The HP 14 Ultrabook Lays Its (Pink) Cards on the Table

The HP 14 Ultrabook Lays Its (Pink) Cards on the Table

You know how sometimes you see a laptop and think, “Did a cotton candy machine explode in the design lab?” That’s the HP 14 Ultrabook—all-out pink, no subtlety. It’s cute, sure, and lighter than a donut box after midnight, but don’t let that bubblegum shell fool you into thinking this thing’s a hidden powerhouse.

Look, this thing is shamelessly plastic and feels delicate. Don’t expect it to survive being squished next to your gym shoes in a backpack. Carry it, don’t toss it. The weight is right for on-the-go days, but handling it too rough isn’t going to end well.

So what’s actually happening under that happy shell? We’re working with an Intel Celeron N4120—a chip that would have looked “affordable and practical” a couple of years back, but in 2025? It’s the slowpoke of the class. The 16GB RAM is the only reason multitasking isn’t a disaster; otherwise, you’d straight-up want to throw this thing out the window after five Chrome tabs. Forget gaming or anything that needs muscle—the processor just can’t keep up. Word docs? YouTube? Zoom tutoring? It’ll handle those, but try running something big, and suddenly you’re in grandma’s old Honda Civic on the highway: nothing but noise and struggle.

About that screen… man, 1366 x 768 in 2025 feels like using a Polaroid in an Instagram world. Everything’s a little blurry, pixels are big enough to poke you in the eye. If you’re used to a crisp 1080p or better screen, you’ll groan when you try to multitask or watch Netflix. As for brightness, it’s fine inside, but bring it near a window and watch it turn into a mirror instead. The speakers? They’ll play your audio, but don’t expect soundstage or bass or much of anything besides “loud enough for YouTube.” The webcam and mic are basement-level too: you’ll show up in class, just not in HD.

Let’s get to the real pain—storage. You’re given a measly 64GB internal (don’t blink, it’ll fill up), an external 512GB SSD (cool, but yawn, why not just build that inside?), and a chunk of cloud backup space for a year. So you end up bouncing your files between drives like you’re in some sort of bad digital relay race. Install a few apps, grab a couple games, keep a few projects, and suddenly you’re juggling space like you’re dodging bills at the end of the month.

Port situation? It’s old-school USB with a single surface-level USB-C that does everything but charge the laptop. Charging through USB-C is pretty much standard these days, so HP’s choice is just confusing. The rest—HDMI, audio jack—are nothing to write home about, just basic necessities.

The battery will, on a good day, get you through back-to-back classes, but start streaming or pushing heavier stuff, and you’ll search for an outlet by dinner. Fan noise ramps up quickly, even for a YouTube binge, which is just embarrassing.

Where this thing really stumbles: It’s just not built to survive real life. One solid drop, a heavy-handed backpack toss, or just too much rough handling, and you’ll start spotting dings. The all-plastic build looks fresh at first, but scuffs easily and screams “handle with care.”

Bottom line: The pink HP 14 Ultrabook is all about looking cute and being cheap. It’s okay if you need something featherweight for emails, Zoom, and very light work, and the color helps people find you in a crowd. If your needs run any deeper—better screen, more real storage, snappy performance, something that takes a bit of abuse—you’re going to regret cheaping out. You want more than decoration on your desk? Look somewhere else. Don’t say you weren’t warned.