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Is “spectacular Chromebook” nonetheless an oxymoron?
Luxe fashions just like the $999 Google Pixelbook exist (nicely, existed), however plastic, practical-to-a-fault clunkers have outlined this style of web-based gadgets because it debuted in 2011. The Chromebook&commerce;️ is infamously low-cost (costing and searching) and usually relegated to schoolwork or fundamental looking — your archetypical bare-minimum laptop computer.
Nevertheless, now there’s Chromebook Plus. Google launched this taxonomy for a brand new breed of ChromeOS computer systems in October 2023, marking the Chromebook expertise’s first correct retooling in over a decade. It rolled out within the type of an OS replace for sure older Chromebooks and by way of eight brand-new fashions from Acer, ASUS, Lenovo, and HP, which begin at $399 to retain an attraction for price range buyers.
SEE ALSO:
Chromebook vs. laptop computer: What are the variations?
I spent a number of weeks with the HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch, one in every of two 15.6-inch fashions from that unique octet, which retails for $499. I will let you know upfront that it makes some sacrifices to stick to that worth level, specifically in construct and audio high quality, and its battery life is a letdown. I do not assume it is fairly capable of slough off a few of these Chromebook stereotypes.
That mentioned, the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch is a lot peppy for informal productiveness, particularly in the event you’re a giant Google Workspace individual, and its colourful, capacious display screen is superb for off-the-clock leisure. It additionally comes with some helpful options and AI instruments you will not discover in non-Plus Chromebooks. It is not an impressive laptop computer worthy of our Mashable Selection Award, but it surely’s decidedly stable in the event you’re in search of a dependable cut price big-screener.
The one drawback is that it would not exist in a vacuum.
HP Chromebook Plus 15.5-inch specs and worth
Fashions with the “Chromebook Plus” label are assured to have sure specs, together with:
At the very least a Twelfth-generation Intel Core i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 7000 sequence processor (i.e., a CPU from 2022 or newer)
At the very least 8GB of RAM
At the very least 128GB of storage
A 1080p webcam with temporal noise discount
An IPS show with a decision of a minimum of 1080p (Full HD)
This new standardization would not rewrite the e-book on Chromebooks, so to talk: It has been attainable to purchase a non-Plus mannequin with this {hardware} earlier than. Reasonably, Google mentioned it is meant to make it simpler for buyers to slim down their choices and establish fashions that “will truly provide you with what you want, on the worth you need.”
The HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch’s base configuration is offered solely at Greatest Purchase.
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable
The Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch is a conventional clamshell-style laptop computer that sells for $499 at Greatest Purchase. Underneath its hood, you may discover:
An Intel Core i3-N305 processor (a cellular CPU from early 2023)
Intel UHD graphics
8GB of RAM
128GB of Common Flash Storage (UFS)
A 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080 decision show (non-touchscreen) in a 16:9 side ratio with a 60Hz refresh charge
MediaTek WiFi 6
Two USB-C 3.0 ports, one USB-A 3.0 port, an SD card slot, and a headphone jack
One other variant of the HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch is offered straight on the HP web site beginning at $599.99; it may be upgraded with a 144hz refresh charge, a backlit keyboard, and an Intel WiFi 6E card for a maxed-out worth of $659.99. (This overview solely covers the $499 Greatest Purchase mannequin, FYI.)
HP Chromebook Plus 15.5-inch design
Let’s acknowledge the polymer elephant within the room up high — sure, this laptop computer has a plastic shell, although you most likely would not realize it from appears to be like alone. It is available in a mineral silver end that offers it a sublime, metallic-seeming sheen, and there is a reflective HP emblem on its lid. It measures in at simply 0.78 inches skinny; whereas it is not a very small laptop computer, it is nonetheless smooth. Its hinge is tight and durable and under no circumstances creaky.
The HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch appears to be like smooth in Mineral Silver.
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable
That mentioned, be mild. I do not assume you possibly can fully junk the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch with out critical intent, however I additionally do not assume it might stroll away from an unintended fall or drop with out some cuts and bruises. My loaner unit’s lid someway picked up a nick throughout my testing, and I used to be solely carrying it between my desk, sofa, and kitchen desk.
Within the plastic’s protection, it does maintain the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch comparatively gentle for its measurement at 3.81 kilos. Small youngsters may pitch a match in the event that they needed to haul it round of their backpack all day, however I might simply tote it round in a single arm.
The HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch has a headphone jack, two USB-C ports, one USB-A port, and an SD card slot on both aspect of its base.
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable
The Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch’s low price is a bit more obvious in its plastic touchpad, which is correct and responsive however weirdly grippy, as if it must be waxed or Zambonied. My fingers made a boring skidding sound each few gestures, like a scaled-down model of sneakers friction-squeaking on a health club flooring. Discovering the appropriate finger stress took some changes.
