Today we’re taking a peek at HP’s latest in a wide variety of Chromebooks. Given the 7(!) Chromebooks currently in production with HP, with at least one more on the way soon, how might one decide which is best? First, the newest: HP Chromebook x360 14c, with a 14-inch display, fingerprint reader, HP Rechargeable Pen, and up to 10:45 hours of battery life. How does this 14-inch machine stand up to the others that’ve been released by HP in the recent past?
HP Chromebook x360 series
The HP Chromebook x360 14c is one of HP’s fully convertable devices, meaning you can use it as a notebook or fold it all the way back to use it as a tablet. It has a Full HD touchscreen and it’ll cost you around $550 USD.
But what’s this? HP also has an HP Chromebook x360 14a and Chromebook x360 14b. Each is relatively similar at first glance – they all have a 14-inch display panel, but each version has features to match their price.
The HP Chromebook x360 14a costs around $370 and has most of the extravagance stripped away. It still has a 14-inch FHD touchscreen that flips all the way back, but with basic speakers, 12:15 hours of battery, and no fingerprint reader and a fairly basic processor.
The mid-point between the 14a and 14c is the 14b, but the 14b is a lot closer to the 14a than it is to the 14c. You’re getting a better speaker system with “audio by B&O” and up to 12:30 hours of battery life with a price at around $380 USD.
Why does the 14c cost so much more?
The HP Chromebook x360 14c works with a significantly more powerful processor than its predecessors (with an Intel Pentium Gold 6405U) and the display it works with is significantly more premium than the rest of the x360 14 lineup. The panel we’ve got here has micro-edge tech, is WLED-backlit, ready to roll with multitouch capabilities, and is covered with a pane of Corning Gorilla Glass NBT.
It’s still just 1920 x 1080 pixels, but it’s just about as nice a panel at this size on a Chromebook as you’re going to get. This device has a fingerprint reader, 45 W USB Type-C power adapter, and fast charge. This device can charge from 0% to 90% in approximately 90 minutes.
There’s a microSD card reader in the side of this Chromebook along with a headphone/microphone combo port, 2x USB Type-C with “SuperSpeed” 5Gbps signaling rate (USB Power Delivery, DisplayPort 1.2) as well as a single SuperSpeed USB Type-A port.
And there’s a webcam privacy switch so you don’t have to do the whole “put a piece of tape over the camera” thing we’ve been doing for most notebooks for the past decade.
A Chromebook for around $550 USD is a hard sell, but HP’s efforts with the Chromebook x360 14c appear go the distance – at least as far as raw specifications and features suggest. We’ll have to see if it all stands up to its claims in our own tests once this device hits the Times24H review bench – stay tuned.
