Why I wish the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook was at Best Buy

The HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook isn’t just the best Chromebook ever made; it’s arguably one of the best all-around laptops ever made, period. It is superlative in so many ways, from its excellent build quality and incredibly bright screen to the super smooth haptic trackpad. It truly offers the most cohesive Chromebook experience you can buy and I wish so badly that more people could experience it.

Big swings like this from manufacturers like HP push the market forward, and halo devices like the Dragonfly Pro show what a high-end Chromebook can look like. And although I know HP’s goal likely wasn’t to mass produce and sell large numbers of these devices, I still wish that more people could see and touch this Chromebook in person.

You see, this type of Chromebook has the potential to lure in a customer at Best Buy who came to shop for a Windows laptop or MacBook. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been using the Dragonfly Pro and people have asked me what type of Mac or Surface it is. It has that sort of look and aesthetic that simply draws people in.

Why did the Dragonfly Pro never make it to Best Buy?

From what we can tell, the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook has sold quite well even without being in big-box retail stores. And, as you’ve probably noticed, it’s never really been on sale, either. HP only sells this device on their own site and probably never really felt the need to push sales by discounting it. Perhaps the release of Chromebook Plus in October 2023 caused HP to reconsider a broader push with the Dragonfly Pro, but this device already meets all the Chromebook Plus requirements. A quick refresh to include Chromebook Plus on the lid would have been all it needed. And since the Dragonfly Pro is currently sold out on HP’s website, maybe they are finally prepping for a refresh.

Look, I get it – when a piece of hardware comes along that gets so much right and absolutely nails the user experience, the aesthetics, and the most stringent build quality standards, you don’t have to reduce the price to get people interested. And the true ChromeOS enthusiasts who are interested in a device this expensive are going to seek it out and are probably perfectly fine purchasing from HP’s website.

Perhaps the $999 price tag was just too high for Best Buy to take a risk on a high-end Chromebook like this. On their end, they weren’t likely even willing to purchase any inventory of the Dragonfly Pro, if HP even offered it up.

You can’t really blame Best Buy if this was their reasoning. In a world where most consumers still think of Chromebooks as budget and affordable, a $999 Chromebook is a tough sell. If they purchase inventory and have it take up valuable shelf space, they need to know that it’s going to sell.

But, hear me out; if your average buyer walking into Best Buy could at least see the Dragonfly Pro sitting next to a MacBook, they might at least consider peeking around at the other Chromebooks. The beauty of a halo device like this that draws people in is that they may not buy the top-of-the-line device, but they will see other quality devices there on the shelf that are in their price range. The halo device was just there to draw them in. I know that Google’s focus right now is on Chromebook Plus and driving mid-range device sales, but I think having the Dragonfly Pro on shelves could go a long way towards getting buyers into the Chromebook section.

The King of Chromebooks

This Chromebook is still the King of Chromebooks and is the Pixelbook successor in many ways. With Chromebook Plus now here, there’s hope that maybe HP is planning a refreshed device with a larger marketing push. This is such a stellar Chromebook and HP did such an amazing job crafting such a focused and cohesive device. I applaud them for this, but as a Chromebook evangelist, I want to show this beauty off to the whole world, and I wish that more people would’ve had the chance to see the greatness of the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook over the past year or so.