Chromebook 11 no longer available due to customer safety concerns
Hewlett Packard and Google have stopped selling the HP Chromebook 11 after receiving a “small number” of complaints that the power supply provided with the machine overheats, the pair announced in a statement this week.
Citing anonymous sources with inside knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg reported that the decision to halt shipments came after no fewer than eight users reported that their chargers overheated, with several claiming that their units actually melted. The companies pulled the notebook from the Google Play Store and sent out warnings to Best Buy and other retailers urging them to do the same. Users that own the latest Chromebook 11 are strongly advised to stop using their original chargers.
“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,” an HP spokesperson said, adding that customers “may continue using their HP Chromebook 11 with any other Underwriters Laboratories-listed micro-USB charger, for example one provided with a tablet or smartphone. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
It’s been just over a month since the device hit stores. Discounting the faulty power supply, the Chromebook 11 is one of the most attractive low-end laptop on the market, with an 11.6 inch HD LED backlit screen, 2GB of memory and a Samsung Exynos 5250 processor that packs just enough horsepower to surf the web and check your email. Not a bad deal for $279.
The Chromebook 11 competes with Acer’s $250 C720-2800, which sports twice as much RAM and a much beefier Intel Celeron 2955U processor. On the flip side, HP’s device features a sharper monitor and one of the best keyboards on the market.
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