More Thoughts on my Chromebook

So, I got an HP 11 when they first became available and I am still using it to this day. Actually. I am stilling loving it to this day.

I am an IT professional in a Windows world. All day and night I am in front of a Windows machine fixing, poking, testing and of course griping. When I am not working I prefer the simple, clean and somewhat minimalist Chrome Operating System. Now don’t get me wrong, I feel that if connected to the web one could do most needed or desired tasks with a chrome OS device. I for example do most if not all of my blogging, learning, researching, writing, etc. etc. . All from the comfort of my very lightweight and cool running HP Chromebook. I simply love this machine. Well, I love the OS and like my current Chromebook.

The HP Chromebook 11 is a very under powered device. But it has an excellent build quality and display. My daughter has an Acer C720 which looks funky, has a washed out display, but is so much faster than my HP. I am talking night and day difference as far as performance. Her Acer was also only $170.00 where my HP was around $270.00. I will add that when it comes to watching movies my HP is a beast.

The battery life on the HP started off around 8 hours per charge with the screen at about 70%. Now I run the display around 50% and I get about 5 to 6 hours. I am very disappointed about that. The display still looks great, the audio still pumps to your heart’s content. Keyboard still feels and sounds great. Hinge and overall build are both still holding on great. This is a very well built machine. Camera and microphones do not get used very offened but when I do use them. They appear to work fine.

Just to let everyone know. I also had an HP 13 Chromebook with better processor, more ram, 32GB hard drive and a metal body. I really wanted to love the larger device. Unforchantly, I almost hated it. I did like the extra power the larger device possessed. As well, I really preferred the 13 inch size over the 11 inch size. That was about all that I liked. The display was the worst part of the machine. That and the charger. The HP 13 has the same old tired HP style of charger. I was hoping for something a little more modern. Overall the 13 inch is not the one that I recommend if it came down to just the two HP models. The 11 has way more “wow” factor to it as well as costing less.

Well, that is my rant. I am currently looking for a new Chromebook and I think I am leaning towards one of the new Acers with a touch screen. I really like the Asus models but I want 4GBs of ram on my next machine and it appears though the Asus does not offer the Chromebooks with higher ram.