HP's new Chromebook 14 officially launched this morning, making it one of two AMD Chromebook launches so far during CES. The 14, as the name suggests, is a 14" laptop with an AMD A4 or A6 processor (depending on variant and region), and will start at an extremely reasonable $269. That gets you the AMD A4 processor with a 768p non-touch panel, but I was told that the version with a 1080p touchscreen should come in closer to $300, making it an easy choice for an upgrade.

I had a chance to check it out a few weeks back. The hard, matte plastic exterior gives this laptop a really rugged feeling - it's very confidence-inspiring - and HP says that's to make it attractive to schools (though the Chromebook 14 will be sold in the consumer channel). The 768p version's screen was surprisingly bright and vivid, though I can't really recommend such a low resolution on a display that large - it's just not a good viewing experience. It's a good thing you'll be able to upgrade to the 1080p touchscreen model for what ends up being a pittance more, and gain a little more CPU and GPU oomph in the process (I asked if the A6 CPU variant had more RAM, but didn't receive an answer).

SPECS

SoC

 AMD A4 (9120) or A6 (9220) dual-core

RAM

4GB

Storage

32GB

Display

14" 1366x-768 (non-touch) or 1920x1080 (touch)

Software

Chrome OS

Camera

Front-facing HP TrueVision HD Webcam

Connectivity

2x2 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2

Ports

2x USB-C 3.0 (both allow charging), 2x USB-A 2.0, headphone jack, microSD

Dimensions

13.27 in (W) x 8.93 in (D) x 0.72 in (H), 3.40 pounds

Battery

2-cell 47.36Wh, rated for 9 hours 15 minutes

Price

$269 and up

These AMD Chromebooks are shaping up to be excellent values based on HP and Acer's announcements today, and I imagine there will only be more of them coming throughout 2019. The sub-$500 market is really the big place that Chromebook manufacturers play, and AMD is obviously able to offer very competitive component pricing - you almost never see an Intel Chromebook with a 15W TDP CPU down this low, it's usually just the awful Atom-based Celeron chips.

HP hasn't said when exactly the Chromebook 14 will be launching, but you can probably expect fairly early in the year.

HP also announced a revamped version of an existing Chromebook, the x360 14, which now adds a "G1" to its name, denoting it as an enterprise and business channel model. It will offer more RAM, more configuration options, and more powerful processors - along will MIL810G ruggedization - but will not be sold at retail.