Up next in 10
Check out the new site for all kinds of Chrome OS goodness: http://chromeunboxed.com
Here are the other reviews you might like:
HP Chromebook 14 - http://youtu.be/tGYL-nj8KNk
HP Chromebook 11 vs. HP Chromebook 14 - http://youtu.be/IHNOTPpge6k
In this video I review the HP Chromebook 11, looking at all the external goodies and sweet design cues alongside some of the struggles the Chromebook presents with its internals.
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0:00
hello gang everyone this is Robbie Fang
0:01
here with a full review of the HP
0:04
Chromebook 11 I've got the device in a
0:07
few days ago I've got a chance to unbox
0:10
it and kind of give you guys my initial
0:11
impressions of it spent the better part
0:14
of two days with it now and I want to
0:18
kind of give you a fuller review soft a
0:21
few people online complaining that there
0:23
wasn't a whole lot of video time spent
0:26
with this device yet and people are
0:28
still kind of wondering some better
0:30
specifics about the device things that
0:34
can and can't do since I've posted that
0:37
the the first impressions video I've
0:41
gotten all kinds of questions about it
0:43
and the things that's capable of not
0:45
capable of those kind of things so I
0:46
want to attempt to answer those
0:48
questions give you guys kind of an idea
0:51
about it
0:52
following this you should see the review
0:56
of the Chromebook 14 which I've also
0:58
spent a lot of time with I've kind of
0:59
head up side-by-side a lot and then I'm
1:02
going to do a video with them literally
1:03
side by side and kind of show you some
1:05
of the performance differences
1:06
specifically and then some of the
1:08
exterior differences as well the screen
1:11
keyboard trackpad those kind of things
1:13
anyway what I want to stick to on this
1:16
one is specifics about this device and
1:19
I'm going to try my best not to get into
1:23
a whole lot of how it compares with the
1:25
HP 14 I'm gonna leave that to a
1:27
different video I just want to talk
1:29
about this device in and of itself and
1:31
and really probably the better
1:33
comparison for this device would be last
1:35
year Samsung Chromebook the series 3
1:39
from a performance perspective anyway
1:42
from an exterior perspective it's it's a
1:45
whole different machine but the interior
1:48
part is different so well start with the
1:50
exterior we'll move our way in as I said
1:53
in the initial unboxing I'm still
1:55
incredibly pleased with the overall feel
1:58
and look of this device I like the fact
2:02
that the lid closes nice and snug I like
2:05
the the LED bar open that up for you
2:10
over this way so you can kind of see
2:13
that's not real dark in here so it
2:15
doesn't look real bright but it looks
2:16
really neat and slightly you know less
2:18
light I've got a bunch of lights turned
2:20
on in here because it's nighttime and I
2:22
want to make sure this isn't grainy
2:23
looking but the LED bars cool I've
2:26
already had a few people comment on that
2:28
hopefully that's something that Google
2:31
sticks with in its chrome development as
2:35
time goes by it's a really really really
2:38
neat look
2:39
another thing build quality wise that
2:42
I've been real happy with and we'll
2:43
crank the screen up here
2:44
I've been real happy with is the fact
2:46
they went with a matte finish around the
2:48
edges here everything else is glossy
2:50
plastic and yes it picks up fingerprints
2:52
just like any other glossy plastic I
2:54
never understand reviews and I say oh
2:56
this is a fingerprint magnet so it's
2:59
glossy of course it is you know and when
3:01
glass screens are a fingerprint magnet
3:03
well if it's glass it is I mean it's
3:05
just the way it works and the same thing
3:07
is true with this this if you really
3:09
turn it in the light you can see the
3:10
fingerprints but since it's white for
3:12
the most part you can't tell at all
3:14
which is kind of a nice design thing I'm
3:17
sure the the piano black version of this
3:20
device probably just looks like a mess
3:23
of fingerprints all over it I would
3:25
think because like I said you can't see
3:27
them on this if you hold it in the right
3:28
line but it's not distracting you don't
3:29
even think about it but because the lid
3:32
in this area you touch it so much
3:34
closing and opening closing the open and
3:36
closing and opening in this device
3:38
because of its size and its weight tends
3:41
to feel more tablet like I guess would
3:44
be a good word for it as far as the way
3:46
