You are both right. Those are great specs and it is overpriced. The problem is Core M. Intel wants way too much money for the performance, all in the name of being thin. I will take a few extra mm to double the performance please. Even if I lose an hour of battery life and "only" get 10.5 hours out of it.
Everything is Core M going forward, it's the name of the Core architecture replacement. You are thinking of the old Core M which was Celeron like until they reactivated the Celeron name.
Thank you for providing insight! I will have to do a bit more research, I was unaware that Core M had essentially tripled it's performance overnight. That's about what it would take, as the previous Core M were vastly underpowered in relation to their price.
The m3-6Y30 for $599 is actually pretty good considering all the specs. I really don't know why anybody other than a developer would need more than 4GB of ram in a Chromebook, but the 16GB model is the real headscratcher.
It is indeed a bit odd for a chrome book but if you'do put Ubuntu on it it would indeed make for a nice development machine. I wonder why it is so heavy, though, my Samsung np900x3c is 13.3" core i5 and 1.15kg. Core M should hit 1kg or lower...
Considering the price, they are probably 1.6mil magnesium frames like Envy and Spectre instead of 2.2mil magnesium like Elitebooks which are even heavier. Your Samsung has a 0.8mm aluminum clad chassis (the aluminum is wrapped around plastic) which makes it look nice while being extremely light at the sacrifice of some durability and thermal performance, neither of which really matter to a light machine with no mechanical parts.
I think HP went a little overboard on the premium build. But I like when HP goes overboard because rarely does anybody else (Google with the Pixel, HP with the Spectre x360 and the Elitebook 1020\1040, Dell with the Adamo and the initial XPS13, Microsoft with the Surface and of course Apple with the slightly ridiculous New MacBook)
Those crazy premium machines are always a lot of fun, at least for me, because they make me absolutely dread touching any sub $500 notebook.
I don't understand why people can't get your last point especially. So Windows or OSX are more flexible than Chrome OS. So what? A panel van is more flexible than a sedan. Yet you still see lots of people driving sedans. They reason is that it has advantages as well as deficiencies. And if your use falls within its limits those advantages make it the better machine for the job. Chromebooks are more secure and require less effort/time to maintain. They deliver appliance computing similar to an ipad but with a desktop class browser and more traditional form factor. I run a Linux desktop. And I have a Win10 machine in the house which somebody else wanted as their primary computer. But my laptop is a Chromebook and I'm a complete convert after the past few years of use. If they added container support to Chrome OS I doubt I'd use anything else. tl,dr: If you your use falls within the limits of Chrome OS capabilities (which are ample actually) then it's a superior OS to Windows or OSX.
Like tablets w/ keyboard covers, premium Chromebooks fall into a peculiar niche that obviously suits some folks very well. For anyone not in that niche, it is difficult to make sense of this price, portability and capability combination.
I'd be more interested if, for example, the $599 model had a size and weight =< a 12" MacBook.
The Chromebook Pixel is an excellent development platform, and it's worth every penny. If you're a professional and all of your professional tools are available on Ubuntu or Arch, there is a strong argument for the higher capacity Chromebook Pixel beingg the absolute best machine for you.
I have to agree here, it's worth noting that there is an SSH chrome app, it's a bit of a PITA to get your private key setup, but once you do, it works pretty well... There's also remote desktop tools... I used a chromebook for 2 years, until I took a job, where VPN was required, and couldn't get the chromebook to work with their proprietary vpn system. My mom, both of my grandmothers, and several others in my family are converts... I wouldn't mind the higher res.. and tbh, once my current rmbp bites the dust, or is no longer seeing updates, I may well move to something like this.
I did add Ubuntu through crouton but I wasn't using it much so cleared it but I've kept it in developer mode as this allows you through ctrl alt T > shell access to the systems built in console and it's a beautiful looking one aswell
I think there are issues with the Chromebook as a development platform. While totally capable of being a great development platform, if - like me - one is still developing in learning how to be a developer, there are about a million how to tutorials for Macbooks, and 2,000 for the Chromebook. Sure, if your good enough developer, the adjustments needed to translate the steps from Macbook to Chromebook aren't a big hurdle, but.... maybe so.
Yeah I was a huge Windows fan but now after using Chromebooks, Windows just feels way too over weight and slow. I also seem to spend far too much time seeing "Windows Updates are 100% Complete!" for far too long on my screen. Chromebook updates happen in a 6 second reboot. Chromebooks are the perfect on the go machines. I physically hate using my Windows 10 laptop now. It feels so leaden and that's with a decent CPU and SSD in it. Oh and I don't use Photoshop which seems to be the hold-outs excuse. And if most of them were honest, they don't really use it either. Like they only use 5% of Office.
Goes on holiday, takes pictures and video, returns and fills up his machine. It's simple things like this that make me laugh at people trying to justify these machines. Sure, of course, they do what they do but like an iPad mini it's limited and once you even remotely want to 'do' something sensible...
I'm a bit of photography fanatic and my perfect on-the-go machine is light, portable, with good screen, decent battery life... and Adobe Lightroom, plus enough storage to copy RAWs from my cameras.
So currently, my perfect on-the-go machine is Surface Pro 4. It also doubles as tablet/reader, one gadget less to carry when traveling.
My wife works on University and requires MS Office, ChemDraw and couple of other apps she has on her laptop. She is bent between Surface and something like ZenBook, plus desktop (replacement) at home... unless she goes for one machine to replace all, say Elitebook 1040 G3.
My mother does not need anything more than tablet, really. I guess she could use Chromebook, though she does use her machine in tablet form, without keyboard, much more than with keyboard....and she uses her iPad as a camera, too... that would be a bit too complicated with laptop format.
Eventually, most of my friends and relatives I can think of do have requirements that Chromebook could not fulfill. even for light travel scenarios. I'm sure it can do well for a few/some, but in general? Don't think so.
" I'm a complete convert after the past few years of use."
Congrats. You've found something that fits your requirements while limiting yourself. I use an iPad mini 4 but, obviously, I could use that for most things if I 'really' wanted to do so but instead I also have a Surface Pro 4. I'm not limiting myself 'just because'.
Also when comparing the high-end Chromebooks to the Apple line the high-end Chromebooks in terms of build and speed compared well with the Pro Models.
Yes they do less but for me less is more. I love my Chromebook Pixel 2015 and this high-end model from HP is similar and cheaper with a better display.
@abestic9: " > personal computer > practically immune to malware
no. just no."
Personal computer? Definitely takes the personal out of the computer. Immune to malware? Unlikely, but perhaps less vulnerable by virtue of smaller threat surface. Secure? If you take your car out of the garage and park it on the street and replace the garage door with a smaller more secure door (that the car no longer fits it), you could say your garage is more secure. However, if what the thief wants is the car ...
You don't need to infect a machine with malware when the critical data you are looking for lives in the internet. It's much more straight forward to catch the data in transit than to try to take over a machine that doesn't have the data and try to retrieve it later. With all the transparent https proxies (thanks Lenovo et. al.), SSL vulnerabilities, and the number of servers out there that are still using security schemes with know vulnerabilities, I'd think people would be a little more hesitant to put everything in the cloud.
How many people have I spoken to that have filled their phones storage space? A whole load. Should they stick their personal photos on the cloud? Probably not and if they do they probably don't know that they are.
These machines with low storage will hit the same limits so all of you 'pros' screaming 'buy this' are not really thinking about the standard user.
There are some people out there that want a computer that just works. 10 years ago Apple was doing a good job producing hardware and software that did indeed just work. These days, not so much. Apple's quality has been going steadily downhill, meanwhile Chromebooks are the computer to get today if you really do want something that just works.
You obviously have not used a Pixel. Who are you to judge? I have a designed to order MacBook Pro but it is heavy. For 80% of what I do the Pixel is better. It is faster than any computer I have used and I am lucky enough to be able to try most commercial brands. As an educator you learn to put function over ideology. "You should get" is a youthful, ideological statement and totally inappropriate in what is an inherently subjective field.
A macbook costs more than the lower end models, is less secure, and harder to manage. Still, this is too much money unless: the screen is really good, the keyboard/trackpad are excellent, and the chassis is solidly constructed.
I want something with 8GB of ram so I would go for the m5 version priced at $819 for the same spec macbook minus the 512gb storage, which i dont need, is $1600 oh and I get a touchscreen which macs dont offer at any price. I have been using a chromebook for 3 years and it suits my needs and just want something more premium.
$1029 isn't really that much. I agree that there are less expensive computers out there, but devices as those price points exist as Chrome boxes and other computers with different operating systems because middle income wage earners can easily afford to purchase them.
Yes, Chromebooks are a rarity in the wild because of they work in an unfamiliar way that isn't friendly to having hardware control, local storage, or much usability while away from an Internet connection, but I could see a point in them now that modern Windows operating systems are just as invasive. Why bother with the trappings of a Modern UI and all the problems that come with Windows if you only need a web appliance?
I think it is quite a bit expensive when considering that I paid about $1200 for an i5, 16gb, 256gb, Surface Pro 4 back in December. (final price with the keyboard add-on).
I like the idea of Chromebooks, but I just don't see a utility for them that justifies that kind of price, compared to a fully-featured device (that also offers tablet use for those that want it) at that price point.
The Surface Pro 4 is a tablet computer which is in a different market segment. It also costs a bit more if you want to have similar functionality because you'd need to purchase a keyboard whereas HP's Chromebook includes a keyboard by default due to its laptop style design. But really, I think we're splitting hairs here. $1200 or $1000...the difference is pretty meaningless as is the purchase price. We're talking about the equivalent of a day or two's living expenses and shopping for the average person, not buying a decent home. Maybe if we were to multiply the price of either of these two by 50 or so it'd be reasonable to bat an eyelid or think twice about which is a better purchase.
"Chromebooks are a rarity in the wild" Go to a school sometime. Chromebooks are ideal as a shared device in the educational setting and they are beating apple like a drum.
Until those poor kids finis school, find job... and end up staring at Windows machine with MS Office installed on it. Maybe some MS Visio and Project on top.
Really... I can see attractiveness that Chromebooks hold for school managements... but that's short term. I don't think that they are preparing kids for real life in the best possible way. Maybe in the most convenient way (for schools), but not for kids.
No, actually, Chrome OS is the single best operating system to get if you want you to install other operating systems simultaneously. Chrome OS lets you install another version of Linux base system like ubuntu which runs simultaneously and natively, not in a VM. Not dual boot. There's simply nothing else like this elsewhere. From there it's a simple matter to run virtualbox if you really want a non linux-based OS. Being able to switch between Ubuntu and Chrome OS is everything I need and it's absolutely wonderful!
Conventional PC hardware can dual or triple boot multiple operating systems without the drudgery of a VM. Chrome OS does allow the installation of a Linux distro, but it's certainly not the only OS/hardware combination that can switch operating systems easily.
It looks like you may have commented without reading my comment. ChromeOS is the best OS to get if you want to *install* simultaneously, but it is the ONLY consumer OS to get if you want to *run* another linux-based OS simultaneously. Without a dual boot, and without virtualization! No performance penalty! Google "Chroot" if you want more info. Neither Windows (as released) nor MacOS allow you to *run* an entirely different OS *simultaneously*.
Microsoft is trying to copy the versatility of chromebooks with a linux compatibility layer - we'll see how that works out.
This is the most hilarious take on ChromeOS I've ever heard. Quite frankly, if this is your take then Windows and OS X both have ChromeOS built in. ChromeOS is not an OS, it's a DE with a web browser and no installation privileges. Stop citing Linux desktop like it's a feature or a different OS.
You can use chroot in any Linux OS, you don't need ChromeOS to do it. It also shares the same kernel so it's not running an entirely different OS, it's running a different userland.
My girlfriend uses a 128gb SD card in her Chromebook Pixel, and she also has an additional 128gb Type C thumbdrive and an external Type C harddrive which she uses on the Pixel. (You can use a Type A device, but I think the Type C ports support USB 3.1, so...) She never really needs those other two, though, because the 128gb SD card is more than enough. It sits in the Pixel 24/7 so its like an extra hard drive.
I have 64GB SSD (upgradable), 64GB SD card and 220GB of Google Drive storage so hardly limited for space with my Dell 13 Chromebook. However, I don't bother lugging round my entire digital life with me. Seems old fashioned and a liability really. I live in the First World so good connectivity isn't a problem for cloud use.
funny you say that. You can run similarly chrooted ubuntu/arch/fedora/whatever on android phone or tablet, provided it has enogh RAM (3GB is ok, the more the better)
You could put Edubuntu Linux on this... I did it on my Toshiba 13" with 4GB mem and 8GB storage - can toggle back and forth between Chrome OS and Edubuntu on the fly as well. Unless of course - you don't 'count' Edubuntu as an OS?... I think not.
Try using A Chromebook Pixel LS with 16GB Ram. I own a fully specked 15 inch I7 Quad Core 16GB Ram MacBook Pro, a Microsoft I5 Surface Pro 3 and and HP Chromebox with 4 GB Ram. Guess which computer gets 80% of the use. The Pixel LS. Don't knock if id you have not tried it.
While an interesting product, and the lower priced one is a good start for a higher quality laptop computer (many laptops don't have this quality screen at even higher prices) I just can't see spending that much money for a glorified web browsing machine. Chromebooks need to be super low priced to justify their existance.
The amount of storage will be key in the usability of this computer, but the software is crippling its functionality. Give me a Windows computer with similar specs and price (I know it can be done, Windows licenses don't cost HP that much!) and then I will be interested.
Chrome OS isn't simply a glorified web browser, though. It is a full-fledged operating system. From my point of view, it is more powerful and versatile than either Windows or Mac OS, because of the ability to install crouton. But even if you don't like Linux, it's still wrong to refer to it as simply a glorified web browser. It is a full operating system. It just hasn't had as much time to mature and have the diversity of apps that are available under windows.
I'm speaking more of the target use, not the capabilities. ChromeOS is marketed to users who will do everything in the web. You don't need a $500.00 - $1000.00 machine to do this, or even do it well.
The last time I had my hands on a Chromebook, I didn't have much time with it. I'm curious if the OS plays nicely with Candy Crush and Angry Birds. If that's the case, then the Core m7 model might be worth putting up with instead of buying a Windows 10 laptop.
I want something with higher build quality and a keyboard. I don't think I'd be better off with a cheap tablet because, well cheap tablets are cheap. Besides, Candy Crush and Angry Birds are only one of a few things I want to do. They're the two things that will make the decision for me on buying one of these, but they're not the only thing I intend to do. Thanks to this article, I'm down to picking between HP's new Chromebook or a 13 inch MPB with a Retina panel. It's just hard to decide because I really just need something portable that will let me spend the day writing. I know both of these laptops will do the job, but the simplicity of the Chromebook appeals to me in certain ways so despite it looking as though it's not quite as high quality, I think the m7 model might be enough as long as Chrome OS plays nicely with the few games I like to play in the evenings.
So, that Pentium SoC still has hyperthreading according to ark. That 500 USD machine doesn't look too bad. Presumably a great display, enough RAM and CPU power for most tasks ordinary people do on Chrome OS and good size and weight. If I needed something portable to take notes on while offering a bit more than an average PC of similar size and speed, I'd probably think very hard about buying this one.
I agree. Most articles I've read about these dismiss the Pentium but actually a Chromebook would move along very well with just that Pentium. It'd be a great little machine. Just missing a touch screen.
there have already been chromebooks on arm/tegra. it works, but still not as fast as Core M. Snapdragon 820 with 8GB RAM would be extremely interesting
At first, when I heard about the new HP Chromebook with a starting price of $499 I thought it will be a big step up in performance/build quality/price ratio compared with the Pixel and that I finally found the Chromebook I was searching for.
But now after seeing the specs and prices I'm very disappointed.
> The system will likely be considerably faster than other Chromebooks running Atom, Celeron or Pentium processors because of the high-performance CPU architecture.
