HP Stream ($199): Comes w/ Office 365, Windows 8.1, etc -- Chromebook Killer?

[TopWargamer]

Source: http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/29/6869489/hp-stream-tablets-laptop-release-date-specifications

 

There's a bit to digest here, so let's take it one step at a time. To start, a while ago Microsoft made a commitment to help drive the prices of devices running their operating system down. HP's results are in today with the announcement of the following Windows tablets: Stream 7 and Stream 8 and the following laptops: Stream 11 and Stream 13. Not a fan of the naming scheme, but let's roll with it, because it's not the name that matters. Unfortunately, I could not find specific specs for these devices, but if you find them, PLEASE link them so I can add them to my OP.  

 

Anyways, the Stream 7. The Stream 7 is a 7" Windows tablet that will cost only $100. At that price it will be low spec'd, but gosh darn it, it's a $100 7" tablet! The other Windows tablet announced was the Stream 8, which is a 8" Windows tablet that will cost $150. The Stream 8 will come with 200MB of *free* LTE data each month with no contract (assumably through T-Mobile) while the Stream 7 will have no such option. Both tablets are getting a full year of Office 365 for free, along with 1TB of OneDrive storage and 60 minutes of Skype calling. For the prices of $100 and $150 respectively, and with all of these added on goodies, it's hard to pass up HP's offerings. 

 

Next on the table are HP's new laptops: the Stream 11 and Stream 13. The Stream 11 is a 11.6" laptop that comes with an HD display and costs only $200. The Stream 13 is a 13.3" laptop that has the *option* for a touch screen display (assuming an HD display as well here), and is priced at $230. Both laptops are using dual-core Celeron processors, have fanless designs, 32GB of flash storage, and a free year of Office 365. Honestly, if you need a cheap laptop, don't go for a Chromebook, go for one of these. They're full blown Windows machines (as are the tablets above) and provide much more functionality for the price.

 

I will say this: These new devices from HP don't look half bad either. Are you interested in HP's offerings, or do you know of somebody who would be?

[Clyne]

HP....... I regret buying one of their laptops.

[Flight1sim]

Woah, thats actually pretty cool!

[Snickerzz]

Source links broke

[TheSLSAMG]

If it's IPS or at least a good TN, hell yes I am buying one.

[TopWargamer]

Source links broke

 

Thanks. Fixed the link. Dunno what happened there...

[Bogica]

 

but Microsoft is also throwing in a year-long subscription to Office 365 Personal with 1TB of OneDrive storage and 60 minutes of Skype calls each month. HP’s 8-inch tablet also includes  200MB of free LTE data each month with no contract for the life of the device.

What a deal for a 99$ tablet, DAMN! No matter how low specs they have, all windows 8 tablets run good (something like WP8 devices). But honestly I'm more interested in those fanless laptops, I could really use something like that, gotta wait for full specs, but if battery life turns out to be good, they got a buyer!

[themaniac]

with all that extra stuff i would think that both the laptops and tablets would cost double of what they do

[TopWargamer]

with all that extra stuff i would think that both the laptops and tablets would cost double of what they do

They're able to cut down on the price by getting Windows 8.1 for free through Microsoft's Windows with Bing program.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2103381/windows-for-free-microsoft-toys-with-service-stuffed-windows-8-1-with-bing.html

[Techhog]

HP....... I regret buying one of their laptops.

I have no idea what you're talking about. HP laptops are perfectly fine!

 

[MoonSpot]

HP stream 14 will have the amd A4 6400T quadcore apu.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/static/page-streamnotebook

[Clyne]

I have no idea what you're talking about. HP laptops are perfectly fine!

 

My A10 laptop runs really slow, i use my C2D laptop more than my A10 laptop because it runs faster(IMO)

[Aniallation]

HP....... I regret buying one of their laptops.

I love my Elitebook 840

[Clyne]

I love my Elitebook 840

It was a Pavilion, runs so slow, my Elitebook 6930P runs faster than my Pavilion. 

Elitebook 6930P: C2D cpu

Pavilion: A10 cpu

[aom]

Will get the laptop if my current one dies on me. Since all I do on it is school work while my desktop is where the motherload is at

[monstercameron]

why would they switch the cpu for the smaller skus, I want an decent amd netbook to replace my acer 522[aka the best netbook evar!]

