HP officially announced the Chromebook 11 back in early-October. This model arrived as a Chromebook with an 11.6-inch display and while there was some mention of the color options at launch, there was something slightly more interesting. The HP Chromebook 11 used a microUSB charger, just like you would see with a smartphone or tablet. But as we later learned, that caused an issue.
The HP Chromebook 11 was abruptly pulled from the Play Store (as well as with all retailers) in November. And while that caused some initial confusion, HP later confirmed the notebook was pulled to due issues with the charger. According to a statement from HP, they paused sales “after receiving a small number of user reports that some chargers included with the device have been damaged due to over-heating during use.”
The trouble is, since that point things have been on the quite side. And while the Chromebook 11 remains unavailable for purchase, a sign that it will make a return has appeared. We have yet to see a Chromebook 11 listing in the Play Store, however a coming soon style listing for a charger has appeared.
The charger doesn’t have a ship date yet and otherwise, is simply showing a price of $19.99. We have yet to hear anything from HP, however we would expect any current HP Chromebook 11 users to get a replacement for free. But if anything, this listing does imply that owners may want to be on the lookout for a message from HP.
Otherwise, looking back to that earlier statement from HP and we see the following warning;
“customers who have purchased an HP Chromebook 11 should not use the original charger provided with the product. In the interim they 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.”
That listing has been there for weeks saying “coming soon.” It didn’t just appear. This article isn’t saying anything new.
It’s a newly designed charger. This is not the same one that has been there for weeks.
Too bad HP and Google didn’t use this unintended hiatus to replace the obsolete Exynos dual-core with the Celeron Haswell that’s in the Acers and HP’s 14! A Chromebook with a decent screen in that lower end price range would be marvelous!