The rule will come into effect once the vaccine is FDA-approved for each age group.
Enlarge/ California Gov. Gavin Newsom talks with 7th grade students at James Denman Middle School on October 01, 2021 in San Francisco, California. (credit: Getty | Justin Sullivan)
California is the first state to announce such plans. COVID-19 vaccines will join the ranks of vaccine for measles, mumps, polio, hepatitis B, pertussis, tetanus, and chicken pox, which are already required for school attendance.
The mandate isn't immediate. The requirement will not kick in until the vaccine is fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration for school aged children. As such, the requirement will be phased in by grade groups—grades 7 through 12 and K-6—and begin at the start of the school term following full FDA approval.
French Queen had secret correspondence with her rumored lover, Hans Axel von Fersen
Enlarge/ 1775 portrait of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, by Jean-Baptiste-André Gautier-Dagoty. X-ray analysis of letters between the queen and a Swedish count revealed words that had been blacked out, rendering them illegible—until now. (credit: Public domain)
The letters were cyphered, as was the custom at the time for politically sensitive correspondence. Fifteen of the surviving letters in the collection of the French National Archives also have significant portions redacted, amounting to some 108 illegible lines in all. Thanks to cutting-edge x-ray imaging techniques and data processing methods, the redacted portions of eight of those letters have finally been revealed, according to a new paper published in the journal Science Advances. The research is a collaboration between the National Archives, the French Museum of Natural History, and the Fondation de France.
Marie Antoinette and Count Hans Axel von Fersen of Sweden met as teenagers at a masquerade ball, when she was still Dauphine of France, and he became a frequent visitor to Versailles thereafter. Her royal husband famously proved unable to consummate the marriage for the first seven years.
Last year a coalition of entertainment companies headed up by Universal, Paramount, Columbia, Disney and Amazon sued Alejandro Galindo, the operator of pirate IPTV service Nitro TV. After the case got bogged down with discovery issues due to fears of a criminal prosecution and a failure to serve, Galindo is now calling for the civil lawsuit to be dismissed.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
In April 2020, companies owned by Columbia, Amazon, Disney, Paramount, Warner, and Universal (all members of the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment) filed a lawsuit in the US against the operators of Nitro TV.
The complaint alleged that operator Alejandro “Alex” Galindo engaged in “massive and blatant infringement” of the plaintiffs’ copyrighted works. These included movie and TV show hits including The Office, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Toy Story 3, Star Trek Beyond, and Joker.
In May 2020 the studios obtained an injunction to shut Nitro down but as the case progressed, Galindo was accused of destroying evidence in an effort to hinder the plaintiffs.
The lawsuit later expanded to name other defendants including Galindo’s wife, Anna Galindo, and popular YouTuber ‘Touchtone’, who allegedly received $500,000 to promote and market Nitro TV.
Issues Over Destruction of Evidence
In response to the studios’ lawsuit, Alejandro Galindo asserted innocent copyright infringement and as his lawyer later explained, it was believed that there was no need for his client to plead the Fifth Amendment but during the discovery process, he did just that, to the displeasure of the plaintiffs.
According to Galindo, research on the MPA’s Jan Van Voorn (who is involved in the case) revealed that he “vigorously advocates” for criminal penalties for IPTV operators.
“[I]t became clear that Plaintiffs were looking at not only obtaining a judgment, but that they were accusing Defendant of a crime of destroying evidence. This theme has persisted through most of this litigation since,” a summer filing from the defense reads.
Galindo’s team cited a number of instances where the MPA indicated that criminal prosecutions were extremely important to them so, including aggressively lobbying in favor of the Covid-19 relief bill, which made streaming copyrighted content a felony subject to 10 years in prison. As a result, Galindo asserted his right not to self-incriminate, an act that his lawyer claims is not a discovery abuse worthy of sanctions.
Plaintiffs Refuse to Rule Out Criminal Prosecution
Galindo’s lawyer says that in the spirit of cooperating with discovery in good faith, counsel sought reassurances from the plaintiffs that no criminal referrals would be made. While it was confirmed that no referral had been made, the studios would not commit to not filing one in the future.
