Really, really impressed with my new chromebook

[slackerinabox]

Just replaced my really awful lenovo windows 8.1 touchscreen laptop (u430 I believe) with a HP Chromebook 14 (4g) and am totally in love, even as an apple fanboy. After months of flaky wifi (I even used an usb wifi adapter to spotty results), random touchpad shutoffs, and touch screen glitches I moved on, and have been very impressed by it's consistent performance, lack of the usual windows slowdown, and just slick experience. The chromebook mirrors what i like about the apple experience, everything just works and it functions almost like an appliance (why i prefer the iphone to android, i'm not a tickerer anymore and want everything to just be consistent).

also, kudos to hp. i've always thought their laptops felt like toys and have had many fail on me in the past. The build quality here is just exceptional. great keyboard, good trackpad without any false clicks (that plagued me on windows laptops), and very rigid chassis. the screen is pretty mediocre, but what can i expect for $238 with lifetime 4g (i know, only 200mb/ a month but the option to pay $5 for the rare day i head out of the house to a place without free wifi is a pretty sweet deal. no monthly bills and the same convenience! the kicker - the remote desktop works well enough that i can use my desktop mac with very little pause, full screen if i need to use a "Real" app. killer deal.


i sound like an ad, but i previously ranted and raved about how awful chromebooks were and how the concept would be doomed to fail. i take it all back, microsoft should be very scared.

 

[ponyo]

I have the HP Chromebook 14 4G 32gb model and I love it as well. The screen could be better and the laptop little smaller and lighter but that's my wish. The lifetime free monthly 200mb 4G is great. It comes in handy and it's more than enough for me. You can use it to make and receive free phone calls on your Chromebook either through Gmail or Hangout. I installed Crouton and Elementary OS for instant switch back and forth between ChromeOS and ElementaryOS. I have VLC, XBMC, Steam, LibreOffice, Kingsoft Office, qBittorent, and bunch of game emulators installed. 8-9 hours battery life with ChromeOS and Linux with superior touchpad to Windows. I paid $220 for my Woot refurb HP Chromebook 14. Worth every penny and more.

 

[Muyoso]

A word of warning depending on what color you bought. The plastic that HP used is like the most stainable material known to man and there is no way to clean it that I have found short of sanding the plastic down.. Even placing the laptop in a carrying case will stain it.

 

[s44]

Google has really good touchpad drivers for these devices. Even the Acer C720, which has a terrible keyboard, is perfectly usable via the pad. Apparently the generic Linux drivers are much worse...

 

[slackerinabox]

Google has really good touchpad drivers for these devices. Even the Acer C720, which has a terrible keyboard, is perfectly usable via the pad. Apparently the generic Linux drivers are much worse...

Linux has terrible drivers? What about windows! Short of $1,500 thinkpads (I'd get a macbook air at that price anyways), most every windows touchpad I've used has been awful. From zooming when not intended to clicks just while typing.. I just don't get it, after all these years you'd think they'd get it right. Ditto with flaky wifi, most windows laptops I've used required an external USB wifi because the built in chipsets have just been awful.

 

[Dman8777]

If you go from a crappy windows laptop to a chromebook, it's really no surprise that you're pleased. Try a good windows laptop though and your impression might be a little different.

I've used plenty of windows laptops with no wifi or trackpad problems.

 

[ponyo]

If you go from a crappy windows laptop to a chromebook, it's really no surprise that you're pleased. Try a good windows laptop though and your impression might be a little different.

I've used plenty of windows laptops with no wifi or trackpad problems.

I can only compare it to my Yoga 13 laptop but the touchpad on the HP Chromebook 14 is leagues better than the Yoga 13. And I think pretty much all chromebooks come with both 2.4 and 5ghz wifi. My Yoga 13 only has the 2.4ghz. The wifi strength on The HP Chromebook 14 is the best I've used. I can use it in the area of the house I would normally not get signal with the iPhone 5s, iPad 4, Nexus 7 FHD, and the Yoga 13.

 

[slackerinabox]

If you go from a crappy windows laptop to a chromebook, it's really no surprise that you're pleased. Try a good windows laptop though and your impression might be a little different.

I've used plenty of windows laptops with no wifi or trackpad problems.

We have a few Surface Pros 2.0 at work and I wouldn't consider that a crappy windows laptop. Still, i've had to reset the wifi drivers and it's just not as fluid as the chromebook. Sure, the chromebook's doing less, but I think a Mac desktop and a chrome companion laptop makes a lot of sense.

