The HP Chromebook 14 G4 is a mid-level Chromebook ideal for students and anyone looking for a light laptop-style device meant for casual use, such as watching movies, browsing the internet, sharing photos and other light use. Let’s take a closer look at the quality and features of the HP Chromebook 14 G4 to see if it’s the right fit for you.
Features and Specs
The HP Chromebook 14 G4 features mid-level specs for a Chromebook which bring the model a bit closer to laptops in terms of power and processing. It features a 14 inch screen with 1920×1080 resolution, 4GB RAM, Intel HD Graphics, 2 USB 2.0 ports along with 1 USB 3.0 port, and 16 GB of eMMC storage. It weighs about 3.75 lbs. Significantly, it has a 1.83GHz Intel Celeron quadcore processor which can reach up to 2.25GHz.
Although this Chromebook does feature some powerful processing, it does not feature much storage. It only has 16 GB of eMMC storage, which leaves little room for anything but the apps you’ll need to download in order to do office work, watch videos, play music and so on. If you aren’t familiar with the concept of Chromebooks—which are designed to be used with cloud storage primarily—this may be a downside. However, thankfully, this model comes with 2 USB ports in addition to a micro SD card slot; this means that expanding the storage using an external hard drive, USB sticks or micro SD cards will be very easy.
It comes with a 3-cell battery which can last for about 8 hours on a single charge, depending on what you are doing on the Chromebook. Watching movies and other power-heavy apps, or using more than one app at a time, may bring the total battery charge life down a bit compared to using a writing app.
Chrome OS
Unlike a laptop, a Chromebook comes equipped with Chrome OS as its operating system. This means that instead of downloading programs, you will be downloading apps which work with the Chrome OS interface. Some people may find this limiting, but the availability of apps has expanded to the point where you can find apps for just about anything you want to do on your Chromebook; ranging from watching movies to creating spreadsheets to browsing the internet to blogging and everything in between.
The Chrome OS works very smoothly and quickly on the HP Chromebook 14 G4 for most types of apps. Occasionally, the system may slow down if you are attempting to use too many apps at once or you are overloading your internet browser with tons of tabs. Light use is best with Chromebooks—even models like this which have 4 GB RAM and a pretty decent processing power.
HP Chromebook 14 G4 Overall Impressions
The HP Chromebook 14 G4 is a nice Chromebook ideal for people looking for casual internet use, including browsing websites, watching Netflix, listening to music, video chatting with friends and family; as well as basic office tasks like typing papers and creating spreadsheets. The Chrome OS interface can be limiting, and you should not expect it to be as powerful as a Windows system in a standard laptop; as long as you recognize the limitations of Chrome OS and Chromebooks, you shouldn’t have a problem with keeping your Chromebook running smoothly. This model retails for $300 and under, so it’s definitely an attractive choice if you are on a budget and don’t want to buy a standard laptop at double this price.
The HP Chromebook 14 G4 is recommended for anyone looking for a reasonably priced Chromebook with strong processing power and multiple ports for expanded storage. You can buy this chromebook from HP official website.