“For these reasons, it is not difficult to see the writing on the wall. The MPAA is looking for another conviction and they want Mr. Galindo to incriminate himself in every way possible, literally teeing up a potential case against him if they can find it,” Galindo’s lawyer informed the court.
On this basis, Galindo should not be subjected to monetary sanctions for his discovery strategy, his team says.
Studios Vigorously Disagree
Unsurprisingly, the plaintiffs took an altogether different stance.
“According to Defendant, he should be permitted to withhold all records of Nitro TV’s multimillion dollar operation in violation of this Court’s Order and destroy evidence, yet still be able to assert that his infringement was ‘innocent’ and he did not infringe the works alleged in the [second amended complaint] through his operation of Nitro TV,” they informed the court.
The studios said that the Fifth Amendment does not apply here and by engaging in massive copyright infringement, Galindo was always at risk of criminal prosecution.
“Defendants’ after-the-fact, conspiracy-driven excuses cannot change this fundamental fact. Neither can his purported belief that he could convince a trier of fact that his infringement was ‘innocent’ — notably, a position he asserted after he had already engaged in extensive email destruction and while (falsely) claiming no Nitro TV documents existed,” they added.
“In short, Defendant’s explanations do not add up; his assertion of the Fifth Amendment is simply a tactic for him to avoid his discovery obligations. The Court should not condone this conduct.”
Due to the lack of discovery cooperation and the spoilation of evidence, the plaintiffs said they should be awarded a default judgment. In the absence of that, the studios demanded imaging of electronic devices in Galindo’s possession.
Plaintiffs Demand Substantial Fees and Costs
In a follow-up filing, the plaintiffs filed an application for costs in connection with their motion for sanctions, noting that Galindo failed to abide by his discovery obligations, spoliated evidence, and violated the court’s order to provide documents and information. They noted that if it wasn’t for Galinddo’s conduct, extra costs could’ve been avoided.
In the event, the filing of the motion for sanctions cost the plaintiffs in excess of $93,000, an amount they asked the court to award against Galindo. The details of what happened in the interim period aren’t clear since documents have been filed with the court under seal. However, this week the docket revealed an objection from the defense relating to another matter.
Galindo Asks Court to Dismiss Lawsuit
Martha Galindo (Alejandro Galindo’s mother), together with other defendants, stands accused of playing a key role in Nitro TV’s finances, including the processing of “millions of dollars” through payment processors and bank accounts. According to the defense, the plaintiffs now want extra time to serve her. This would mean yet another delay in the case constituting an unreasonable failure to prosecute the action, they say.
Galindo’s lawyer points out that the original complaint was filed more than 17 months ago and since then there has been “little activity” other than discovery against Alejandro, one settlement mediation, the serving of multiple subpoenas, and a motion to compel evidence. On this basis, a further delay would be unjustified.
“Plaintiff has had multiple attorneys working on this case for over 17 months. It seems the whole purpose has now become to drag on this case, respectfully,” the filing reads.
“Plaintiff, although being a top law firm in the country, with multiple attorneys billing on the case…they have not provided any valid reasons for their failure to serve Defendant Martha Galindo within a reasonable amount of time. Now, they want to extend the case even further to accomplish this many months later.
“It appears objectively obvious, that there is no real effort to prosecute this case within the parameters of what should be expected in [a] case that has had had very little opposition and assertions of the 5th amendment.”
Alejandro Galindo apparently agreed to withdraw his answer and accept a default judgment but that has not been accepted by the studios. The defense says that considering all of the above, the court should dismiss the case.
“Plaintiff has an unlimited budget and supply of legal team members and is not faithfully prosecuting this action, and instead seeks to unreasaonably extend and delay the case. The Court should dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice and deny the motion to extend time to serve summons,” Galindo’s lawyer concludes.
Supporting documents can be found here 1,2,3,4, pdf
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Amazon may have given hundreds of Chinese brands the boot from its storefront, but many of them have found ways to sneak back with a little name change (or sometimes not even that). A new programmable, wireless 2.7 inch IoT display is coming soon to crowdfunding site Crowd Supply. And new phones from Xiaomi and […]
Amazon may have given hundreds of Chinese brands the boot from its storefront, but many of them have found ways to sneak back with a little name change (or sometimes not even that). A new programmable, wireless 2.7 inch IoT display is coming soon to crowdfunding site Crowd Supply. And new phones from Xiaomi and HMD (Nokia) have leaked.
