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Google Halts Sales of HP's USB-Charging Chromebook 11 Over Overheating

Posted by timothy on from the but-usb-charging-durnit dept.

sfcrazy writes "In a surprising and unexpected move, Google and its partners have removed the recently launched HP Chromebook 11 from shelves. Users were complaining about the issues with the trackpad and performance of the laptop." Specifically (as also reported by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer), some of the laptops have been reported to overheat.

14 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. Ahaha, not really. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In a surprising and unexpected move, Google and its partners have removed the recently launched HP Chromebook 11 from shelves.

    There are still people in this day an age that are surprised by HP incompetence?

    1. Re:Ahaha, not really. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Interesting

      In a surprising and unexpected move, Google and its partners have removed the recently launched HP Chromebook 11 from shelves.

      There are still people in this day an age that are surprised by HP incompetence?

      It's a bit surprising because the 'charger' that caused the overheating reports is just an off-the-shelf 'nominally micro USB; but provides more than 500ma' device, as used by virtually any small consumer electronics device, and the Chromebook 11 itself is virtually identical Samsung silicon (also used in Samsung's ARM Chromebook the Series 3), with Google doing much of the driving on software and design; because HP is a load of fuckups.

      So, am I surprised by HP incompetence? No. Am I surprised that they failed to get some pacific-rim OEM slave factory to pair a USB power supply that doesn't catch fire with a board design that is virtually identical to a year-old Exynos platform, and a plastics kit derived from the actually-not-awful design of the Chromebook Pixel? Yeah, a bit.

    2. Re:Ahaha, not really. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Somehow Carly Fiorina is to blame.

    3. Re:Ahaha, not really. by BoRegardless · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A friend who used to work there before Carly, had friends laid off or sold off as Carly got rid of the "old engineering and development."

      These guys were the types you needed when you developed new technologies and products. It takes time to build up these teams. A laptop is arguably a complicated device these days, though well set with examples. If you do cookie cutter laptop with junior engineers, they may not realize why things on competitive units were done the way they were or worse, they don't see the subtleties and miss understanding a key design feature as it is hidden away in materials, coating, processes or control logic.

    4. Re:Ahaha, not really. by rickb928 · · Score: 2

      And, by your examples, they neglect testing.

      Which is always a management failure. Test. Test methodically. Test thoroughly. Test past production. Test past release.

      --
      deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    5. Re:Ahaha, not really. by plover · · Score: 2

      An engineering division or company led by a non-engineer MBA is guaranteed to fail. Engineering is a complex discipline that takes years to learn. The interactions and dependencies of systems are built on deep understandings of the components involved. We all know of examples where a non-engineer looks at a seemingly simple system with an eye towards cost savings, fails to appreciate the decision making and testing that went into creating it, and offers a naive, previously-proven-unworkable, or untestable change to it. If that person also has the authority to make it a mandate, the failures will come (or will return, if they were previously known.) Meanwhile, the MBA grades themselves by touting to the board all the costs they "saved", and remain ignorant of the costs of the damage they caused or the technical debt they incurred.

      The idea that an MBA-only person should ever be in charge of any organization is ludicrous. Even a bank should be run by someone with a degree in finance. An MBA can help an engineer become a leader, but the converse is not true: an administrator with an MBA is no closer to being an engineer than I am to being a giraffe.

      HP is being sold off while the formerly-profitable bits struggle simply to coast; not only are they no longer innovating, they are injecting hidden failures deep into their portfolio that will cost them dearly should they ever try to climb from this hole. And they aren't the only organization to suffer this fate.

      --
      John
    6. Re:Ahaha, not really. by mtippett · · Score: 3, Informative

      Not quite a normal off-the-shelf. It is a high power adapter - 40W (~8A at 5.25V). Most high-end phone chargers max out at 10W (2A at 5V).

      The difference in higher power is probably taken by the higher draw that the screen would have vs a phone. Likewise the larger battery would need a higher draw to charge within reasonable times.

      I also note that the comment is "plugged in while in use". This hits the higher draw for the battery charging + higher run-time draw. Most likely the current limiting is not working properly on the power supply which is causing too much heat.

  2. Not Surprising for HP by WoodburyMan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I work at a local small computer workbench. Not surprised by this at all. It seems most of HP's designs recently all overheat, or are designed to very easily. We see so many HP/Compaq's with damaged motherboards from overheating. Sometimes you can see why, hairballs in the heatsinks. Other times the heat sinks and fans look brand new. Sometimes reflowing the motherboard works, other times a new motherboard is needed, and we've even had time were new motherboards fail from the same thing a year or so later. They're junk and don't design their heatsinks and fans to the correct thermal design power of the CPU and videochipsets they're designed for. Thank god Google won't put up with their lousy designs and pulled it.

    1. Re:Not Surprising for HP by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2

      Apparently the overheating is done by the charger, not the laptop. Given that the laptop is build around an ARM SoC with a TDP in the 4watt range, I'd hope that HP could find a way to keep that part cool...

    2. Re:Not Surprising for HP by WoodburyMan · · Score: 2

      If it's HP, they could make a block of ice in the antarctic overheat... (Symbolicly of course.. as reality is.. touching it would melt it...and it would actually be very easy...)

    3. Re:Not Surprising for HP by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2

      Hey, the difference between a $0.47 heatsink and a $0.49 one is what put "Realized exemplary savings through aggressive supply-chain management' on the resume I used to score a job somewhere else before the consequence hit! Don't underestimate that.

  3. 3 Sentences by clinko · · Score: 5, Informative

    This blog spam quotes The Verge's Report from a Blog post from Google which is summaried in this post on slashdot...

    How much info is summarized from google? 3 sentences:

    1) Google and HP are pausing sales of the HP Chromebook 11 after receiving a small number of user reports that some chargers included with the device have been damaged due to overheating during use.
    2) We are working with the Consumer Product Safety Commission to identify the appropriate corrective action, and will provide additional information and instructions as soon as we can.
    3) In the meantime, customers who have purchased an HP Chromebook 11 should not use the original charger provided with the product.

  4. As Ars Technica notes ... by Rambo+Tribble · · Score: 4, Informative

    ... the recommended work-around means significantly longer charging times: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/11/reports-of-overheating-chargers-halt-hp-chromebook-11-sales/

  5. Screw HP. Acer chromebook based off Haswell rocks by vivek7006 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I own both ARM based Samsung Chromebook and the newer Haswell Chromebook. Based on my experience, ARM Chromebooks are now dead on arrival thanks to Haswell. Haswell powered chromebooks are offering better battery life, superior performance and same price point ($249). My Samsung Chromebook struggles while playing 1080p youtube videos, Netflix HD videos and amazon prime videos. If you have more than 4 tabs open, things get excruciatingly slow. Contrast this with Acer Haswell Chromebook, its super fast, even with a dozen tabs open. I have thrown everything at it including 1080p youtube videos, CPU intensive flash based games (for e.g. cricket), it never struggled. Haswell and very soon Baytrail powered Chromebooks make ARM chips DOA as far as chromebooks are concerned.