The standard of the keyboard can be on par with what I would anticipate from a $500 laptop computer. It is positively not the worst keyboard I’ve ever used — I survived the butterfly keyboard period and all I obtained have been these awful Genius Bar payments! — but it surely’s not nice. One of the simplest ways I can describe it’s that it feels such as you’re pushing the keys into Styrofoam: stiff, but in addition form of ethereal and mushy, and general simply unsatisfying. I obtained used to it over time, too.
Notice the numeric keypad.
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable
As an apart, I need to flag that there is a built-in numeric keypad to the appropriate of the Chromebook Plus 15-inch’s keyboard. It is not my favourite design alternative, because it makes the keyboard and touchpad off-center, however I have never docked factors off for it as a result of I do know keypads are a draw for some customers.
In the meantime, the IPS show on the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch is distractingly good, and simply my favourite factor about this laptop computer. The colours are intense, with good distinction and wealthy blacks, and an anti-reflective panel preserves that high quality at most viewing angles, even in direct daylight. It additionally feels big regardless of some reasonably thick horizontal bezels. It actually has no proper trying pretty much as good because it does.
The HP Chromebook Plus 15.6’s show is vivid and spacious.
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable
I suppose the show could possibly be brighter — it maxes out at a homely 250 nits — but it surely’s workable and type of a pleasant break from my Apple MacBook Professional’s 500-nit display screen, which may generally really feel like staring right into a high-beam headlight. It is not blinding, however its whites aren’t dingy. I could make peace with that.
I would not complain if the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch had a better refresh charge, and also you could be inclined to improve to the HP.com-exclusive 144Hz mannequin, however 60Hz is totally cheap for $500. I observed a little bit jitteriness once I was taking part in Lies of P on it by way of Xbox Sport Cross, however gaming and streaming have been in any other case passably clean. (Chromebooks aren’t the very best for gaming, however Google successfully endorses that use case by throwing in three free months of NVIDIA GeForce NOW’s Precedence tier with each Chromebook, together with Plus fashions.)
SEE ALSO:
The very best gaming laptops of 2024 for each price range
The 1080p webcam is nested within the bezel throughout the very high of the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch’s show, and it has a built-in privateness shutter which you could manually slide on and off. Its image high quality was ample in pictures and video calls, although it skewed a bit saturated and overly smoothed. I want there was an choice to show the temporal noise discount off — it made me look a little bit too airbrushed.
The HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch’s webcam is not horrible, but it surely made me look a little bit orange and airbrushed.
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable
The Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch’s stereo audio system are extra overtly subpar. The audio is loud sufficient, but it surely feels like all of the oomph has been sucked out of it, as in the event you’re listening to it from inside a closet. There’s, like, a adverse quantity of bass. Whereas not a dealbreaker for moi, since I usually put on headphones whereas utilizing a laptop computer, it could be for some.
Connectivity-wise, the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch comes outfitted with a good variety of ports: There is a headphone jack, two USB-C ports, one USB-A port, and a slot for an SD card.
HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch efficiency and battery life
So, what’s so “Plus”? Google has a pair totally different promoting factors for its new Chromebook line, one being “energy that will get extra achieved,” per a web page on the corporate’s web site. Licensed fashions supply “2x the processing energy” in comparison with the most well-liked Chromebooks bought within the second half of 2022, it mentioned, and supply “as much as 10 hours of battery life” per cost.
A consultant for Google instructed me that the corporate would not publish any specifics about its high sellers, so I could not personally confirm its declare about further processing energy. However anecdotally, the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch was capable of zip by my day by day workflow, which entails bopping round between the Slack app, Google Workspace instruments, Twitter, Zoom, and Mashable’s CMS. It by no means ran scorching, both, even once I sat it on my blanketed lap to play a couple of hours of Palworld and Murderer’s Creed Odyssey after work in the future. (The fan cranked up a bit, but it surely was by no means noticeably loud.)
Graphically undemanding video games like “Palworld” ran nicely on the HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch.
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable
In a extra technical setting, the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch clocked in at a multi-core rating of 4,121 in Primate Labs’ Geekbench 6 CPU benchmark (the Android model), which had its system run quite a lot of real-world duties; the upper the rating, the higher. That places it barely decrease than the HP Chromebook Plus x360 14c (one other new Plus mannequin), which scored a 4,318, with one asterisk: The x360 14c begins at $699 and retails for $819.99 as examined.
As for battery life, that “as much as 10 hours” bit is doing numerous heavy lifting. I obtained solely seven hours and 11 minutes out of the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch in CrXPRT 2’s battery life take a look at. Eight hours is the minimal we search for in Chromebooks, 9 to 10 hours being splendid, so it form of flopped right here. Transferring on!
HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch software program options
The opposite crux of Google’s Chromebook Plus spiel is a collection of latest software program options: It “works like magic, appears like enjoyable,” the corporate mentioned. I am unsure I would go that far, however most of them land someplace on the spectrum between “handy” and “form of cool,” and finally elevate the person expertise indirectly.
Falling below the previous categorization is File Sync. This new characteristic makes all the Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides in your “My Drive” out there with out WiFi, then routinely updates the unique information as soon as your connection is restored. Offline usability has been a serious critique of Chromebooks since eternally, and whereas this is not a very thrilling tweak, I can see it being a pleasant peace-of-mind factor for vacationers and commuters.
Again over within the webcam division, there is a new “pod” for video controls that seems within the decrease navigation bar each time the digicam is turned on. These embrace some AI-powered settings like noise cancellation, dwell caption, and enhance lighting, which work throughout platforms like Google Meet and Zoom. Once more, nothing revolutionary, but it surely was useful to have them so available for mid-call toggling… once they labored. (Dwell caption did not for me.)
The webcam’s “Enhance Lighting” AI instrument (type of arbitrarily) brightened one aspect of my face.
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable
Chromebook Plus additionally brings new assist for fashionable multimedia apps like Adobe Photoshop on the internet, Adobe Specific, and LumaFusion, a video editor, in addition to Google Pictures’ Magic Eraser characteristic, which you may additionally discover on Google’s Pixel 6, 7, and eight sequence telephones. (Those that buy a brand new Chromebook Plus will obtain three free-month trials of each Adobe merchandise and a one-off low cost on LumaFusion.) That is arguably Google’s boldest replace contemplating “Chromebook” and “picture and video enhancing” are hardly ever utilized in the identical sentence, until it is to say that the previous is unhealthy for the latter.
Google Pictures Magic Eraser’s “erase” mode (heart) tended to provide extra convincing outcomes than “camouflage” (proper).
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable
I performed round with Adobe Specific and Magic Eraser in my testing, and with out going into an excessive amount of element, each labored nicely. Adobe Specific could possibly be a little bit pokey, but it surely’s a flashy Canva different with some hit-or-miss generative AI options. Magic Eraser made it simple to clean distractions out of pictures, or “camouflage” them in order that their colours did not stick out. Whereas I would not purchase a Chromebook Plus solely to make use of these instruments, it is thrilling to see them succeed on a $500 laptop computer.
Final, and doubtless least, Chromebook Plus fashions include two dynamic wallpapers that change primarily based on the time of day. They’re paired with matching animated screensavers and Chrome coloration themes.
Google’s dynamic wallpapers and screensavers are Chromebook Plus exclusives.
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable
Google mentioned it’ll “maintain including new options to Chromebook Plus over time”; an AI-powered short-form content material editor, generative video backgrounds, and desktop wallpapers are within the works for later in 2024.
Is the HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch value it?
The Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch is a low-priced choose for productiveness revolving across the Google ecosystem with a big, vibrant show and a few new software program options which might be a minimum of attention-grabbing, if not game-changing. It is unfair to match a Chromebook to other forms of laptops, however as a lifelong MacBook person, I really feel compelled to confess that I used to be pleasantly shocked by how a lot I loved utilizing this laptop computer (even when it did not convert me away from Apple).
SEE ALSO:
The very best low-cost laptops for 2024, examined and reviewed
Here is the factor, although: The Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch is not the one new Chromebook Plus, and different fashions kickflip on it on the subject of general worth.
As an illustration, the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 and the ASUS Chromebook Plus CX34 each include barely higher processors and value $399 apiece, or $100 much less. (The previous is one other 15.6-incher, too.) In the meantime, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus will get you a more recent Thirteenth-gen Intel Core i3 processor, a backlit keyboard, and a 2-in-1 design with a multitouch show for a similar $499.
The HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch is a genuinely good price range laptop computer, however different Chromebook Plus fashions supply extra for a similar worth or much less.
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable
Even when these different fashions make the identical main concessions because the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch within the realms of plastic building, audio high quality, and battery life, the trade-offs appear extra value it on paper. (I am hoping to check them, too, to see if this interprets in observe.)
Finally, and if nothing else, I feel the very best factor in regards to the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch simply could be the potential it reveals for these different Plus-ed choices. “Spectacular Chromebook” stays an oxymoron on this case, but it surely might veer towards tautology elsewhere among the many lineup, a minimum of so far as price range laptops are involved. Google is onto one thing.
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Credit score: HP
HP Chromebook Plus 15a-nb0033dx
$499.00
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