Here’s a roundup of recent tech news from around the web.
Coming soon to Crowd Supply (a crowdfunding site often used for open hardware projects), the Newt features a 2.7 inch display with Sharp memory-in-pixel technology and an ESP32-S2 microcontroller that can be programmed with Arduino, CircuitPython, or ESP-IDF.
The Panfrost open source graphics driver is now available for ODROID-N2+ single-board computers with Amlogic S922X processor and Mali-G52 graphics when using Ubuntu 21.10 or Chromium OS.
Nokia G300 5G specs and images leaked ahead of launch, pointing to a budget phone with Snapdragon 480 processor, triple cameras, a 4,470 mAh battery, a 1600 x 720p display, and 64GB of storage.
A Xiaomi smartphone with a 6.55 inch, 3840 x 2160 pixel AMOLED display and support for up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB passed through China’s TENAA website recently (the equivalent of the FCC). It also has a 64MP primary camera, a 4,400 mAh battery, and 5G. It wouldn’t be the first phone to feature a 4K display, but six years after Sony launched the Xperia Z5 Premium, it’s still a rare feature to find (possibly because it’s overkill on a handheld device).
Military members sue Biden but vaccine mandate seems to be on solid legal ground.
Enlarge/ President Joe Biden receiving a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in the White House September 27, 2021. (credit: Getty Images | Anna Moneymaker )
President Biden's vaccine mandate is being challenged in a lawsuit filed by four active-duty US Air Force officers, a Secret Service agent, a Border Patrol agent, and four other federal employees or contractors. The lawsuit claimed that "convicted serial killers who have been sentenced to death receive more respect" than citizens who are required to take vaccines.
The lawsuit alleges that the vaccine mandate forces service members, federal employees, and federal employees to "inject themselves with: (1) a non-FDA approved product; (2) against their will; and (3) without informed consent." Plaintiffs seek a ruling that the vaccine mandates issued by Biden and the Department of Defense "violate the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of substantive due process" and "the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment."
Plaintiffs also claim the mandate violates the Free Exercise and Establishment clauses of the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and other US laws including "Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against Plaintiffs and service members, federal employees, and federal contractors on the basis of their religion or disability." Biden's order does allow exceptions for medical or religious reasons but exemptions reportedly may be difficult to obtain.
JBL is running a Holiday kick-off sale on audio products including headphones and earbuds, and Amazon is getting on the action with a sale on select JBL headphones. You can save up to 50% on select products. Here are some of the day’s best deals. Headphones JBL headphone & earbuds sale – Amazon JBL Holiday […]
JBL is running a Holiday kick-off sale on audio products including headphones and earbuds, and Amazon is getting on the action with a sale on select JBL headphones. You can save up to 50% on select products.
JBL Live Pro+ true wireless noise-cancelling earbuds
But the California Public Utilities Commission still has to give its approval.
Enlarge/ A Cruise robotaxi test vehicle in San Francisco. (credit: Cruise)
The autonomous vehicle developers Cruise and Waymo both got a little closer to running true driverless robotaxi services in and around San Francisco. In May, both Waymo and Cruise applied to the California Department of Motor Vehicles for deployment permits (as opposed to the testing permits that have allowed non-commercial operations). On Thursday, the DMV issued autonomous deployment permits to both companies, which is a necessary step if the robotaxis are to charge passengers for their rides.
San Franciscans might have to be night owls to catch a Cruise; the DMV's authorization gives Cruise permission to operate on surface streets within a geofenced area of San Francisco between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am. Cruise's autonomous vehicles are allowed to operate in light rain and light fog, but they aren't allowed to exceed 30 mph (48 km/h).
Waymo is allowed to operate over a wider area; the DMV's authorization is "within parts of San Francisco and San Mateo counties." These robotaxis are also trusted to cope with light rain and light fog and are approved for speeds of up to 65 mph (105 km/h).
“A flight-ready suit remains years away from completion.”