Also, it's funny you say that because Celeron and Pentium USED TO have that "high-performance CPU architecture", until Intel decided to screw the market by replacing the underlying architecture with Atom, while continuing to sell Celerons and Pentiums AT THE SAME PRICE as before.
Core M has the performance of what a Skylake Celeron SHOULD HAVE right now for the price Intel is asking for Celerons, but actually costs more than a Core i5.
Core M is not worth it in any product performance/price wise.
oems don't pay the listed price for these chips, calm down. No one is buying core-m parts like they are desktop cpus, so it's a moot point you just made.
I don't like how Chromebooks are locked down to Chrome. The same laptop, with the ability to install Linux or Windows would be a pretty good deal. This is just a bit too limited for the price.
Most of them aren't locked down. It's pretty popular to co-install Linux actually. You do have to put up with a warning at boot. But that's a security feature and a damned nice one. If you boot a Chrome OS device and see no warning then you know its running a verified copy of the OS. And you know it's the only thing it's running.
Cjrome books are not locked down the chrome! It is very easy to install Ubuntu on most Chromebooks! Obviously, Crouton is super easy and versatile but I'm sure you're talking about a proper dual boot scenario. It is very easy to create a proper dual boot or even a complete wipe and install only Ubuntu on most Chromebooks.
Sorry, I have no idea. If I needed windows I'd VM it on ubuntu/crouton. Its pretty easy to re-partition the whole thing and tweak the boot loader for linux-based OSes, suggesting it is *probably* easy to install Windows, but I don't know if there is some OS specific gotcha. Maybe ask google?
lot of tutorials on how to do it. I did, and also easy to revert to ChromeOS, The 6 seconds from off to on changes things, and is an important measure of speed
Wow. Ridiculous......and I thought the Pixel was overpriced. Why would you need specs like that for something than can run on 5 year old laptops? What's the point of 16gb of RAM? If its all browser related function....your use would never go beyond 4gb.....absolute waste.....And don't you guys start giving me bs about what could possibly need 16gb of RAM on a chromebook. Absolutely nothing on a chromebook needs or can even use that much RAM.
It's not like it runs Visio, or Project, or photoshop or anything adobe.....
Well, unlike the Pixel, the HP has a $499 version with 4gb of RAM and a pentium processor. No need to get upset over the existence of a (potentially) over-specced option.
I wasn't sure what I wanted in the long run so I set it up with *both* dual boot and crouton.
I end up using crouton/ubuntu 80% of the time, ChromeOS 19% of the time, and the dual boot Ubuntu 1% of the time. So yeah the ubuntu dual boot is mostly wasting space.
Fortunately, with IntelliJ installs stand-alone, so you can install it once (on either dual-boot-Ubuntu or crouton-ubuntu) and then simply setup links from the other environment, making it available both places without using more space.
One use case scenarios for when larger ram would be worth the extra price is online data Geographic Information Systems work (GIS) When using Google Fusion tables as the data store, and in my experience over 40,000 rows, doing geocoding of human readable addresses to Latitude-Longitude coordinates, and at same time doing data cleanup, slows the browser. Google seems to offload a lot of the geocoding back to the client machine, just my observation.
Former Googler here so I'm a little jaded. But the "best" laptop I've ever used is the Dell Chromebook 13 I bought with my own money. A little big for my taste (love my XPS13) but for 90%+ of my work all I need is a browser. And what a browser Chrome under ChromeOS is - super fast, never slows down under load, has a great screen, keyboard, and touchpad, lasts 12 hours easily, never slows down under background tasks (including hangouts), doesn't require any sort of maintenance, care or feeding...
I consider myself a power user and still have a desktop for media creation, editing, and serving. But the shear joy of just having everything work is astounding. My old Samsung Chromebook (ARM processor) was fine. But if you're someone who uses their computer all the time it's not too much to pay a premium for a premium experience. So $400 for my Dell Chromebook was totally reasonable and I could imagine paying the $$$ for this HP one.
Yes I have the Dell 13 Chromebook and love it. The whole "It just works!" is so true. It just works every time you power it on. No "Waiting for Windows Updates.." or any of that yesteryear crap. I have one of the HP cheap 32GB Windows laptops here that MS pushed to rival Chromebooks and its laughable. Took me hours to rebuild and configure it and now it wont work...with Chrome! So I have to reset it and try again. I recently upgraded the SSD in this Dell and to swap the SSD, reinstall the OS and login took all of 15 minutes. Windows and OSX are not the future for 98% of us.They just can't keep up.
That's funny, because when I turned on my Windows laptop this morning, it also just worked. Same with my desktop. Same with both devices the day before, and the day before that, and before that.
Are people just really irresponsible with the crapware they install on their devices? Is Chrome working better because there simply isn't a version of "Super System Optimizer 6.3" available? I truly don't understand, because I've had devices that I used actively for 5+ years at a time without ever encountering issues that people seem to constantly say plague Windows devices.
That's okay chap. If you enjoy constant updates, waiting for them, driver installs, software issues, security weaknesses blah blah blah (that happen whether you are noob or Windows blackbelt) then you carry on. Me? I'll be doing something more productive.
Constant updates - you mean... once a month? Driver installs - Everyone should be doing this, including Linux, ChromeOS, etc. Drivers are not unique to the windows ecosystem. Not to mention outside of graphics drivers, driver updates are extremely rare, especially on OEM devices after they ship. Software Issues - Like what? My 20 your old copy of Photoshop 1.0 written for Windows 95 doesn't work correctly? I guess I can see how ChromeOS might avoid that issue by never having the software. But otherwise all my software works fine, including my copy of Red Alert 2 I just played the other day. Security weaknesses blah blah blah - Please don't be 'that guy' who thinks that Windows is a walking timebomb and all Unix variants are just iron tanks. ChromeOS is no more or less secure than Windows is.
I have no problem admitting there is room in the world for ChromeOS, but it's really funny to believe that it is "productive" compared to a full blown variant of Windows, OSX, or Linux.
Chromeos isn't "just another UNIX variant". According to every security analysis who I've ever heard talk about this, chromeos is the most secure customer facing OS that is commonly used. The damn thing is built like a tank.
I got tired of windows problems, so maybe I haven't given the new window 10 enough of a chance. A window 8.1 laptop that was supposed to update to Windows 10 didn't and wouldn't play nice, after hours. Took it to Microsoft, after 2 weeks they also gave up, and gave it back to be erased to bare metal with a windows 8.1. A desktop, did correctly update to windows 10, but it took hours to get it working, and I'm not happy with it. After that and too many other similar MS experiences, I'm not willing to give MS mny more chances. The Chromebooks have been wonderful. My knocks on Chromebooks are SSH Keys are difficult, wireless printing with older printers is also a PITA, and usage as developer machine has been neglected, with for example Google dropping development of CDE.
Waiting for updates? Are you writing this from 2000AD, on a 33.6k modem? Driver installations that happen silently for god knows how many years already? Software issues that are agnostic for any platform? Security weaknesses that are the same?
I think there are two different issues here: The reputation that windows machines have for having recurring annoyances and problems that made the OS unpleasant to use. These are often security related, update related, or "doesn't allows play perfectly well with the hardware" related.
Some power users don't mind this; other power users find windows annoying; but most importantly noobs can find the above very stressful. Apple has capitalized on this, in the past.
The other perspective here isn't so much that 'windows sucks' but rather that ChromeOS is designed in a way that *especially* keeps the OS out of the way. The UI is well designed for this. They boot nearly instantly. System updates are almost fully transparent and never cause problems. Not even OS X is as good as ChromeOS in this area. Not everyone appreciates this, but for some it really makes a difference when using a computer.
Spot on! Windows is too big and bulky now. It gets in the way for a lot of users, wants you to do this or that, wont let you escape. It's like having to take a 747 to the shopping mall. Most people don't need or want that anymore.
All of my machines work every time I power them on. Since I've upgraded system HDDs with SSDs on "older" machines (new ones have SSD by default), every single one boots from cold start in 10 seconds or less. Updates happen in background; only when they require restart, am I aware of them - but they don't require restart every week... Surface is the only one I keep is sleep all the time, and it does apply updates and reboots overnight (if needed), and I wouldn't even have a slightest idea does it not require pin/password when I wake it up in the morning. And I will gladly restart my computer once every few weeks for full functionality. Power for those few who need only basics, but for rest of us...
