HP takes the Chrome OS plunge, Pavilion 14 Chromebook up for grabs now

A few days ago, HP’s 14-inch Chromebook leaked out of its own site and today, the world’s largest PC maker has made the Pavilion 14 Chromebook official.

This is the first computer by HP on the Chrome OS platform, but HP has priced it in the same range as some of the company’s Windows laptops. The Chromebook is on sale from today on the company’s US site for $330. That’s only $19 less than the HP 200oZ 2C00 model, which comes with Windows 8. Compared to its rivals, Samsung's Chromebook ($249) or Acer's C7 ($199 and $299), the HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook seems decidedly high-end.

HP's first Chrome OS notebook, the Pavilion 14 Chromebook

But that’s not the case as for all that extra money, it offers lukewarm specs. With a 1.1GHz Intel Celeron 847 CPU and 2GB of RAM, it should perform a bit better than the Samsung model powered by a lower-voltage ARM processor. But that Celeron processor is definitely not going to be blazing. Intel HD Graphics should be sufficient for some browsing tasks but will be strained by HD videos and games. 

Like most other Chromebooks, this one has 16GB of built-in flash storage along with a 14-inch diagonal HD BrightView LED-backlit display with a 1366 x 768 resolution. Users also get 100GB of Google Drive space (free for the first two years) or can use USB sticks or external drive to bulk up storage.

With the 14-inch screen, the HP notebook beats both Samsung and Acer’s model in screen real estate as well as weight. The system weighs nearly two kilos, however, the 0.8-inch slim chassis has good room for ports and HP has made use of it. You get an HDMI port, three USB 2.0 sockets and an SD reader to further enhance memory. It even has an Ethernet jack, so it won’t be completely useless in old business hotels with wired connections.

Entertainment-wise, the laptop has an HP TrueVision HD Webcam with integrated microphone and Altec Lansing speakers. Unfortunately, though, despite the increase in size, HP has been miserly with the allotted bigger battery. The Pavilion 14 Chromebook is said to keep you going for 4 hours and 15 minutes of runtime and as is normally the case, manufacturer tests are held in favourable environments. In practical daily use, expect a shade less than that. In any case, it comes in behind Samsung's touted battery life.

The HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook is currently only being shipped within the USA.