Enlarge/ NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine high-fives Kristine Davis, a spacesuit engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, wearing a ground prototype of NASA’s new Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) in 2019. (credit: NASA)
This week NASA's Johnson Space Center issued a call to industry for new spacesuits. The space agency's existing suits are decades old, and new ones are needed both for the International Space Station as well as Artemis missions to the lunar surface later this decade.
"Our undertakings in low-Earth orbit, at the Moon and beyond have evolved and are calling for innovative technology," said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. "The next astronauts on the Moon—including the first woman—will be kept safe in revolutionary spacesuits that fit better and enable greater human exploration than ever before."
The announcement did not garner a whole lot of attention, but it is significant for two reasons. First of all, with this "request for proposals," NASA may finally solve the problem of finding its next-generation spacesuits, which has vexed the agency for the last 14 years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Additionally, with this new approach to buying spacesuits, NASA is further signaling its intent in a more commercial procurement process. It will be essentially renting the suits from industry, not building them in-house at a far greater expense.
The HP Pavilion Aero 13 is a laptop that delivers excellent all-around performance, decent battery life in a surprisingly compact and affordable package. Weighing just under 2.2 pounds, the HP Pavilion Aero has a starting price of $750. While that’s not surprising for a member of the HP Pavilion line of laptops, which are typically […]
The HP Pavilion Aero 13 is a laptop that delivers excellent all-around performance, decent battery life in a surprisingly compact and affordable package. Weighing just under 2.2 pounds, the HP Pavilion Aero has a starting price of $750.
While that’s not surprising for a member of the HP Pavilion line of laptops, which are typically budget notebooks, it is surprising for a model with the kind of performance and design that you’d normally associate with a higher-priced notebook like members of the HP Envy or Spectre family.
For example, the HP Pavilion Aero 13 has a magnesium-alloy chassis, which helps explain its light weight. The material is lighter than aluminum, but sturdier than plastic. The laptop also has a 90% screen-to-body ratio thanks to slim bezels on all sides. And it’s available with up to a 2560 x 1600 pixel display, up to an AMD Ryzen 7 5800U processor, and up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of PCIe NVMe solid state storage.
HP loaned me a Pavilion Aero 13 and after using it for the past few weeks, I’ve found an awful lot to like about HP’s thin, light, and affordable notebook. But it may not be the best choice for everyone.
Like most AMD laptops, the HP Pavilion Aero 13 lacks Thunderbolt ports. Some features that come standard on pricier models will cost you extra: for example, the model HP sent me does not have a backlit keyboard. And folks who are interested in performing their own upgrades or running Linux may have some difficulty.
But as far as Windows laptops go, it’s hard to find another model in this price range that packs so much into such a small, but usable device.
HP Pavilion Aero 13 Specs
HP Pavilion Aero 13
Display
13.3 inch
1920 x 1200 or 2560 x 1600
IPS LCD
Matte, anti-glare
400-nits
Processor
AMD Ryzen 5 5600U or Ryzen 7 5800U
RAM
8GB or 16GB (onboard)
Storage
256GB / 512GB / 1TB
M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe SSD
Ports
1 x USB Type-C (10Gbps with DisplayPort 1.4 Alt Mode)
2 x USB Type-A (5 Gbps)
1 x HDMI 2.0
1 x 3.5mm audio
1 x AC power jack
Battery
43 Wh
Charger
65W AC adapter
Also compatible with USB-C chargers
Note that performance, battery life, and other details may vary depending on configuration. For the purposes of this review, I’ll be describing my experience using a demo unit that HP sent me, which features a 1920 x 1200 pixel display, an AMD Ryzen 7 5800U processor, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage, but no backlit keyboard.
The laptop, as configured, sells for around $1000.
Design and features
The HP Pavilion Aero 13 is a thin, light, and quiet laptop available in silver, gold, white, or rose gold color options. The model featured in this review has a silver body, which means that pretty much everything except for the slim black plastic bezel around the display is silver, including the keyboard, touchpad, and fingerprint sensor.
HP equips the notebook with a matte IPS LCD display which it describes as an anti-glare screen. Compared to the glossy screens found on most modern laptops, it really does reflect much less glare when there’s a bright light source pointing at the screen, and the screen doesn’t look particularly dull or muted – it supports up to 400 nits of brightness and colorful videos and graphics look pretty good.
