Cheap HP Pavilion Aero 13 is faster than any Spectre 13 currently available all thanks to the AMD Zen 3 Ryzen 7 5800U

Traditionally, newer designs and technologies would launch first on higher-end models before waterfalling to mid-tier and lower-end products over time. Narrow bezels and OLED panels, for example, first appeared on flagship models like the Dell XPS or HP Spectre before becoming available on the lower-end Inspiron or Envy series. The HP Pavilion Aero 13 is unique in that it is an entry-level laptop from HP and yet it carries an even faster processor than a flagship Spectre laptop of the same screen size.

As of this writing, the fastest processor available for the 13-inch Spectre 13 series is the quad-core 11th gen Intel Core i7-1165G7 while the aforementioned Pavilion Aero 13 comes with the octa-core AMD Zen 3 Ryzen 7 5800U. The AMD CPU boasts 50 percent faster multi-thread performance and similar single-thread performance when compared to the Core i7-1165G7. Thus, users interested in the faster processor will have to skip the Spectre 13 and go with the cheaper Pavilion Aero 13 even though the pricier Spectre is technically the better laptop.

Intel Tiger Lake-U still has the advantage in integrated graphics performance by as much as 30 to 60 percent according to 3DMark benchmarks. Real-world games, however, show the Iris Xe 96 EUs and Radeon RX Vega 8 to be much closer and even neck-to-neck in the majority of games.

So, why won't HP offer a Spectre 13 with AMD options? We suspect that since the Spectre 13 is an Intel Athena or EVO-certified laptop, offering models with AMD SKUs can be tricky. Pavilion and most Envy laptops aren't restricted by the same Intel EVO standards and so they can carry a wider variety of SKUs and processors. Until then, performance hunters will have to settle with the lower-end HP Pavilion Aero 13 because their higher-end Spectre models come with slower processors.