch All-in-One

Introduction, Design & Features

If you were to yell in a crowded computer convention, “Sound the fire alarm—a Windows PC maker is imitating the design of Apple’s iMac!” you’d get a lot of funny stares, but no stampede for the exits. Why? Apart from the confusion surrounding the metaphor, copying the iMac’s aesthetic flair is nothing new.

After all, we saw this same story just a few weeks before this review in the form of the very, very iMac Asus Zen AiO Pro Z240IC. And we’re seeing it again, this time from HP and its Pavilion 23 Touch All-In-One, which is part of HP’s 2015 Pavilion lineup. (We tested the specific Pavilion 23 All-In-One model “23-q019”; this one has since been supplanted by a configure-to-order equivalent with the same components but low-end dedicated AMD graphics.)

Of course, some differences separate this HP machine from the iMacs. One is that it has a plastic back panel instead of an aluminum one, even if the overall look is similar. Whether that’s a good thing or not is ultimately up to your eyes to decide. We happen to think that the curved back panel, edge-to-edge front glass, and sturdy aluminum stand is a combination that works rather well.

The biggest advantage HP’s AIO has over the iMac is price. HP’s new AIO series starts at $599.99 with some AMD A10-based models with 23-inch screens, compared to $1,099 for a 21.5-inch iMac, or $1,499 if you’re looking at one of them with an Apple “Retina” 4K display. (See our review of the2015 Apple iMac 21.5-Inch with Retina Display.) As configured, the Pavilion 23-q019 Touchsmart All-In-One we received for evaluation was a little pricier than the $599.99 base model (around $750, at this writing), though it was still more affordable than the most basic iMac.

HP doesn’t give buyers the option of configuring a Pavilion 23 with a 4K-resolution display like the iMac; it’s full-HD 1080p (1,920x1,080) or bust. However, the display in all of the 23-inch models is a high-quality in-plane switching (IPS) panel with flexible viewing angles and support for 10-point multi-touch input. Sure, the latter isn’t quite as crucial in the Windows 10 era as it was when Microsoft was pushing its more touch-centric Windows 8 operating system. But touch support is always an appreciated amenity on an AIO PC all the same.

You may have noticed that here in late 2015, PC makers are tripping over themselves to refresh their product lines with processors employing Intel’s 6th-Generation (“Skylake”) architecture. It’s no surprise that Skylake makes an appearance in the Pavilion 23 AIO family too, though to ensure mainstream appeal, affordable 4th-Generation Intel Core (“Haswell”) and AMD A Series processors are also available. HP offers this Pavilion in a variety of preconfigured versions with modest customizability, so the Pavilion 23-q019 version we tested is but one possibility in the line. This particular model employs one of the 4th-Generation chips, a Core i5. (More on that later.)

The CPU isn’t the only place the Pavilion 23 we tested is decidedly mainstream. Here, affordability trumps excess from top to bottom, whether it’s the reliance on the Intel CPU’s integrated graphics or the inability to configure a setup with a solid state drive (SSD) instead of a mechanical hard drive. As we’ll get to in a moment, the Pavilion 23—either as we tested it, or in its base models—isn’t primed to break any benchmark records. But it also won’t pummel your wallet or purse to nearly the same degree that a tricked-out iMac will.

Design

HP’s design is intentionally minimalistic, while at the same time intended to make a “maximum impression.” The Pavilion AIO is a system HP wants you to feel comfortable putting out in the open, even making it a “focal point” in your home. Part of that is marketing fluff, but to discredit it entirely as such would be a disservice to HP’s effort in designing an attractive system.

Take the front glass. HP included no physical or touch-sensitive buttons on the front face of the PC at all. Instead, edge-to-edge glass covers the entire full-HD 1080p display. Thick black borders around the 23-inch panel make it appear larger (and perhaps more expensive) than it actually is. The borders also give a home to a few pieces of tactful, tasteful branding: “HP” on the bottom, “Pavilion” in the upper right, and “B&O” (for Bang & Olufsen) in the upper left.

We mentioned that HP chose plastic instead of aluminum for the Pavilion’s back panel. While the material is not as luxurious as metal, its dotted pattern and what HP calls a “soft pearl coat” finish give the AIO a bit of uptown flair that belies its neighborhood-friendly price.

That curved back panel also prevents the Pavilion 23 from appearing bulky. The piece is also removable, allowing you to access and service some of the components, such as the RAM and hard drive. Be warned, though: If you’re not careful, you can ding up the sides when prying it off. [We confess: We’re guilty of that. Sorry, HP. —Ed.]

The curved design and removable back panel didn’t leave enough room for ports on either of the sides. Instead, they’re located on the back, and facing straight back, sitting dead center at the bottom. It’s an inconvenient placement that’s made even more awkward by situating them directlybehind the stand.

HP must have known this, as it refrained from plopping any of the speedy USB 3.0 ports in this cluster on the back. Instead, the back is home to the four pokier USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI output, an Ethernet/LAN port, and the DC power input. These are the ports you’ll likely relegate to mice and keyboards, as well as to other cables that you’ll plug in and detach only infrequently.

As for those USB 3.0 ports we mentioned, you get two them, both located underneath the panel, on the “chin” or bottom edge. It’s also where you'll find a headphone/microphone combo port and a flash memory-card reader (here, for SD cards)...

These bottom-edge ports are easier to access than the ones on the back, but they still require a bit of fumbling around and screen-tilting to get at.

A clean design has its price! But in fairness to HP, Apple's even guiltier when it comes to this kind of port placement.

Features

As with most IPS panels, the 23-inch display on the Pavilion produces crisp visuals that don’t fade out of view or wash out when peering from an angle. It responds appropriately to touches, taps, and swipes without any hitches or lag. Considering the limited internal-component choices and price points, we’re not too soured by the lack of a 4K-panel option. The 1080p screen on our test unit served this system well.

On the audio front, partnering up with Bang & Olufsen, a company that’s been banging out audio products since before the Great Depression, is proving savvy. You won’t get chest-thumping bass from the Pavilion 23, but the sound quality is a notch above what we’re used to hearing from most AIO-integrated speakers. There’s also a noticeable difference to be heard when enabling B&O’s tuning software, which lets you fiddle with EQ settings. We found the Live preset offered the best balance of highs, mids, and lows.

Though an optical drive is a bit of a relic these days, HP found room for a side-mounted one here. It makes sense on an AIO like this, designed primarily for content consumption, as you can use it to play movies on DVD or to jam out to your collection of music CDs. The feed mechanism on this drive isn’t an elegant slot-loader, alas. (It's a laptop-style tray-loader with a snap-on hub for your discs.) But the face of the drive tray is contoured to the curves of the back panel and hard to spot if you’re not looking for it. We missed it the first few times around this PC, actually.

Kudos to HP for including a wireless keyboard and mouse, both of which communicate with the system through a single compact “nano”-style receiver. We recommend plugging this receiver into one of the USB 2.0 ports on the back, as there’s no gain to be had from filling one of the faster (and more easily accessible) USB 3.0 ports.

Tech-savvy users will want to spend a few minutes removing bloatware and mopping up unneeded icons (like a gratuitous link to Priceline.com) on the desktop. HP didn’t go overboard here, and we actually like the HP Support Assistant, a utility that, among other things, scans for and fetches driver and BIOS updates.