The screen is not covered with edge-to-edge glass, so there is a chance that dust could accumulate in the bezels over time, but that hasn’t really been much of a problem in my testing, despite the fact that dust and cat hair are constant presences in my house.
Around the sides of the notebook you’ll find an HDMI 2.0 port, a 3.5mm audio jack, an AC power jack, a USB Type-C port, and two USB Type-A ports.
The Type-C port supports 10 Gbps data transfer speeds as well as USB Power Delivery (if you have a 45W or higher USB-C power supply, you can plug it into the Pavilion Aero 13 to charge the laptop), as well as DisplayPort 1.4 Alt Mode (you can connect an external monitor).
That means you can connect up to two displays to the HP Pavilion Aero 13 (via HDMI and USB-C), or hook up a USB-C hub (sold separately) to charge the notebook, connect an external display, and use other accessories (via USB, Ethernet, or SD card ports) all while using a single cable. But since the USB-C port is not a Thunderbolt 3 or 4 port and does not support 40 Gbps speeds, you won’t be able to use it for external graphics docks.
While the notebook measures about 0.67 inches at its thickest point, the laptop curves upward toward the sides, so there’s not quite enough room for full-sized USB ports. So HP put a little door that covers part of these ports. Pull it down and you can insert a USB Type-A cable or flash drive without any problems. Remove the drive and the port covers will snap back into place.
One rather surprising omission? There’s no SD or microSD card reader. While that’s not a port that I need to use very often on a laptop, it’s something I’ve grown used to having and so it’s a little strange not to see one on the Pavilion Aero 13. If you need to transfer data to a microSD card, you’ll need to use a USB dongle of some sort.
HP used a drop-hinge design, which means that once you push the screen back past a 90 degree angle, the bottom of the laptop’s lid will extend down and lift the back edge of the notebook a bit, giving the keyboard a small tilt so that the back keys are a little higher than the ones in front.
The lid doesn’t extend back very far though – this is not a convertible tablet, it’s just a clamshell-style notebook. There’s also no touchscreen option for this model, which might be one of the few things that makes it feel like a budget notebook rather than a premium laptop. Even if it’s not a feature every user will want, it’s one we’ve become used to seeing on higher-priced devices.
The keyboard features mostly full-sized keys in an island or chiclet-style design, with a small row of function keys above the number row and a row of keys along the right side for Home, Page Up, Page Down, and End.
I personally really like having that row of keys on the right rather than mixing those keys in with others, but I know it’s not to everyone’s taste. It’s also worth noting that the up and down arrow keys are half-height, while the left and right arrows are full-sized.
Overall I’ve found that it’s quite comfortable to type on the HP Pavilion Aero 13 keyboard.
Below the arrow keys is a fingerprint sensor with support for Windows Hello, allowing you to login to the computer, your Microsoft account, or password-protected websites with a tap of your finger. It’s also the only biometric security on the device, since there’s no IR camera option for facial recognition.
In the slim bezel above the display, there is a 720p webcam, dual digital microphones, and an LED light to let you know when the camera is active. The camera is probably good enough for your typical Zoom call, but like most laptop cameras, it won’t hold a candle to a good USB webcam.
We’re starting to see laptop makers offer higher-quality laptop webcams, but they’re still uncommon enough that I won’t ding the Pavilion Aero 13 for lacking one.
The laptop’s trackpad is a fairly large Precision touchpad with support for multitouch gestures including two and three-finger swipes and taps.
Since the model I’m testing does not have a backlit keyboard, I cannot comment on that feature, and that’s another thing that just feels odd not to have on a laptop that sells for around $1000, which is how much a model configured like the one I’m testing would cost. But it’s only a $20 upgrade, so if that’s a feature you care about, it won’t cost you much to get it.
Speaking of upgrades, HP offers a range of options at what seem like reasonable prices. An entry-level Pavilion Aero 13 has a 1920 x 1200 pixel display, a Ryzen 5 5600U processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. But here’s how much you’d spend on various upgrades:
Backlit keyboard – $20
2560 x 1600 pixel display – $30
512GB SSD – $50
1TB SSD – $130
Ryzen 5 5600U with 16GB RAM – $50
Ryzen 7 5800U with 8GB RAM – $120
Ryzen 7 5800U with 16GB RAM – $190
The HP branding on the laptop is relatively simple, with an HP logo in a mirror-like circle on the lid of the laptop, and a subtle “Pavilion” stenciled on the back edge of the laptop.
