The Relatively Expensive HP Stream is All Set to Take on Chromebooks

HP’s Plan

Not long ago, HP disclosed its plan to launch a very low cost 14-inch laptop to counter the Google’s Chromebooks. Finally, HP is launching its Windows-powered HP Stream now.

Earlier it was claimed that HP Stream is going to cost less than $200, but that did not turn out to be true. The actual price of this new laptop is $300 which is $100 more than people were expecting. However, it is still not an expensive laptop but also not very cheap.

Launching

From September 24, HP stream will be available in the market. It is powered by an AMD AR Micro-6400T Quad processor, and it has a 14-inch 1,366 x 768 screen. The processor has a fanless design, and it is called APU (Accelerated Processing Unit). It is being used to compete with dual-core Celerons of Intel that are used in different Chromebooks as well as some of HP’s 14 inch laptops.

Storage space

HP Stream has a storage space of 32GB and a RAM of 2GB. The storage space can be further increased by microSD cards. Each customer will get OneDrive storage of 100GB for two years from Microsoft. This is a perfect way to surpass the Google’s strategy to offer Google Drive space to Chromebook buyers. For six months, the HP Stream owners will get a free Dropbox storage of 25GB. The customers will also get a one month free trial of Microsoft Office 365.

Features

HP Stream laptop will have Bluetooth, 802.11n Wi-Fi, HDMI out, one combo jack for audio, two USB 2.0 ports and one USB 3.0 port. HP claims that the battery of this device will last for six and a half hours as it is a 32WHr 3-cell unit. The weight of HP stream is 1.72 kg (3.8lbs), and its thick is 1.77cm (0.70inches).

Merits and demerits

The greatest quality of this laptop is that it will run Windows 8.1, but it could also be its biggest weakness. It is the greatest quality because one will not see a fully preinstalled Windows on such a cheap laptop. It could be the biggest weakness because a lightweight laptop like this one might not be able to handle Windows 8.1. One of the greatest things about Chromebooks that attract customers is their Chrome OS which requires very less resources to perform well. If Microsoft and HP somehow manage to ensure smooth performance of HP stream then it can really beat the Chromebook, but time will decide that.

The Relatively Expensive HP Stream is All Set to Take on Chromebooks