[Honest Review] HP Chromebook 11a-na0060nr: It gets the job done

Chromebooks are a dime a dozen these days, but finding the right one for you can be difficult. There are so many to choose from and they all have their own pros and cons. It's hard to know where to start or what criteria are important in a Chromebook purchase.

But don't worry! Today we will introduce you to the HP 11a-na0060nr, HP's latest venture onto the 11-inch touchscreen Chromebook market. This is perfect for you if you're looking to buy an affordable notebook to carry with you everywhere you go and you don't need much more than a browser and your basic Chrome/Android apps to get along with your day.

Not sure if this is the Chromebook for you? Well, let's get cracking!

Design, Display & Keyboard

If you're looking at this Chromebook expecting to find a high-end notebook build quality then you'll be sorely disappointed and should rightfully look elsewhere. The HP 11a-na0060nr is made of cheap plastic - why beat around the bush -, but what do you expect at its price point?

The entire laptop's casing is navy blue and uses a matte finish on the plastics. On the lid, you'll find an HP logo with another Chromebook logo at the top-left side. Quite minimalistic.

Though it doesn't have the best build quality in the market - it's within what you're bound to find within its price - we do appreciate the fact that HP gave its notebook a nice "brushed metal" look on the base of the keyboard.

As far as the display is concerned, we've got an 11-inch HD IPS touchscreen display. Again, as an entry-level 11-inch laptop you're not going to get the standard Full HD displays you would see in other Chromebooks. This is definitely a con. However, HP does manage to make up for the rather low resolution by delivering a pretty impressive battery life which we'll talk about later on in this review of the HP 11a-na0060nr.

What about the keyboard and the trackpad?

If there's one thing Chromebooks pay attention to it's the keyboard and it shows. Sure enough, they're not the best keyboards in the market but they were definitely designed with the intention to be comfortable for long typing sessions - one of the main reasons people go for a Chromebook -.

Key travel distance is solid and while it's not backlit the experience is generally a positive one. The trackpad is also big and spacious considering the actual size of the Chromebook.

Performance: Processor, RAM, and Storage

When it comes down to performance Chromebooks have a substantial advantage over its similarly-specced Windows counterparts: Chrome OS is a very light operating system.

On that front, what might seem like very tight specs on a Windows machine are actually fairly proper on a Chromebook. Such is the case with the HP 11a-na0060nr.

Starting off with the CPU we've got a MediaTek MT8183 octa-core processor clocking in at 2.0 GHz. This is an entry-level chip and therefore you should expect it to work well with tasks such as basic web browsing, editing documents, videoconferencing, and video playback.

What about Memory and Storage?

The HP 11a-na0060nr comes with 4 GB of DDR3 RAM which is pretty standard for an entry-level Chromebook - even though some higher-end models like the Samsung Chromebook Pro and Google Pixelbook come with 8 GB- . Again, Chrome OS doesn't need much to run so 4 GB is enough for a smooth browsing experience.

As far as storage goes, you'll be getting 32 GB of internal eMMC storage. This is pretty standard for Chromebooks in the entry-level market but many other Chromebooks (like Samsung's newest models) are starting to include 64 GB options nowadays which should definitely be appreciated if you're looking to use the Chrome OS File Manager a lot. 

We've also recently reviewed the Lenovo Chromebook C330 (81HY0000US) which also features 64 GB of storage whilst also doubling as a convertible at an extremely competitive price so it might be worth checking it out.

Having said that, you can always opt to "artificially increase the storage space" through a microSD card that you just leave in the device or through purchasing additional cloud storage.

In any case, Chromebooks were never meant to be used as much more than consumption devices to work on the cloud so it's fairly common for them to have low storage capacities.

Will this Chromebook's performance satisfy my everyday needs?

The million-dollar question, isn't it? Well, the answer is that the HP 11a-na0060nr generally does a great job for basic use cases, as long as you're not trying to do too many things at the same time.

Even though it has an octa-core processor which should provide high enough performance to handle everyday tasks such as web browsing and document editing without lag - if you try to do too much at the same time you'll quickly realize that it can't handle it.

For example, if you have a bunch of tabs browsing the internet and another editing a spreadsheet in Google Sheets while also running YouTube in full HD with WiFi - there's just not enough power to handle all of this at once.

Chrome OS is a very efficient operating system, don't get me wrong. But, as I said before it's not meant to be used for heavy multitasking tasks and this shows in the performance of low-end Chromebooks such as this one.

Battery Life and Connectivity Options

Moving onto the battery life segment of this review. As we stated earlier, battery life is brilliant on this Chromebook, with many users attesting to average well over the 10-hour mark. It also features quick-charging technology which means you can charge 50% of the battery in a snappy 45 minutes!

Connectivity-wise HP delivered quite well considering it's an 11-inch notebook. On that front, we've got a single USB Type-C port, a single USB Type-A port, the aforementioned microSD card, and an audio jack. There's no HDMI port and don't even think about an ethernet port.

WiFi uses the WiFi 5 standard and it is a dual-band connection being able to connect to both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WiFi networks. Obviously, you've got Bluetooth support as well as a rather flimsy webcam. I mean, it's not the worst but it's hardly the best webcam either.

Final Verdict

Email, messaging, browsing, streaming videos, editing documents... these are considered to be the five main use cases for Chromebooks and the HP 11a-na0060nr does a great job at satisfying those needs.

Sure enough, it's not made for heavy multitasking but if you're just using it as a second computer, or as a machine for your kids then it's more than enough.

Ultimately, the price-to-performance ratio for this Chromebook is pretty good for what it offers if we compare it to similarly priced Chromebooks from other manufacturers. That's why I'm ultimately recommending the HP 11a-na0060nr for those looking for an extremely portable touchscreen Chromebook at a competitive price point.