Review: HP Pavilion Chromebook

Access to Google Apps is available direct from the desktop. The HP Pavilion Chromebook connects directly to Google Drive for storage, which allows you to open up word processor docs, spreadsheets and PDFs directly in the browser. Gmail and YouTube are also directly available.

Potentially, the main benefit of using Google Enterprise is the ability to share documents both inside the organisation and with business partners. At Grass Roots Group, for instance, CIO Danny Attias said some teams work entirely in Google Docs. He said: “I haven’t had a copy of MS Office since the rollout [in February 2012], so I can access documents from anywhere very quickly. Generally, content sharing is done in Google Docs. But I export to MS Office on the desktop whenever I need to email out.”

The HP Pavilion Chromebook uses the Google Chrome browser so websites render pretty well. We tested access to the BBC iPlayer site, which steamed perfectly, which means internet TV is definitely watchable.

Google provides the Chrome Store with a library of browser-based apps for ChromeBooks. Frankly, there is a huge variation in quality, but there are a few gems.