HP Chromebook 14 im Test

HP Chromebook 14

RRP

$279.00

point details

advantages

Durable build quality

Solid Chrome OS performance

Good Android gaming

Very good touchpad and touch display

Disadvantages

Keyboard is muddy

Battery life is bad

The display lacks the pop for productive work

Don't have a lot of money to spare but need a new laptop? You might not need anything super powerful—you'll mostly be accessing the internet, creating and editing some simple documents, and watching YouTube and Netflix. If that's you, then relax : You can pick up a Chromebook that should serve you well.

the

HP Chromebook 14

starts at $270 for an AMD A4-9210 CPU, 4GB RAM, 32GB eMMC storage, and a 14-inch HD (1366x768) resolution display. HP sent us the high-end version with a Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) display that costs $330 at Walmart.

Yes, that's right: this is AMD's first Chromebook. Not only is it a very affordable laptop, it's also quite unique. Is that enough benefit to invest your very limited budget?

It's plastic and not particularly exciting, but that's okay

First things first: The HP Chromebook 14 is made of plastic. It comes in one of three color schemes, Snow White, Chalkboard Gray, and Ink Blue. And that's a good thing. Ours was Ink Blue, and it was very conservatively attractive is another way of saying that it's not an exciting design and doesn't stand out, but it also won't embarrass you with cheap bling if you pull it out at a coffee shop.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

When it comes to durability, plastic doesn't excel either. Yes, the keyboard tray flexes a little, and maybe a little more than we've seen in the

Acer Chromebook 514

with its all-aluminum chassis, but it's not outrageous. The lid and case back are sufficiently rigid. It's not built like a tank - like the

Lenovo Yoga C930

as an example – but also costs around a fifth as much money. Your $329 goes a long way.

Like many budget laptops, the HP Chromebook 14 doesn't even pretend to join the tiny bezel movement. Its bezels are big and responsible, which means it's not the most modern in appearance. It's not thick at 0.72, though it's not as thin as the Acer Chromebook 514, which is 0.67 inches tall and weighs 3.5 pounds, compared to the Chromebook 514's 3.09 pounds.

The Chromebook 14's keyboard offers enough travel, but the keys feel a bit muddy when hit.

The Chromebook 14 is fanless and remains silent while in use. It does get a little warm when the processor and GPU are stressed.

Connectivity is good for a Chromebook, with two USB-C 3.1 ports for charging and power delivery, two USB-A 3.0 ports, and a microSD card reader. A dual-band radio offers 2×2 MU-MIMO 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2 wireless connectivity.

The touchpad is fine, but the keyboard is a bit muddy

We like precise keyboards where the key mechanism has plenty of travel and a nice springy click and isn't needed

too much of

Pressure to engage. The HP Chromebook 14's island keyboard with black chiclet keys falls short on two of those criteria. There's enough travel, but the keys feel a little mushy when hit. We liked the Acer Chromebook 514's keyboard much better - and it's backlit, unlike the HP Chromebook 14's keys -- as is the pricier's keyboard

HP Chromebook x2

.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

The notebook's touchpad has HP's usual wide format to match the display, its surface offers plenty of tactile feedback and was precise when scrolling and swiping. The usual Chrome OS multi-touch gestures were supported and quite accurate and responsive. It's as good as any other we've used outside of a MacBook.

Finally, the HP Chromebook 14 supports a touch display, which is nice to see on such a cheap device. It's perfect for scrolling long web pages and occasionally tapping a button.

The display didn't blow our minds

The HP Chromebook 14 has a 14-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) display, which is great to see in such a budget laptop. You can drop the price down to $270 if you're going with an HD resolution (1280 x 720), but we don't recommend it. The Acer Chromebook 514 also has a Full HD display, but it's also more expensive ($500 in review).

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Of course, resolution is only one aspect of a display's performance. Color, contrast, and brightness also play a role, and while we can't subject Chromebooks to our colorimeter for objective results, our subjective impressions were clear. The HP Chromebook 14's display does not exceed its price range.

Colors were muted and contrast was lacking, which combined with a relatively low brightness that struggled in bright ambient light, resulted in a display that was only acceptable for productive use. Surprisingly, the Netflix video was pretty good, huh indicates that the gamma of the display is spot on. The Full HD resolution is particularly helpful here.

The Chromebook 14 is one of the first Chrome OS machines to be powered by AMD.

The sound was decent enough, although there isn't much volume. We were able to watch Netflix alone and the experience was fine, but trying to offer TV and movies to a group would be a bit of a challenge. However, there was no distortion when we turned the volume all the way up, which is a plus. Just keep your favorite headphones handy when you really want to rock out.

