HP Pavilion 14

This stylish laptop has some shortcomings, but we can't argue about the quality on offer for the price

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PRICE £567 (£680 inc VAT) from hp.com

In the HP hierarchy of consumer laptops, the Pavilion range sits one step up from the bottom rung: it goes Essentials, Pavilion, Envy, and then Spectre at the top. This means you miss out on some luxuries found on the Envy 14 opposite, but it looks and feels like a much more expensive laptop than its price suggests. Finished in an attractive silver, an aluminum alloy lid and keyboard deck both add to the premium aroma. Put it side by side with Acer's budget offerings and there's only one winner for style.

It's a compact system as well. Measuring 17mm high and with a 1.4kg weight, it takes up little room in a travel bag. More expensive laptops beat it comfortably for screen-to-body ratio, but the side bezels only consume 7mm so are barely noticeable in use. There would have been plenty of space in the centimeter-tall top bezel for a Windows Hello-compatible infrared camera, but HP saves such nice-to-have for its more expensive laptops.