Review HP Pavilion 14-c010us Chromebook

The Chromebook is more or less a Sleekbook running Chrome OS; it even shares the same design cues and materials as the Sleekbook 15z we reviewed earlier this year. HP’s Sleekbook branding is essentially meant for machines which are built with Ultrabook principles in mind, but which cannot—due to the lack of an SSD or a qualified processor or otherwise—be actually called an Ultrabook. The first of those principles is an ultraportable, lightweight case design, something which is most certainly achieved here. The Chromebook weighs in at just 1.72 kg, which is among the lightest 14-inch notebooks we’ve reviewed.

However, unlike most high-end Ultrabooks, in order to reach this weight goal, the Chromebook exchanges durability for portability, with an all-plastic construction that, while better than that of many budget models, still feels somewhat fragile. The Sparkling Black finish is high-gloss from head to toe, picking up fingerprints and smudges effortlessly. The base unit avoids any significant flex, which is certainly a plus; the keyboard consequently feels a bit more solid than that of the 15-inch models. However, the opposite can be said about the display lid, which is quite thin by plastic notebook standards and seems anything but durable. Like the Sleekbook 15z, the glossy plastic finish extends to the hinges, which hold the display firmly at the desired angle, but which also are subject to an annoying wobble during, for instance, keyboard strokes (which is exacerbated by the resulting motion of the strong reflections on the screen’s glossy finish).

Maintenance was a major afterthought in the design of the Pavilion 14 Chromebook, which requires removal of the keyboard and top cover to reach the SSD, and additionally removal of the USB board/Audio jack, WLAN module, and entire system board to access the RAM modules—not for the faint of heart.

If you’ve never used a Chrome OS device before, don’t feel alone. It’s an operating system in its infancy, and for that reason, it’s still undergoing major changes and upgrades—and it’s pretty thin in terms of functionality, for that matter. But the flip side of this is a general lack of complexity—something which many people who are simply looking for a very basic notebook may come to appreciate.

On the surface, Chrome OS isn’t all that different from newer versions of Windows. You can choose to log in using your account (though this is actually your Google account) or you can sign in as a Guest (where no information will be saved about your session). From here, you’re brought to the main screen, which features just a background and the equivalent of a taskbar at the bottom of the screen, complete with a system tray in the lower right-hand corner. Clicking on this area opens up a quick menu for adjusting volume, connecting to the internet, and so on.

Applications, including the Chrome Web Browser, are launched directly from the bar at the bottom as well. There's also an Apps button which (similar to the Windows Start Menu) launches a list of all apps and allows you to search.

Your files, by the way, are mostly stored on a 100 GB Google Drive account allowance, which comes with the Pavilion 14 Chromebook. Consequently, a meager 16 GB SSD is installed in the actual unit, and it’s only used for offline files and other ancillary storage. This is fine unless you’re working offline (more on this in a bit); Chromebooks expect you to nearly always be working with an internet connection.

Like the Sleekbook 15z, the Pavilion 14 Chromebook features a spacious chiclet-style keyboard, and it’s one of the only areas on the notebook that features a matte finish. The keys themselves are thoroughly plastic, with a comfortably smooth finish. However, that’s where the positive impressions end. The notebook’s keys exhibit a cheap, clattery feel when struck, with short travel and an unfortunately spongy stop. As with the Sleekbook, the same problems still apply: it’s often difficult to tell whether or not keystrokes had registered, making typing a more mentally laborious exercise than it ought to be. The half-height up/down arrow keys are also a bit of a challenge to use at times. No backlighting options are available either (though this is far less of a concern). At least the physical flex has been drastically reduced, but regardless, as bad as keyboards can come, the Pavilion 14 Chromebook’s is easily beaten by that of even most other budget models.

It’s worth mentioning (as it’s different from the norm) that the keyboard is customized for easier use of Chrome OS. Along the function key row lie five special keys: back/forward, refresh, maximize/restore, and swap windows (think ALT+Tab on a PC, except it only cycles through browser windows).

