The Chromebook Pixel just met its first worthy rival that's actually another Chromebook, the HP Chromebook 13. Rather, I should say "frenemy", as HP and Google collaborated quite closely to bring forth one of the most pristine and productive Chromebooks to market.
What you see before you is a 13-inch, full-metal machine packing some serious power and versatility. Driven by Intel's Core m series of processors and not one, but two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt, the laptop can drive up to two Full HD (or one 4K) displays at once.
While Google has made huge headway in the past year or so in making Chromebooks close to 100% viable for the office, HP aims to herald in the sea change with one gorgeous vessel.
Design and display
Wrapped almost entirely in anodized, brushed aluminum (the bottom is coated in a soft-touch plastic), the HP Chromebook 13 oozes style from every angle. Naturally, that's helped by a slick HP logo in chrome (teehee) smack in the center of the lid and a grayed "Chrome" logo where it is on every other Chromebook.
Supported by a cylindrical hinge that's also donned in chrome – see a theme here? – the Chromebook looks as if it's a 2-in-1 device, but nay. And, honestly, that's not a bad thing. I appreciate HP and Google's laser-focus on the basics.
Weighing 2.86 pounds and measuring just a half-inch thin exactly, the Chromebook 13 is definitely svelte but also feels rather dense. I'll chalk that up mostly to the aluminum frame and handling so many super-light 2-in-1's lately.
Regardless, this laptop won't weigh your bag down much – it's a tenth of a pound lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Air, after all.
HP has slapped a beautiful, 13-inch WLED display that starts at FHD (1,920 x 1,080) but can also be configured to QHD+, or 3,200 x 1,800 pixels. The latter may be a bit of overkill for the average worker, but option is welcome nonetheless.
Judging by my brief time with the device at an event held in Google's New York office, the display produces what appear to be awfully accurate colors and wide viewing angles. That's something I wouldn't expect to change much between the display options, as they both employ UWVA – or Ultra-Wide Viewing Angle – and WLED (localized dimming LEDs) technology.
Using the laptop, and what's inside
Supporting the dual-core, Intel Core m series of chips – a 900MHz m3 through a 1.1GHz m7, though the machine starts with a Pentium chip – are 16GB of DDR3 memory and 32GB of solid-state, eMMC storage. Both of those are standard across all configurations, and every CPU in the lineup uses Intel's HD Graphics 515.
Backing up those components are two Bang & Olufsen speakers behind a slick, stylized grille just between the laptop's hinge and keyboard deck. Rounding out the package are 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, a microSD card reader, an HD webcam and the kicker: one USB 3.1 port.
Considering the two USB-C ports, that alone is huge for support of the myriad legacy accessories and devices lying around most offices and classrooms. (I'm looking at you, MacBook.)
Usability from a connectivity standpoint seems to be all but nailed, with a new dock accessory from HP allowing for output to two additional displays up to FHD resolution from a single port among other niceties.
Usability from a, well, use standpoint is a bit of a mixed bag, at least from first glance. For instance, the keyboard is a beautiful set of matte, black plastic backlit keys in now-standard island orientation. However, I found the feedback – or what I call "punchiness" – to be lacking.
It's certainly not a deal breaker given the minimal amount of Z-axis height HP had to implement the keyboard, but it will certainly be a learning curve for most. The same issue affects the plastic trackpad, but to a lesser degree. Luckily, tracking and multi-touch gestures appear super smooth after my short time with the laptop.
That said, the FHD version of the laptop is said to last for 11 hours and 30 minutes on a charge, which would make it one of – if not the – longest lasting Chromebooks out there. (Strangely, there's no claim to the QHD+ model's longevity.) If it checks out, that would put this laptop well at "the MacBook standard" we all can't help but apply.
Early verdict
While aimed for use in the office primarily, regardless of what you're using it for, the HP Chromebook 13 is poised to be one to beat when it lands later this month starting at $499 (about £342, AU$655). Considering that this is a Chromebook, the champion of affordable modern laptops, that's a little hard to swallow.
But, that depends almost entirely on our perception of what Chromebooks are, and it's clear that both HP and Google are looking to either turn that perception around or at least broaden it. It just so happens that the Chromebook 13 looks to be doing a damn good job of that already.
I've been bullish on Chromebooks for a long time, but I've had mixed feelings on the whole "premium Chromebook" idea since the first Pixel. That said, I welcome the HP Chromebook 13 – and Google's constantly updating Chrome OS – to convince me otherwise, and I'm pretty confident that it could in a full review.
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