HP's $449 Chromebook 15 Has Razor-Thin Bezels, All-Day Battery

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By Phillip Tracy
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The competition to make the best large-screen Chromebook is heating up, and HP wants in. The company unveiled today the Chromebook 15, a 15.6-inch laptop running Chrome OS.

The HP Chromebook 15 is available today for $449 at HP.com in Mineral Silver or Cloud Blue color variants.

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Row 0 - Cell 0 HP Chromebook 15
Starting Price$449
Display15-inch, 1920 x 1080-pixel
CPUIntel Pentium Gold 4417U
RAM4GB
GraphicsIntel HD Graphics 610
Storage64GB eMMC
Ports2 USB 3.1 (Type-C), USB 3.1 (Type-C), microSD, headphone
Size14.1 x 9.7 x 0.7 inches
Weight4 pounds

Designed for everyday use at home or on the go, the Chromebook 15 has a relatively thin and lightweight chassis, at 0.7 inches and just under 4 pounds. That sleek design is enabled by razor-thin bezels that border the laptop's 15.6-inch, 1080p touch screen display. We've seen these so-called edge-to-edge displays on countless laptops over the past year, but rarely at this price.

According to HP, the Chromebook 15's lid has a smooth "ceramic-like" white finish and a metal deck with a sandblasted finish and chrome trim. That combination of materials will hopefully give the Chromebook 15 a premium feel.

HP has a strong track record for crafting comfortable keyboards. The company's Spectre, Envy and EliteBook laptops all provide an excellent typing experience, so we're hoping HP used the same formula on the Chromebook 15. Given that the backlit keyboard spans the entire width of the 15-inch laptop's frame, the keys should at least be large and well-spaced.  

At $449, you shouldn't expect the base Chromebook 15 to run demanding programs or modern games. However, with an Intel Pentium Gold 4417U CPU, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of eMMC flash storage and an HD 610 GPU, you should be able to browse the web and load apps without issue. Power users can opt for a higher-end configuration that has a Core i CPU (HP has not yet revealed the specific CPU model) and up to a 128GB SSD.

HP promises 13 hours of battery life out of the Chromebook 15, which would be an impressive result, even for a Chromebook. However, we'll need to put the notebook through our battery test to determine real-world results. And as per usual, HP's new laptop comes onboard with dual B&O-tuned speakers, so you should expect solid audio quality.

The Chromebook 15 is available today. Check back in soon for our forthcoming review. 

Credit: HP

Phillip Tracy
Phillip Tracy

Phillip Tracy is the assistant managing editor at Laptop Mag where he reviews laptops, phones and other gadgets while covering the latest industry news. After graduating with a journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin, Phillip became a tech reporter at the Daily Dot. There, he wrote reviews for a range of gadgets and covered everything from social media trends to cybersecurity. Prior to that, he wrote for RCR Wireless News covering 5G and IoT. When he's not tinkering with devices, you can find Phillip playing video games, reading, traveling or watching soccer.