Touchpad

The Cypress touchpad, on the other hand, does a much better job, though it isn’t quite as good as the Sleekbook 15z’s Synaptics model. Its finish is glossy, but the textured surface helps to promote finger gliding and makes using it more comfortable. Meanwhile, it’s accurate, and the two physical buttons below it are far better than that of even many other HP budget notebooks, with a defined click and plenty of travel that requires very little effort to invoke. The biggest complaint is not with the hardware, but rather the included touchpad driver settings, of which there are so few available (essentially just pointer speed, tap-to-click, and Traditional vs. Australian scrolling—plus an out-of-place option for tap dragging way down under Accessibility) that almost no customization is possible at all. It’s a far cry from the slew of options available in the Sleekbook 15z’s Synaptics driver settings, something which is familiar to most Windows users.

Having said that, the default gestures included are a two-finger tap for right-clicking and a two-finger scroll. They both work well and they’re intuitive.

While the Pavilion 14 Chromebook manages to stay reasonably cool (subjectively) under most circumstances, idle temperatures we measured did show warmer values on the left side of the bottom of the notebook. This may have been due to an update or other activity suddenly kicking in, because in normal usage, we didn’t feel as though there was much discomfort while the notebook was taking it easy. On the other hand, while under load (measured after an hour of looping multiple 720p YouTube videos simultaneously), things get very perceptibly warm, with values reaching 46.6 degrees C on the bottom of the notebook and 38.8 degrees C on the top of the base unit.

The two Altec Lansing speakers located above the keyboard perform much better than anticipated considering the Pavilion 14’s thin frame. They’re fairly loud and do a good job of replicating clear highs under most circumstances. Lows obviously suffer the consequences of the notebook’s size, but that’s to be expected.

To assess the Pavilion 14 Chromebook’s battery life under typical usage conditions, we set brightness to as close to 150 cd/m² as possible (setting 13/16) and ran our standard WLAN surfing browser script. Under these conditions, the notebook lasted for 4 hours and 14 minutes, right around HP’s advertised battery life. Competing against notebooks such as the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook (7 hours, 5 minutes), this is not very impressive—but when viewed alongside the Chromebook Pixel (4 hours and 49 minutes) and reminded of the difference in price and screen size, it isn’t awful, either.

On the other hand, under heavy load (achieved by looping two 1080p YouTube videos side-by-side), the Chromebook managed 1 hour and 58 minutes.

HP knows what it’s getting into with the Pavilion 14 Chromebook, and that’s why it’s targeting the consumer market. No matter how you slice it, there are still too many quirks surrounding Chromebooks—such as the storage limitations and internet connectivity requirements, or the inability to run many business applications—to recommend the platform wholeheartedly to business users. The Pavilion 14 Chromebook, therefore, is meant for casual use around the home, much like a tablet or (at one point in history) a netbook.

It’s hard to argue with its incredibly low cost, and if a very basic web surfing machine is what’s needed, it can deliver. In spite of its limited CPU power, it still manages to feel rather snappy and capable at times, with nearly instantaneous resume time, quick startup, and good network performance.

However, there are quite a few negatives to consider. For starters, in spite of the illusionary effects of the nimble 16 GB SSD and thin OS, this is still a weak machine. This fact becomes obvious when you attempt to stream 1080p video to an external monitor, a task which the Pavilion 14 Chromebook can handle, but which seriously taxes it and skips from time to time. Elsewhere, the keyboard is poor, the case is plastic and relatively fragile, connectivity options are less than ideal, and even basic maintenance is a serious challenge.

Top it all off with the accompanying handicaps of Google’s Chrome OS and it becomes thoroughly obvious that the Pavilion 14 is better meant as a secondary machine than anything else. If you’re shopping for a primary PC, there are potentially better budget options at a slightly higher cost (such as The Lenovo IdeaPad S300-MA14CGE, which fares better in just about every way other than battery life, and includes full-blown Windows to boot)—but if you really are just searching for a supplemental device, the Pavilion 14 Chromebook covers most of the basics.