This 14-inch HP Chromebook is not a lot of a deal at its checklist worth of $599.99, however it’s a compelling laptop computer worth on the $319.99 sale worth you will get it for at publish time. The HP Chromebook Plus x360 is a trim 2-in-1 with the newest Chromebook Plus options, corresponding to Gemini Superior AI help in Gmail and Google Docs. We want it got here with a pen for its contact display and had a backlit keyboard, and for that, plus the dearth of HDMI output, the Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 ($399 as examined) stays our Editors’ Alternative winner. Even so, the HP x360 is a succesful on-line productiveness accomplice for college students and anybody else on the lookout for an reasonably priced laptop computer.Configuration and Design: Consideration, Cut price Hunters At 0.81 by 12.7 by 8.3 inches, the plastic-clad HP is minutely trimmer than two 14-inch Chromebook Plus rivals, the Acer Chromebook Plus 514 ($349.99 as examined) and the aforementioned Asus Chromebook Plus CX34. Its 360-degree display hinge makes it barely heavier at 3.31 kilos (the Acer and Asus are 3.15 and three.17 kilos, respectively), however it’s no burden in a backpack or briefcase.
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(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
HP’s sole configuration combines Intel’s eight-core, low-wattage Core i3-N305 processor with 8GB of reminiscence and 128GB of smartphone-style UFS flash storage. (UFS sits between cheaper Chromebooks’ eMMC flash storage and a real solid-state drive by way of high quality). The IPS show meets the Chromebook Plus program’s full HD (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) decision requirement; it is a contact display, useful for tapping Android apps and sketching or scribbling in pill mode, although no stylus is offered.You may really feel a good quantity of flex in the event you grasp the display corners or press the keyboard deck, although the display does not wobble an excessive amount of when tapped in laptop computer mode. The webcam above the show has a sliding privateness shutter. Stereo audio system flank the keyboard, with a midsize, buttonless touchpad beneath.
The laptop computer’s left facet holds a 5Gbps USB Sort-C port (appropriate for the AC adapter), an influence button, and a quantity rocker to be used in pill mode. A second USB-C port joins a USB-A and audio jack on the best. With no HDMI port, you will want a DisplayPort dongle to attach an exterior monitor, and you will find no flash-card slot to bolster the built-in storage.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
Utilizing the HP Chromebook Plus x360: It Nails the Fundamentals The laptop computer’s 1080p webcam captures well-lit and colourful photographs if fairly soft-focus. It gives zoom controls and a alternative of 16:9 or 4:3 side ratio. The highest-firing audio system pump out a reasonably loud and clear, barely hole sound; you will not hear a lot bass, however the highs are crisp, and it is easy to make out overlapping tracks. HP’s display is not the brightest (rated at a budget-standard 250 nits), however it’s nice sufficient for indoor viewing of on a regular basis apps and streaming movies. Its distinction is respectable, and viewing angles are extensive. The 1080p decision is a superb match for the 14-inch diagonal measurement, making certain sharp particulars with no pixelation across the edges of letters. The display’s colours do not pop like poster paints however are fairly wealthy and saturated, and its touch-screen operations are easy.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
Fortunately, the nonbacklit keyboard follows the usual Chromebook format, with a search/menu key rather than Caps Lock and system and browser controls alongside the highest row. Unhappily, it additionally follows HP’s commonplace laptop computer format for arrow keys, with them organized in a slipshod row as a substitute of an inverted T (half-sized up and down arrows stacked between full-size left and proper). The typing really feel is nothing to put in writing house about, both—decidedly flat and shallow, extra like a pill’s keyboard cowl than a full-size laptop computer keyboard. The touchpad glides and faucets easily; tapping is preferable to its stiff, hole click on. (As with all Chromebooks, you will discover no right-click however a two-finger faucet as a substitute.)
