Since their inception in mid-2011, there have been plenty of Chromebooks launched, ranging from the ridiculously overpriced Google Pixel to Acer’s 200$ C7. Although, none of them has really managed to set the market alight. In a bid to impress critics and users alike, HP has teamed up with Google for its latest offering, the HP Chromebook 11. Let’s see what HP’s new Chromebook brings to the table.
DESIGN
Weighing in at a little over 2.3 pounds, the Chromebook 11 has a sleek and attractive design with a glossy finish. The corners are softly rounded and it comes in two colour variants: white and black. You can also take your pick of four accent colours for the back lid: red, green, blue and yellow. The Chromebook has a chiclet style keyboard which is comfortable for typing. The laptop feels solid and smooth, and the design might remind you of Macbook’s now discontinued plastic variant. Having said that, the Chrombook 11 is an eye catching device and feels sturdier than most other Chromebooks in the same price range.
SCREEN
The 11.6 incher sports an IPS display, with a resolution of 1366x768. The screen looks crisp, bright and sharp and the colours look gorgeous. The IPS screen also offers excellent viewing angles. There is no touch screen but the Chromebook 11 definitely has one of the better screens in the budget Chromebook market.
HARDWARE, CONNECTIVITY and STORAGE
Under the hood, the laptop runs on a dual-core Samsung Exynos 2520 processor with 2GB of RAM and 16 GB of SSD memory. There is no fan under the hood, which isn’t surprising as things aren’t expected to get particularly hot with the Samsung processor. There’s an interesting addition of a standard microUSB charging port, which means you can charge your phone and laptop with the same charger but the absence of an HDMI port and SD slot might irk some people. Connectivity options include 2 USB ports, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 and an optional Micro-SIM slot for the 4G/LTE variant.
SOFTWARE and BATTERY
Like all other Chromebooks, this laptop runs on Google’s cloud based Chrome OS. Cloud storage means all your data is backed up on a remote cloud storage and while you can always lose your Chromebook, you’re never going to lose your data. The laptop comes with 100 GB of Google Drive cloud storage, free for 2 years. Google claims that the Chromebook can give upto 6 hours of active usage on a single charge, not bad Google.
CAMERA and AUDIO
Nothing extraordinary on the imaging front, as the Chromebook comes with a standard VGA web camera. The laptop contains no visible vents and thus the speaker vents are moved below the keyboard. Google claims its new speaker vents give “sound ported up through the keyboard”, it remains to be seen how much difference that makes in the real world.
VERDICT
In terms of design and build quality, the Chromebook 11 is perhaps the sexiest and most sturdy laptop in its price range. The device comes with a nippy processor and a decent screen. If you can live with the limitations of the Chrome OS, HP’s Chromebook 11 is a solid option at the pricing of 279.99$, and definitely one to consider.
Author's Bio: The article is written by Sanjay Kumar Negi, working at 91Mobiles.com. Follow him on Google Plus.
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