What you need to know
- HP has announced the Elite c645 G2 Chromebook and Elite c640 G3 Chromebook.
- Both of these are designed for businesses, as evidenced by the optional smart card reader.
- HP also confirmed pricing and availability for the Elite Dragonfly Chromebook.
It's an exciting time to get into the world of Chromebooks, as evidenced by Acer's recent introduction of its AMD Ryzen 5000 C-Series Chromebooks. HP is also getting in on the fun as it has announced two new business-oriented Chromebooks that will arrive later this year.
Kicking things off, the HP Elite Chromebook c645 G2 is for those who prefer to live on the AMD side of things. This Chromebook can be configured with any of the latest Ryzen 5000C chips, ranging from the Ryzen 7. These chips can be paired with up to 16GB of LPDDR4X RAM and up to 512GB of NVMe storage, providing more than enough power for even the most intensive tasks.
Moving over to the Elite Chromebook c640 G3, the main difference here comes via processing power. Instead of making use of the Ryzen 5000C series of processors, HP is also providing options powered by Intel's 12th Gen chipsets. Once available, there will also be several different processor options ranging from Intel's base-level Celeron chipset and going all the way up to the Core i7. You'll also have the same RAM and storage configurations to choose from.
The Elite c640 G3 features dual Thunderbolt 4 ports, dual USB-A ports, a full-size HDMI port, a microSD card reader, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Meanwhile, the c640 G3 ditches those Thunderbolt 4 ports to "Super Speed" USB-C ports due to AMD's incompatibility with the Thunderbolt specs. But aside from that, these two Chromebooks are practically identical, including the optional smart card reader.
Both of these Chromebooks feature a 14-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) or HD (1366 x 768) display, with an optional touchscreen. HP also implemented support for WiFi 6E, providing faster network connections, to go along with a 5MP selfie camera, and an optional fingerprint sensor.
Pricing is also pretty competitive for these, as the Elite c645 G2 will start at $559 and is said to be available sometime in "early June." Meanwhile, the c640 G3 is set to launch later this month and will start at $509 for the entry-level model.
HP didn't stop there, as the company finally announced pricing and availability for its Elite Dragonfly Chromebook. This was initially introduced at CES 2022 and is likely going to end up as one of the best Chromebooks of the year. Unfortunately, HP has yet to actually make this available for purchase, outside of a wacky listing on Google Shopping for the Enterprise model.
According to HP, the Elite Dragonfly Chromebook with its Intel 12th Gen chipset will start at a whopping $1,149. For this price, you'll be getting Intel's 12th Gen Core i3-1215U, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a QHD+ touchscreen display with a max brightness of 400 nits. And that's just the base model. There will be other configurations with Intel's Core i7 chipset along with more RAM, more storage, and a display that maxes out at 1,000 nits. HP's Elite Dragonfly Chromebook is set to launch sometime this summer, so you'll want to start preparing your wallet now.