It's obvious seeing the comments in these articles that the opinion towards Chromebooks is changing radically. A couple of years ago had you 100 comments on a Chromebook article it would have been 85% negative. Now its more 85% positive as people are now trying them and realising what a lot of us did years ago.The tide is turning.
You are correct, its a pity that some of us don't understand the utility of having a computer which requires low maintenance, has great battery life and just works.
External HDDs work great on ChromeOS. I use the Pixel and have both Type A and Type C adapters to SATA drives, everything mounts automatically and appears as another folder in ChromeOS' file manager.
I prefer konqueror. On rare occasions I explicitly mount the external drives to some other branch of the file system, to make some operations more convenient, but you don't need to, ChromeOS will take care of everything automatically.
External HD work fine, - but in my experience there are some issue when SD cards are just left in the Chromebook, like one leaves a microSD card in an Android phone. Do others get this result too, the OS will complain, "hey you disconnected the SD, card next time be more careful" I'm afraid that storage on the SD card might not be reliable, but I'd like to hear from others. (or maybe my SD card is flakey)
It's interesting to see the traction Chromebooks are getting - I am a recent "convert" and proud owner of a Pixel 2015. I love: it updates fast; Google Apps are getting better and better without getting bloated; that it just works without having to think about it; it boots fast; it works fast nd you don't need awesome kit to get the best out of it.
Some of the CB kit these days is cheap and you get more for your money because Chrome OS doesn't have the overheads required by W10. This comes from an Asus T100HA - it is fine as far as it goes, but for speed and absence of "stutter" is not a patch on my Asus Chromebook Flip - better all round. I am not saying that a CB will replace Windows or Mac any time soon, but for carrying around and taking notes, doing emails, reading attachments and getting things modest amounts of things done, they are more than adequate.
When I got my first CB (Acer C720P) a couple of years ago, they were still unusable, the integration with MS Office apps wasn't there, now it is, I don't have any problems in reading attachments. I don't think I would take a CB alone to a meeting, but I am getting there.
My Toshiba Chromebook 2 gets heavy usage. Its got a sharp good quality screen, it started out about 9+ hours, but I think the battery is wearing out, now its down to about 6 hours of good usage. (15-17 months old). The declining battery is a problem, but I've gotten a lot of usage out of that machine for what I paid.
Seem like this chromebook is targeting play store and android apps running nativity from the up coming chrome os updates other then that why having 16gb of ram & those type of cpu for a web browser base os
Well it certainly seems that Chromebooks do inspire particularly enthusiastic evangelists. Every Chromebook article has dozens of comments from people who want everyone to know they love Chromebooks and that more people should use Chromebooks.
this will probably sound lame, but these are incapable of running flash, correct? Other than that, this is a very attractive laptop. Wish they'd make one with windows as well. Or is it possible to install windows on a chromebook?
Re: Storage capacity - just found these notes on the store page:
2. Up to 11 hours 30 minutes battery life: 3-cell 45WHr Polymer Battery with Pentium 4405Y/4GB RAM/32GB Storage/ Full HD panel. Testing conducted by HP using Google Chrome OS power_LoadTest. Battery life will vary and the maximum capacity of the battery will naturally decrease with time and usage. See http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/testing/power-... for test details.
4. 32GB of on board storage. (no sign of where this is referenced in the main text)
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osxandwindows - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
overpriced.skavi - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
You serious? That's a great price for the specs and build.fanofanand - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
You are both right. Those are great specs and it is overpriced. The problem is Core M. Intel wants way too much money for the performance, all in the name of being thin. I will take a few extra mm to double the performance please. Even if I lose an hour of battery life and "only" get 10.5 hours out of it.gorash - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Actually Core M give similar performance to the Core i.rahvin - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Everything is Core M going forward, it's the name of the Core architecture replacement. You are thinking of the old Core M which was Celeron like until they reactivated the Celeron name.fanofanand - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
Thank you for providing insight! I will have to do a bit more research, I was unaware that Core M had essentially tripled it's performance overnight. That's about what it would take, as the previous Core M were vastly underpowered in relation to their price.Samus - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
The m3-6Y30 for $599 is actually pretty good considering all the specs. I really don't know why anybody other than a developer would need more than 4GB of ram in a Chromebook, but the 16GB model is the real headscratcher.jospoortvliet - Thursday, May 5, 2016 - link
It is indeed a bit odd for a chrome book but if you'do put Ubuntu on it it would indeed make for a nice development machine. I wonder why it is so heavy, though, my Samsung np900x3c is 13.3" core i5 and 1.15kg. Core M should hit 1kg or lower...Samus - Friday, May 6, 2016 - link
Considering the price, they are probably 1.6mil magnesium frames like Envy and Spectre instead of 2.2mil magnesium like Elitebooks which are even heavier. Your Samsung has a 0.8mm aluminum clad chassis (the aluminum is wrapped around plastic) which makes it look nice while being extremely light at the sacrifice of some durability and thermal performance, neither of which really matter to a light machine with no mechanical parts.I think HP went a little overboard on the premium build. But I like when HP goes overboard because rarely does anybody else (Google with the Pixel, HP with the Spectre x360 and the Elitebook 1020\1040, Dell with the Adamo and the initial XPS13, Microsoft with the Surface and of course Apple with the slightly ridiculous New MacBook)
Those crazy premium machines are always a lot of fun, at least for me, because they make me absolutely dread touching any sub $500 notebook.
akmittal - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Premium chromebooks doesnt make sense. Why would anyone spend $1000 with stripped OS and no good way to install other OSes8steve8 - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Lots of people live entirely inside a web-browser while on their computer.Do they not deserve quality?
Stop thinking about what is 'good enough' for them, and realize some will pay more for better.
mmrezaie - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
then they should go get a macbook or something else with almost the same price plus an storage available in the machine that you can use.8steve8 - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
most people who are living in a web-browser don't need more storage than google drive provides.If you do, fine, but don't project that onto people that live in a web-browers.
Also a mac is a lot less straightforward to use than a chromebook... and chromeos is practically immune to malware.
savagemike - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
I don't understand why people can't get your last point especially. So Windows or OSX are more flexible than Chrome OS. So what? A panel van is more flexible than a sedan. Yet you still see lots of people driving sedans. They reason is that it has advantages as well as deficiencies. And if your use falls within its limits those advantages make it the better machine for the job.Chromebooks are more secure and require less effort/time to maintain. They deliver appliance computing similar to an ipad but with a desktop class browser and more traditional form factor.
I run a Linux desktop. And I have a Win10 machine in the house which somebody else wanted as their primary computer. But my laptop is a Chromebook and I'm a complete convert after the past few years of use. If they added container support to Chrome OS I doubt I'd use anything else.
tl,dr: If you your use falls within the limits of Chrome OS capabilities (which are ample actually) then it's a superior OS to Windows or OSX.
mrvco - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Like tablets w/ keyboard covers, premium Chromebooks fall into a peculiar niche that obviously suits some folks very well. For anyone not in that niche, it is difficult to make sense of this price, portability and capability combination.I'd be more interested if, for example, the $599 model had a size and weight =< a 12" MacBook.
