If you enter your neighborhood store, there is a strong possibility that the computer section will have numerous HP laptops on display. The company creates a wide range of laptops, from high-end models targeted at digital artists or aspiring content makers to more affordable, utilitarian machines like the HP 14. It is intended for people who only sort of require a laptop, much like you only sort of require a toaster or tea kettle: as long as it does the job without adding excessive fluff, eh, that’s good enough.
For this reason, Consumer Reports recently spent $380 on an HP 14 (model DQ2053CL), used it for a few weeks, and then gathered our opinions to write an overview.
Although the HP 14 won’t scream “buy me!” from the specs, we believe most people will be happy with it. And it’s difficult to beat the pricing.
Significant Qualities
a generous 14-inch display. That fits perfectly in the “not too big, not too small” Goldilocks zone, so it should fit on a desk or in a bag for when you want to get up and go. Will the colors match those on your large-screen TV? No, but for document-based work (using a web browser, working inside a spreadsheet, etc.), we’re not sure you’d notice the difference.
Design
The outside of this laptop lacks personality because its plastic hood is painted a bland silver and has a glossy HP logo embossed in the middle. This laptop wouldn’t stand out from the competition if the branding weren’t there.
The HP 14 Laptop’s interior does, however, have a modicum of flair. The faux-aluminum deck is complemented by the silver hinge. This device has a speaker vent immediately above the keyboard and a backlit keyboard with attractive keycaps. The panel also has thin bezels, which is the cherry on top.
Ports
There are many of connectors on the HP 14 Laptop, spread out all around the device.
A security lock slot, one USB Type-C connector, and an SD card slot are located on the left side of the device, while the power jack, an RJ45 Ethernet port, an HDMI 1.4 port, two USB 3.1 ports, and a headphone jack are located on the right.
Display
The 14-inch display of the HP 14 Laptop isn’t particularly vivid or brilliant, but its glossy screen and balanced contrast improve the viewing experience over that of a typical low-cost laptop. And it has a 1920 x 1080 resolution, too.
I could see every hair in Nick Nolte’s white beard in the Taken 3 trailer, er, Angel Has Fallen. I could not see the surrounds in the woodland due to the panel’s extreme darkness and the dull orange explosions that were set in the grassy area. The screen, however, didn’t appear washed out, indicating that it performed a good job of capturing whites.
Touchpad and keyboard
The keyboard on the HP 14 Laptop is pleasantly clicky and enjoyable to text on; it even includes backlighting, which is uncommon for a low-cost laptop. The key font is similar to HP’s high-end Spectre x360 range.
On the 10fastfingers.com typing test, I achieved 72 words per minute, exceeding my previous best of 70 wpm. The keys needed a substantial 63 grams of effort to operate and had an average key travel distance of 1.4 millimeters, which is slightly less than our desired 1.5- to 2.0-mm range.
both speed and graphics
The HP 14 Laptop handled 20 Google Chrome tabs and two 1080p YouTube movies with only a tiny lag while loading images thanks to its Intel Core i3-8130U processor and 4GB of RAM.
The HP 14 Laptop scored 6,901 on the Geekbench 4.1 total performance test, surpassing both the Core m3-7Y30 CPU of the VivoBook Flip and the average budget laptop (5,189). (5,696). The Aspire E 15 and Spin 3 had substantially better averages of 7,871 and 8,543, respectively, even though they were powered by the same CPU as the HP 14 Laptop.
While it may appear slow, HP’s 128GB SSD outperformed the competition by copying 4.97GB of data in 1 minute at an average speed of 85 megabytes per second. The 64GB eMMC in the VivoBook Flip (29 MBps), the 1TB HDD in the Aspire E 15 (34 MBps), and the Spin 3 (29 MBps) could not even reach the 53 MBps category average.
Webcam
The HP 14 Laptop misses the mark with its 720p shooter. The skin on my face appeared terribly blotchy. The picture was so dark that my black-and-blue flannel seemed mostly black.
A battery’s life
Although the battery life of the HP 14 Laptop isn’t terrible, it might be much better. The battery lasted 6 hours and 12 minutes while I continuously browsed the web on the laptop over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness, which is nearly an hour less than the typical battery life of cheap laptops (7:27). The Spin 3 (6 hours) wasn’t much better, but the VivoBook Flip (7:23) was within range and the Aspire E 15 managed to endure a stellar 8:48. Heat
Under duress, this machine maintained a reasonable level of coolness. The underside of the HP 14 Laptop measured 85 degrees Fahrenheit after streaming a 15-minute 1080p film, which is comfortably within our 95-degree comfort range.
Conclusion
The HP 14 Laptop (DF0023CL) is a fantastic low-cost computer that features a comfortable keyboard, good overall performance, and even a 1080p display. The only drawbacks are its average graphics performance and short battery life.
If you choose the Acer Aspire E 15 ($329), you’ll pay less and receive a longer-lasting battery, a more potent graphics card, and a brighter, larger screen.