An average CPU means average performance

The Chromebook 14 is one of the first Chrome OS machines to be powered by AMD. Inside is an AMD Stoney Ridge A4-9210, a dual-core chip that competes with Intel's Pentium CPUs in this price range.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

According to our (more limited) set of benchmark tests, the AMD processor couldn't keep up with the Intel equivalent. On Geekbench 4, the HP Chromebook 14 scores 1,151 in the single-core test and 2,232 in the multi-core test Compared to the Acer Chromebook 514 with Pentium N4200 at 1,556 and 4,837 respectively. In the test, the AMD CPU was even slower than the Intel Celeron 3965Y

Samsung Chromebook Plus V2

at 2,107 and 3,646.

The web benchmark Speedometer 2.0 scores were more balanced. The Chromebook 14 scored 27.9 points compared to the Acer Chromebook 514's 24.2 points, making the AMD model slightly faster. However, the Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 scored 43, 2, showing that this benchmark is about more than just the CPU.

Unfortunately, battery life isn't one of this Chromebook's strengths.

The HP Chromebook 14 comes with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of eMMC storage. That's plenty for Chrome OS, and we found the laptop to be fast enough for all of our usual Chromebook tasks.

The AMD A4 chip also comes with Radeon R4 graphics, which is theoretically faster than Intel's integrated graphics at this CPU tier. We don't have standard benchmarks to test with, but we did run some games, such as

asphalt 8

, and the Chromebook 14 kept up well. It felt a bit slower than the HP Chromebook x2 with the Intel HD Graphics 615, but performance held up.

You have a whole day at work or school without plugging in

The HP Chromebook 14 comes with 47 watt hours of battery capacity, which should be enough for Chrome OS and a Full HD display. In general, Google's platform is less power-hungry than Windows or MacOS, so we were interested in how efficient AMD's A4 processor is.

Unfortunately, battery life isn't one of this Chromebook's strong points. In our most demanding Basemark web benchmark test, it performed as expected, lasting nearly five hours and roughly on par with the Acer Chromebook 514. That's behind it

Acer Chromebook Spin 15

but meets or exceeds the rest of our comparison group.

However, in our web browser test, the HP Chromebook 14 lasted just over seven hours, well behind the Acer Chromebook 514's 11.5 hours and the HP Chromebook x2's nine and a half hours. And in our video looping test, that plays Full HD

avenger

Trailer, the HP Chromebook 14 didn't make it to seven hours, again behind the 11.5 hours of the Acer Chromebook 514 and the nearly 10 hours of the HP Chromebook x2.

In short, the Chromebook 14 will have a hard time getting you through a full work day or school. You'll probably need to have your charger handy if you have to spend the whole day away from home or the office.

Our opinion

The HP Chromebook 14 is a budget laptop that offers plenty of durability, conservative if somewhat bland looks, and decent performance for common Chrome OS productivity tasks. Graphics holds its own thanks to AMD's Radeon R4 GPU, but battery life is disappointing.

Is there a better alternative?

The first contender is the Acer Chromebook 514, which is slightly more expensive at $350 for an Intel Celeron N3350, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB of eMMC storage. It has a slightly better display and battery life with a sturdier and more attractive all-aluminum body -Chassis.

You could also step up the price and size a bit and consider the Acer Chromebook Spin 15. That's $450 for a Pentium N4200, 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, and it's also a 2-in-1 and a great Netflix binging machine.

If your budget can handle an even bigger investment and you can upgrade to a 15-inch laptop, this is it

Lenovo Yoga Chromebook C630

is a good option. It comes in at $540 with an 8th

NS

-Gen quad-core Intel Core i5-8250U CPU that runs Chrome OS very fast indeed, and it's well built and attractive with a display that's no worse than the Chromebook 14's (but not much better either).

How long it will take?

The Chromebook 14 can be plastic, but that's not bad for long-term durability. And the components should easily rival Chrome OS. The warranty is the usual one-year length, and that's to be expected at this price point.

should you buy it

no You don't have to spend a lot more money to get a laptop that is more attractive and lasts longer at an additional cost.

Editor's Recommendations

Best Cheap Asus Laptop Deals for July 2021

Surface Book 4: All about Microsoft's most powerful 2-in-1 yet

Best Cheap iPad Deals & Sales for July 2021

This Lenovo Chromebook is only $159 for the back-to-school season

Why all students today need to buy this HP laptop