HP Chromebook x360 14c Evaluate

HP’s Chromebook x360 14c is a first class Chromebook that well navigates the gap between nowadays’s hordes of undeniable, mainstream Chromebooks underneath $500 and expensive, enterprise-oriented ones from Dell and others. A $629 spend at Easiest Purchase good points you a 14-inch convertible with good-looking aluminum development (regardless that its backside is plastic), an abundant 8GB of reminiscence, and fear for safety with a fingerprint reader and a webcam kill transfer. Because it occurs, regardless that, the similar $629 at Easiest Purchase gets you our Editors’ Selection-award-winning Acer Chromebook Spin 713. As opposed to the Chromebook x360 14c, the Spin 713 gives a 128GB solid-state power as a substitute of a smaller, slower 64GB of eMMC flash garage, plus a full-size HDMI port so external-monitor customers don’t need to fuss with adapters. (It additionally has a Core i5 as opposed to Core i3 processor, however the HP proved simply as rapid in our benchmark exams.) The Acer’s worth helps to keep the HP from an award nod, however the latter is a winner nevertheless.

Appears to be like Excellent, May just Lose a Few Oz 

The Chromebook x360 14c is a graceful silver-gray slab with the four-slash HP emblem in chrome adorning its lid, which closes with this type of sturdy magnetic seal that it needs to be pried open. It is simple to slide right into a briefcase at 0.7 through 12.8 through 8.6 inches, regardless that it is too beefy to carry to your palms as a substitute of your lap in pill mode—at 3.64 kilos, the HP is a complete pound heavier than the 14-inch Asus Chromebook Turn C436.

The hinges that allow the whole HD (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) contact display turn and fold throughout the acquainted convertible modes cling firmly, with little wobble while you faucet the show in computer mode. There is a considerable hole, regardless that, between the display and the bottom when the unit is folded again into pill mode. 

On each the left and correct edges of the computer, you’ll be able to discover a USB Kind-C port appropriate for plugging within the AC adapter. The left edge additionally holds the ability button, a quantity rocker, and a tiny sliding transfer that disables the webcam. At the correct are a USB Kind-A port (with a drop-jaw design like some notebooks’ Ethernet ports), an audio jack, and a microSD card slot. The Chromebook x360 14c has improve for the newest wi-fi: 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6), along side Bluetooth 5.0.

You might be brought about to avoid wasting a fingerprint with the small sq. reader at the palm leisure all over setup and will use it as a substitute of typing your Google account password if you happen to lock the Chromebook from the taskbar menu. I could not in finding an possibility, then again, to require a fingerprint to wake the instrument if you happen to shut and reopen the lid, as with the Asus Chromebook Turn C436. 

Comfy Keys 

The backlit keyboard follows the usual Chromebook format, with a seek/menu key as a substitute of Caps Lock and browser, brightness, and quantity controls alongside the highest row. The cursor-arrow keys are organized in the right kind inverted T as a substitute of an inept row (heavy trace to HP’s Home windows computer designers).

The typing really feel is pleasantly crisp, with responsive tactile comments. The massive buttonless touchpad glides and responds easily to one- and two-finger faucets. (The latter is the an identical of a right-click.)

I by no means see a computer display rated at 250 nits of brightness with out wishing for 300 nits or, higher but, 400, however the HP’s show is no doubt good enough, with really white as a substitute of grayish backgrounds and excellent distinction. IPS generation guarantees huge viewing angles, and colours are rather wealthy and well-saturated. Like different Chromebooks, the Chromebook x360 14c gives a lot of “seems like” resolutions in addition to its local 1080p (the default is 1,536 through 864), letting you view display components in mighty or tiny length. 

The 720p webcam captures colourful however rather darkish and noisy pictures. Audio system on each side of the keyboard produce above-average sound, no longer too loud however transparent, with a touch of bass and simply prominent overlapping tracks.

Convertible Chromebooks Hit the Check Bench 

Subjectively, the Chromebook x360 14c is a positive performer, no longer hesitating as I opened a dozen browser tabs and loved YouTube movies. For our purpose efficiency comparisons, I pitted it in opposition to 4 different 2-in-1 Chromebooks: the 14-inch Asus Chromebook Turn C436 and 13.5-inch Acer Chromebook Spin 713 discussed previous, plus two 13.3-inch convertibles. Those are the Lenovo Flex 5 Chromebook, which just like the HP and Asus has a Core i3 CPU, and the Google Pixelbook Pass, which makes use of a low-power Core i5. (See extra about how we take a look at laptops.)

The primary benchmarks we use are Principled Applied sciences’ venerable CrXPRT (a set of simulated Chrome OS productiveness apps) and its more moderen WebXPRT 3 (a browser-based take a look at of HTML and JavaScript throughput).

Impressively, the HP’s dual-core Core i3-10110U is going toe to toe with the Core i5 of the Acer. The Pixelbook Pass’s 5-watt Core i5 brings up the rear. 

JetStream 2 is every other efficiency take a look at we use. It combines 64 JavaScript and WebAssembly benchmarks to measure a browser’s (on this case, the default Chrome’s) suitability for complex internet programs. 

Some other tie for the Chromebook x360 14c and the Spin 713, with the Lenovo claiming the bronze medal. Those don’t seem to be the quickest Chromebooks we now have ever examined, however they are stable contenders. 

We have now lately added UL’s PCMark for Android Paintings 2.0 take a look at to our Chromebook routine. This take a look at suite runs in a small smartphone-style window and mimics productiveness operations starting from textual content and symbol enhancing to information charting and video playback. 

The HP completed in the midst of the pack right here, regardless that the unfold was once slender. The Pixelbook Pass trailed once more. 

In any case, to check a Chromebook’s battery lifestyles, we loop a in the neighborhood saved video with display brightness set at 50 p.c, audio quantity at 100%, and Wi-Fi disabled till the device quits. 

Despite the fact that it was once subsequent to closing on this crew, the Chromebook x360 14c’s unplugged time of just about 11-and-a-half hours signifies you’ll be able to don’t have any hassle getting via an afternoon of labor or college.

You Can pay Your Cash, and You Takes Your Selection

If you are within the Chromebook hunt with about $600 to spend on a pleasant convertible-style style, you could have a contented choice forward of you.

In the case of our Editors’ Selection award honors, we narrowly want the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 for its solid-state power, HDMI port, and taller 3:2 side ratio display. But when you do not thoughts wearing a bit of extra ballast, the HP Chromebook x360 14c is a superb Chrome OS convertible that gives considerable financial savings over a number of company and deluxe fashions. It is properly price making an allowance for. Plus, within the early going, we now have observed the HP style unevenly on sale from Easiest Purchase at a $130 markdown, or $499. At that worth, it is a no-brainer over the Spin 713 with no cut price.