HP Pavilion Wave

  • Vibrant, loud speakers

  • Tiny design at 6.8 x 6.6 x 9.2 inches

  • USB-C port

  • Looks beautiful and blends in to surroundings

  • Its Intel Core i5-7400T is a little underpowered for the price

  • The sound could use stronger bass

The HP Pavilion Wave is a unique PC—it aims to replace your old speakers and your old desktop. If you need a PC for your home theater, then the Wave is perfect.

  • Design
  • Setup
  • Performance
  • Audio
  • Price
  • Competition
  • Final Verdict
  • Specs

We purchased the HP Pavilion Wave so our expert reviewer could thoroughly test and assess it. Keep reading for our full product review.

The HP Pavilion Wave was made for people who know the beauty of simplicity. For those looking to minimize the apparatuses clogging their cluttered desk or console, the Pavilion Wave gives them the opportunity to chuck their bulky desktop PC and their dusty speakers. The Pavilion Wave’s integrated Bang & Olfusen speakers produce amazing, clear, deep sound, but it is a little lacking on the low end. With enough power for a home movie server, the Pavilion Wave’s loud sound is particularly attractive for a home theater.

Design: The loudest PC

Without a doubt, the most unique part about the Pavillion Wave is its appearance. It blends into your living space and tries to masquerade as a high-end Bluetooth speaker (and for the most part, it succeeds). The outside is a plush cloth cover over a triangular prism. On the front, there’s a big B&O logo, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a USB 3.0 port. We’ll get back to that B&O logo. 

On the back, there’s a long line of ports and buttons, and I appreciate the diversity of ports in such a small machine. But we do feel that you may struggle without an external USB dock to extend your number of plugged devices. 

The top of the Pavillion Wave seems to levitate over the rest of the body, looking like an oversized guitar pick. In the gap are vents to let the PC breathe and allow sound to leak out.

The inside of the machine is hard to reach—there are no visible screws or detachable panels. Unfortunately, this means you probably won’t be able to upgrade this PC yourself, but the internal components will last you a while before they need replacing. Our test model has an Intel Core i5-7400T processor, 8GB RAM, 1 TB hard drive, and a 256GB SSD, plenty of horsepower for a media server (though a bit light for a dedicated, full-time desktop).

The wave doesn’t have a discrete graphics card, so the i5-7400T may prove a little weak for hardcore gaming, but it is powerful enough to do light photo and video editing. Because the chassis is so small, it also lacks an internal power supply. Instead, the Wave comes with an external power brick like a modern laptop. 

The Pavilion Wave also comes with a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard. They come pre-paired with the Wave out of the box, which is a nice touch. The keyboard is a small, aluminum-framed membrane board that harkens back to Apple’s iconic deck. The membrane switches are flat and soft, but it’s a comfortable keyboard for use casually on a couch. It charges via micro-USB, so you won’t have to worry about battery.

The mouse, however, is a bit lackluster. Again, HP takes some design notes from Apple: the Wave mouse has a floating head with a scroll wheel but no dedicated left or right click buttons. Clicking felt mushy and slow, and it was rather uncomfortable to hold. Yes, it looks pretty and avant-garde, but peripherals should always place ergonomics first. The mouse runs on AAA batteries, so you can just swap them out when the mouse dies.

Without a doubt, the most unique part about the Pavillion Wave is its appearance.

Setup: Wireless and hassle-free

Setting up the HP Pavilion Wave is very easy. Plug the power brick in and make sure your peripherals are turned on. Boot the PC, follow the Windows 10 setup prompts, and boom: you’re good to go! There’s no cable management or speaker set up, making this easier to set up than 90% of Windows PCs. Just remember to plug in your monitor and you’re set.

Performance: Enough to get the job done

The Pavilion Wave is squarely a home theater and typist’s PC. Its Core i5-7400T is enough to handle most entertainment and productivity tasks, but it’s not the best choice for a video editor’s desk. It’s designed to handle movie watching, spreadsheets, and web browsing. If you want to push the machine, it can handle something like Photoshop, but we wouldn’t want to edit on a 4K display. When we tested some PC games on it, we saw some disappointing performance, but that’s expected from integrated graphics—you won’t get more than 20 FPS out of a performance-intensive game like The Witcher 3, but you can comfortably play less demanding titles, like Stardew Valley or Celeste.  

Our benchmark results confirm the feel of our anecdotal experience with the Pavilion Wave. Cinebench, a scene render test, was a bit much for the Wave to handle, but it did well in simulated productivity tasks in PCMark 10. Rendering GFXBench cutscenes at 4K was an exercise in futility, with the outmatched Wave managing to render 4.5 frames per second during the Car Chase scene. If you want more details on the benchmark results, see the chart below.

