HP unveils two Windows PCs: the speaker-like Pavilion Wave starting at $550, and the Elite Slice, a modular PC, starting at $949, both coming September
This slideshow requires JavaScript. — With the HP Pavilion Wave, design, entertainment and productivity come together in an exciting new design.
Context & Ripple Effects
HP is splitting its September desktop push into two deliberate price-and-purpose tiers: the Pavilion line gets a consumer-oriented, speaker-shaped Wave at $550, while the business-facing Elite brand takes the modular Slice at $949. The bet on unusual desktop form factors pays off downstream — the Wave survives long enough to be refreshed with 7th-gen Intel chips and native Alexa integration by spring 2018.
The Slice's modularity isn't a one-off either: a year later HP extends the replaceable-parts idea upmarket with the EliteOne 1000 all-in-one and its swappable screen, suggesting the company was testing how far component-level design could travel across its portfolio.
First-order effects
- Desktop buyers in September choose between two new HP silhouettes at clear price points — a $550 living-room-style Wave for consumers and a $949 stackable Elite Slice for offices — rather than conventional towers.
Second-order effects
- HP's own lineup absorbs the experiment: the Wave earns a hardware refresh with built-in Alexa, pulling voice assistants into the desktop category, while the modularity thesis scales into the EliteOne 1000's replaceable screen.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, desktops compete on what they can become — assistant hubs, reconfigurable modules — instead of raw specs, pushing PC makers toward tiered product architectures where one chassis serves multiple roles across price bands.
The trend: PC design is drifting from spec-sheet boxes toward differentiated form factors — lifestyle devices and modular builds — that let vendors like HP defend margins across consumer and commercial tiers.