HP’s new Chromebook will play nice with Android apps
And with a mammoth 11 hours of battery life, it’s the affordable touchscreen laptop that lasts
Looking for a laptop with longevity but shopping on a budget? HP’s new Chromebook wants a word.
Known as the Chromebook 11 G5 to its mother, it’s an 11.6in notebook with a bare bones approach to computing: there’s Google’s Chrome OS, of course, powered by an Intel Celeron N3060 processor and a battery that HP says will last (in the right conditions) a staggering 12.5 hours.
There’s no mention of on-board storage in HP’s blog post about the G5, so there’s probably not very much at all, but Chromebooks are so cloud-based that this shouldn’t prove too off-putting. What is noteworthy is the slimmer, lighter design (it weighs only 1.14kg) and the fact it has a touchscreen.
Strictly speaking, the touchscreen is an optional extra, and we’re not yet sure how much it’ll add to the G5’s base US$189 (£140). HP says the IPS touchscreen, which is protected by Gorilla Glass NBT, will knock a little off that mammoth battery life (about 1.5 hours), but the upside is you’ll be able to run touchscreen Chrome and Android apps from the Play Store.
That’s right: Google is expected to add Play Store support to Chromebooks later this year, which means some two million apps will be available to users of Chrome OS laptops.
There’s no word from HP regarding a UK launch for the Chromebook 11 G5 just yet, but it’s expected to hit US retailers in October.
[Source: HP news blog]
Sam Kieldsen
Contributor 