you would use it around the house and so
3:47
I'm tempted to sit down the couch and
3:49
plop it open whereas the the Chromebook
3:51
14 for instance or another fool's any
3:53
other full-size laptop tend not to grab
3:56
that all the time whereas my wife and I
3:58
my wife's got the series three Samsung
4:00
Chromebook and you know it's it's right
4:02
by the couch so it's you know sometimes
4:04
she's on her smartphone but a lot of
4:05
times she reaches under pulls that thing
4:07
out and and uses that instead and so
4:10
because of that it you're opening and
4:12
closing the lid all the time and so I
4:14
really appreciate that finish I know
4:16
that's a small detail but it makes a big
4:18
difference and I like the fact that they
4:20
put chrome in chrome letters here so
4:22
when it's open
4:23
we're looking at it there they're prone
4:25
to ask what is that what kind of a temp
4:28
or laptop is that or seda is an old
4:30
MacBook or whatever the question may be
4:31
and then they see Chrome on there and it
4:33
kind of opens the conversation about
4:34
what exactly this guy is up top the you
4:40
know the camera is suitable I guess for
4:42
hangouts as they transition hangouts
4:45
into full-on 720p across the board it
4:49
will be said for it not to be recording
4:51
in 720p
4:52
and that ain't no it's passable for
4:54
video chats but it's not great I even
4:56
noticed just opening the camera quote
5:00
unquote app on here a little bit of lag
5:03
I wasn't even recording or doing
5:05
anything it was just jumping around a
5:07
little bit and so that that's kind of a
5:10
shame moving down to the keyboard
5:14
fantastic real quiet in here barely
5:19
makes any sound travels great
5:22
responsiveness is great I could really
5:24
really type fast on this guy no problems
5:27
whatsoever at all with the keyboard
5:30
really really enjoy the keyboard and
5:32
underneath the keyboard sits those
5:34
uniquely placed speakers and I played
5:37
those in the initial video while I'm
5:40
talking I'll load up Spotify so you can
5:43
kind of hear that but yeah just really
5:49
really really impressed with the speaker
5:51
quality on this thing I'm going to turn
5:54
the brightness back down so we're not
5:55
washing the video out here and and it's
5:59
you know come on come off like surround
6:01
sound but it just has a really nice full
6:03
sound
6:04
now I'm gonna replace speakers you know
6:06
that kind of thing but just just really
6:11
good stuff I'm just finding something
6:13
that might give you a full sound here
6:20
playlists here
6:23
and the computer does decently with with
6:27
this and this is a pretty heavy sight to
6:29
be honest this is one of my favorite CDs
6:35
right now capital city so we'll play
6:38
safe and sane out here
6:59
so being here really loud and it's a
7:03
really unique experience to have the
7:04
sound just kind of coming up at you from
7:06
a laptop like this it's just it's it's
7:08
unique well done again I like the
7:13
internals of this device I just do the
7:17
the rounded nature of it feels really
7:19
good as your hands are sitting here
7:21
typing or spending a lot of time with
7:23
the trackpad trackpad in general is good
7:26
it's responsive it's not the best I've
7:28
used I still think the Samsung out does
7:33
it and definitely the the HP 14 I know I
7:37
said I won't gonna mention it too much
7:38
HP 14 Strank that's a little better than
7:40
this one it's a little smoother this one
7:42
if you if you've just washed your hands
7:44
though you don't have much oil on them
7:46
at all
7:47
the glides around just fine but you know
7:49
after a little bit you got a little bit
7:51
of oil on your hands or you've just
7:52
eaten lunch than just the slightest bit
7:55
if you can kind of hear that I don't
7:58
know if you can do that's picking up or
7:59
not it can get a little sticky but the
8:03
clicking is nice and quiet and it's been
8:08
a serviceable track of ahead it's not
8:10
it's not bad or annoying I would say
8:12
it's you know mediocre I've used I used
8:15
many many many a better trackpad but
8:17
it's not the worst by any stretch of the
8:19
imagination as far as bill you know
8:23
there's some give up here cool thing is
8:25
I can open this without holding the
8:28
bottom down I think I said something
8:29
about that in the unboxing I like that
8:31
feature in any hardware there's really
8:36
no give to the bottom part of this thing
8:38
I mean it's definitely the whole forget
8:42
what they said it was that they put in
8:43
this one say magnesium frame or
8:46
