HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch overview: An enormous-screened finances laptop computer for the best person

Is “spectacular Chromebook” nonetheless an oxymoron?

Luxe fashions just like the $999 Google Pixelbook exist (properly, existed), however plastic, practical-to-a-fault clunkers have outlined this style of web-based gadgets because it debuted in 2011. The Chromebook™️ is infamously low cost (costing and searching) and customarily relegated to schoolwork or fundamental looking — your archetypical bare-minimum laptop computer.

Nevertheless, now there’s Chromebook Plus. Google launched this taxonomy for a brand new breed of ChromeOS computer systems in October 2023, marking the Chromebook expertise’s first correct retooling in over a decade. It rolled out within the type of an OS replace for sure older Chromebooks and through eight brand-new fashions from Acer, ASUS, Lenovo, and HP, which begin at $399 to retain an enchantment for finances consumers.

I spent a number of weeks with the HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch, one in every of two 15.6-inch fashions from that unique octet, which retails for $499. I will let you know upfront that it makes some sacrifices to stick to that value level, particularly in construct and audio high quality, and its battery life is a letdown. I do not suppose it is fairly capable of slough off a few of these Chromebook stereotypes. 

That mentioned, the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch is a lot peppy for informal productiveness, particularly when you’re an enormous Google Workspace particular person, and its colourful, capacious display screen is superb for off-the-clock leisure. It additionally comes with some helpful options and AI instruments you will not discover in non-Plus Chromebooks. It is not an impressive laptop computer worthy of our Mashable Alternative Award, nevertheless it’s decidedly stable when you’re in search of a dependable cut price big-screener.

The one drawback is that it does not exist in a vacuum.

HP Chromebook Plus 15.5-inch specs and value

Fashions with the “Chromebook Plus” label are assured to have sure specs, together with:

• A minimum of a Twelfth-generation Intel Core i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 7000 sequence processor (i.e., a CPU from 2022 or newer)

• A minimum of 8GB of RAM

• A minimum of 128GB of storage

• A 1080p webcam with temporal noise discount

• An IPS show with a decision of at the very least 1080p (Full HD)

This new standardization does not rewrite the ebook on Chromebooks, so to talk: It has been doable to purchase a non-Plus mannequin with this {hardware} earlier than. Quite, Google mentioned it is meant to make it simpler for consumers to slender down their choices and establish fashions that “will truly provide you with what you want, on the value you need.”

The Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch is a standard clamshell-style laptop computer that sells for $499 at Greatest Purchase. Beneath its hood, you may discover:

• An Intel Core i3-N305 processor (a cell CPU from early 2023)

• Intel UHD graphics

• 8GB of RAM

• 128GB of Common Flash Storage (UFS)

• A 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080 decision show (non-touchscreen) in a 16:9 facet ratio with a 60Hz refresh price

• MediaTek WiFi 6

• Two USB-C 3.0 ports, one USB-A 3.0 port, an SD card slot, and a headphone jack

One other variant of the HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch is obtainable instantly on the HP web site beginning at $599.99; it may be upgraded with a 144hz refresh price, a backlit keyboard, and an Intel WiFi 6E card for a maxed-out value of $659.99. (This overview solely covers the $499 Greatest Purchase mannequin, FYI.)

HP Chromebook Plus 15.5-inch design

Let’s acknowledge the polymer elephant within the room up prime — sure, this laptop computer has a plastic shell, although you in all probability would not comprehend it from seems alone. It is available in a mineral silver end that provides it a chic, metallic-seeming sheen, and there is a reflective HP emblem on its lid. It measures in at simply 0.78 inches skinny; whereas it isn’t a very small laptop computer, it is nonetheless modern. Its hinge is tight and durable and under no circumstances creaky.

That mentioned, be light. I do not suppose you would utterly junk the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch with out severe intent, however I additionally do not suppose it might stroll away from an unintentional fall or drop with out some cuts and bruises. My loaner unit’s lid one way or the other picked up a nick throughout my testing, and I used to be solely carrying it between my desk, sofa, and kitchen desk.

Within the plastic’s protection, it does hold the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch comparatively mild for its measurement at 3.81 kilos. Small children would possibly pitch a match in the event that they needed to haul it round of their backpack all day, however I might simply tote it round in a single arm.

The Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch’s low value is a bit more obvious in its plastic touchpad, which is correct and responsive however weirdly grippy, as if it must be waxed or Zambonied. My fingers made a uninteresting skidding sound each few gestures, like a scaled-down model of sneakers friction-squeaking on a fitness center ground. Discovering the best finger stress took some changes.

The standard of the keyboard can be on par with what I might count on from a $500 laptop computer. It is positively not the worst keyboard I’ve ever used — I survived the butterfly keyboard period and all I acquired had been these awful Genius Bar payments! — nevertheless it’s not nice. The easiest way I can describe it’s that it feels such as you’re pushing the keys into Styrofoam: stiff, but additionally sort of ethereal and mushy, and total simply unsatisfying. I acquired used to it over time, too.

As an apart, I wish to flag that there is a built-in numeric keypad to the best of the Chromebook Plus 15-inch’s keyboard. It is not my favourite design selection, because it makes the keyboard and touchpad off-center, however I have never docked factors off for it as a result of I do know keypads are a draw for some customers.

In the meantime, the IPS show on the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch is distractingly good, and simply my favourite factor about this laptop computer. The colours are intense, with good distinction and wealthy blacks, and an anti-reflective panel preserves that high quality at most viewing angles, even in direct daylight. It additionally feels large regardless of some reasonably thick horizontal bezels. It actually has no proper wanting nearly as good because it does.

I suppose the show may very well be brighter — it maxes out at a homely 250 nits — nevertheless it’s workable and form of a pleasant break from my Apple MacBook Professional’s 500-nit display screen, which may typically really feel like staring right into a high-beam headlight. It is not blinding, however its whites aren’t dingy. I could make peace with that.

I would not complain if the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch had a better refresh price, and also you is likely to be inclined to improve to the HP.com-exclusive 144Hz mannequin, however 60Hz is totally affordable for $500. I seen a bit jitteriness after I was taking part in Lies of P on it through Xbox Recreation Move, however gaming and streaming had been in any other case passably easy. (Chromebooks aren’t the finest for gaming, however Google successfully endorses that use case by throwing in three free months of NVIDIA GeForce NOW’s Precedence tier with each Chromebook, together with Plus fashions.)

The 1080p webcam is nested within the bezel throughout the very prime of the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch’s show, and it has a built-in privateness shutter which you could manually slide on and off. Its image high quality was sufficient in images and video calls, although it skewed a bit saturated and overly smoothed. I want there was an choice to show the temporal noise discount off — it made me look a bit too airbrushed. 

The Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch’s stereo audio system are extra overtly subpar. The audio is loud sufficient, nevertheless it seems like all of the oomph has been sucked out of it, as when you’re listening to it from inside a closet. There’s, like, a damaging quantity of bass. Whereas not a dealbreaker for moi, since I sometimes put on headphones whereas utilizing a laptop computer, it is likely to be for some.

Connectivity-wise, the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch comes outfitted with a good variety of ports: There is a headphone jack, two USB-C ports, one USB-A port, and a slot for an SD card.

HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch efficiency and battery life

So, what’s so “Plus”? Google has a pair totally different promoting factors for its new Chromebook line, one being “energy that will get extra completed,” per a web page on the corporate’s web site. Licensed fashions provide “2x the processing energy” in comparison with the most well-liked Chromebooks bought within the second half of 2022, it mentioned, and provide “as much as 10 hours of battery life” per cost.

A consultant for Google instructed me that the corporate does not publish any specifics about its prime sellers, so I could not personally confirm its declare about additional processing energy. However anecdotally, the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch was capable of zip by my every day workflow, which includes bopping round between the Slack app, Google Workspace instruments, Twitter, Zoom, and Mashable’s CMS. It by no means ran scorching, both, even after I sat it on my blanketed lap to play a number of hours of Palworld and Murderer’s Creed Odyssey after work in the future. (The fan cranked up a bit, nevertheless it was by no means noticeably loud.)

In a extra technical setting, the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch clocked in at a multi-core rating of 4,121 in Primate Labs’ Geekbench 6 CPU benchmark (the Android model), which had its system run quite a lot of real-world duties; the upper the rating, the higher. That places it barely decrease than the HP Chromebook Plus x360 14c (one other new Plus mannequin), which scored a 4,318, with one asterisk: The x360 14c begins at $699 and retails for $819.99 as examined.

