HP Chomebook 11 pulls disappearing act, goes poof from retailers’ shelves

By Konrad Krawczyk Published November 13, 2013

Update 11/13/13 4:49 pm ET: HP issued a statement, providing a reason for why the HP Chromebook 11 was pulled. Here’s what they had to say.

“”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 over-heating during use.”

However, there’s a silver lining.

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“In the interim they may continue using their HP Chromebook11 with any other Underwriters Laboratories-listed micro-USB charger, for example one provided with a tablet or smartphone. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Original Story

Thinking about snagging an HP Chomebook 11 from Best Buy or Amazon? Well your window just closed shut, despite the fact that the HP Chomebook 11 was announced about a month ago.

The HP Chomebook 11 was pulled from Best Buy’s and Amazon’s shelves without HP or Google providing any reason or rationale for doing so. An internal Best Buy memo allegedly states that “Stores should stop selling the HP Chromebook 11 effective immediately.” The memo reportedly goes on to instruct Best Buy employees to “Partner with Sales Support to pull the product off the sales floor to a secure location in the warehouse.”

Considering that HP nor Google have issued any official statements explaining why the HP Chromebook 11 was pulled so soon after it was announced last month, we headed over to the official Google Chromebook forums to get some ideas. One commenter suggested that the HP Chromebook 11 could have been pulled so that HP and Google could address the battery issues that multiple users have reported. The commenter linked to this thread, which includes multiple posts indicating that users have experienced issues with the battery refusing to charge when plugged in. Unlike most notebooks, the HP Chromebook 11 charges via Micro USB, the same standard used by most smartphones and tablets.

If the issues are widespread or relatively common, this could be the reason why the HP Chromebook 11 was pulled. We won’t know for sure until someone from HP or Google comments, though. We’ll keep our eyes out for any official statements.

Konrad Krawczyk

Former Computing Editor

Konrad covers desktops, laptops, tablets, sports tech and subjects in between for Digital Trends. Prior to joining DT, he…

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