okay - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
The Chromebook Pixel is an excellent development platform, and it's worth every penny. If you're a professional and all of your professional tools are available on Ubuntu or Arch, there is a strong argument for the higher capacity Chromebook Pixel beingg the absolute best machine for you.tracker1 - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
I have to agree here, it's worth noting that there is an SSH chrome app, it's a bit of a PITA to get your private key setup, but once you do, it works pretty well... There's also remote desktop tools... I used a chromebook for 2 years, until I took a job, where VPN was required, and couldn't get the chromebook to work with their proprietary vpn system. My mom, both of my grandmothers, and several others in my family are converts... I wouldn't mind the higher res.. and tbh, once my current rmbp bites the dust, or is no longer seeing updates, I may well move to something like this.annomander - Thursday, May 5, 2016 - link
I've not bothered with ssh app.I did add Ubuntu through crouton but I wasn't using it much so cleared it but I've kept it in developer mode as this allows you through ctrl alt T > shell access to the systems built in console and it's a beautiful looking one aswell
HarryHawk - Thursday, May 5, 2016 - link
With Crouton it's very easy to run Linux on Chromebook when you need it to do that 1% of things that can't be done on a Chromebookgd22 - Thursday, May 5, 2016 - link
I think there are issues with the Chromebook as a development platform. While totally capable of being a great development platform, if - like me - one is still developing in learning how to be a developer, there are about a million how to tutorials for Macbooks, and 2,000 for the Chromebook. Sure, if your good enough developer, the adjustments needed to translate the steps from Macbook to Chromebook aren't a big hurdle, but.... maybe so.jabber - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Yeah I was a huge Windows fan but now after using Chromebooks, Windows just feels way too over weight and slow. I also seem to spend far too much time seeing "Windows Updates are 100% Complete!" for far too long on my screen. Chromebook updates happen in a 6 second reboot. Chromebooks are the perfect on the go machines. I physically hate using my Windows 10 laptop now. It feels so leaden and that's with a decent CPU and SSD in it. Oh and I don't use Photoshop which seems to be the hold-outs excuse. And if most of them were honest, they don't really use it either. Like they only use 5% of Office.Michael Bay - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
if you like using this garbage, typewriter is all you ever needed, or deserved in the first place.damianrobertjones - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
Goes on holiday, takes pictures and video, returns and fills up his machine. It's simple things like this that make me laugh at people trying to justify these machines. Sure, of course, they do what they do but like an iPad mini it's limited and once you even remotely want to 'do' something sensible...gd22 - Thursday, May 5, 2016 - link
I usually take my pictures with my phone, not my laptop.nikon133 - Monday, May 9, 2016 - link
Perfect on-the-go machines... for what/whom?I'm a bit of photography fanatic and my perfect on-the-go machine is light, portable, with good screen, decent battery life... and Adobe Lightroom, plus enough storage to copy RAWs from my cameras.
So currently, my perfect on-the-go machine is Surface Pro 4. It also doubles as tablet/reader, one gadget less to carry when traveling.
My wife works on University and requires MS Office, ChemDraw and couple of other apps she has on her laptop. She is bent between Surface and something like ZenBook, plus desktop (replacement) at home... unless she goes for one machine to replace all, say Elitebook 1040 G3.
My mother does not need anything more than tablet, really. I guess she could use Chromebook, though she does use her machine in tablet form, without keyboard, much more than with keyboard....and she uses her iPad as a camera, too... that would be a bit too complicated with laptop format.
Eventually, most of my friends and relatives I can think of do have requirements that Chromebook could not fulfill. even for light travel scenarios. I'm sure it can do well for a few/some, but in general? Don't think so.
mrochester - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
It's a bit like why people would buy an iPhone over an Android phone.rahvin - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Install a Debian or Ubuntu chroot using crouton. You should easily be able to install containers via the chroot. https://github.com/dnschneid/croutongd22 - Thursday, May 5, 2016 - link
I did the crouton thing, but after a while decided ChromeOS was a better choice for me.damianrobertjones - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
" I'm a complete convert after the past few years of use."Congrats. You've found something that fits your requirements while limiting yourself. I use an iPad mini 4 but, obviously, I could use that for most things if I 'really' wanted to do so but instead I also have a Surface Pro 4. I'm not limiting myself 'just because'.
annomander - Thursday, May 5, 2016 - link
Why be condescending for it. Windows is over bloated and tiresome and freezes a lot if the timenikon133 - Monday, May 9, 2016 - link
Looks like your Chromebook froze in the middle of your post ;)Kidding.
Or am I...?
HarryHawk - Thursday, May 5, 2016 - link
Also when comparing the high-end Chromebooks to the Apple line the high-end Chromebooks in terms of build and speed compared well with the Pro Models.Yes they do less but for me less is more. I love my Chromebook Pixel 2015 and this high-end model from HP is similar and cheaper with a better display.
abestic9 - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
> personal computer> practically immune to malware
no. just no.
BurntMyBacon - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
@abestic9: "> personal computer
> practically immune to malware
no. just no."
Personal computer? Definitely takes the personal out of the computer.
Immune to malware? Unlikely, but perhaps less vulnerable by virtue of smaller threat surface.
Secure? If you take your car out of the garage and park it on the street and replace the garage door with a smaller more secure door (that the car no longer fits it), you could say your garage is more secure. However, if what the thief wants is the car ...
You don't need to infect a machine with malware when the critical data you are looking for lives in the internet. It's much more straight forward to catch the data in transit than to try to take over a machine that doesn't have the data and try to retrieve it later. With all the transparent https proxies (thanks Lenovo et. al.), SSL vulnerabilities, and the number of servers out there that are still using security schemes with know vulnerabilities, I'd think people would be a little more hesitant to put everything in the cloud.
damianrobertjones - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
How many people have I spoken to that have filled their phones storage space? A whole load. Should they stick their personal photos on the cloud? Probably not and if they do they probably don't know that they are.These machines with low storage will hit the same limits so all of you 'pros' screaming 'buy this' are not really thinking about the standard user.
Grubel - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Equivalent Mac options cost at least double the price of a Chromebook, must often much more.asendra - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Show me one of those "equivalent" Chromebooks at half the cost.taisserroots - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
look at this article, if you haven't realised there is no hopeHarryHawk - Thursday, May 5, 2016 - link
I love my Chromebook Pixel 2015 and this high-end model from HP is similar and cheaper with a better display.annomander - Thursday, May 5, 2016 - link
It's very impressive, if I already didn't have a pixel I'd consider it.okay - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
There are some people out there that want a computer that just works. 10 years ago Apple was doing a good job producing hardware and software that did indeed just work. These days, not so much. Apple's quality has been going steadily downhill, meanwhile Chromebooks are the computer to get today if you really do want something that just works.jabber - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Most of the macbook using folks I see just use the web. I always think they could save $900 and just get a Chromebook...with HDMI/USB/USB3/SD Card...jharmwood - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
You obviously have not used a Pixel. Who are you to judge? I have a designed to order MacBook Pro but it is heavy. For 80% of what I do the Pixel is better. It is faster than any computer I have used and I am lucky enough to be able to try most commercial brands. As an educator you learn to put function over ideology. "You should get" is a youthful, ideological statement and totally inappropriate in what is an inherently subjective field.tuxRoller - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
A macbook costs more than the lower end models, is less secure, and harder to manage.Still, this is too much money unless: the screen is really good, the keyboard/trackpad are excellent, and the chassis is solidly constructed.
bwestley13 - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
I want something with 8GB of ram so I would go for the m5 version priced at $819 for the same spec macbook minus the 512gb storage, which i dont need, is $1600 oh and I get a touchscreen which macs dont offer at any price. I have been using a chromebook for 3 years and it suits my needs and just want something more premium.Cliff34 - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
But the question isn't that some will pay more for better..you can pay the SAME and get better (Windows laptop).annomander - Thursday, May 5, 2016 - link
Who says the Windows laptop is betterBrokenCrayons - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
$1029 isn't really that much. I agree that there are less expensive computers out there, but devices as those price points exist as Chrome boxes and other computers with different operating systems because middle income wage earners can easily afford to purchase them.Yes, Chromebooks are a rarity in the wild because of they work in an unfamiliar way that isn't friendly to having hardware control, local storage, or much usability while away from an Internet connection, but I could see a point in them now that modern Windows operating systems are just as invasive. Why bother with the trappings of a Modern UI and all the problems that come with Windows if you only need a web appliance?
zinfamous - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
I think it is quite a bit expensive when considering that I paid about $1200 for an i5, 16gb, 256gb, Surface Pro 4 back in December. (final price with the keyboard add-on).I like the idea of Chromebooks, but I just don't see a utility for them that justifies that kind of price, compared to a fully-featured device (that also offers tablet use for those that want it) at that price point.
