A Chromebook is something many have not heard of, although many will have in the homes in the coming years. PC World have been selling them, quite quietly, for the last year or so and now they have listed the new HP variant of the low priced laptop running Chrome OS.
The Chromebook the hardly in the race for the best specc’d device on the market, more focused on providing the richest internet experience for the lowest price. Historically Chromebooks are somewhat hit or miss with users. Combining cheaper materials with an entirely online and cloud based service that put most off, a difficult adjustment for even the most hardened techie.
However, speak to any Chromebook user and they will easily big up their little back pack friendly tool. A Chromebook user has to be prepared to fully embrace Cloud computing, a constant search for a wireless connection and an OS still in it’s infancy but with a massive blank canvas on which to paint.
The improvements in the Chromebook 11 are all about design and fine-tuning. Google says this new Chromebook has a sturdier magnesium frame, so it won’t flex when you hold it up from one corner, and it manages to be a tenth of a pound lighter than the Samsung Chromebook, weighing in at just 2.3 pounds.
Google and HP are addressing some of the major weak points of the Samsung Chromebook, which was flimsy and had limited viewing angles with a robust build quality and a superior screen. In a nice touch, the new Chromebook charges via micro-USB, so Android phone or tablet users can use the same charger.
While those are nice improvements, the tech specs are unfortunately unchanged from last year’s model. The Samsung Chromebook was reported to struggle open a lot of browser tabs, lengthy online documents or playback higher quality Youtube videos. As with other Chromebooks, Google throws in 100GB of Google Drive storage for two years.
The HP runs on the same ARM-based Exynos 5250 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage and two USB ports. Both the old and new laptops have 11-inch displays, each with a resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels. The HP looses the SD card slot, a particularly mean decision.
PC World are selling the Chromebook for £229 and only list one of the four colour’s available.
The online stores of Amazon, Best Buy, Google and HP are no longer listing the HP Chromebook 11 as available for sale. The former pair have also removed all information about the device from their websites. In addition to halting online sales, Best Buy has also gone a step further by issuing a Memo to its retail store managers instructing them to “stop selling” the device “effective immediately”. The issue appears to be that the charger overheats. Customers are being advise they “should not use the original charger provided…”
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