Monday, 14 October 2013
If you've been on the fence about trying out Google's Chrome OS, the HP Chromebook 11 is available for $279.99 at Amazon, it might be just what you need to reach the tipping point. The slim design
and refined looks are matched with a handful of generous freebies—like
free Google Drive storage space, a trial of unlimited music, and free
inflight Wi-Fi—but it's the small improvements and innovations that help
set it apart. Considering this isn't HP's first crack at the
Chromebook, it's a definite step up, putting the budget-friendly laptop
on the same level as past favorites.
DESIGN :
The Chromebook 11 has a sleek new design, with a
clean white exterior and rounded corners that call to mind the old
white Apple MacBook, but with a splash of color. On the bottom of the
laptop are two large rubbery feet, brightly colored in Google's familiar
hues (Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green). The first models were available
only in the white and blue color scheme, but the other colors will be
available soon, and an unadorned black version is also available.
The charger is also unique, as the HP Chromebook
11 is the first laptop to use a micro USB charger, like the ones you
see on your tablet or phone. As a result, you can now share the charger
between multiple devices, and if it ever gets lost—forgotten at home,
left in a library study carrel, or misplaced during travel—you can use
any other standard micro USB charger instead of having to special order a
unique cable online.
The construction of the Chromebook 11 is a
combination of high- and low-end, with a lightweight magnesium frame
providing rock solid support for the chassis, and a white glossy
exterior, which looks nice, but feels like the plastic it is. It's an
odd juxtaposition, but the result is a design with a more premium feel
than you might expect from a $279 device. There is no flexing at all
when lifting the laptop by one corner, and despite weighing a light 2.3
pounds, it doesn't feel flimsy or low quality.
On the lid of the Chromebook 11 is a glowing multi-colored stripe, similar to that seen on the Google Chromebook Pixel (64GB, LTE)$1,599.00 at Amazon.
Though the size and price clearly put the HP Chromebook 11 alongside
the Samsung and Acer models, this is the also the first inexpensive
Chromebook to draw design elements from the premium-priced Pixel. In
addition to the illuminated stripe, there's also the magnesium interior
frame.
The keyboard also functions as a hidden speaker grill, with sound playing from beneath the keys. The sound quality isn't terrible, and while the sound gets a little reedy at high volume, there's none of the buzzing that is so common in low priced systems. The bass is, as expected, rather weak, but the placement of the speakers directly beneath the keyboard means that you feel it far more than you would with any other configuration. All things considered, the HP Chromebook sounds better than any other sub-$300 laptop I've tested.
FEATURES :
The Chromebook 11's few ports are all found
on the left-hand side of the system. There's the micro USB charging port
mentioned above, along with two USB 2.0 ports and a combination
headphone and microphone jack. While the port selection on other
Chromebooks has always been scanty, it's a bit more sparse on the
Chromebook 11.
A few features you won't see on the HP Chromebook 11, include a USB
3.0 port, full-size HDMI, or an SD card slot. These features were
offered on the Samsung Series 3, the Acer C7 and the HP Pavilion
Chromebook. The loss of USB 3.0 isn't a huge loss, though it does mean
you'll be slowed down when using an external hard drive or high-capacity
flash drive. The loss of an SD card slot, however, will be felt by
anyone who might want to upload photos or videos from a camera or
camcorder. For SD Card use, you'll want to pick up a USB connected card
reader.
In regards to HDMI, however, the HP Chromebook 11 does have two
distinct alternatives. The first is streaming via Chromecast, which
plugs into a TV via HDMI and streams video content over Wi-Fi. If you
absolutely must have an HDMI connection, the micro USB port—the same one
used for charging the laptop—also supports SlimPort, which can output
video to HDMI through a SlimPort adapter.
The Chrome operating system is a lightweight OS designed around Google's Chrome browser. Google has built out the Chrome concept to provide many (if not quite all) of the same tools and functions you would use with a tradition Windows or Mac laptop, but uses Chrome Apps and Extensions to provide those same capabilities in a cheaper, web-connected system. With apps like Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides replacing most functions of Microsoft Office (it's compatible with Office files, too), photo editing via apps like Google+ Photos and Pixlr, video editing with apps like WeVideo, and offline modes providing Gmail and Google Docs even when away from the web, the Chromebook is a cheap way to get a lot of things done. Plenty of the Chrome faithful have embraced the always online paradigm, and constant development continues to improve Chrome to fill the gaps pointed out by naysayers.
To entice new users of Chrome OS, Google offers a few free extras. To encourage the switch to cloud storage, the Chromebook 11 comes with 100GB of additional storage space on Google Drive. To highlight the entertainment and multimedia options of the Google ecosystem, Google also throws in a 60-day trial of Google Play Music All Access, which gives you unlimited ad-free listening to the entire Google Play music library, create custom radio, and unlimited skipping. For those who expect to take to the air, the Chromebook 11 also comes with 12 free sessions of GoGo Inflight Internet, for use when travelling by air.
PERFORMANCE :
The HP Chromebook 11 is equipped with a Samsung Exynos 5250—the same 1.7GHz dual-core ARM processor found in the Samsung Series 3 Chromebook. Paired with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of local flash storage, the processor is well suited to the lightweight Chrome OS, but it's actually a little bit slower than other Chromebooks we've seen that opt for Intel Celeron processors; when tested in BrowserMark 2.0, it was slower than both the Acer C7 or HP's own Pavilion Chromebook 14. Despite this, the HP Chromebook 11 is largely on par with the well-received Samsung Series 3, and offers snappy boot times (under 8 seconds), reasonably nimble browsing, and doesn't require any cooling fans—you can thank the Exynos processor for the sleek, vent-free design.
While past Chromebooks, like the HP Chromebook 14 and the Acer C7, have opted for removable batteries, the Chromebook 11 uses an internal battery that can't be removed. This allows for a slimmer, seamless design, and thankfully, the battery life is pretty good. In our battery rundown test, the HP Chromebook 11 lasted 5 hours 13 minutes, easily beating out the Editors' Choice Acer C7 (4:12) and falling only minutes behind the long-lasting Samsung Series 3 (5:25).
CONCLUSION :
The HP Chromebook 11 isn't perfect, with all of the limitations of any other Chrome OS device (though those limitations are likely fewer than you might imagine). The inexpensive laptop does, however, manage to bring some new and improved elements to the inexpensive Chromebook category, boasting a bright IPS display, a unique micro USB charger, and a magnesium-reinforced design. It's definitely a good value, but it doesn't replace the Editors' Choice Acer C7, which offers a larger port selection and larger local storage for those not yet fully migrated to the cloud.