Grubel - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
With a less than $200 Chromebook an average user can do more than 95% of all Mac users.annomander - Thursday, May 5, 2016 - link
That doesn't make senseSaolDan - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Where u get a sp4 16GB 256GB i5 for that price? Was it hot?BrokenCrayons - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
The Surface Pro 4 is a tablet computer which is in a different market segment. It also costs a bit more if you want to have similar functionality because you'd need to purchase a keyboard whereas HP's Chromebook includes a keyboard by default due to its laptop style design. But really, I think we're splitting hairs here. $1200 or $1000...the difference is pretty meaningless as is the purchase price. We're talking about the equivalent of a day or two's living expenses and shopping for the average person, not buying a decent home. Maybe if we were to multiply the price of either of these two by 50 or so it'd be reasonable to bat an eyelid or think twice about which is a better purchase.quielo - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
"Chromebooks are a rarity in the wild" Go to a school sometime. Chromebooks are ideal as a shared device in the educational setting and they are beating apple like a drum.nikon133 - Monday, May 9, 2016 - link
Until those poor kids finis school, find job... and end up staring at Windows machine with MS Office installed on it. Maybe some MS Visio and Project on top.Really... I can see attractiveness that Chromebooks hold for school managements... but that's short term. I don't think that they are preparing kids for real life in the best possible way. Maybe in the most convenient way (for schools), but not for kids.
Grubel - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Any Linux OS can be installed in any Chromebook.okay - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
No, actually, Chrome OS is the single best operating system to get if you want you to install other operating systems simultaneously. Chrome OS lets you install another version of Linux base system like ubuntu which runs simultaneously and natively, not in a VM. Not dual boot. There's simply nothing else like this elsewhere. From there it's a simple matter to run virtualbox if you really want a non linux-based OS. Being able to switch between Ubuntu and Chrome OS is everything I need and it's absolutely wonderful!BrokenCrayons - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Conventional PC hardware can dual or triple boot multiple operating systems without the drudgery of a VM. Chrome OS does allow the installation of a Linux distro, but it's certainly not the only OS/hardware combination that can switch operating systems easily.okay - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
It looks like you may have commented without reading my comment. ChromeOS is the best OS to get if you want to *install* simultaneously, but it is the ONLY consumer OS to get if you want to *run* another linux-based OS simultaneously. Without a dual boot, and without virtualization! No performance penalty! Google "Chroot" if you want more info. Neither Windows (as released) nor MacOS allow you to *run* an entirely different OS *simultaneously*.Microsoft is trying to copy the versatility of chromebooks with a linux compatibility layer - we'll see how that works out.
lmcd - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
This is the most hilarious take on ChromeOS I've ever heard. Quite frankly, if this is your take then Windows and OS X both have ChromeOS built in. ChromeOS is not an OS, it's a DE with a web browser and no installation privileges. Stop citing Linux desktop like it's a feature or a different OS.Michael Bay - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
>Microsoft is trying to copy the versatility of chromebooks with a linux compatibility layerHe`s in his own world, or a shill.
Gigaplex - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
You can use chroot in any Linux OS, you don't need ChromeOS to do it. It also shares the same kernel so it's not running an entirely different OS, it's running a different userland.taisserroots - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
can you use a portable hard drive on them?If so It's a really good deal for a daily driver
okay - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
My girlfriend uses a 128gb SD card in her Chromebook Pixel, and she also has an additional 128gb Type C thumbdrive and an external Type C harddrive which she uses on the Pixel. (You can use a Type A device, but I think the Type C ports support USB 3.1, so...) She never really needs those other two, though, because the 128gb SD card is more than enough. It sits in the Pixel 24/7 so its like an extra hard drive.jabber - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
I have 64GB SSD (upgradable), 64GB SD card and 220GB of Google Drive storage so hardly limited for space with my Dell 13 Chromebook. However, I don't bother lugging round my entire digital life with me. Seems old fashioned and a liability really. I live in the First World so good connectivity isn't a problem for cloud use.solnyshok - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
funny you say that. You can run similarly chrooted ubuntu/arch/fedora/whatever on android phone or tablet, provided it has enogh RAM (3GB is ok, the more the better)rnoelburke - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
You could put Edubuntu Linux on this... I did it on my Toshiba 13" with 4GB mem and 8GB storage - can toggle back and forth between Chrome OS and Edubuntu on the fly as well. Unless of course - you don't 'count' Edubuntu as an OS?... I think not.JustForYou - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Seriously? I'm running Debian on mine.quielo - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Because they want a solid attractive device that starts immediately and requires little maintenance.jharmwood - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Try using A Chromebook Pixel LS with 16GB Ram. I own a fully specked 15 inch I7 Quad Core 16GB Ram MacBook Pro, a Microsoft I5 Surface Pro 3 and and HP Chromebox with 4 GB Ram. Guess which computer gets 80% of the use. The Pixel LS. Don't knock if id you have not tried it.nikon133 - Monday, May 9, 2016 - link
So what do you do on your computers, and how often?Kilroy420 - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Article should read - "Bang & Olufsen-tuned speakers", not " Band & Olufsen-tuned speakers".jardows2 - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
While an interesting product, and the lower priced one is a good start for a higher quality laptop computer (many laptops don't have this quality screen at even higher prices) I just can't see spending that much money for a glorified web browsing machine. Chromebooks need to be super low priced to justify their existance.The amount of storage will be key in the usability of this computer, but the software is crippling its functionality. Give me a Windows computer with similar specs and price (I know it can be done, Windows licenses don't cost HP that much!) and then I will be interested.
okay - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Chrome OS isn't simply a glorified web browser, though. It is a full-fledged operating system. From my point of view, it is more powerful and versatile than either Windows or Mac OS, because of the ability to install crouton. But even if you don't like Linux, it's still wrong to refer to it as simply a glorified web browser. It is a full operating system. It just hasn't had as much time to mature and have the diversity of apps that are available under windows.jardows2 - Friday, May 6, 2016 - link
I'm speaking more of the target use, not the capabilities. ChromeOS is marketed to users who will do everything in the web. You don't need a $500.00 - $1000.00 machine to do this, or even do it well.BrokenCrayons - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
The last time I had my hands on a Chromebook, I didn't have much time with it. I'm curious if the OS plays nicely with Candy Crush and Angry Birds. If that's the case, then the Core m7 model might be worth putting up with instead of buying a Windows 10 laptop.Michael Bay - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
You`re better off with a cheap tablet if games is all you want.BrokenCrayons - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
I want something with higher build quality and a keyboard. I don't think I'd be better off with a cheap tablet because, well cheap tablets are cheap. Besides, Candy Crush and Angry Birds are only one of a few things I want to do. They're the two things that will make the decision for me on buying one of these, but they're not the only thing I intend to do. Thanks to this article, I'm down to picking between HP's new Chromebook or a 13 inch MPB with a Retina panel. It's just hard to decide because I really just need something portable that will let me spend the day writing. I know both of these laptops will do the job, but the simplicity of the Chromebook appeals to me in certain ways so despite it looking as though it's not quite as high quality, I think the m7 model might be enough as long as Chrome OS plays nicely with the few games I like to play in the evenings.Death666Angel - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
So, that Pentium SoC still has hyperthreading according to ark. That 500 USD machine doesn't look too bad. Presumably a great display, enough RAM and CPU power for most tasks ordinary people do on Chrome OS and good size and weight. If I needed something portable to take notes on while offering a bit more than an average PC of similar size and speed, I'd probably think very hard about buying this one.savagemike - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
I agree. Most articles I've read about these dismiss the Pentium but actually a Chromebook would move along very well with just that Pentium. It'd be a great little machine. Just missing a touch screen.Krysto - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Should've launched it with Snapdragon 820 or a Cortex-A72 CPU, and cust $200+ from the price, and you would've gotten similar performance.TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
I wonder why they dont do that. ARM is much cheaper, and the benefits of x86 compatibility are lost on chromebooks.taisserroots - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
because software compatibility, and the ability to run linux kernels, simultaneously, these aren't mobile devices but fully fledged operating systemssolnyshok - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
there have already been chromebooks on arm/tegra. it works, but still not as fast as Core M. Snapdragon 820 with 8GB RAM would be extremely interestingtuxRoller - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
This is a pretty good idea because software isn't an issue in this case.However, I wonder about the performance.
