Hasta La Gadget!

Google’s fall harvest of new products includes some new Chromebooks, including an adorable and pugnacious little whippersnapper in the HP Chromebook 11. With its smooth, unmarked white plastic lid, you could mistake it for the white polycarbonate MacBook’s younger brother – but HP’s cute little Chrome OS notebook doesn’t quite fill those mighty big boots.

The Basics

• 11.6-inch 1366×768 display
• Samsung Exynos 5250 dual-core ARM processor
• 2GB DDR3 RAM
• 16GB storage
• Dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
• Two USB 2.0 ports, microUSB charging/video out
• MSRP: $279
• Product info page

Design

The HP Chromebook 11 shares similar design roots with the Chromebook Pixel, which is a good thing. That means it’s spare, with an outside case that opts for minimalism, showing only the now-signature Chromebook thin band of light, which uses Google’s trademark color palette. One of those colors is also used to accent the device, with a border around the keyboard and four rubber pads on the underside of the machine used for grip.

Of course, unlike the Pixel, the case is plastic, and it feels cheaper accordingly. I also noticed some give in the bottom panel, and the glossy white surface picks up fingerprints like crazy. But the rounded edges, slim, low-profile design and absurdly low weight (just over 2 lbs) combine to make the HP Chromebook 11 a pretty impressively designed machine for $279. Besides the Pixel, this is definitely the most attractive and ergonomically appealing Chromebook.

Performance

While on the surface, the Chromebook 11 is great, inside, it’s basically packing the guts of a mid-tier smartphone. And it shows. The Chromebook 11 is snappy to start up, wake from sleep and resume thanks to its flash memory, but it’s sluggish with image-heavy websites, with a fair amount of load/scroll lag, and it plays back 1080p streaming videos decently, but not with the polish you’re used to from even top-tier smartphones.

Of course, the ARM processor means that it can get around 5 or so hours of battery life on a full charge, despite its lightness/small size. And it also means it can charge via microUSB, which is pretty cool since if you’re an Android phone user you can just carry one charger around. But the five hours of battery life is actually just okay when you consider that the new Acer C720 is rated at 8.5 hours of use, and even the notoriously piggish Chromebook Pixel gets about the same.

Overall, the Chromebook 11 is a myriad of compromises: its behind-the-keyboard speakers are pretty decent, and save space in the chassis, but also sound weird when you’re doing something like typing while listening to music, since your hands are constantly blocking different parts of the speaker. And while the streamlined case with its four ports (microUSB, 2x USB 2.0 and one headphone jack) adds to its minimalist design appeal, you find yourself wishing there was at least an SD card slot thrown into the mix. Likewise, the low-quality front-facing webcam is nice-to-have, but it feels like you’ve hopped in a time machine to when USB cameras were just invented.

Display

That 11.6-inch display, while loads better than the one on, say the Samsung Chromebook (overall construction is better, too), it’s still probably not as high-res in the one you’re currently carrying in your pocket. It does have good color rendering and good viewing angles, however, which again is impressive at this price point.

The aspect ratio makes this a great notebook for watching movies, and it’s the best I’ve seen so far on a computer this cheap, Chromebook or otherwise. If the screen’s a priority, you can’t go wrong with the HP.

Battery

The Chromebook 11 is supposed to get around five hours of battery life, and with conservative but acceptable normal use, I found that to be the case. It’s not terrible, but it is disappointing, because with a longer-lived power source, the Chromebook 11 would make a very excellent back-up machine for professionals who need to make sure they’re constantly connected, with a full desktop browser.

Bottom Line

At $279, it’s hard to fault the HP Chromebook 11 too much for what it manages to deliver, but with Google really stepping up its low-cost Chromebook lineup, just being a good-enough machine at that price isn’t going to cut it for much longer. That said, if you’re looking for a second device that essentially replicates what a docked smartphone could offer, but with a little more flexibility with web apps thanks to Chrome OS, this is a great throw-in-the-bag-and-forget-it option thanks to its size, weight and remarkable screen.

Following some leaks, HP has unveiled its new Chrome OS device, the HP Chromebook11. With the device comes a splash of color featuring accents along the bottom half of the inside and outside of the otherwise shiny white device. Along with the specs that we covered in detail earlier today, the Chromebook11 will also be […]

The slightly more powerful of the two HP Chrome OS machines is making another appearance today with Intel 4th generation Core technology (Haswell) and three lovely tones for its exterior. You’ll find this Chromebook14 coming in Snow White, Ocean Turquoise, and Peach Coral right out the gate. This machine works with a 14-inch diagonal BrightView […]

If you’re a fan of the Google Chrome OS, you may be interested to hear that some details on an unannounced HP Chromebook 11 computer have leaked. References to the HP Chromebook 11 recently turned up in the company’s Energy Star qualification list. This is the first mention of this machine that has turned up […]

It was just two weeks ago that HP spat out a bunch of new consumer laptops ahead of the holiday shopping season. Now that those products are official, HP is shifting its attention to business customers: the company just unveiled five corporate-friendly notebooks, two of which qualify as Ultrabooks. Starting with the outfit’s higher-end EliteBook line, we’ve got three models: the 12-inch 820, the 14-inch 840 and the 15-inch 850. Like previous generations of EliteBooks, they meet the military’s MIL-SPEC-810G standards for ruggedness, but this time, they’re 40 percent thinner and 28 percent lighter. Across the board, you’re looking at magnesium lids, which have been painted with four coats of paint to minimize scratches; the keyboard deck, meanwhile, is made of aluminum. Speaking of the keyboard area, all three models sport backlit keys, with a special finish applied to the buttons to help keep them fresh over the three-year warranty period.

Interestingly, battery life is the same on all units (up to 12 hours), though the 14-incher, specifically, can be paired with an optional slice battery for a total of 33 hours of juice. On the inside, all of them run Haswell processors, as you’d imagine, though only the 840 and 850 meet Intel’s Ultrabook specification. Once it comes time for your IT guy to configure this, he can get any of the three machines with an optional touchscreen, along with an LTE radio and either an SSD, HDD or hybrid hard drive. As for IT support, these are vPro CPUs, as you’d expect, and there’s also TPM on board for added security. Additionally, as on previous models, the entire back shell is removable with a single latch, making it easy to swap out components. Finally, HP included an all-important Ethernet jack, complete with a drop-down jaw, along with a SmartCard reader, docking connector and legacy VGA port. All are available today with pricing as follows: the 12-inch 820 starts at $859, the 840 goes from $799 ($949 with a touchscreen), and the 850 costs $939.

Filed under: Laptops, HP

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