The HP Pavilion Aero 13 has two downward-facing speakers along the left and right edges of the notebook (at the area where they start to curve upward, so the audio won’t be muffled by your desk or lap).
There are also a pair of rubber feet along the front and back of the notebook that help keep the base of the computer from touching a desk or table, which presumably helps with both audio and cooling.
During my use, I never noticed the HP Pavilion Aero 13’s fan getting particularly loud, but the laptop also never felt like it was struggling to complete day-to-day tasks, so as far as I can tell the cooling system does its job. There’s an air intake vent on the bottom of the laptop, a fan that moves air across the CPU area, and a vent that allows the hot air to move out through the back.
According to the HP website, the Pavilion Aero 13 is supposed to ship with a 65 watt power adapter, but the review unit HP sent me came with a 45 watt version, which seems to work just fine, although the notebook would likely charge a little faster with a 65W power supply.
Performance
AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800U is an 8-core, 16-thread processor that has a well-earned reputation for offering an excellent balance of performance and energy efficiency. In my testing, the HP Pavilion Aero 13 benefits very much from both of sides of that equation.
Despite featuring just a 43 Wh battery, the notebook was able to stream 1080p video from YouTube for nearly 10 hours before shutting down. And when using the laptop as a blogging machine, I got around 7 hours of battery life in real-world usage, which involved connecting a Bluetooth mouse, listening to music on Spotify, editing images in Irfanview and GIMP, and spending a lot of time with as many as 20 browser tabs open in Google Chrome.
In terms of synthetic benchmarks, the HP Pavilion Aero 13 with a Ryzen 7 5800U processor is one of the fastest notebooks I’ve ever used… although it’s not a slam dunk in every case.
The Ryzen 7 5800U is a champ when it comes to tasks that can leverage multiple CPU cores, so it got top marks in PCMark, Passmark, and other tests that lean heavily on multi-core performance. But in tests like Cinebench and GeekBench which offer both single-core and multi-core scores show that recent Intel chips like the Core i7-1165G7 and Core i7-1185G7 still have an edge in single-core performance.
Intel also comes out ahead in tests that look at graphics performance. While AMD’s Radeon Vega 8 integrated graphics are more than good enough to handle 4K video playback and some light gaming duties, the Pavilion Aero 13 is very much not designed to be a gaming laptop or a graphic design/video editing workstation.
The computer is also held back a little by its solid state drive. With top sequential read/write speeds of 1843 MB/s and 970 MB/s, respectively, I wouldn’t call the Pavilion Aero 13’s SSD slow. It’s certainly faster than any hard drive. But it’s not as fast as the SSDs in some other notebooks I’ve tested recently, like the MSI Prestige 14 Evo, which has storage that’s more than twice as fast.
While benchmarks aren’t always indicative of real-world performance, they do provide a way to compare one computer to another, and the scores above feel about right to me: the HP Pavilion Aero 13 feels at least as fast as any other computer I’ve used in the past year for most tasks, and it might be even faster for some.
Combined with its compact design and decent battery life, that makes one of the most powerful laptops I’ve used to date also one of the most portable.
But I do have a few other notes on real-world usage. First, the notebook’s speakers are reasonably loud, but like most laptop speakers they’re not particularly bass-heavy. Music sounded particularly tinny to me until I opened the B&O Audio Control application and started playing around with different EQ presets (the “club” setting is a pretty decent starting point), which helped Spotify streams sound a little more full.
Second, while I haven’t had any serious WiFi connectivity issues when using the laptop in my office (where it’s just a few feet from a wireless router), it does occasionally drop the connection briefly in other rooms in the house. Your results may vary, but I’ve found that the HP Pavilion Aero 13’s WiFi connections seem a little less reliable than most other devices on my home network.
