HP Chromebook x360 14c Review

HP's Chromebook x360 14c is a first-class Chromebook that neatly navigates the space between today's hordes of plain, mainstream Chromebooks under $500 and pricey, enterprise-oriented ones from Dell and others. A $629 spend at Best Buy gains you a 14-inch convertible with handsome aluminum construction (though its bottom is plastic), an ample 8GB of memory, and concern for security with a fingerprint reader and a webcam kill switch. As it happens, though, the same $629 at Best Buy will get you our Editors' Choice-award-winning Acer Chromebook Spin 713. Versus the Chromebook x360 14c, the Spin 713 offers a 128GB solid-state drive instead of a smaller, slower 64GB of eMMC flash storage, plus a full-size HDMI port so external-monitor users needn't fuss with adapters. (It also has a Core i5 versus Core i3 processor, but the HP proved just as fast in our benchmark tests.) The Acer's value keeps the HP from an award nod, but the latter is a winner nonetheless.

Looks Good, Could Lose a Few Ounces 

The Chromebook x360 14c is a sleek silver-gray slab with the four-slash HP logo in chrome decorating its lid, which closes with such a strong magnetic seal that it has to be pried open. It's easy to slip into a briefcase at 0.7 by 12.8 by 8.6 inches, though it's too beefy to hold in your hands instead of your lap in tablet mode—at 3.64 pounds, the HP is a full pound heavier than the 14-inch Asus Chromebook Flip C436.

The hinges that let the full HD (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) touch screen flip and fold through the familiar convertible modes hold firmly, with little wobble when you tap the display in laptop mode. There's a substantial gap, though, between the screen and the base when the unit is folded back into tablet mode. 

On both the left and right edges of the laptop, you'll find a USB Type-C port suitable for plugging in the AC adapter. The left edge also holds the power button, a volume rocker, and a tiny sliding switch that disables the webcam. On the right are a USB Type-A port (with a drop-jaw design like some notebooks' Ethernet ports), an audio jack, and a microSD card slot. The Chromebook x360 14c has support for the latest wireless: 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6), along with Bluetooth 5.0.

You're prompted to save a fingerprint with the small square reader on the palm rest during setup and can use it instead of typing your Google account password if you lock the Chromebook from the taskbar menu. I couldn't find an option, however, to require a fingerprint to wake the device if you close and reopen the lid, as with the Asus Chromebook Flip C436. 

Comfortable Keys 

The backlit keyboard follows the standard Chromebook layout, with a search/menu key instead of Caps Lock and browser, brightness, and volume controls along the top row. The cursor-arrow keys are arranged in the proper inverted T instead of a clumsy row (heavy hint to HP's Windows laptop designers).

The typing feel is pleasantly crisp, with responsive tactile feedback. The large buttonless touchpad glides and responds smoothly to one- and two-finger taps. (The latter is the equivalent of a right-click.)

I never see a laptop screen rated at 250 nits of brightness without wishing for 300 nits or, better yet, 400, but the HP's display is certainly adequate, with truly white instead of grayish backgrounds and good contrast. IPS technology ensures wide viewing angles, and colors are reasonably rich and well-saturated. Like other Chromebooks, the Chromebook x360 14c offers a variety of "looks like" resolutions as well as its native 1080p (the default is 1,536 by 864), letting you view screen elements in mighty or tiny size. 

The 720p webcam captures colorful but slightly dark and noisy images. Speakers on either side of the keyboard produce above-average sound, not too loud but clear, with a hint of bass and easily distinguished overlapping tracks.

Convertible Chromebooks Hit the Test Bench 

Subjectively, the Chromebook x360 14c is a fine performer, not hesitating as I opened a dozen browser tabs and enjoyed YouTube videos. For our objective performance comparisons, I pitted it against four other 2-in-1 Chromebooks: the 14-inch Asus Chromebook Flip C436 and 13.5-inch Acer Chromebook Spin 713 mentioned earlier, plus two 13.3-inch convertibles. These are the Lenovo Flex 5 Chromebook, which like the HP and Asus has a Core i3 CPU, and the Google Pixelbook Go, which uses a low-power Core i5.

The first benchmarks we use are Principled Technologies' venerable CrXPRT (a suite of simulated Chrome OS productivity apps) and its more recent WebXPRT 3 (a browser-based test of HTML and JavaScript throughput).

Impressively, the HP's dual-core Core i3-10110U goes toe to toe with the Core i5 of the Acer. The Pixelbook Go's 5-watt Core i5 brings up the rear. 

JetStream 2 is another performance test we use. It combines 64 JavaScript and WebAssembly benchmarks to measure a browser's (in this case, the default Chrome's) suitability for advanced web applications. 

Another tie for the Chromebook x360 14c and the Spin 713, with the Lenovo claiming the bronze medal. These aren't the fastest Chromebooks we've ever tested, but they're solid contenders. 

We've recently added UL's PCMark for Android Work 2.0 test to our Chromebook regimen. This test suite runs in a small smartphone-style window and mimics productivity operations ranging from text and image editing to data charting and video playback. 

The HP finished in the middle of the pack here, though the spread was narrow. The Pixelbook Go trailed again. 

Finally, to test a Chromebook's battery life, we loop a locally stored video with screen brightness set at 50 percent, audio volume at 100 percent, and Wi-Fi disabled until the system quits. 

Though it was next to last in this group, the Chromebook x360 14c's unplugged time of nearly 11-and-a-half hours indicates you'll have no trouble getting through a day of work or school.

You Pays Your Money, and You Takes Your Choice

If you're in the Chromebook hunt with about $600 to spend on a nice convertible-style model, you have a happy decision ahead of you.

In terms of our Editors' Choice award honors, we narrowly prefer the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 for its solid-state drive, HDMI port, and taller 3:2 aspect ratio screen. But if you don't mind carrying a bit more ballast, the HP Chromebook x360 14c is an excellent Chrome OS convertible that offers substantial savings over several corporate and deluxe models. It's well worth considering. Plus, in the early going, we've seen the HP model inconsistently on sale from Best Buy at a $130 markdown, or $499. At that price, it's a no-brainer over the Spin 713 without a discount.

HP Chromebook x360 14c Specs

Laptop Class	Convertible 2-in-1, Chromebook
Processor	Intel Core i3-10110U
Processor Speed	2.1 GHz
RAM (as Tested)	8 GB
Boot Drive Type	eMMC Flash Memory
Boot Drive Capacity (as Tested)	64 GB
Screen Size	14 inches
Native Display Resolution	1,920 by 1,080
Touch Screen	Yes
Panel Technology	IPS
Variable Refresh Support	None
Screen Refresh Rate	60 Hz
Graphics Processor	Intel UHD Graphics
Wireless Networking	802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6)
Dimensions (HWD)	0.7 by 12.8 by 8.6 inches
Weight	3.64 pounds
Operating System	Google Chrome OS
Tested Battery Life (Hours:Minutes)	11:28

Posted in: Laptop