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
Like different new Chromebook Plus fashions, the HP x360 comes with a 12 months of Google One AI Premium, offering 2TB of cloud storage plus precedence entry to Gemini Superior AI options and Gemini in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Gmail. A lot of what Gemini can do, like a lot of AI interval, is extra gimmicky than useful—producing customized wallpapers or video backgrounds, whoopee—however its extra intriguing abilities vary from summarizing paperwork to translating and captioning video calls and Magic Editor (acquainted from Google Photographs on Android telephones) for tinkering with photos. Together with conveniences like displaying your duties atop the taskbar or shelf calendar and speedy first-time setup by tapping your Android telephone’s account data, it is an instance of ChromeOS’ persevering with refinement.Testing the HP Chromebook Plus x360: Neither Sluggard Nor Velocity DemonFor our benchmark charts, we in contrast the HP x360 with two different reasonably priced Chromebook Plus fashions, the Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 and the Acer Chromebook Plus 514. Just like the Asus, the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 ($699.99 as examined) is an Editors’ Alternative award winner however is extra upscale in capability and options. You’ll be able to see their specs beneath.
Productiveness Exams We problem Chromebooks with three general efficiency benchmarks, two on-line and one Android. Basemark Internet 3.0 runs in a browser tab to mix low-level JavaScript calculations with CSS and WebGL content material. Principled Applied sciences’ WebXPRT 4 makes use of HTML5, JavaScript, and WebAssembly workloads to simulate duties starting from picture enhancement and OCR scans to gross sales graphs and on-line homework. Lastly, PCMark Work 3.0 performs assorted productiveness operations in a smartphone-style window.
The overachieving Asus CX34 and the Acer Spin 714 led the way in which, with the HP and Acer 514, utilizing the identical CPU, tied for the bronze medal behind them. None of those notebooks is a blazing skilled workstation, however all are completely superb for every day productiveness in a house workplace or college.Part and Battery Exams Two Android benchmarks, Geekbench 6 and GFXBench 5.1, check a Chromebook’s processing and graphics silicon, respectively. The previous stresses all CPU cores to yield a numeric rating; the latter runs 1440p and 1080p animations or sport simulations (rendered offscreen) to measure GPU efficiency in frames per second. We additionally check every laptop computer’s battery life by enjoying a domestically saved 720p video (the open-source Blender film Tears of Metal) with display brightness set to 50%, audio quantity to 100%, and Wi-Fi and keyboard backlighting turned off till the system quits.
Once more, none of those machines can compete with a gaming laptop computer with a discrete GPU as a substitute of built-in graphics, however none is meant to. Their processing and graphics talents completely go well with Google Workspace, video streaming, and informal gaming. The HP x360 trailed in our battery check however managed sufficient day without work the charger for a median workday with an hour or so to spare.Verdict: A Good Cut price 2-in-1 Simply Shy of GreatnessAs convertible Chromebooks go, the HP Chromebook Plus x360 falls in need of the premium Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714, however to be honest, it prices just a few hundred {dollars} much less. In its worth vary, it does not topple the Asus Chromebook CX34 Plus as our Editors’ Alternative as a result of the CX34 has a useful HDMI port. However in the event you can stay with out HDMI and wish 2-in-1 performance, the HP x360 is a first-rate various.
The Backside Line
Though it lacks luxuries, HP’s Chromebook Plus x360 gives clients with enticing on a regular basis productiveness, novel AI enhancements, and a colourful contact display.
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About Eric Grevstad
Contributing Editor
I used to be picked to put in writing PCMag’s fortieth Anniversary “Most Influential PCs” function as a result of I am the geezer who remembers all of them—I labored on TRS-80 and Apple II monthlies beginning in 1982 and served as editor of Laptop Shopper when it was a 700-page month-to-month rivaled solely by Brides as America’s fattest journal. I used to be later the editor in chief of House Workplace Computing, {a magazine} about utilizing tech to do business from home twenty years earlier than a pandemic made it commonplace observe. Even in semi-retirement, I am unable to cease enjoying with toys and telling folks what gear to purchase.
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