And third, the laptop comes with a lot of bloatware. In addition to a series of HP apps and the B&O Audio app, here’s some of the software pre-installed on the HP Pavilion Aero 13:
McAfee LiveSafe
McAfee Personal Security
McAfee File Lock
Dropbox
ExpressVPN
Microsoft Office free trial
LastPass
Utomik
WildTangent Games
There was also a shortcut in the taskbar for Amazon and one in the Start Menu for Booking.com. It’s safe to uninstall all of these, but it’s kind of annoying that you have to.
That said, companies like HP partially subsidize the cost of computers by signing deals with companies to have some of these apps or shortcuts preinstalled, so you can probably consider the time you’ll spend removing unwanted software the price you pay for getting a laptop as capable and compact as the Pavilion Aero 13 without spending more money on it.
Can I upgrade it?
The HP Pavilion Aero 13’s memory is soldered to the motherboard, so if you bought a model with 8GB of RAM that’s all you’re ever going to have. HP does offer models with up to 16GB of RAM though, so if you think you might need more than 8GB, you can pay for it up front. Unfortunately there’s no 32GB or higher option.
You can upgrade or replace the SSD. The computer has an M.2 2280 slot for its PCIe NVMe drive, and you can access it by removing the rubber feet on the bottom of the case and then using a small Phillips-head screwdriver to remove all of the hidden screws before prying off the bottom panel.
Note that there’s a thermal pad covering the SSD, so you’ll also need to carefully remove that and replace it when you put in the new drive.
While I didn’t perform any surgery on my review unit, HP does provide a helpful video for those looking to provide service and repairs for the Pavilion Aero 13. In addition to showing how to remove the bottom cover and access the SSD, the video also shows that it’s at least theoretically possible to remove and repair the battery, wireless module, speakers, fingerprint reader, fan, and many other components… just not the RAM.
Can I run Linux on it?
The good news is that it’s very easy to boot an operating system from a USB flash drive, which makes it easy to try out a Linux distribution before deciding whether to install it. Just hit Esc during startup and then you can press F9 to get to the boot device menu or F10 for the full BIOS menu.
The bad news is that when I did this with Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS, I found that the wireless card wasn’t detected at all, and the computer did not sleep properly. Close the lid and the computer reboots instead of sleeping. And if you try to enter sleep manually, the screen goes black and stays that way. I’m not the first person to notice these problems.
While it seems that there is a driver that should allow Ubuntu and other Debian-based operating systems to use the laptop’s wireless card, you need an internet connection and some patience and familiarity with Linux to build it.
I’m not aware of any solution yet for the sleep problem.
It’s possible that some of these issues will be temporary. The HP Pavilion Aero 13 is a relatively new laptop featuring fairly new hardware. As more Linux developers get their hands on it, or other computers with similar components, we could see support for its wireless card and other hardware added to the Linux kernel.
Some progress already seems to have been made – before trying Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS, I booted Ubuntu 20.04.02 LTS and noticed that the display resolution was stuck at 1024 x 768 with no option to change it. So I updated my liveUSB to a newer version of Ubuntu, which had no problem recognizing the laptop’s native 1920 x 1200 pixel display resolution and also offered the option to change the resolution manually.
But for now, unless you’re a Linux developer who wants to help make that happen, or someone with a lot of time and energy to search for solutions, I wouldn’t advise picking up the Pavilion Aero 13 if you’re looking for a Linux-ready notebook.
Verdict
With the Pavilion Aero 13, HP has broken the mold. It’s a Pavilion-branded laptop with the sort of features and design that you’d normally associated with an Envy or Spectre.
It’s thin and light enough to take with you almost anywhere you go, but powerful enough to get real work done, and energy-efficient enough to run for most of a work day without stopping to charge. Since it supports USB-C charging, you can also always toss a power bank if your bag if you think you might need one.
As I mentioned at the start of this review, the HP Pavilion Aero might not be the best option for everyone. Linux users, folks who want upgradeable RAM, or those who need Thunderbolt ports, for example, might want to look elsewhere.
And it’s worth noting that while prices start at $750, the model I tested sells for closer to $1000, so performance will likely vary depending on the processor, memory, and display options you choose when configuring the laptop.
Overall though, the HP Pavilion Aero 13 is a very compelling laptop for bargain-hunters looking for a device that punches above its price class when it comes to performance and design. If I were in the market for a laptop today, the Pavilion Aero 13 would certainly be on my short list.
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