something but a metallic frame inside
8:48
this really causes it to be nice and
8:50
firm the top is not so much there's a
8:53
lot of give in that but you know it's
8:56
the tumble the laptop it's not that big
8:57
of a deal I didn't notice when picking
8:59
it up this way quite a few times there's
9:01
something in here that gives I just did
9:03
it if you hear that it kind of snaps
9:06
when the screen goes from here to here
9:10
listen just that click something I don't
9:14
know over here but just those little
9:15
creaks and clacks and slight gives and
9:19
the frame and it just calls it a little
9:21
bit of cheapening in the feel but
9:26
overall not really it feels like a
9:28
really neat device a really nice device
9:31
again in case you all haven't seen or
9:34
didn't take take time to watch the
9:35
unboxing or anything like that or you're
9:37
just coming across this video just for a
9:40
quick run around with you have micro USB
9:42
port that's how it charges which is
9:45
unique the charger that comes with it
9:46
has a nice long cord and is a three amp
9:48
block and so that's a full ant larger
9:52
most phones are 1 to 1.5 amp most
9:55
tablets iPads that kind of thing or two
9:57
amp is the 3 amp so it's really pushing
10:00
some pushing some juice out I don't know
10:02
if that's it would charge your phone
10:04
fast I don't know if that's good for
10:05
your phone or not I don't know enough
10:06
about all that stuff to tell you whether
10:08
that's an OK thing to do Google touts it
10:10
is something you can do so hopefully
10:13
they've done their research and you're
10:14
not gonna burn your battery up doing
10:15
that I don't know no USB 3.0 just USB
10:18
2.0 here for a Chromebook honestly I
10:21
have not found a reason to really
10:22
necessitate 3.0 it's only got 16 gigs in
10:26
Aalborg storage so there's not a whole
10:28
lot of need to be transferring stuff to
10:29
it so take that for what it's worth a
10:33
combo jack here your phone microphone
10:36
soft touch down here this is what gives
10:38
it its padding / its area to hold it and
10:40
like I was saying earlier there's that
10:42
kind of clicking it's happening down
10:44
here I don't know if something's just
10:45
not sealed up well on this one I'm not
10:49
sure what it is but it kind of gives you
10:50
a place to hold it there and a little
10:52
grippy area only markings you see on the
10:55
device you got HP down here in Google
10:57
and I don't know with the light shining
10:58
off that I can see it done the
11:00
fingerprints on it now that I you know
11:03
if I'm holding it like this I can't I'm
11:04
holding like this I can so otherwise
11:07
that's it
11:08
there's nothing else on the device I
11:10
know
11:11
no vents no that stuff which is really
11:13
nice like I said everything on the
11:15
outside of this device I really like so
11:21
shall we talk about the inside part of
11:24
the device on the inside you have last
11:28
year's exa mousse Samsung Exynos dual
11:32
5250 processor clocked at 1.7 gigahertz
11:37
with 2 gigs of ram and 16 gigs of
11:40
on-board storage now from what I've read
11:42
online it's the exact same processor
11:44
it's the exact same solid state but the
11:47
RAM there not sure I'm right anything
11:51
completely positive saying yes it is
11:54
better or worse but it is different so
11:57
I'm not sure on the RAM so we're looking
12:00
at largely internally the exact same
12:01
machine that Samsung put out last year
12:04
and so what it boils down to is this if
12:07
you have a samsung armed chromebook from
12:10
last year and the lag enos of
12:13
performance is making you want to pull
12:14
your hair out this is not going to fix
12:16
that this this device will not change
12:19
that in fact there are some hints
12:23
hopefully that Google is is really
12:26
gearing some stuff with Chrome OS
12:28
towards the arm development and you
12:33
would think that with putting the exact
12:34
same processor in his last year another
12:36
note on the whole arm processor thing
12:38
from what I've read online again I'm
12:41
getting my information from the internet
12:42
so take it with a little grain of salt
12:44
but from whatever it online Chrome OS is
12:47
not optimized to use more than two cores
12:49
so that puts Google in an interesting
12:52
position with ARM processors because
12:54
ultimately there's not a whole lot of
12:56
dual core ARM processors out there
12:58
because I kept asking myself why in the
12:59
world would they put the Snapdragon 600
13:02
in this which are monsters I mean
13:04
