HP 14: evaluate: what it’s like to make use of a $300 Home windows laptop computer

The 12 months is 2023, and my tireless quest to discover a Home windows laptop computer underneath $500 that isn’t a flaming pile of trash continues. Whereas I’ve lengthy maintained that folks constrained to that class ought to simply get Chromebooks, I perceive that this suggestion makes fairly a couple of individuals very, very offended.

So I’m coming to you at present from the HP 14, a 14-inch silver laptop computer that we bought from Amazon for $289. It has an eleventh Gen Core i3 processor (sure, it’s an older chip, however that’s why it’s so low cost — such is life), 4GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. That is nearly as low cost as a Home windows laptop computer can get. (HP’s listed MSRP for this mannequin is $469.99, however you will get it for much much less with out a lot effort.) And to see if it’s a viable finances buy, I spent a full workday on the gadget, morning to nighttime.

Spoiler alert: it wasn’t horrible? I imply, it wasn’t nice. However I used to be shocked by how effectively it went.

Very first thing within the morning, I turned on the HP 14 and tried to load the assorted applications I exploit in evaluate testing: Chrome, Slack, Spotify, Steam, show calibration stuff, and the like. (Irrespective of how a lot Microsoft bullies me about it, I cannot swap to Edge, you monsters.) I used to be blocked from doing all of this as a result of the HP 14 had, it turned out, come out of the field in S mode. Properly, that wasn’t going to fly. I turned that off proper fast. The world didn’t finish; the laptop computer continued working simply superb.

With that out of the best way, I started my workday with round 10 Chrome tabs and Slack open. A few issues froze the primary time I attempted to do that, so I ended up restarting the pc. This appeared to repair no matter drawback it was having. Some issues by no means change.

From that time on, I used to be impressed by how effectively the Core i3 dealt with my workload. There was no level after I actually felt constrained or like I wanted to keep away from opening further tabs to stop slowdown. It wasn’t quick, to be clear, however I may get every thing performed that I wanted to with minimal thumb-twiddling.

I carried out a number of video calls over Google Meet utilizing the “HP TrueVision HD” digicam overtop my Chrome tabs, they usually truly ran with none stutter or slowdown (which is way more than I can say for a lot of different low cost laptops). Co-workers informed me that my video feed was grainy they usually couldn’t make out too many particulars, however there wasn’t any lag or disruptive processing on my finish.

The followers spun up the primary time I opened Chrome however have been truly surprisingly quiet after that. They have been definitely chugging at factors, however they have been being way more well mannered about it than the followers of many premium laptops (*cough* Dell XPS).

One other factor I seen as I labored was that I actually just like the keyboard. It’s fairly bouncy with a beneficiant click on and loads of room. You’ll even discover HP’s signature row of hotkeys on the left aspect for Web page Up, Web page Down, and such. There is fairly a little bit of flex within the plastic chassis (what did you anticipate — it’s $289), and my typing did barely depress the keyboard, however that’s not one thing that usually bothers me as a lot because it does a few of you.

The worst a part of the expertise, truthfully, was scrolling. The touchpad is tiny. I’ve pretty small fingers, and I used to be nonetheless hitting plastic when attempting to maneuver down pages shortly. It’s also not the best or most comfy factor on the earth to depress, so simply bear that in thoughts. I wouldn’t advocate it for people with restricted mobility (or this chassis basically, because the lid can’t be opened with one hand and is usually a bit cussed even with two).

At lunchtime, I took a fast break to eat and watch a couple of minutes of Succession. (I’m nonetheless catching up from final weekend, so don’t spoil.) The episode was fairly watchable on the 1920 x 1080 display screen, which is greater decision than you’ll discover on most sub-$400 Home windows laptops. I didn’t discover any colours that appeared off or washed out; brightness was a bit dim however works superb for indoor use. The larger impediment to media consumption on this gadget was truthfully the audio system, which I usually needed to maintain at most quantity so as to hear every thing precisely. I wouldn’t attempt to make calls on this gadget open air or in a setting with plenty of background noise; you might end up having to lean in.

I labored on some photographs within the afternoon (those I shot for this evaluate). And would you have a look at that — there’s an SD slot! I couldn’t be happier about this contemplating the variety of very costly laptops I’ve reviewed in current months which have, like, no ports in any respect. And the gadget lasted round six and a half hours to a cost, which, truthfully, ought to trigger some way more costly 14-inch laptops to take a superb laborious have a look at themselves.

However the night was the most important shock. I went over to a buddy’s home, and after a lot deliberation over what to do, we determined to quiet down for a superb old style sport of Civilization V. I may’ve ditched the HP 14 for a Zephyrus or no matter, however I stayed true to my mandate. We loaded Civilization V onto my take a look at unit and took it for a spin.

You recognize what? It truly type of ran. We cranked the sport right down to its absolute lowest settings, and we bought a strong 30 frames per second. Now, it’s an excellent factor we didn’t decide on Overwatch since you wouldn’t wish to use this gadget for a title with any type of motion. However for a leisurely, low-stakes turn-based sport of constructing granaries, researching mining, buying and selling whales, and sometimes wiping out cities, it labored simply superb.

Now, do I essentially advocate that you just purchase this? In case you can afford one thing with extra storage, a brighter display screen, an even bigger touchpad, and a better-looking and better-built chassis, then no. However when you want Home windows, and also you want Home windows for cheaper than $300, then voilà. Right here’s a tool that features simply superb, comes with some semblance of built-in graphics inside, and even has a port choice that’s nothing to sneeze at. Right here, I discovered it. I’m going to go use one thing else now.

Pictures by Monica Chin / The Verge