Gadgetory

I'm Scott Stein and this in front of me is the HP Chromebook 11 is there room for a Chromebook in your life that's the question with the Chromebook equation because Chromebooks have been sneaking their way in as a kind of an experiment term product over the last few years and in case you're not entirely certain what a Chromebook is let's lay it out for you right now it looks like a laptop but it's not really a laptop it runs Chrome OS which is Google's variant of a mostly online only operating system that's great if you're a web browser but if you like offline use and if you like to use a lot of apps it may feel very weird and it doesn't do a lot of file storage to the degree that you're used to on a laptop it can do all those send me offline things and sort of file storage e things but it really runs for the most part like a super smart web browser with a bunch of apps that feel like browser extensions that being said this is a $279 product now that sounds pretty affordable for a laptop that if you're looking at tablets those cost in the budget range around that territory so what are you gonna buy for your home the Chromebook has attempted to sort of be a netbook replacement and what's different from previous Chromebooks well in a lot of ways this is more of a design job than something that's completely new under the hood HP's Chromebook 11 is sort of a collaboration with Google and you can tell that it looks a lot more googly you've got a white glossy exterior here light weight to pounds plastic color accents green yellow red and blue or you can get all black and with the plastic design it's almost kind of like an iPhone 5c of Chromebooks and under the hood though you're going back to well the limitations of Chromebook 16 gigs of on-board storage 2 gigs of ram and then you're dealing with this operating system there are two USB 2.0 ports and there is a micro USB charger that's kind of interesting because you could use the same charger to charge your phone or your tablet only take one on the road with you but it's missing a few ports doesn't have SD card slot doesn't have HDMI and those were in the last Chromebook in this price range the samsung series 3 at $250 no less here this is 279 you're getting a slightly better improved IPS display that has better viewing angles brighter it's a 1366 by 768 but it's not touch and the keyboard is fantastic it's probably the best I've used in this territory but it's not backlit and the trackpad it's okay and the speakers under this keyboard do sound nice and loud and clear now what can you install on a Chromebook I mean can you put Microsoft Word on it no this is you're going to be restricted to what you can load via the Chrome Web Store which offers an assortment of apps that really for the most part act like web extensions a few of them launched in their own window and they range some of them are productivity oriented summer games but they all kind of feel more like web apps than actual applications of the sort you'd run on a tablet if you're using this as a pass around the home laptop replacement like a station car to get you on the web and get you off the web and you don't like using a tablet consider a Chromebook but if you want something is a true laptop Chromebooks aren't there yet and if you're looking for something that's going to have a wide variety of games and fun app experiences look to Android or iOS before you look to a Chromebook now the feeling these are going to stick around for a while the question is when you're going to want to buy one it's getting closer this doesn't feel like the one yet I'm Scott Stein and that's a little look at the HP Chromebook 11 now available