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HP Education Chromebooks Feature a New Keyboard Trick

HP's new 'education-edition' Chromebooks have been designed with special keyboards to prevent students from prying them apart. They go on sale today starting at less than $300.

 & Michael Kan Principal Reporter

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(The HP Chromebook 11x 360 G3 EE)

HP has three new Chromebooks for students designed to endure the wear and tear of school life.

These "education-edition" laptops, which go on sale today, will survive drops to the floor and the occasional beverage spill. Interestingly, they also come with special keyboards built to prevent students from prying them apart; each key is outfitted with a "full skirt" on all sides to stop nimble fingers from getting underneath.

To start, the HP Chromebook 11 G8 EE is a "rugged" laptop that comes with reinforced protection around its corners and at the USB-C port. As a result, HP says it can endure a 2.5-feet drop on concrete, a 4-foot fall on wood, and a 12-ounce spill of water on its surface, in addition to abrupt pulls at the power cord.

Hp chromebook 11

In terms of specs, the Chromebook is powered by a low-end Intel Celeron processor with a base clock speed of 1.1GHz. The 11.6-inch screen is also capped at a 1,366-by-768-pixel resolution. Memory-wise, you're getting a maximum of 8GB of DDR4 RAM, and 16GB to 64GB of internal storage.

The 2.9-pound laptop promises up to 13 hours of battery life on a single charge for $259. An AMD model called the 11A G8 EE arrives next month with higher clock speeds but a 10-hour battery life.

Hp Chromebook 11 x360

The second product, the HP Chromebook 11 x360 G3 EE, features similar specs, but stands out as a laptop convertible that can flip into a tablet thanks to its 360-degree hinge. It's a little more expensive, with a starting price of $299, and comes in at 3.2 pounds. It's only available with Intel Celeron chips, but on the plus side, you get a touch screen. Customers can also buy the Chromebook with an optional pen stylus.

Hp Chromebook 14

If you're looking for a laptop with a bigger screen, the 14-inch HP Chromebook 14 G6 starts at $289. It also runs Intel Celeron processors, but can offer more internal storage at 128GB. You can also upgrade the screen to a 1,920-by-1,080-pixel resolution. Expect to get about 13 hours and 30 minutes of battery life.

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

  • My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
  • I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
  • The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
  • Xbox 360 FTW
  • The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
  • The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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