 

[Dman8777]

I have never had to reset a wifi driver. I'm not even sure what that means...

 

[ponyo]

I have never had to reset a wifi driver. I'm not even sure what that means...

Neither do I. Chromebook killed any desire I had of getting MacBook Air. I look at Chromebook as $200 MacBook Air replacement. Both have the crappy low res TN screen but both get amazing battery life. Both have OS with limited software selection. Why pay $1,000 for MacBook Air?

 

[slackerinabox]

I have never had to reset a wifi driver. I'm not even sure what that means...

Remove driver, reboot, and reinstall. Wrong choice of words, kind sir.

The 3 has the same issue apparently: http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-schedules-surface-pro-3-update-to-fix-wi-fi-issues-7000031621/

 

[vbuggy]

Remove driver, reboot, and reinstall. Wrong choice of words, kind sir.

The 3 has the same issue apparently: http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-schedules-surface-pro-3-update-to-fix-wi-fi-issues-7000031621/

I dunno why the Surface issues get such a regular airing when the 13 Pros for example have equally crappy wireless IRL (along with what seems to be a lot of other Haswell notebooks, but I'd say Apple and - by a larger margin - Sony are the biggest offenders in my usage)

... oh wait, Apple fixed it once via an update. So it MUST be fixed.

 

[ggadrian]

Neither do I. Chromebook killed any desire I had of getting MacBook Air. I look at Chromebook as $200 MacBook Air replacement. Both have the crappy low res TN screen but both get amazing battery life. Both have OS with limited software selection. Why pay $1,000 for MacBook Air?

The air screen might be TN, but it's far from crappy. It would be better if it were an IPS panel, but the current one is decent.

And about the software, comparing OS X and Chrome OS selection it's just wrong. It just shows you're an Apple hater. I use Windows, OS X and Linux on a daily basis and aside from some engineering software, I don't miss any program in OS X, I have everything I want/need plus some very useful UNIX command-line programs.

 

[ponyo]

The air screen might be TN, but it's far from crappy. It would be better if it were an IPS panel, but the current one is decent.

And about the software, comparing OS X and Chrome OS selection it's just wrong. It just shows you're an Apple hater. I use Windows, OS X and Linux on a daily basis and aside from some engineering software, I don't miss any program in OS X, I have everything I want/need plus some very useful UNIX command-line programs.

TN screen on $1,000 plus laptop is criminal. I can accept it on $200 laptop. Give me IPS on $1,000 one. Apple is just being cheap.

Comparing OS X and Chrome OS software selection is not wrong. Both have limited programs compared to Windows. With Crouton, I can instantly switch to Linux with one set of keystroke press. Another keystroke instantly switches me back to ChromeOS. Just like you don't miss any program in OS X, I don't miss any program with ChromeOS and ElementaryOS. Chromebook does everything Macbook Air would've done for me at $200. Chromebook even has free 3G wireless which is something Macbook Air doesn't have.

I'm not an Apple hater. I'm bang for buck guy and buy whatever gets the job done at the best price point.

 

[TheStu]

A word of warning depending on what color you bought. The plastic that HP used is like the most stainable material known to man and there is no way to clean it that I have found short of sanding the plastic down.. Even placing the laptop in a carrying case will stain it.

The plastic MacBooks had this problem as well. I found that a Magic Eraser would get it out pretty well.

 

[Crow550]

Been hearing good buzz about the HP Chromebook 14" and the Acer Chromebook 11"C720 & C720P with touch screen.

Android apps will also start to move to Chrome OS which will be awesome with both Mouse & Keyboard support and touch support as those are already built into Android anyways. Maybe well see VLC and Skype soon enough.

Glad you like it. I know a few people who don't know crap about Windows PCs and just want online anyways so I point them to Chromebooks.

They seem to be getting better and better. I can see people who don't care to use touch apps on a Tablet and just want to browse the web (the touch screen versions mainly for touch scrolling and zooming really).

 

[Ramses]

I bought a cheap used acer awhile ago, upgraded the ram and love it. I was laptop shopping, now I'm chromebox shopping for a work computer. It really just works.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Wish it had 1080p and their remote desktop app was better.

 

[s44]

HP is replacing this model with a 1080p K1-based version. Some (all?) will also have touch.