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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kyuu - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
The storage is eMMC, which is not the same thing as an SSD. eMMC storage is really dirt cheap so adding an extra 16GB would not drive the cost up more than a few dollars.errorr - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
iSupply has the cost of 16GB v. 32GB eMMC as about a $9.00 difference. I imagine that to maintain good margins that would put it in the $299 range which from a psychological perspective is a significant increase. I read a study that said that prices ending in 79 seem lower than the actual difference would suggest in a rational market.EastVillageIdiot - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
Did you even read the review? Have you used this laptop that you claim has a "crappy" keyboard? Anand described the keyboard as excellent, in the same class as the Macbook Air. It's the same size as a MB Air, it weights 2.3 lbs, and it boots up in just a few seconds. Lots of users can live without 1080p YouTube streams, and lots of people are going to buy this and be pretty happy with it.Also, Anand tested the battery life at between 4.8 and 5.37 hours, so you round DOWN to 4? Who is really the fanboy with an agenda?
What a joke of a comment.
Spunjji - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
You quite clearly didn't actually read the review. That, or your reading comprehension is not up to par.Braumin - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
ChromeOS is getting far more press than it's deserved.This thing sounds like a piece of crap and yet, not only is it reviewed, it's reviewed favorably.
1. Gets hot
2. Slow
3. Terrible battery life
4. No multitasking
5. No offline apps (basically)
6. No storage
The positives are decent (but not good) screen, keyboard is OK, and the price is low.
Why would anyone buy this again?
For $300 you'll be able to get a Venue Pro 8 with Bay Trail, active stylus, Windows 8.1, far better battery life, and a real OS. Plug it into a monitor and keyboard if required for a full PC experience.
I get Android. Why is Google also pursuing ChromeOS?
kyuu - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
Yeah I'm not sure why they're pushing ChromeOS when they already have Android. Why not just make an Android skin suited for laptop usage?Jaybus - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
Because Android, like iOS, is not suitable for laptops. Also, ChromeOS is completely geared toward cloud aps and cloud storage, basically a machine dedicated to being a browser. Google wants to make money off of the cloud services, not the sales of Chromebooks. They make nothing on the Chromebook itself.Braumin - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
And neither will HP so once again I don't see the point of this device, nor the amazing amount of press it has received.Does Android not have a browser? Isn't it Chrome?
ChromeOS is also not suitable for laptops.
nikon133 - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
Hum. From my experience with Android tablet, I'd say it is much more suitable for netbook form factor than CromeOS is. From my perspective, CromeOS is like Android with almost everything (beside browser) removed/disabled. How is that more suitable for traditional laptop form factor?I understand what Google wants to achieve here - tie users into Google cloud services - but it just isn't my cup of tea. Nor is it for pretty much anyone else I know. Saying that it is niche, in it's current state, sounds like huge overstatement.
Samus - Wednesday, October 16, 2013 - link
OneOfTheseDays--Did you even read the review?