Our benchmark results confirm the feel of our anecdotal experience with the Pavilion Wave.

Audio: Big, bold, beautiful

Because it’s perhaps the only PC whose entire body acts as a speaker, it has some of the best sound available from a desktop. The Wave produces beautiful, crisp trebles and mids that carry across a modestly-sized living room. Because of the speaker’s small size it lacks thunderous bass, but it still sounds nice for Youtube videos, dialogue, or other casual listening. If you want a faithful music experience, we recommend you connect the Wave to some solid stereo speakers. 

Its 3.5mm headphone jack produces clear, accurate audio with little distortion, so headphones should sound precise. Its microphone is very sensitive, making the Wave suitable for Skype calls or Alexa orders when you’re on the opposite end of the room as the Wave. It records sound about as well as any smartphone, so you’ll be covered if you just want to teleconference, but again, if you need a machine for serious recording you should invest in a dedicated microphone setup.

Price: Reasonable, but not incredible

The HP Pavilion Wave sells for about $750. It’s a bit overpriced for the included hardware, but that’s because it’s a totally unique product that also doubles as a speaker. Buying a PC with similar components and an analogous speaker would cost you about as much or more than the Wave. If you’re not strapped for cash and prioritize a minimalist aesthetic in your office or living room, the Wave is a great option.

Competition: It stands in a league of its own

Apple Mac Mini: If you want a powerful PC with a small footprint, the Mac Mini is a great alternative. It’s about the size of your wallet and at least as powerful as the Pavilion Wave, although that power comes at a premium (the Intel Core i5-8500 SKU is $1099).

It’s a bit overpriced for the included hardware, but that’s because it’s a totally unique product that also doubles as a speaker.

Dell OptiPlex 3060 Micro PC: The Dell Optiplex 3060 is another awesome choice in the small PC market, and it only costs around $629 for similar specifications.

Admittedly, if you want an okay speaker that happens to also be a decent PC, the Pavilion Wave is basically your only option. It’s a truly unique product, so we commend HP for innovating.

Want to take a look at more reviews? Check out our guide to the best mini PCs.

An interesting compromise.

Specs

  • Product Name
  • Pavilion Wave
  • Product Brand
  • HP
  • MPN
  • 600-a310
  • Price
  • $750.00
  • Release Date
  • March 2018
  • Weight
  • 6 lbs.
  • Product Dimensions
  • 6.8 x 6.6 x 9.2 in.
  • Operating System
  • Windows 10 Home
  • Processor
  • Intel Core i5-7400T
  • Graphics
  • Intel integrated graphics HD630
  • RAM
  • 8GB DDR4-2400
  • Storage
  • 1TB 7200 RPM+256GB PCIe SSD
  • Speakers
  • Bang & Olfussen speaker
  • Connectivity
  • 802.11 AC (2 x 2) + Bluetooth® 4.2
  • Front Ports
  • 3.5mm Headphone/microphone combo; 1 USB 3.0
  • Rear Ports
  • 1 USB 3.1 Type-C; 2 USB 3.0; 1 DisplayPort; 1 HDMI; 1 SD Card Reader
  • Warranty
  • 90 day limited

Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day

  • The 6 Best Home Theater PCs of 2022

  • The 4 Best HP Laptops of 2022

  • HP Flagship Pro Desktop Review

  • The 4 Best $400 to $1,000 Desktop PCs in 2022

  • The 7 Best Mini PCs for Gaming in 2023

  • The 8 Best Desktop PCs of 2023 for Work, Gaming, and More

  • The 6 Best 17-Inch and Larger Laptops of 2023

  • Which Microsoft Surface Is Best for You?

  • The 4 Best Budget PCs in 2023

  • Lenovo ThinkCentre M720 Tower Review

  • The 9 Best Laptops of 2023 for Work, Gaming, and Design

  • Bang & Olufsen Beoplay A1 Review

  • The 8 Best Mini PCs of 2022 for Work and Gaming

  • HP ProDesk 400 G4 Review

  • The 8 Best Gaming Laptops of 2023

  • Acer Aspire TC-885-ACCFLi3O Desktop PC Review

  • Facebook

  • Twitter

Hit Refresh on Your Tech News

  • About Us

  • Privacy Policy

  • Editorial Guidelines

  • Terms of Use

  • Careers

  • Advertise

  • Contact

  • EU Privacy

  • NEWS

  • HOW TO

  • FEATURES

  • ABOUT US