HP's Chromebook Competitor "Stream" Costs $299, Not $199

By Kevin Parrish
published

Back in August, Microsoft COO Kevin Turner revealed during the company's Worldwide Partner Conference a $199 laptop from HP called Stream. This model, along with several others, were deemed as "Chromebook killers" due to their price and their ability to work offline, run desktop applications, work with peripherals and more.

Now the HP Stream is listed on HP's website (opens in new tab), and it's not $199. The laptop actually has a starting price of $299, and it may be available sometime around September 24 in three colors: "Modern Silver," "Neon Purple," and later on, "Grass Green." All three include AMD's "Mullins" quad-core APU, the A4 Micro-6400T with Radeon R3 graphics, which only draws 4.5 watts of power.

The Windows 8.1 machine features a 14-inch HD BrightView WLED-backlit display with a 1366 x 768 resolution. The device also provides 32 GB or 64 GB of internal storage and 2 GB of memory. The laptop even sports a fanless design thanks to the power-sipping APU, meaning the only noise you'll hear will likely come from the four built-in Beats Audio speakers.

Although HP doesn't provide a full list of specifications, the laptop appears to have one HDMI port, one USB 3.0 port, a microSD card reader and a microphone/headphone combo jack on one side, two USB 2.0 ports on the other side, Wireless N and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, an HD webcam and a 3-cell 32Whr battery promising up to 6.5 hours.

Finally, the laptop weighs around 3.8 pounds and measures just 0.71 inches thick, rounding out a very light and fun notebook. Even more, with the purchase of this notebook, customers will receive 100 GB of storage for two years.

In addition to the hardware, HP also provides "Connected Apps." These include HP Connected Drive (opens in new tab), which allows users to store all their files in one place. Connected Music (opens in new tab) stores all the music the user owns and streams it all back to their devices and apps like Tunein Radio and Beats Music. Connected Photo (opens in new tab) will sync the user's pictures and store them in the cloud for all devices to access.

For consumers looking for a Chromebook, HP provides two (opens in new tab): the Chromebook 11 costing $279.99, and the Chromebook 14 costing $299 (more). The latter model includes a 14-inch HD BrightView LED-backlit screen with a 1366 x 768 resolution. Under the hood, the Chromebook includes the Nvidia Tegra K1, 16 GB or 32 GB of internal storage, dual-band Wireless AC and Bluetooth connectivity, 2 GB or 4 GB of RAM, and more.

That all said, HP's price tag for the Stream isn't all that bad when compared to the company's own Chromebook lineup. Sure, having to pay a mere $199 would have been awesome, but the $299 seems more "down to earth" in regards to this specific model. Offering Windows 8.1 with Bing wouldn't be a big surprise for the HP Stream.

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Kevin Parrish
13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • alextheblue
    It's the same price as their 14" Chromebook so... at least within the realm of HP devices, I'd say it competes pretty well. The Beats quad-speaker setup is nice and all, but I think people looking for a device in this price range aren't too concerned about audio. If they were they'd probably hook up a pair of headphones or external speakers anyway.

    Anyway if you want a cheap entry-level device, look for Asus' X205. That one will definitely be very competitively priced.
    Reply
  • voltagetoe
    HP makes insultingly unreliable devices statistically. Even high end models have cheap guts and cheap engineering. I've lost two laptops due ridiculous GPU soldering design error. I've owned two printers that have worst engineering ever (useless defunctional junk). Never again !
    Reply
  • jasonelmore
    Why does this thing weigh 4 pounds if it's fanless? kinda missed the point of going with a 4.5 watt Chip HP? it's not battery because it only gets 6 hours.
    Reply
  • ldo
    Something with Windows in it was never going to be cheap.
    Reply
  • frozentundra123456
    Seems too expensive considering you can already get atom windows laptops for around 200.00, and that it is still only 768p. And battery life is mediocre at best. Seems their priorities are kind of weird. I would have preferred to see the money spent on the Beats Audio put into a bigger battery or higher resolution screen.
    Reply
  • soccerplayer88
    HP makes insultingly unreliable devices statistically. Even high end models have cheap guts and cheap engineering. I've lost two laptops due ridiculous GPU soldering design error. I've owned two printers that have worst engineering ever (useless defunctional junk). Never again !

    You must be using a consumer line.

    HP's business computers are top in their class compared to other companies. Not sure what articles you're reading.

    OT: This "Stream" PC seems to try to be a jack of all trades instead of targeting the correct audience as a lightweight, mobile and efficient laptop.
    Reply
  • Chris Droste
    maybe they were paranoid and put 2 pounds of copper heatsink in this? because a 3-cel battery certainly doesn't account for the weight, unless this thing has a cast steel frame lol
    Reply
  • alextheblue
    I've lost two laptops due ridiculous GPU soldering design error.
    If you're referring to devices affected by "Bumpgate" that was mostly Nvidia's fault. I also lost a laptop to that. It affected discrete GPUs as well as those with integrated graphics (MCP).
    Something with Windows in it was never going to be cheap.
    Again, it's the same price as their equivalent Chromebook. Windows with Bing, look it up. There are cheap Windows devices all over, now. :/

    Seems too expensive considering you can already get atom windows laptops for around 200.00,
    Stop right there. You've just solved the mystery, no need to go any further. :P Still, I would agree that it should have been no more than $250 to start, drop the beats audio.
    Reply
  • rwinches
    Windows 8 on 2GB is not good. 32GB does not leave much room after the OS nor does 64GB. 3 cell battery really? 100GB online for 2 years so how do I access this offline? This price is with a free OS with Bing. I've seen touch screen laptops for little more and they have HDDs and longer runtimes.
    Reply
  • Nuckles_56
    maybe they were paranoid and put 2 pounds of copper heatsink in this? because a 3-cel battery certainly doesn't account for the weight, unless this thing has a cast steel frame lol
    With an AMD processor, I can't blame them :p
    Reply