they're beasts the processors I don't
13:06
know if you guys have looked up
13:07
benchmarks but check out benchmarks on
13:09
the Snapdragon 800 especially that thing
13:12
absolutely flies and I can't understand
13:14
why they wouldn't put
13:15
in here but my thought is perhaps and
13:18
this is not fact this is just just my
13:20
thoughts perhaps because Chrome OS is
13:22
not optimized for quad-core processors
13:25
maybe those processors would not help I
13:28
don't know I don't know and or Google is
13:33
really planning to work on Chrome OS to
13:35
really fly on an ARM based SOC I don't
13:40
know I don't know if that's the case
13:42
because I do know that the Nexus 10
13:44
while not the fastest machine on the
13:46
market is still pretty quick it still
13:49
handles a lot of stuff and does a great
13:52
amount of processing power so it's the
13:54
exact same SOC so I'm really unsure as
13:59
to why Chrome OS struggles like it does
14:01
a lot of times because it seems like
14:03
Chrome OS is a bit lighter obviously
14:05
than Android even so it could just be
14:08
some software optimization there have
14:11
been some discussions and in Google+
14:14
event about tab casting in chrome
14:18
casting working way better on the dev
14:20
channel on the same some arm Chromebook
14:22
again same hardware inside it working
14:26
much better on the dev channel so that
14:29
could be the case
14:30
I don't know I'm crossing my fingers
14:32
because there's a part of me that wants
14:35
so badly to love this device to really
14:38
want this to be my Chromebook it's just
14:40
not there yet performance wise so I'm
14:42
gonna give you a couple examples of some
14:43
things that surprised me and some things
14:48
that were really bad pocket is one of
14:51
them and I've got my pocket set up with
14:53
if this than that and I don't know how
14:56
many of you are familiar with that
14:57
service if you're not check it out -
14:59
awesome
15:00
if this than that basically it has
15:02
tie-ins with tons of services and you
15:03
can say if I do this then do this and so
15:06
I've got a set up for a few RSS feeds
15:09
basically to say hey if they post
15:11
something new put it in my pocket and so
15:13
my pocket ends up being kind of cool
15:16
pretty much at today newsreader because
15:19
the way the pocket lights things that's
15:20
really nice you see there's no lag
15:22
whatsoever in this now you've got some
15:23
checkerboarding that's just part of it
15:27
you know checkerboarding as long as it
15:28
goes away quick doesn't bother me that
15:30
bad but you can see I mean it's nice and
15:35
smooth you know jumping in and picking
15:37
any article here jump in it
15:38
boom loaded up nice and smooth go back
15:42
and so I thought pocket would really
15:43
just kind of barf all over this and it
15:47
runs perfectly I couldn't ask for it to
15:50
run better so it's things like that that
15:52
make me think well maybe it's just
15:55
software optimization maybe I don't know
15:57
I don't know because that seems to run
15:59
no problem whatsoever you know your file
16:03
manager and your basic Google
16:04
applications work just fine no problem
16:07
but then I've had a lot of questions
16:09
about games and so it's an interesting
16:13
one called cracking sands a little
16:17
go-kart in the desert kind of thing I
16:20
don't know to apply too much it didn't
16:24
seem really that fun
16:26
it's not bad or anything and I'll just
16:30
go and say again I'm trying to not
16:31
trying to compare everything to the HP
16:32
14 Chromebook 14 running this on the
16:35
Chromebook 14 it's got perfect frame
16:37
rates never drops and never stutters and
16:39
every lags and then it runs perfect and
16:41
you'll see that in the future video
16:43
we're just gonna do a single race real
16:45
quick it's do a Time Trial okay and this
16:56
is running you know some slight 3d
16:58
graphics it's nothing nothing amazing
17:03
and I don't even know how this is coming
17:06
across a long camera it's probably
17:09
difficult to see but frame rates are
17:11
pretty low I would say probably in the
17:13
15 area something like that it's pretty
17:18
laggy that makes it really difficult to
17:20
plagues it almost feels like when you go
17:22
to move it kind of moves after the fact
17:27
whereas I didn't suck nearly that on the
17:30
HP on the on the Chromebook 14 just
17:34
seems like it takes it a minute to
17:35
actually just anything you doing but you
17:38
know it runs it not amazingly
17:40
but it gets live here's where it gets
17:43
interesting now I'm gonna open up what I
17:46
would think would be a lighter-weight
17:47
game Cut the Rope you know everybody
17:49
loves cut the rope and and I'll throw
17:52
Angry Birds in this exact same scenario
17:53
it does the exact same thing we're going
17:56
to play
17:59
and here in a second I'm going to get an
18:01
a message actually cut the ropes gonna
18:03
pop up but do you see it I mean it's
18:05
we're running you know Carly
18:09
single-digit frames per second
18:11
someone just cut these secrets II can
18:13
ask oh it's literally moving in slow
18:17
motion what's really interesting is if I
18:24
go let's say we like come in here this
18:29
part see these animations smooth as silk
18:32
but you get into rendering the game and
18:34
it really causes some problems trying to
18:39
see if it'll come up with this message
18:40
in one second there goes a little too
18:48
slow homonym is saying it's running too
18:51
slow so you know there's some issues
18:54
whenever that's happening so again I
18:57
really think it could just be they
18:59
haven't optimized that game to take
19:02
advantage of the processor which could
19:05
be the problem with chroma bus in
19:06
general at this point what I did do
19:10
earlier this is another thing that I was
19:12
asked to do I will do that before you
19:17
open up a bunch of pretty heavy things
19:20
all at once bird Google+ Spotify let's
19:27
do - me too
19:37
and I'm gonna throw Twitter in there
19:38
because Twitter is one of those sites
19:40
for some reason that just runs like
19:42
garbage on this and it did on the same
19:45
Sun as well I've scrolled twice I'm
19:49
still waiting for it to respond here yep
19:50
there goes so you can count the number
19:52
seconds so I'll scroll know what pretty
19:56
much two three it's about two to three
20:01
second delay in scrolling I'm really
20:07
unresponsive so I don't know what it is
20:10
with Twitter's website that it causes
20:12
that to happen again unfortunately gonna
20:16
have to open up my own videos because
20:17
I'm gonna get myself in any kind of
20:18
trouble
20:26
so I'll just play that
20:48
hello we're all impressed with Spotify
20:53
it's another one of those things and did
20:55
he just you just never know how about
20:59
some diamond sing here John Mayer
21:12
playing videos running a lot of
21:18
artifacting happens on YouTube on this
21:20
weather there's a bunch of stuff going
21:22
on or not strange
21:24
we got the birds loaded up and you know
21:27
it's just laggy and for frame rates on
21:31
the scroll but it's running you know
21:32
it's going we'll go ahead and start that
21:35
video even how about that pull up Google
21:39
Plus which is notorious the struggles on
21:43
it was kind of getting them saying slow
21:47
scroll but you know what we use three
21:50
fingers if you don't know that she can
21:51
use three fingers or swipe between tabs
21:54
you know it's not shutting any of them
21:57
down so
22:05
and that was our first hiccup there my
22:10
guess is that's probably RAM limitations
22:12
and likely I'm creaming a lot of stuff
22:15
in the RAM there
22:17
so the 2gig RAM that's probably where
22:19
you getting some limitations when you
22:20
start streaming all that kind of stuff
22:22
again cuz it's about knowing your
22:24
limitations and knowing what you're
22:25
getting into this thing is not a
22:26
powerhouse machine it's not a gaming rig
22:30
it's a do a couple things at one time
22:32
kind of machining it so if you know that
22:34
getting into it maybe it wouldn't bother
22:35
you the performance issues and you'll
22:37
know that you're gonna come across
22:38
certain websites that it's just not
22:40
going to like where is there going to be
22:42
some that really just surprise you
22:45
ultimately and I don't think I touched
22:48
on this early in the beginning I kind of
22:50
skipped by this you know the screen is
22:52
great when when sat side by side with
22:55
pretty much any other laptop around
22:57
especially anyone with a TN panel this
22:59
is including the HP 14 the same some
23:03
series three the Acer c720 end but I'm
23:08
assuming it's gonna be roughly the same
23:09
panel any of those guys you put this
23:11
thing next to it and makes them look
23:13
really bad
23:15
it just is pretty it's not on the level
23:19
of a glass paneled IPS display so your
23:24
your side viewing angles you can see the
23:27
dim out a little bit there that's not
23:29
the camera that's it dims out a little
23:31
bit we're not getting any polarization
23:34
of the color but it is kind of gray out
