HP 15.6-inch Chromebook Plus review [VIDEO]

Part of the overall appeal of Chromebook Plus at this point is the fact that there seems to be a bit of something for everyone. Tablets aside, there’s a size and form-factor option for just about every use case out there in the Chromebook Plus portfolio, and obviously part of that spectrum needs to be covered by larger devices like the HP 15.6-inch Chromebook Plus.

This is one of two options in the large clamshell portion of the Chromebook Plus market, and though there are clear similarities between this one and the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 we reviewed earlier, HP’s take on the larger form factor comes with some slight advantages over that device that are worth noting if the most important thing for you is a bit more screen real estate in your Chromebook Plus. Let’s take a look.

The Chromebook Plus formula

We’ve talked about it at length here on our channel, on this website, and in our weekly podcast, but it bears repeating: Chromebook Plus was concocted as a way for Google to solidify great Chromebook experiences around a set of hardware requirements that help make sure any device with the Chromebook Plus logo affixed is enjoyable to use in general.

So, what are those requirements? 1080p or better screen and webcam, 12th-gen Core i3 or better internals, 8GB of RAM or more and 128GB of storage or more. While those requirements don’t really guarantee anything, I can tell you that after using all the Chromebook Plus models, they absolutely do help provide guardrails that have largely guided manufacturers to build some very solid Chromebooks up to this point.

And the HP 15.6-inch Chromebook Plus is part of that story. While it sticks to the basic version of those specs above, it hits all of them and overall makes for a great Chromebook experience. Being of the 15.6-inch size, this is one of two of these new Chromebook Plus models that gives you a bit more screen real estate to mess with if that’s mainly what you are after.

Screen frustrations

But that screen comes with its aggravations, however, as HP stuck with an anti-glare, non-touch screen that can only hit 250 nits of brightness. The colors, contrast and sharpness are all fine, but the lack of brightness on this one was quite apparent even when it was just on my desk. It’s hard to show in a video, but trust me: if you need a screen that does well in bright rooms, this one isn’t for you.

The good stuff

Apart from that, however, I find little to gripe about on this Chromebook. It’s regularly on sale for $300-$400 and the excellent keyboard/trackpad combo – with a full numeric keypad – makes for a great productivity experience. The speakers are better than average, too, so that makes video calls a little easier to deal with when you don’t have headphones around.

Speaking of video calls, the camera is 1080p and if the lighting is decent, it produces a good image and can take full advantage of the Chromebook Plus camera tricks like lighting adjustments, background blur, and temporal noise reduction. Again, it’s Chromebook Plus, so on these sorts of things, it just delivers.

I do think the MSRP on this all-plastic device is a bit off. Acer’s Chromebook Plus 515 $399 – a full $100 cheaper than this HP – and the similarities in the two make this a tough upsell. However, when it is marked down and priced the same as Acer’s larger Chromebook Plus (which it often is), the small differences between the HP and Acer are the things that can help you ultimately decide.

Choosing a larger Chromebook Plus

First, the HP comes with the i3-N305 processor and the Acer comes with an i3-1215U. There’s no question that the large-core 1215U is the more powerful processor, so while I didn’t have any complaints about the speed of the HP, if you like a bit more umph under the hood, you’ll want to steer towards the Acer 515. Also, the port selection on the HP is a bit more limited with just 2 USB Type C ports, a single USB Type A, micro SD card slot and headphone/mic jack. Acer adds in the all-important HDMI port to their device, and it simply makes the utility feel a bit better overall.

Still, what I said at the beginning of this video holds true: Chromebook Plus makes for a very enjoyable, solid Chromebook experience. This is just as true with HP’s 15.6-inch Chromebook as it is with all the rest of them. While I’d recommend waiting for it to go on sale – it does pretty often – if you decide to pick up this Chromebook Plus model for it’s larger size and excellent keyframe and keyboard layout, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.