HP Pulls Chromebook 11 Amid Reports Of Overheating

HP and Google have taken the decision to halt sales of the HP Chromebook 11 because of a small number of overheating reports.

There have been up to eight reported incidents of overheating, some of which mentioned that the charger had melted, although there have been no instances of fire.

However the issue seems serious enough for the two companies to advise customers who have purchased the HP Chromebook 11 not to use the original charger provided with the product. It said instead customers should rather charge and power their laptop with a third party micro-USB charger, often provided with tablets or smartphones.

Hot Chargers

“Google and HP are pausing sales of the HP Chromebook 11 after receiving a small number of user reports that some chargers included with the device have been damaged due to overheating during use,” said the two companies. “We are working with the Consumer Product Safety Commission to identify the appropriate corrective action, and will provide additional information and instructions as soon as we can.

“We apologise for the inconvenience.”

According to Amazon UK, the HP Chromebook 11 has already been withdrawn, with the computer classified as “Item Under Review.”

“This product is not currently offered by Amazon.co.uk because a customer recently told us that the item he or she received was not as described,” stated the Amazon listing. “We are working to resolve this as quickly as possible.”

Online Devices

Chromebooks are available from a number of manufacturers including HP, Samsung, Lenovo, Toshiba, Acer and Asus. They run Google’s Chrome operating system and feature a wide range of pre-installed, cloud-based Google services and products, including Google Docs and Google Calendar.

Chromebooks allow users to do their work online with less need for on-machine storage for large applications and files. One shortcoming is that users need good connectivity to use their machines, and offline work can be a challenge, according to critics and reviewers.

Launched back in 2011, the devices initially received lukewarm reviews, as commentators felt its storage and applications were too limited for serious use. However their cheap price (around £230) has made them a popular choice, and the computers have seen strong uptake within the eduction market.

The overheating HP Chromebook 11 in question was only revealed last month, and was priced at $279 (£174) in the US.

It features an 11.6-inch IPS screen with a 176-degree wide viewing angle, a magnesium frame for strength, a quiet fanless chassis, an Exynos 5250 GAIA ARM processor, 2GB of DDR RAM, a 16GB solid-state hard drive, Wi-Fi, speakers mounted under the keyboard and about six hours of battery life on a full charge.

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Originally published on eWeek.