23:37
just a little bit on the edges and front
23:40
and back that's the same thing there too
23:41
but for the most part it it looks great
23:44
from any angle and the blacks are nice
23:47
and deep the contrast looks awesome the
23:49
color reproduction is great I enjoy it
23:53
and as I've said probably 10 times
23:55
already in this review I can't stress
23:57
enough that everything on the outside of
23:59
this package I love I really do
24:02
I have no qualms with any of it the only
24:05
thing I probably said anything negative
24:06
about was the trackpad and again it's
24:08
completely serviceable it's not like
24:09
it's a horrendous thing and so again I
24:12
will all kind of close in by
24:15
saying if you had last year same
24:18
something no some of it did and you used
24:20
it for a little bit any of those things
24:21
and you liked it and you thought hey
24:23
this is a pretty good machine I could
24:25
use this on the on the couch we could
24:27
pass us around with the kids use it that
24:29
kind of thing this guy is is a huge
24:32
improvement over the Samsung series 3
24:34
simply and build quality and materials
24:37
on the outside of it if you've had one
24:40
of those where you've used one I thought
24:41
my goodness I could never use that on a
24:44
day-to-day basis it would drive me nuts
24:45
you're really not getting any
24:47
performance bump here again maybe in the
24:50
future it will get better it has gotten
24:52
better right now though because the
24:53
samsung series 3 arm chromebook when it
24:57
came out last year i got it immediately
24:59
and just about sent it back because it
25:02
was pretty rough at the onset but my
25:04
wife you know she emails and Facebook
25:06
and you know checking in was on that
25:08
kind of quick stuff on hers and so she
25:11
was fine with it and had a really really
25:13
old heavy clunky Dell laptop at the time
25:17
so we got rid of it you know put it away
25:19
ended up getting rid of it giving it
25:21
away but you know she started using it
25:24
and and I went probably six eight months
25:27
without using a Chromebook and katyana
25:30
have written it off when the pixel came
25:32
out it got me interested and I thought
25:33
about it and then when the some of the
25:36
newer Chromebooks started coming out I
25:38
got interested again and started looking
25:40
like the Samsung 50 and those kind of
25:42
things and so it brought me back in the
25:44
fold because I picked her up and all of
25:46
a sudden six eight months later the
25:48
thing ran way better than it did at the
25:50
beginning and so I say all that to say
25:51
this there's a chance that six months
25:54
down the road there's a really high
25:56
probability this thing's going to run a
25:58
lot better than it does right now and
26:00
that's somebody a few months down the
26:01
road reading this you need to check out
26:03
one in a store and see what it's doing
26:07
if you look at the date on this video
26:09
and go hey it's been four or five months
26:10
because cromoz gets updated every six
26:12
weeks and so they're really pushing
26:15
things forward and I have to imagine
26:16
they're just spending some serious time
26:18
in ARM architecture specifically if they
26:21
to go that way with this guy that is so
26:24
specifically Google centric so I say
26:31
everything and all of that to say this I
26:34
like it I enjoy the device it is a step
26:38
up from last year but it's still not
26:41
quite there as far as being a daily use
26:44
machine for me it's going to work for
26:46
some people it's not going to work for
26:47
me probably work well in educational
26:50
areas and people that want to capacitor
26:52
in the living room hopefully we'll see
26:54
some improvements software wise down the
26:57
road but the thing looks good feels good
26:59
on the outside and I really really like
27:02
a lot of the things that Google has done
27:03
design wise with this machine and then
27:07
it just excites me to see where
27:09
Chromebooks are going in general because
27:12
of devices like this that hopefully
27:13
you're gonna say hey we got to have
27:15
better displays and hey we got to have
27:16
better keyboards and hey we got to have
27:17
better design cues on a Chromebook stop
27:19
using old pcs and so I think this is a
27:23
step in the right direction for that so
27:25
I hope you enjoyed the review guys
27:27
thanks for watching stay tuned and I'll
27:30
have one up for the 14 inch and we'll
27:32
have a side-by-side with these two guys
27:34
catch you later
#Laptops & Notebooks