HP Chromebook 11 Review

While it's clearly not a high-end computer, the HP Chromebook 11 works hard to bring design and style into the Chrome OS universe. The laptop has a clean and modern look, with a glossy white plastic finish complemented by your choice of blue, green, yellow or red accents, which appear around the keyboard and in two pads on the bottom of the device.
I have Wi-Fi at home and at the office, samsung galaxy tab 2 charger nearly every hotel or coffee shop on the planet offers connectivity, and for the rare in-between times, my phone serves as a perfectly usable (if slightly awkward) mechanism for getting on the internet. The only time I can’t get online now is underground on the subway — and even that may not be true for long.
Meanwhile, my computer is increasingly becoming just a portal to the internet. I use Word and Outlook and Photoshop, but even those apps are designed to be perpetually connected and intertwined — and browser-based approximations of those apps are ever improving. Even PC games are meant to be played online. If I have no Wi-Fi, samsung np350v5c a0auk battery my MacBook Air feels pointless, empty.
This new order is one in which a Chromebook, an always-connected laptop that is explicitly designed to be used online, might actually make sense. And don’t look now, but the industry is noticing: Toshiba, Acer, Lenovo, and other manufacturers are announcing devices running Google’s Chrome OS, and Chromebooks are now used in 22 percent of US school districts and in countries around the world.
The new head of the lineup, the device designed to unseat last year’s lenovo x1 carbon battery replacement Samsung Chromebook at the top of the Amazon best-seller list, is the HP Chromebook 11. At $279, this 11.6-inch laptop is priced to move. And if it’s “just a web browser,” it’s a beautiful one.
Google’s on a mission to connect the world to the internet, by hook or by crook. (Or by balloon.) The Chromebook 11 is our end of the wire.

Before the Chromebook 11, sub-$500 Chromebooks seemed like the sort of stuff that fell out the back of an abandoned CompUSA. nexus 7 2013 battery They were Netbook-like, unattractive, and to make things worse, they ran a funky mostly online-only operating system. The Chromebook Pixel is a much more finely designed beast, but at over $1,000, it's well off any sensible person's radar.
The Chromebook 11 is a clean, colorful device, with looks that fall somewhere between any MacBook and kid-friendly PC. lenovo y50 battery The Chromebook 11 doesn't have any visible speakers or vents, and only a few ports -- an intentional move, giving this product a seamless, smooth appearance. You can pick from glossy black or glossy white -- the white comes with yellow, red, blue, or green color highlights, which ring the keyboard and tint two rubberized bottom pads.
The laptop feels very plastic, but at 2.3 pounds it's also very light. dell venue 8 charger Google says there's a magnesium frame underneath, but it's hard to tell. It feels sturdy enough, but still resembles a budget product. It seems kid-friendly and somewhat able to withstand a knock-around.
Basically, Google's and HP's smart bet with the HP Chromebook 11 was to make the whole product seem much more like a laptop-esque tablet than a cheap laptop. From its Micro-USB port to its clean color-accented plastic, it feels like the smaller cousin to the Pixel, part of a new Chromebook family. It even has the same four-color rainbow bar on the back lid, a small Chrome touch.

The Chromebook 11 may only cost $279, but its design is still impressive. The glossy plastic lid and back are uninterrupted by screws, vents or any other components, lending the machine a modern, classy air. Of course, as soon as your greasy fingers hit the plastic, things look a little less pristine. hp thin client t610 power supply cord There are no moving parts here, and the smooth design reflects that -- compare this guy to Samsung's Chromebook from late last year, and you'll get the picture. It's hard not to see hints of the old plastic MacBook of the mid-aughts here; the rounded edges and reflective finish aren't exactly revolutionary design choices, after all. Google leaves its own mark on this device, though: both the rim around the island-style keyboard and two rubber strips on the backside are done up in one of four accent colors (your choice of blue, green, red or yellow).
Even knowing that the Chromebook 11 is super light (2.3 pounds, or 1.04kg, to be exact), g75vx battery I was still surprised at how insubstantial it felt in my hands. As someone who squeezes a 13-inch Ultrabook into a work bag every day, I definitely appreciate this laptop's portable size. Thinness isn't the selling point with this machine, but at 11.69 x 7.56 x 0.69 inches (297 x 192 x 12.6mm), it's definitely not bulky. t440s charger There's a magnesium frame on board, which goes a long way in helping the machine feel sturdy despite the featherweight profile. That's not to say you're getting the same build quality as a $1,000 Ultrabook; the plastic lid occasionally creaks under pressure.
With the lid closed, the only distinguishing mark on this Chromebook is a strip sporting Chrome's four signature colors that lights up when the machine is in use. On the reverse side, you'll find two colorful rubber strips (in our case, red) along with Google and HP branding. Beyond that, the notebook is remarkably bare, with the left edge housing all the ports and connections. These include a combination headphone / mic jack, two USB 2.0 ports and a micro-USB connection with support for SlimPort video out. Incidentally, you'll be charging this device via micro-USB, which is extremely convenient if you're already carrying around a cable for your Android tablet or phone. (One comes in the box, in case you've managed to go through life without building a collection.) The downside is that charging up takes a long time; try about four hours. There's no SD card slot, but with just 16GB of on-board storage, you'll be relying more on Google Drive than local storage anyway.
Raise the lid, and you'll be face to face with the machine's 11.6-inch display, which is framed by a wide bezel sporting Chrome branding. nexus 7 2013 battery The chiclet keyboard takes up almost two-thirds of the palm rest, with a clickpad sitting just below it. And that's it from a physical standpoint; the design is simple, but in a satisfying, less-is-more way.
As an under-the-radar note: Google is releasing its first accessory designed in-house to go with the Chromebook 11. Don't expect anything elaborate, though: it's just a simple, if well-made, case available in black, blue / grey or red / grey. Sold separately, it will set you back $50. (Ouch.) Whether you choose to spring for this sleeve or not, it's a good idea to invest in some sort of protection, especially since the notebook will likely be on the road with you quite a bit.

Really, our only major akku fur medion akoya e7218 complaint is about power. It's not unreasonable to be demanding a full eight hours' use from a laptop today, and even if long battery life was never explicitly part of the promise of the Chromebook concept, it nevertheless feels wrong that you're using a lightweight alternative OS on a chip architecture famed for power-efficiency, and yet not getting stellar battery life.
The Micro USB charging is a nice touch (even though, grumble grumble, Micro-USB is a fiddle to connect) but however technically understandable it is, it's frustrating that when connected through essentially anything except the supplied charger, the Chromebook 11's battery actually runs down unless it's asleep or off.
What's more, the fact that you can't do anything other than slow the battery drain when daisy-chaining power through the SlimPort adapter if you've got it hooked up to an external display essentially precludes it from being a machine you regularly use as a main desktop PC.
The trackpad is x220t battery 3 cell occasionally a little jittery, and we've seen trackpads with its finish before now get shiny, worn patches through heavy use that makes them less responsive. We don't know if this would be the case here, but it's a concern.
The plastic case picks up fingerprints very easily, and those colour accents on the bottom, which look like they're going to be grippy, aren't; a missed opportunity to gently stop the laptop moving around on a table.
Finally, as always seems to be the case, details about the model that has 4G LTE built in are proving difficult to confirm, something that, despite the abilities of Chrome OS and some web apps to work offline, is a particular pain in a machine ostensibly designed with accessing the internet' as its sole task.