[Kherm]

I love the capital HEWLETT PACKARD on top. Makes it look retro-ey. It kinda makes me rethink HP

[ForsakenLive]

oh my, it's very tempting! Might get one if they end up being decent products.

[James.]

I found some specs for the tablets, and some more pictures over on this liliputung article: http://liliputing.com/2014/09/hp-stream-7-stream-8-tablets-coming-november-100.html

 

According to the Articles, the tablets will have Atom Z3735G processors, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage (however the video in the article states that they will have 32GB of storage, then changes to 16 again, so I'm really not sure.) Edit: Endgadget is reporting that the tablets will have 32GB of storage with micro-SD expansion slots, and 1280x800 displays with what is described as wide viewing angles.

 

 

I have some mixed feelings about this. While I love the idea of cheap windows tablets, and I'd love to pick one of these up to test it against my Venue 8 pro, there are some really limiting flaws to these tablets. While the processor, an almost identical processor to current Bay Trail tablets, and screen look good, the RAM and low amount of storage really hinder these in my opinion. The RAM just meets the requirements for windows 8, and based on my experiences with a Venue 8 Pro, just isn't enough for normal use unless HP uses some sort of black magic to make these more memory efficient. As a reference, the venue 8 pro sitting in front of me is using about 800MB just sitting at the desktop, and that is with pretty much just running drivers and the various windows services. I don't see this being changed without a decent price hike though, seeing as you would have to change the processor in order to use more ram since the Z3735G only supports 1GB.

 

The second thing that concerns me about these tablets is the low amount of storage. While I understand that you can use Windows on 16GB of storage, there really isn't enough room there to install apps from the windows store, and store media, as well as any normal programs which might be installed on the computer. The video in the above article made it look like there was a little under a half of the storage remaining after installing windows. with that, and assuming that they do actually have 16GB of storage, then lets say there is 7GB left after windows. Installing office brings that down to 5GB, and that's really just nothing in terms of usable storage. While this could be remedied by including a SD or Micro SD card slot, none seems to be available, so these are stuck with the small amount of storage they have. With 32GB of storage, and a micro SD card slot, this worry is gone, but I still am worried about the low amount of RAM.

 

One last weird design choice for me though is the fact that the tablets won't have front facing cameras, but will have rear facing ones. Font facing cameras would be useful for Skype, but I can't really see anyone using these as cameras...

 

 

Anyways, here's the video from the article I referenced a couple of times: http://youtu.be/CSvd48xufjs

 

EDIT :  Didn't notice this until after posting but it seems as though endgadget is reporting in this article (http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/29/hp-stream-laptops-tablets/) that the tablets will have 32GB of storage, with Micro SD cards slots for expanded storage. It also has some specs for the Laptops as well. They will have Celeron N2840 processors, 2GB or ram, and have up to 8.5 hours of battery life.

[MoonSpot]

--snip--

Its a similar story with the laptop too with eMMC flash 32/64gb storage. There seems to be a M.2 slot, but it is designated for WiFi and may not support a SSD (depending on either technical reasons or HPs notorious BIOS/uefi gimping.

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=zScqVKmXDZChyATagYKQCQ&url=http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c04400176.pdf&cd=5&ved=0CCoQFjAE&usg=AFQjCNH9I7fsGuSJQmP3ehsgEA9mBBwK3g&sig2=zPo0wtTELASqCtWWgdt3DQ

Either way, they're inexpensive netbooks which should have great battery life. May be a good product for undemanding (NON CAD, editing, comsci etc) school/work loads.

I would not expect any kind of worthwhile upgrade ability.

[Builder]

Microsoft be like PLEASE BUY OUR STUFF PLEASE BUY OUR STUFF WE'LL GIVE YOU ALL THIS STUFF FOR FREE BECAUSE NOBODY ELSE WANTS IT!

[That Norwegian Guy]

HP is hate, HP is death

 

Though that 7" sounds interesting. I bet it won't come to Europe though, just like anything cheap ever.

[TopWargamer]

Microsoft be like PLEASE BUY OUR STUFF PLEASE BUY OUR STUFF WE'LL GIVE YOU ALL THIS STUFF FOR FREE BECAUSE NOBODY ELSE WANTS IT!

Microsoft has good products, especially their Windows 8.1 tablets. They're surprisingly good. I own one myself (Dell Venue 8 Pro).

[LukeTim]

I had a HP laptop once.

Never again.

[TAK]

.