T1beriu - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
At first, when I heard about the new HP Chromebook with a starting price of $499 I thought it will be a big step up in performance/build quality/price ratio compared with the Pixel and that I finally found the Chromebook I was searching for.But now after seeing the specs and prices I'm very disappointed.
Krysto - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
> The system will likely be considerably faster than other Chromebooks running Atom, Celeron or Pentium processors because of the high-performance CPU architecture.Also, it's funny you say that because Celeron and Pentium USED TO have that "high-performance CPU architecture", until Intel decided to screw the market by replacing the underlying architecture with Atom, while continuing to sell Celerons and Pentiums AT THE SAME PRICE as before.
Krysto - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Core M has the performance of what a Skylake Celeron SHOULD HAVE right now for the price Intel is asking for Celerons, but actually costs more than a Core i5.Core M is not worth it in any product performance/price wise.
Jon Irenicus - Thursday, May 5, 2016 - link
oems don't pay the listed price for these chips, calm down. No one is buying core-m parts like they are desktop cpus, so it's a moot point you just made.izdlang - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
"Band & Olufsen-tuned speakers"I always thought it was Bang & Olufsen
Flunk - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
I don't like how Chromebooks are locked down to Chrome. The same laptop, with the ability to install Linux or Windows would be a pretty good deal. This is just a bit too limited for the price.savagemike - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Most of them aren't locked down. It's pretty popular to co-install Linux actually. You do have to put up with a warning at boot. But that's a security feature and a damned nice one. If you boot a Chrome OS device and see no warning then you know its running a verified copy of the OS. And you know it's the only thing it's running.okay - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Cjrome books are not locked down the chrome! It is very easy to install Ubuntu on most Chromebooks! Obviously, Crouton is super easy and versatile but I'm sure you're talking about a proper dual boot scenario. It is very easy to create a proper dual boot or even a complete wipe and install only Ubuntu on most Chromebooks.mrochester - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
How easy is it to install Windows?okay - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Sorry, I have no idea. If I needed windows I'd VM it on ubuntu/crouton. Its pretty easy to re-partition the whole thing and tweak the boot loader for linux-based OSes, suggesting it is *probably* easy to install Windows, but I don't know if there is some OS specific gotcha. Maybe ask google?gd22 - Thursday, May 5, 2016 - link
lot of tutorials on how to do it. I did, and also easy to revert to ChromeOS, The 6 seconds from off to on changes things, and is an important measure of speeddsraa - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Wow. Ridiculous......and I thought the Pixel was overpriced. Why would you need specs like that for something than can run on 5 year old laptops? What's the point of 16gb of RAM? If its all browser related function....your use would never go beyond 4gb.....absolute waste.....And don't you guys start giving me bs about what could possibly need 16gb of RAM on a chromebook. Absolutely nothing on a chromebook needs or can even use that much RAM.It's not like it runs Visio, or Project, or photoshop or anything adobe.....
djw39 - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Well, unlike the Pixel, the HP has a $499 version with 4gb of RAM and a pentium processor. No need to get upset over the existence of a (potentially) over-specced option.8steve8 - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Never go above 4GB?????Wow.
I am almost always using more than 4GB with chrome.
okay - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
I run IntelliJ on my Chromebook and it's really nice having all that Ram.MrPete123 - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
I was curious about the usefulness of 16GB myself. How are you running IntellijJ? Are you dual booting?okay - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
I wasn't sure what I wanted in the long run so I set it up with *both* dual boot and crouton.I end up using crouton/ubuntu 80% of the time, ChromeOS 19% of the time, and the dual boot Ubuntu 1% of the time. So yeah the ubuntu dual boot is mostly wasting space.
Fortunately, with IntelliJ installs stand-alone, so you can install it once (on either dual-boot-Ubuntu or crouton-ubuntu) and then simply setup links from the other environment, making it available both places without using more space.
gd22 - Friday, May 6, 2016 - link
One use case scenarios for when larger ram would be worth the extra price is online data Geographic Information Systems work (GIS) When using Google Fusion tables as the data store, and in my experience over 40,000 rows, doing geocoding of human readable addresses to Latitude-Longitude coordinates, and at same time doing data cleanup, slows the browser. Google seems to offload a lot of the geocoding back to the client machine, just my observation.jasonelmore - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
$+219 for 4GB Ram and 100 mhz overclock.. No thanks.. Intel are bat-crap crazy for charging +$100 for 100mhz on that M5Sttm - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Now can I just buy one of these and then install Debian? Or do they lock the boot loader or something?taisserroots - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
apparently you get a warning on launch, but it runs no VM or dual boottuxRoller - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
Not Debian, but you can install Fedora or arch.herzigma - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Former Googler here so I'm a little jaded. But the "best" laptop I've ever used is the Dell Chromebook 13 I bought with my own money. A little big for my taste (love my XPS13) but for 90%+ of my work all I need is a browser. And what a browser Chrome under ChromeOS is - super fast, never slows down under load, has a great screen, keyboard, and touchpad, lasts 12 hours easily, never slows down under background tasks (including hangouts), doesn't require any sort of maintenance, care or feeding...I consider myself a power user and still have a desktop for media creation, editing, and serving. But the shear joy of just having everything work is astounding. My old Samsung Chromebook (ARM processor) was fine. But if you're someone who uses their computer all the time it's not too much to pay a premium for a premium experience. So $400 for my Dell Chromebook was totally reasonable and I could imagine paying the $$$ for this HP one.
jabber - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Yes I have the Dell 13 Chromebook and love it. The whole "It just works!" is so true. It just works every time you power it on. No "Waiting for Windows Updates.." or any of that yesteryear crap. I have one of the HP cheap 32GB Windows laptops here that MS pushed to rival Chromebooks and its laughable. Took me hours to rebuild and configure it and now it wont work...with Chrome! So I have to reset it and try again. I recently upgraded the SSD in this Dell and to swap the SSD, reinstall the OS and login took all of 15 minutes. Windows and OSX are not the future for 98% of us.They just can't keep up.inighthawki - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
That's funny, because when I turned on my Windows laptop this morning, it also just worked. Same with my desktop. Same with both devices the day before, and the day before that, and before that.Are people just really irresponsible with the crapware they install on their devices? Is Chrome working better because there simply isn't a version of "Super System Optimizer 6.3" available? I truly don't understand, because I've had devices that I used actively for 5+ years at a time without ever encountering issues that people seem to constantly say plague Windows devices.
jabber - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
That's okay chap. If you enjoy constant updates, waiting for them, driver installs, software issues, security weaknesses blah blah blah (that happen whether you are noob or Windows blackbelt) then you carry on. Me? I'll be doing something more productive.inighthawki - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Yeah none of those are issues for me.Constant updates - you mean... once a month?
Driver installs - Everyone should be doing this, including Linux, ChromeOS, etc. Drivers are not unique to the windows ecosystem. Not to mention outside of graphics drivers, driver updates are extremely rare, especially on OEM devices after they ship.
Software Issues - Like what? My 20 your old copy of Photoshop 1.0 written for Windows 95 doesn't work correctly? I guess I can see how ChromeOS might avoid that issue by never having the software. But otherwise all my software works fine, including my copy of Red Alert 2 I just played the other day.
Security weaknesses blah blah blah - Please don't be 'that guy' who thinks that Windows is a walking timebomb and all Unix variants are just iron tanks. ChromeOS is no more or less secure than Windows is.
I have no problem admitting there is room in the world for ChromeOS, but it's really funny to believe that it is "productive" compared to a full blown variant of Windows, OSX, or Linux.
Michael Bay - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
Productivity to them is facebook and instagram.tuxRoller - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
Chromeos isn't "just another UNIX variant".According to every security analysis who I've ever heard talk about this, chromeos is the most secure customer facing OS that is commonly used.
