HP on Tuesday launched a new Chromebook in India, which it says will help students learn more efficiently in the classroom or at home. Its Chromebook x360 14a – the first AMD-powered Chromebook – will set parents back Rs 32,999. It’s available to buy immediately from Amazon India.

As its name suggests, it features a 14-inch HD touchscreen display , and can be folded through the familiar convertible modes hold firmly. It’s powered by an AMD 3015CE processor, 4GB RAM and 64GB eMMC storage. There’s a microSD card reader along with a headphone/microphone combo port, 2x USB Type-C with “SuperSpeed” 5Gbps signaling rate (USB Power Delivery, DisplayPort 1.2) as well as a single SuperSpeed USB Type-A port. Plus, you also get a 100GB Google One subscription for one year for free. A 720p HD camera is also there for video calling.

HP is promising 12:15 hours of battery, and no fingerprint reader. The notebook weighs 1.49kg and can be picked up in mineral silver, ceramic white, and forest teal colour options.  While Rs 32,999 is a low price for laptops, the Chromebook x360 14a will sit toward the mid-end of the Chromebook market — it features a better build and a convertible touchscreen. HP also sells low-end Chromebooks that cost in the price range of Rs 25,999.

Thanks to the pandemic, which forced students to attend schools virtually, has helped Chromebooks to dominate the notebook market. Chromebooks run Google’s Chrome OS operating system. They cost less than Windows notebooks and are much affordable than Apple’s MacBooks. A Chromebook is easy to use and is designed to run web-based programms. Chromebooks can be used by both students and teachers.

While the demand for Chromebooks is stable but as remote learning declines, there will be pressure on PC vendors to increase sales of ChromeOS-powered notebooks further. According to market research firm Trendforce, demand for Chromebooks slid by over 50 per cent during one month since July. That being said, Trendforce still expects a total of 36 million devices to be shipped in 2021.

The announcement of the new Chromebook x360 14a comes at a time when Microsoft has just released Windows 11 operating system, while Apple recently started selling its 9-inch entry-level iPad.