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HP quietly refreshed its popular Chromebook x360 14c a few weeks ago and from the looks of it, the 14″ convertible should look and feel just like its 10th Gen Comet Lake predecessor. The two notable changes are the 11th Gen Core i3 processor that is proving itself to be a powerhouse and an upgrade to a 128GB NVMe SSD. Both of these upgrades will make the HP Chromebook x360 14c a very formidable device for any user that wants serious horsepower without breaking the bank. The Tiger Lake Chromebook went up for sale on HP’s website last month and surprisingly, it actually retails for $10 less than the previous Comet Lake model which means you get a significant boost in CPU power and that extra, faster storage for less money. Awesome.
Best Buy actually had the first listing for the Chromebook a few weeks back but until this week, it was listed as “coming soon” with no launch date. Oddly enough, Best Buy is selling the Tiger Lake x360 14c for $649. So, when I saw that the listing was live, I did a little digging to see if there were any major differences between this model and the one at HP that’s selling for $619. At first glance at the spec sheet, the Chromebooks appeared to be completely identical. Same screen. Same RAM and storage. A fingerprint reader and all the same ports. So, why the price difference. Then, I noticed something a tad unusual. The model from Best Buy actually has a different processor than the one on HP’s site. Now, this isn’t that unusual. There are a number of OEMs out there that will use chips from Intel that have slightly different model numbers but in the past, these CPUs had little to no variance in performance or specs.
That is not the case in this scenario. Both models are powered by Intel’s 11th Gen Tiger Lake chips but the Core i3 in the Best Buy model is the Core i3-1115G4 – a dual-core CPU just like the one in the ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5. The model for sale on HP’s website is the Core i3-1125G4 which happens to be a quad-core chip. It’s very unusual to see one of these Core i3 CPUs in a Chromebook but the more peculiar part is the fact this model is priced $30 less than the one at Best Buy. Now, don’t get me wrong. The dual-core i3 is still a monster and you will have no issues with tackling even the heaviest of tasks but why throw away money, right? The single-core benchmarks on these two CPUs are pretty much identical but since the i3-1125G4 has twice the cores, the multi-core scores are significantly higher as they should be.
Now, you can do whatever you please with your money but this one seems like a no-brainer if you ask me. While you will be completely happy with the Best Buy model you’re getting an arguably better device for less money if you buy from HP. I’ve linked both devices below. If you can find any other differences between the two models that might condone the price bump at Best Buy, drop a comment below because I just don’t see it.
11th Gen Chromebook x360 14c at HP
11th Gen HP Chromebook x360 14c at Best Buy
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