The damn thing is built like a tank.
gd22 - Thursday, May 5, 2016 - link
I got tired of windows problems, so maybe I haven't given the new window 10 enough of a chance. A window 8.1 laptop that was supposed to update to Windows 10 didn't and wouldn't play nice, after hours. Took it to Microsoft, after 2 weeks they also gave up, and gave it back to be erased to bare metal with a windows 8.1. A desktop, did correctly update to windows 10, but it took hours to get it working, and I'm not happy with it. After that and too many other similar MS experiences, I'm not willing to give MS mny more chances. The Chromebooks have been wonderful. My knocks on Chromebooks are SSH Keys are difficult, wireless printing with older printers is also a PITA, and usage as developer machine has been neglected, with for example Google dropping development of CDE.Michael Bay - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
This mantra is probably older than you are.Waiting for updates? Are you writing this from 2000AD, on a 33.6k modem? Driver installations that happen silently for god knows how many years already? Software issues that are agnostic for any platform? Security weaknesses that are the same?
okay - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
I think there are two different issues here: The reputation that windows machines have for having recurring annoyances and problems that made the OS unpleasant to use. These are often security related, update related, or "doesn't allows play perfectly well with the hardware" related.Some power users don't mind this; other power users find windows annoying; but most importantly noobs can find the above very stressful. Apple has capitalized on this, in the past.
The other perspective here isn't so much that 'windows sucks' but rather that ChromeOS is designed in a way that *especially* keeps the OS out of the way. The UI is well designed for this. They boot nearly instantly. System updates are almost fully transparent and never cause problems. Not even OS X is as good as ChromeOS in this area. Not everyone appreciates this, but for some it really makes a difference when using a computer.
jabber - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Spot on! Windows is too big and bulky now. It gets in the way for a lot of users, wants you to do this or that, wont let you escape. It's like having to take a 747 to the shopping mall. Most people don't need or want that anymore.nikon133 - Monday, May 9, 2016 - link
All of my machines work every time I power them on. Since I've upgraded system HDDs with SSDs on "older" machines (new ones have SSD by default), every single one boots from cold start in 10 seconds or less. Updates happen in background; only when they require restart, am I aware of them - but they don't require restart every week... Surface is the only one I keep is sleep all the time, and it does apply updates and reboots overnight (if needed), and I wouldn't even have a slightest idea does it not require pin/password when I wake it up in the morning. And I will gladly restart my computer once every few weeks for full functionality. Power for those few who need only basics, but for rest of us...okay - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
" But the shear joy of just having everything work is astounding. "Yes. Thus far, neither apple nor microsoft has produced laptop OSes which are as joyful to use as ChromeOS.
Eric_WVGG - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
typo “Band & Olufsen-tuned speakers”ToTTenTranz - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
16GB of RAM?Wow, that a LOT of chrome tabs opened up.
If only we could use all that RAM to anything else, instead of being stuck on a browser-dependent OS...
jabber - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
It's obvious seeing the comments in these articles that the opinion towards Chromebooks is changing radically. A couple of years ago had you 100 comments on a Chromebook article it would have been 85% negative. Now its more 85% positive as people are now trying them and realising what a lot of us did years ago.The tide is turning.mrochester - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
It's a bit like the slow realisation that Apple was right all along with how smartphones should operate.pSupaNova - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
You are correct, its a pity that some of us don't understand the utility of having a computer which requires low maintenance, has great battery life and just works.taisserroots - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
how do external HDDs treat chrome OS?or the other linux distros you can get on this?
okay - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
External HDDs work great on ChromeOS. I use the Pixel and have both Type A and Type C adapters to SATA drives, everything mounts automatically and appears as another folder in ChromeOS' file manager.I prefer konqueror. On rare occasions I explicitly mount the external drives to some other branch of the file system, to make some operations more convenient, but you don't need to, ChromeOS will take care of everything automatically.
gd22 - Thursday, May 5, 2016 - link
External HD work fine, - but in my experience there are some issue when SD cards are just left in the Chromebook, like one leaves a microSD card in an Android phone. Do others get this result too, the OS will complain, "hey you disconnected the SD, card next time be more careful" I'm afraid that storage on the SD card might not be reliable, but I'd like to hear from others. (or maybe my SD card is flakey)solnyshok - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
is that fanless?quielo - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
Band & Olufsen ?quielo - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
I have a Samsung i5 chromebox and it is a trouble free little thing for my kids. Sizzling performance, great parental controls, and NO minecraft.yowlingcat - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
It's interesting to see the traction Chromebooks are getting - I am a recent "convert" and proud owner of a Pixel 2015. I love: it updates fast; Google Apps are getting better and better without getting bloated; that it just works without having to think about it; it boots fast; it works fast nd you don't need awesome kit to get the best out of it.Some of the CB kit these days is cheap and you get more for your money because Chrome OS doesn't have the overheads required by W10. This comes from an Asus T100HA - it is fine as far as it goes, but for speed and absence of "stutter" is not a patch on my Asus Chromebook Flip - better all round. I am not saying that a CB will replace Windows or Mac any time soon, but for carrying around and taking notes, doing emails, reading attachments and getting things modest amounts of things done, they are more than adequate.
When I got my first CB (Acer C720P) a couple of years ago, they were still unusable, the integration with MS Office apps wasn't there, now it is, I don't have any problems in reading attachments. I don't think I would take a CB alone to a meeting, but I am getting there.
So yes, they are here and they are worth a look.
tuxRoller - Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - link
I would buy the crap out of this if I could upgrade that ssd.pberger - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
I guess there is no problem to install a fresh copy of Windows, Linux if not a Hackintosh OS X El Capitan over this hardware?WatcherCK - Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - link
Can anyone give me an idea of the battery life they get out of their chromebooks? (mild websurfing/stremaing media usage scenario...)thanks
jabber - Thursday, May 5, 2016 - link
Mine runs into a couple of days usage from a charge if not more. Basically the OS isn't trying to do 145 things at the same time in the background.gd22 - Thursday, May 5, 2016 - link
My Toshiba Chromebook 2 gets heavy usage. Its got a sharp good quality screen, it started out about 9+ hours, but I think the battery is wearing out, now its down to about 6 hours of good usage. (15-17 months old). The declining battery is a problem, but I've gotten a lot of usage out of that machine for what I paid.webergti - Thursday, May 5, 2016 - link
Seem like this chromebook is targeting play store and android apps running nativity from the up coming chrome os updates other then that why having 16gb of ram & those type of cpu for a web browser base osJamesU - Sunday, May 8, 2016 - link
Well it certainly seems that Chromebooks do inspire particularly enthusiastic evangelists. Every Chromebook article has dozens of comments from people who want everyone to know they love Chromebooks and that more people should use Chromebooks.milkod2001 - Friday, May 13, 2016 - link
Some of them might get paid for promoting useless Chromebooks i guessIlllI - Sunday, May 8, 2016 - link
this will probably sound lame, but these are incapable of running flash, correct? Other than that, this is a very attractive laptop. Wish they'd make one with windows as well. Or is it possible to install windows on a chromebook?R3MF - Friday, May 13, 2016 - link
If the $819 M5 version comes with 128GB of storage i'd be very tempted to get this to run opensuse on....Please HP, tell us the storage variants, and confirm the EUFI bios is locked down?
R3MF - Friday, May 13, 2016 - link
Re: Storage capacity - just found these notes on the store page:2. Up to 11 hours 30 minutes battery life: 3-cell 45WHr Polymer Battery with Pentium 4405Y/4GB RAM/32GB Storage/ Full HD panel. Testing conducted by HP using Google Chrome OS power_LoadTest. Battery life will vary and the maximum capacity of the battery will naturally decrease with time and usage. See http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/testing/power-... for test details.
4. 32GB of on board storage. (no sign of where this is referenced in the main text)
giovannaferguson - Tuesday, May 17, 2016 - link
My business partners were looking for IRS 1040 a few days ago and discovered a business that hosts a lot of sample forms . If you need IRS 1040 too , here's http://goo.gl/nihCibmaskofwraith - Monday, July 4, 2016 - link
i dont understand why dont they make a laptop with a low power cpu and 60whr + battery. which can result 20+ hours battery