As for battery life, that “as much as 10 hours” bit is doing plenty of heavy lifting. I acquired solely seven hours and 11 minutes out of the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch in CrXPRT 2’s battery life check. Eight hours is the minimal we search for in Chromebooks, 9 to 10 hours being excellent, so it sort of flopped right here. Shifting on!

HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch software program options

The opposite crux of Google’s Chromebook Plus spiel is a set of latest software program options: It “works like magic, seems like enjoyable,” the corporate mentioned. I am undecided I might go that far, however most of them land someplace on the spectrum between “handy” and “sort of cool,” and in the end elevate the person expertise ultimately.

Falling beneath the previous categorization is File Sync. This new function makes all the Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides in your “My Drive” obtainable with out WiFi, then robotically updates the unique information as soon as your connection is restored. Offline usability has been a significant critique of Chromebooks since eternally, and whereas this is not a very thrilling tweak, I can see it being a pleasant peace-of-mind factor for vacationers and commuters.

Again over within the webcam division, there is a new “pod” for video controls that seems within the decrease navigation bar at any time when the digicam is turned on. These embrace some AI-powered settings like noise cancellation, reside caption, and enhance lighting, which work throughout platforms like Google Meet and Zoom. Once more, nothing revolutionary, nevertheless it was useful to have them so available for mid-call toggling… after they labored. (Reside caption did not for me.)

Chromebook Plus additionally brings new assist for in style multimedia apps like Adobe Photoshop on the net, Adobe Specific, and LumaFusion, a video editor, in addition to Google Pictures’ Magic Eraser function, which you may additionally discover on Google’s Pixel 6, 7, and eight sequence telephones. (Those that buy a brand new Chromebook Plus will obtain three free-month trials of each Adobe merchandise and a one-off low cost on LumaFusion.) That is arguably Google’s boldest replace contemplating “Chromebook” and “picture and video modifying” are not often utilized in the identical sentence, except it is to say that the previous is dangerous for the latter.

I performed round with Adobe Specific and Magic Eraser in my testing, and with out going into an excessive amount of element, each labored properly. Adobe Specific may very well be a bit pokey, nevertheless it’s a flashy Canva different with some hit-or-miss generative AI options. Magic Eraser made it simple to wash distractions out of images, or “camouflage” them in order that their colours did not stick out. Whereas I would not purchase a Chromebook Plus solely to make use of these instruments, it is thrilling to see them succeed on a $500 laptop computer.

Final, and possibly least, Chromebook Plus fashions include two dynamic wallpapers that change based mostly on the time of day. They’re paired with matching animated screensavers and Chrome shade themes.

Google mentioned it’ll “hold including new options to Chromebook Plus over time”; an AI-powered short-form content material editor, generative video backgrounds, and desktop wallpapers are within the works for later in 2024.

Is the HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch price it?

The Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch is a low-priced choose for productiveness revolving across the Google ecosystem with a big, vibrant show and a few new software program options which might be at the very least fascinating, if not game-changing. It is unfair to match a Chromebook to other forms of laptops, however as a lifelong MacBook person, I really feel compelled to confess that I used to be pleasantly shocked by how a lot I loved utilizing this laptop computer (even when it did not convert me away from Apple).

Here is the factor, although: The Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch is not the one new Chromebook Plus, and different fashions kickflip on it in terms of total worth.

For example, the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 and the ASUS Chromebook Plus CX34 each include barely higher processors and value $399 apiece, or $100 much less. (The previous is one other 15.6-incher, too.) In the meantime, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus will get you a more recent Thirteenth-gen Intel Core i3 processor, a backlit keyboard, and a 2-in-1 design with a multitouch show for a similar $499. 

Even when these different fashions make the identical main concessions because the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch within the realms of plastic building, audio high quality, and battery life, the trade-offs appear extra price it on paper. (I am hoping to check them, too, to see if this interprets in apply.)

In the end, and if nothing else, I believe the very best factor in regards to the Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch simply is likely to be the potential it reveals for these different Plus-ed choices. “Spectacular Chromebook” stays an oxymoron on this case, nevertheless it might veer towards tautology elsewhere among the many lineup, at the very least so far as finances laptops are involved. Google is onto one thing.