ARM-based Chromebook uses a Samsung Exynos SoC and an IPS display. by Andrew Cunningham
The new HP Chromebook Pixel 11.
Andrew Cunningham
Google has announced yet another member of the Chromebook family this morning: the HP Chromebook 11, a new smaller system from HP that joins itsPavilion Chromebookandits upcoming Chromebook 14. The system is available now from Google Play, Amazon, Best Buy, and other retailers starting at $279.
One of Google's stated aims with the laptop was to bring some features of the Chromebook Pixel down to a more affordable price point. While the high-resolution touchscreen and the all-metal construction obviously didn't make it, the computer does sport a 1366×768 non-touch IPS display, a significant step up in color and viewing angles from the TN panels we've seen in cheap Chromebooks to date. The system also retains the Pixel's multicolored light bar on the lid. The laptop comes in white or black plastic with one of four accent colors (red, blue, green, and yellow, Google's standard colors), and while the body is plastic it is underlaid with a magnesium frame.
On the inside, the specifications also take a step down from the Pixel, though they're still not too shabby. Like last year's Samsung Chromebook, the Chromebook 11 sports a dual-core ARM SoC from Samsung (the exact same chip, in fact—the Exynos 5250 combines two Cortex A15 CPU cores with one of ARM's quad-core Mali-T604 GPUs). This chip won't come near the performance of an Ivy Bridge chip from Intel, but it should be more than sufficient for Chrome OS, and it also allows the laptop to be completely fanless. 2GB of RAM, 16GB of solid-state storage, dual-band 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0, and up to six hours of battery life are also standard.
The Chromebook 11's full-size keyboard, which at least at first blush actually has pretty good key travel. Like the Chromebook Pixel, the speakers are hidden beneath it.
Andrew Cunningham
Finally, the laptop includes a pair of USB 2.0 ports and charging via a tablet-and-phone-like micro USB port (which can also output video via the SlimPort standard, much like the recent Nexus devices). The system also comes with 100GB of Google Drive storage for two years, a 60-day free trial of Google Play Music All Access, and 12 free GoGo Inflight Internet sessions. A 4G version will be available, but pricing and availability has not been announced.
We'll be going hands-on with the HP Chromebook 11 later today, at which point we'll be posting impressions of the laptop's construction and more pictures.
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