HP 14s review: an affordable laptop that gets the job done

Review Summary

Expert Rating
7.0/10

Design
★  
7.0
/10
Display
★  
6.5
/10
Performance
★  
6.5
/10
Battery
★  
6.5
/10
Connectivity
★  
8.0
/10

Pros

  • Display gets reasonably bright
  • Lots of ports
  • Compact and lightweight design

Cons

  • Performance could’ve been better
  • Keyboard not backlit

HP is one of the most recognisable laptop brands in India, and for good reason. To that end, the company has segregated its offerings to meet most buyers’ needs. Gamers can opt for a machine in the company’s Victus and Omen range, whereas executives will find the Envy and Spectre lineup to their liking.


Likewise, those looking for an affordable laptop to learn coding, dabble in Microsoft Office, and more can opt for the brand’s HP 14s. For the uninitiated, the laptop is an entry-level Windows machine geared toward students, small business owners, and more. We managed to get our hands on it, and here’s what we make of it.

Design and Display

The HP 14s sports an elegant design. The device is made primarily of plastic and is available in an attractive silver trim. The colourway gives it the impression of a pricier business laptop. Although the laptop’s choice of materials may raise some eyebrows, the 14s feels quite sturdy. The laptop’s frame, for instance, doesn’t flex when subjected to pressure from either side. That said, we noticed some give in the middle of the keyboard deck. However, that is to be expected at this price point.


The hinge anchoring the display offers ample friction. It provides a reasonable degree of movement, too, and buyers should be able to lock eyes with the screen at an adequate angle. The device is reasonably lightweight and tips the scales at just 1.46Kg. Moreover, thanks to its compact footprint, it shouldn’t take up too much space in your backpack, either.


Speaking of which, the HP 14s has a 14-inch HD display with a resolution of 1,366 x 768 pixels. While you can snag a laptop with a full HD screen for under Rs 30,000, you will have to opt for one with a slower processor. The Lenovo V15 G2, for instance, comes with a 14-inch FHD screen, although it is powered by a slower, dual-core N4500 processor.

Having said that, the 14s’ display is more than serviceable. While the viewing angles could’ve been better, the panel gets reasonably bright and appears sufficiently sharp, too. The black levels could’ve been better, and the content shot in a dark and gloomy setting will appear grey on the screen. Despite this, the panel should suffice for office work and watching movies and YouTube videos on the fly.

Since we’re on the subject, you should know that the HP 14s comes with top-firing speakers. The speakers can get quite loud and offer an excellent immersive sonic experience.

Keyboard, Trackpad and I/O

Despite its compact footprint, the HP 14s offers a spacious keyboard deck. As prefaced previously, some give toward the middle of the deck. Additionally, while the keys offer good travel, they don’t offer a tactile feedback and seem mushy.


Making matters worse, the keyboard doesn’t come with backlit LEDs, making it impossible to work in the dark without straining your eyes. On the bright side, the laptop comes with a good number of connectors, including two USB Type-A ports, a Type-C port, an HDMI slot and an SD card reader.

Performance and Battery Life

I won’t beat around the bush – the HP 14s does leave something to be desired in the performance department. Spec-wise, the laptop comes with an Intel Pentium Silver N6000 CPU with four cores that can turbo up to 3.30GHz. The CPU works alongside 8GB of RAM and comes with an SSD for storage.

While I could use the laptop for basic tasks like web browsing, I noticed some dips in performance when taxing it with a handful of tabs in Chrome. On the upside, I could run productivity and communication apps on the laptop, like Slack and Teams. The app load times were to my liking, although running multiple apps in tandem did come in the way of overall system responsiveness. Unsurprisingly, the laptop is not cut out for daunting tasks like gaming, and you will struggle to run indie titles like Hades on the machine as well.

HP 14s Cinebench R23
HP 14s PCMark 10
HP 14s Geekbench
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You can refer to the benchmarks attached above for more insight into the laptop’s performance. As for the battery backup, the HP 14s could last for around four hours at a stretch. While the laptop’s battery life could’ve been better, I am happy to report that the device doesn’t heat up when taxed with strenuous workloads.

Verdict

The HP 14s retails for under Rs 30K in India. For its asking price, the laptop offers an elegant and compact design, as well as a spacious keyboard deck. It offers a healthy number of ports and connectors and features a serviceable screen, too. That said, those looking for more performance under the hood will have to extend their budget by a couple of thousand bucks. In doing so, you will be able to snag laptops with a Ryzen 3 7320U or a Core i3-1305 processor.

Editor’s Rating: 7 / 10

Pros:

  • Display gets reasonably bright
  • Lots of ports
  • Compact and lightweight design

Cons:

  • Performance could’ve been better
  • Keyboard not backlit

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