HP intros the Pavilion 14 Chromebook, its first Chrome OS device: available now for $330

Remember last week when HP leaked a 14-inch Chromebook on its own site? That was a big surprise, to say the least — the company has never put out a Chrome OS system before, and we weren’t aware this was even that popular a category. Well, HP just officially announced the Pavilion 14 Chromebook, and pretty much the only surprise is the availability date: we had heard it would go on sale February 17th, but it’s actually available today for $330.

Suffice to say, that’s more than what you’ll pay for Samsung’s Chromebook ($249) or Acer’s C7 ($199). For the money, it offers similar specs as the Acer C7, but the design appears considerably more polished. Meanwhile, with a 1.1GHz Intel Celeron 847 CPU and 2GB of RAM, it should perform a bit better than the Samsung model, which has a nice design, but chugs along on a lower-powered ARM processor.Like most other Chromebooks, this one has 16GB of built-in flash storage, along with a 1,366 x 768 display. Users also get 100GB of Google Drive space (free for the first two years).

All told, this 14-inch system weighs about four pounds, making it not only the biggest Chromebook on the market, but the heaviest. At least that 0.8-inch chassis makes room for a good selection of ports: HDMI output, three USB 2.0 sockets and an SD reader. It even has an Ethernet jack, something that Samsung’s removed from its latest Chrome OS device. Unfortunately, though, a bigger footprint doesn’t mean a bigger battery: the Pavilion 14 Chromebook is rated for four hours and 15 minutes of runtime, putting it behind Samsung’s model. So, are a sleek design and stronger performance worth the premium? We’ll tackle that in our eventual review, but if you buy today you’ll just have to make that call yourself.

Gallery: HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook