Top 5 Best Chromebooks 2014

Samuel J Tan Education, Hardware, Learning 0

Chromebook is gaining a foot hold in the market given it’s simplicity, ease of use, maturing OS and now reliable hardware from mainstream manufacturers. We looked at the comparison between HP Chromebook 11 and Samsung Series 3 Chromebook, now let’s look what else is out in 2014.

UPDATE: Things have moved quickly since we last posted this article, check out the Top 12 Best Chromebooks in 2015 and Reasons To Get One.

Table of Contents

Chromebooks Have Grown Up

You will noticed that Chromebooks have grown, no longer are users limited to the 11 inch screens, there are now 13 and 14-inch offerings in the market and looks to cater to everyone’s taste. We look at Chromebooks from Samsung, HP, Acer and Toshiba.

HP Chromebook 14 (14-inch screen)
Toshiba Chromebook (13.3-inch screen)
Acer C720 Chromebook (11.6-inch screen) Acer C720P Touch Screen
HP Chromebook 11 (11.6-inch screen)
Samsung Series 3 (11.6-inch screen)

For those who need a quick introduction to Chromebook and its benefits including what it can offer to education, check out the video below.

HP Chromebook 14

Following the success of HP Chromebook 11, HP launched the HP Chromebook 14, its bigger sibling. As the number 14 suggests, this one comes with a much bigger screen at 14″ but maintains the same spatial resolution. As with the smaller sibling, it is available in WiFi only or WiFi and 3G+ with a price small price difference.

The 4-cell (51 WHr) Li-ion polymer gives the HP Chromebook 14 up to 9.5 hours of battery life, enough to power you through the day and is the best battery life we have seen in our line up. This is also the only Chromebook with 4GB of RAM. That’s double the amount of memory compared to the other Chromebooks in this list.

HP Chromebook 14 uses the new Intel processor the Celeron 2955U based on the Haswell micro-architecture running at 1.4GHz. Based on the newer 22nms manufacturing process, the processor is designed to run cooler and provide for better performance. This is also x86-64 processor as oppose to an ARM processing unit typically found on smartphones.

By today’s standard, a 14-inch laptop would be considered a full size laptop. If you are not worried about the weight and size, we would recommend the Chromebook 14, the large screen, double memory and super fast performance will pay for itself.

Intel® Celeron® 2955U 1.4GHz processor
4GB RAM, 16GB SSD [DOUBLE MEMORY]
Large 14” (1366×768) Vibrant HD LED Back-lit display [BIGGEST SCREEN]
0.81 inches thin (34.4 x 24 x 2.06 cm) and 4.08 lbs (1.9kg)
100 GB of Google Drive free for 2 years
Up to 9.5 hours of use [BEST BATTERY LIFE]
802.11a/b/g/n (2×2) and Bluetooth 4.0, 1 x HDMI, 1 x USB2.0, 2 x USB3.0, 1 x SD Slot, Kensington MicroSaver Lock Slot
Boots up in less than [7 SECONDS]
Available in Wifi-only or with Wifi and Verizon 3G Connectivity. Colour Options: Snow White, Ocean Turquoise, Peach Coral)

Toshiba Chromebook

Using the same new generation Intel processor based on the Haswell micro-architecture, this is Toshiba’s first Chromebook. On first impression, you might mistaken it for another MacBook Air but that’s where the similarity ends. It weighs roughly the same and while the body has all the landmark of brushed aluminium, it’s actually just plastic with non slip bubble texture on the top and bottom cover. Still, the built quality is good and the plastic body with a matt finish inside is rigid and solid enough and you can handle it without leaving finger prints all over.

Intel Celeron® 2955U 1.4GHz processor
2GB RAM, 16GB SSD
13.3″ (1366×768) display, 16:9 aspect ratio
0.8 inches thin (32.9 x 22.7 x 2 cm) and 3.3 lbs / 1.5 kg
100 GB of Google Drive free for 2 years
Up to 9 hours of active use [BETTER BATTERY LIFE]
802.11a/b/g/n (2×2) and Bluetooth 4.0, 1 x HDMI, 2 x USB3.0, 1 x SD Slot, Kensington MicroSaver Lock Slot
Boots in seconds

Acer C720 Chromebook

This is not Acer’s first Chromebook but it is the first to offer a touch screen option. Like HP Chromebook 14 and Toshiba Chromebook, the C720 uses the new Intel processor but with a smaller 11.6″ screen, completing the three size screen options (14″, 13.3″ and 11.6″) for Chromebook running on the new Intel Celeron 2955U.

11.6” display non-touch (touch screen option available) [ONLY CHROMEBOOK WITH TOUCHSCREEN OPTION]
Intel Celeron® 2955U 1.4GHz processor
2GB RAM, 16GB SSD (32GB SSD option available)
0.75 inches (19mm) thin and 2.76 lbs (1.25kg)
100 GB of Google Drive free for 2 years
Up to 8.5 hours of battery [GOOD BATTERY LIFE]
802.11a/b/g/n (2×2) and Bluetooth 4.0, 1 x HDMI, 1 x USB2.0, 1 x USB3.0, 1 x SD Slot, Kensington MicroSaver Lock Slot
Boots up in less than [7 SECONDS]

HP Chromebook 11

Based on an ARM A15 dual core processor and made with Google, we reviewed this alongside the Samsung Chromebook Series 3, also featured below in our previous article. The HP Chromebook 11 is tastefully designed and well thought out.

Samsung Exynos 5 Dual (1.7 GHz) Processor
2GB RAM, 16GB SSD
11.6” (1366×768) 300 nit IPS HD LED Back-lit display
18mm thin (29.7 x 19.2 x 1.76 cm) and 1.04kg [LIGHTEST]
Boots up in less than 10 seconds
100 GB of Google Drive free for 2 years
Up to 6.5 hours of battery
802.11a/b/g/n (2×2) and Bluetooth 4.0, 2 x USB2.0, Micro USB for 15.75W charging and SlimPort video out
Available in Wifi-only or with Wifi and Verizon LTE Connectivity

Samsung Chromebook Series 3

Launched back in October 2012, the Samsung Chromebook Series 3 is the first Chromebook to feature the Samsung Exynos 5250 1.7 GHz Processor, the same dual core ARM A15 processor adopted by HP Chromebook 11 (designed by Google) launched at the end of October 2013 .

Exynos 5250 1.7 GHz Processor
2GB RAM, 16GB SSD
11.6” display (1366×768)
17.5mm thin (20.9 x 29 x 1.8 cm) and 1.1kg [LIGHT]
Up to 7 hours of battery
Boots up in less than 10 seconds
100 GB of Google Drive free for 2 years
802.11a/b/g/n (2×2) and Bluetooth 4.0, 1 x USB2.0, 1 x USB3.0, Multi Card slot (SD, SDHC, SDXC)
Available in WiFi-only or with WiFi and 3G