US$279 HP Chromebook 11 with stylings mimicking the Google Chromebook Pixel - Low-end Laptop with high-end specs and sub-US$300 pricing is a great Christmas present for Millennials

Google and HP have outed yet another Chromebook. This time it’s from HP (Hewlett Packard) and it’s not unlike the Google Chromebook Pixel in terms of appearance and specs. What differs here is that this new Chromebook, the HP Chromebook 11, has all the stylings of the Pixel but with an affordable US$279 price tag as explained in “Google uses high-end finish for $279 HP Chromebook 11”, published October 8, 2013 6:00 AM PDT by Roger Cheng, CNET News.

Clearly HP now realizes the truth; they can’t hide from the PC market, but continue to compete as they had already shown the willingness to do with the US$479 HP Slatebook X2 in August 2013 as stated in my blog article entitled “Hewlett Packard debuts US$479 HP Slatebook x2 in August 2013 - HP has stopped living in The Spectacular Now and accepts Tablets have killed Printers”.

This is the same HP that had decided to enter the Chromebook market in early January 2013, a product which at that time was and still is the most popular laptop on Amazon as stated in my blog article entitled “Lenovo and HP now making Chromebooks - Google Chrome OS is being Built from the Cloud Up and Microsoft experiences the Side Effects”.

The HP Chromebook 11, like its predecessors as described in my Geezam blog article entitled “Google releases revamped Chromebooks and ChromeBox empowering Mobile Computing in the Clouds” runs Google Chrome OS, their Operating System based on their popular Google Chrome Browser. The HP Chromebook 11 is built with a Magnesium chassis for strength and comes in Piano Black or White with four other colour accents. As it has a SSD (Solid State Drive) and no built in Fan, it’s silent.

Its magnesium finish is complemented by the fact it has no visible screws, vents or speakers, which aids in its solid look. As for Audio, the speakers are built into the MacBook themed keyboard and it sports the usual combination Microphone/Headphone Jack. It has a decent responsive Touchpad and a good VGA Video Camera, making it ready for Video Chat.

It’s most curiously feature is that it charges using a Micro-USB port that interestingly can actually be charged via one of its own USB ports, albeit not before it notices the voltage source is low as stated in “HP Chromebook 11 review: surprisingly good for the price... and a Chromebook”, published Thursday 10 October 2013 06.57 BST by Samuel Gibbs, The UK Guardian.

Clearly HP was thinking along the lines of a smartphone or Tablet feel for their latest Chromebook, but with a Chrome OS and a keyboard. The inclusion of 100GB of Google Drive and a 60 day free trial of Google Play, Google’s App Store, is more indication that this Chromebook is more Cloud Tablet than an unusual laptop concept!

Like all Chromebooks before it, there are no installed programs; everything’s in the cloud. So you won’t find Microsoft Word installed but you can get Google Docs and opt to save your files to the Harddrives instead of the Cloud.

It takes some getting used to, but the high-end finish, Mobile Styling, comfortable Typing keyboard and quiet operation makes it what a Low-end Laptop should have originally been as stated in “HP Chromebook 11 review: Google gives the low end some much-needed luster”, published Oct 11, 2013 2:12 PM by Melissa Riofrio, PCWorld

 

The specs are very high end for the price as noted in the article “A Lot To Like About The New HP Chromebook 11”, published 10/10/2013 in 12:05AM by Larry Magid, Contributor, Forbes:

1.      CPU: Exynos 5250 GAIA Application Processor

2.      Harddrive: 16GB Solid State Drive

3.      Screen: 11.6" 1366 x 768display with 16:9 aspect ratio (IPS Panel)

4.      Dimensions: 297 x 192 x 17.6 mm          

5.      Weight: 2.3lb / 1.04kg

6.      Battery: 30Wh battery with 6 hours of active use 

7.      Network Connectivity: Dual-band WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth® 4.0, Verizon LTE (optional and coming

8.      Ports: 2 USB 2.0, Micro-SIM slot (3G/4G/LTE model only), Micro USB for 15.75W charging and SlimPort video out

Product offers

1.      100 GB Google Drive cloud storage, free for two years

2.      60-day free trial with Google Play Music All Access, and $9.99/month pricing after that

3.      12 free sessions of GoGo® Inflight Internet

The HP is now on sale on Amazon. It’ll make a great Christmas gift for the Millennial (ages 18 to 28) and Teenagers (ages 13 to 17) whose life is mainly online and most watches YouTube videos and doesn’t do a lot of typing in Microsoft Word.

Here’s the link(s):

HP Chromebook 11 on Google

HP Chromebook 11 on Amazon

HP Chromebook 11 on HP