HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook: First Look

Hi, I'm Dan Ackerman and we are taking a look at the HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook. That's right, even though this looks and feels a lot like a regular mid-size laptop, it's actually a Chromebook. That's one of a very small group of laptops that runs Google's Chrome Operating System which is essentially the Chrome browser and a couple of very shallow, you know, onboard features-- a very rudimentary file system. You could see some apps right here. Google calls them apps; a lot of times, they're really just online versions of popular software or websites that are specifically designed to work with the Chrome Operating System. Now, some Chromebooks we've looked at are less expensive-- $300, $250. This is $329 and for that, you get an Intel Celeron processor, you get 16 gigs of online-- of onboard storage which is not really a lot but some Chrome books are also much more expensive. Google has their Pixel version which is like $1200 for the big retina display screen. This guy kind of fits a little bit uncomfortably in the middle, not the least expensive, not the most fully featured. But it is probably the easiest to use in terms of having a full-size keyboard and a full-size screen-- although it's not a touch screen-- and a touch pad that's, you know okay; good for scrolling but not-- but not super high-end because this is a $300 laptop. So, the keyboard is gonna be kind of clacky; touchpad is not gonna be as responsive as on a more expensive system. The big question you have to ask yourself moving to a Chromebook is, "Can I handle having to be online 99 percent of the time and doing everything through the browser?" If you use, let's say, iTunes or Photoshop or various specific apps like that a lot, then this is not the system for you. If you're using Facebook and Twitter and Gmail and Google Docs and other tools that are already online, then there's a much more compelling case to be made. That said, much like netbooks a couple of years ago or even tablets, a Chromebook does make a better secondary or travel system, than your main one. I think if you're using this as your main laptop every day, you would be kind of frustrated by it. But for $329 for a 14-inch screen and a decent web browsing experience, you know, it could be worth a look as something to take with you on the road. I'm Dan Ackerman and that's the HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook.