HP is continuing its push towards better and more innovative designs, and we’re keeping a close eye on it. This latest HP Pavilion Wave is a desktop computer designed to be practical, powerful and very integrated. It is also capable of blending into the surrounding because it does not look like a computer at all.
Instead, the Pavilion Wave looks more like a home appliance of sorts, maybe a fancy speaker. And speaker it is: HP has integrated a Bang and Olufsen (B&O) speaker inside the computer. In fact, the computer is built around the speaker, which is located centrally to output sound at 360-degrees around. There are also several microphones for sound recording and noise-cancelling.
Inside, HP has three main sections:
- Motherboard
- Graphics card (optional)
- Storage
This is a clever way to design things, because although there is a need for a custom motherboard (I think), there is also a good change to use Desktop components, instead of laptops ones that are more expensive, and potentially slower.
For example, HP uses an Intel Core i5-6400T, which is a Desktop CPU (worth around $200 by itself). The base configuration has 8GB/128GB SSD/1TB HDD but can be pushed to 16GB/180GB SSD/2TB HDD. This is not bad at all in such a small space. There’s no Core i7 option, so it’s designed for media and entertainment rather than for being a workstation.
The computer has a Woven fabric skin reminiscent of speakers. The designers have done a great job of leaving important connectors available, so there’s one full-size USB port, and the 3.5mm headphones connector in the front. There are more in the back: SD card reader, 1x USB-C, 2x USB, Ethernet, DisplayPort, HDMI, Power and anti-theft port.
This kind of form-factor is bold and more than welcome in a PC market which is often not very imaginative. I think that it looks very attractive and offers a reasonable chance to hide the cables, thanks to its vertical format (the Mac mini style computers don’t look so hot once all the cables are connected).
Filed in . Read more about Desktop Pc, HP, IFA and IFA 2016.