HP Chromebook 11 Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 15, 2013 2:45 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- HP
- Chrome OS
- Chromebook
Final Words
A company that can very easily be held as complicit in the mismanagement and decline of the mainstream PC industry, HP did nothing short of a tremendous job with the Chromebook 11.
Under Google’s influence, HP has built a near perfect example of what an entry level PC should be. It boots fast (< 13 seconds even in dev mode), has a great display, comes with dual-band 2-stream 802.11n WiFi, has good sounding speakers, looks stylish, is light and feels well built. The keyboard is great and even the clickpad isn’t as bad as it is on far more expensive PCs. You honestly get one of the best examples of a portable machine for $279, and that’s without even relying on the benefits of Chrome OS to help sell the bundle. Anyone looking for a glorified web browsing, email checking, internet terminal will be right at home with Chrome OS. Flash works and you obviously get what’s arguably the world’s best web browser. You don’t have to worry about updates, malware or viruses, all of that is taken care of for you. It’s the modern typewriter equivalent, a true entry level computer, and HP/Google have done an excellent job in bringing this to market.
Chrome OS is extremely purpose built and it is something that should bring about great concern to those at Microsoft. I personally don’t have a problem with Windows 8, but purpose built is hardly a phrase that applies to the OS - at least if you’re talking about it on a more traditional PC. I suspect by the time we get to Windows 9, Microsoft will have a better answer to the critics of 8/8.1, but that gives Google and its Chrome OS partners at least another year of marketshare erosion. At the beginning of this mobile journey I remember x86 being an advantage for Intel, and we all know what happened to that. Similarly, I remember Windows/Office being advantages for Microsoft. If Microsoft doesn’t find a quick solution for making low cost Windows PCs just as well executed as Chrome OS devices, it’ll find itself in a world where Windows no longer matters to entry-level/mainstream users.
My only complaint about the Chromebook 11 really boils down to silicon selection. Samsung’s Exynos 5250 is just too slow. A pair of Cortex A15s running at up to 1.7GHz draws too much power and doesn’t deliver the sort of multitasking performance that we’ve come to expect in 2013. You can forget about having a good experience multitasking while playing YouTube videos. Streaming music in the background while you surf the web is about as far as you’re going to be able to push the Chromebook 11 without incurring significant lag. There are clearly better options on the market today, either Snapdragon 800, a quad-core A15 based design or my personal pick for this type of a machine: Intel’s Bay Trail.
If you’re looking for the Chromebook 11 to last you for 5 years, I’d be very concerned about you running out of CPU power well before then. For lighter use you’ll be fine, but with things like the Haswell Celeron based Acer C720 selling for $250 it’s clear that HP went a little too slow on the CPU front. I haven’t seen the C720 in person but my guess is you’re sacrificing display for CPU performance. HP got the mix nearly perfect with the Chromebook 11, with a faster CPU this wouldn’t just be a great machine for light use but likely the perfect entry-level notebook.
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Hrel - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
I run into websites with some frequency that won't display correctly in Chrome. For those I use Firefox. So can you install another browser in Chrome OS? Cause if not then you can't even surf the web entirely.extide - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
What websites? I have been using Chrome exclusively for the past few years and don't have any rendering issues. I used to be die-hard firefox user, even ran the nightly betas and stuff, but I like Chrome more these days.mschira - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
Keepvid is the only website I know that does not like chrome.It's a Java thing.
So maybe there are more websites left that use Java.
M.
extide - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
Someone NEEDS to come out with a 15" Chromebook for under $400. My wife wants a new laptop and a chromebook would be perfect, but she wants a bigger than 11/12" screen!!djw39 - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
HP has a 14" chromebook with an Intel processor, twice the performance and twice the battery life of the 11" one reviewed here, for $300. I imagine the display is not as nice, but still it should serve your needs well.extide - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
I just barely saw that actually. VERY intriguing! However they do not list the display resolution anywhere, and I was really hoping for at least a 1600x900 14-15" laptop type device. Chrome OS is fine, I would like at least Bay Trail, or some sort of Haswell Celeron. It would be absolutely perfect for my (wife's) needs. To those who cant figure out where this device fits in, it is for people who dont have a tablet or done want a tablet, but just want to be able to surf facebook, pintrest, and the like. Basically my wife, and all of her family would be perfect for this.stacey94 - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
"Display:14" diagonal HD BrightView LED-backlit (1366 x 768)"
The C720 is also 1366x768 :(.
Hrel - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
I was trying to think of a use scenario for this, couldn't come up with any. But, if I ever had kids this seems like a good first PC for them. Cheap enough they could abuse it without me worrying too much; able to do most of the things they'd want it to. Then could always keep a family desktop around for school papers; since everyone I know still requires it be in word format.Krysto - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
I think the design is quite great, and also glad to see an IPS display, did those improvements, which seem rather slight to me, really stop them from using a newer ARM SoC (don't be silly with your Bay Trail) or a bigger battery, while also costing $30 more compared to last year's ARM Chromebook? I don't get it.This year's version should've arrived with a better ARM SoC, twice the battery size (8,000 mAh), micro-USB 3.0 and 4 GB of RAM. And it should've all fitted in about the same price.
aryonoco - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
I agree completelyThis thing needed to have a Tegra 4 in it, slightly bigger battery (I think double is not realistic, but 50%+ definitely) and 4GB of RAM.
If they had come up with that device for $299, I think it would have been a real beauty.
Add to that another SKU with 1080p screen and a 13" form factor for $349 and Google would have had a home run.
As it is, we are again in this weird situation where the Chromebook with the better display/chassis/design/keyboard has an awful SoC, and the one with a respectable CPU and battery life suffers from poor aesthetics and design. What a shame.