Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

New HP Laptop Would Mean Windows at Chromebook Prices

Posted by timothy on from the is-that-a-bargain? dept.

New submitter nrjperera (2669521) submits news of a new laptop from HP that's in Chromebook (or, a few years ago, "netbook") territory, price-wise, but loaded with Windows 8.1 instead. Microsoft has teamed up with HP to make an affordable Windows laptop to beat Google Chromebooks at their own game. German website Mobile Geeks have found some leaked information about this upcoming HP laptop dubbed Stream 14, including its specifications. According to the leaked data sheet the HP Stream 14 laptop will share similar specs to HP's cheap Chromebook. It will be shipped with an AMD A4 Micro processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of flash storage and a display with 1,366 x 768 screen resolution. Microsoft will likely offer 100GB of OneDrive cloud storage with the device to balance the limited storage option.

14 of 215 comments (clear)

  1. The obvious /. question... by Nutria · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But will it run Linux??

    --
    "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    1. Re:The obvious /. question... by tlhIngan · · Score: 4, Informative

      Unfortunately, you're assuming they will adhere directly to the spec. I happen to have first hand experience at dealing with HP's horrible firmware and can say this will be among the most locked down PCs you can possibly own. Like putting in your own network card, 3G modem, or anything else? Not without HP's blessing you can't. Good at modifying a BIOS? Hope you can break their RSA 2048 bit lock they put in place...

      it's not the spec, actually. Manufacturers are free to not give you the option of allowing non-secure boot or storing your own keys.

      However, if you want to put a Designed for Microsoft Windows sticker on your laptop to show it's well, capable of running Windows, you MUST have the option. It's a requirement to have the Windows certification.

  2. 2GB of RAM? by ArcadeMan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is that even enough for Windows 8.1? And I don't mean enough as in bare minimum to run the OS, I mean enough to actually run more than four applications and a browser with at least ten tabs opened.

    --
    Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    1. Re:2GB of RAM? by grasshoppa · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well no, but I can see MS making. Chromebooks are sold as a browser-based solution, that's the expectation. An MS laptop will have a different set of expectations placed on it, right or wrong. If they aim to "just" provide a browser experience, they'll fail.

      --
      Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
  3. 2 GB of RAM by bit+trollent · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think Microsoft gives manufacturers a discount if they limit their ram to 2 GB.

    They are really shooting themselves in the foot, because a web browser can easily use 2 GB by itself, bringing the computer to a crawl.

    Seriously.. my cell phone has 2 GB of ram.... This laptop will be nearly unusable without more memory.

    This is as counterproductive as outlet stores. Sure, you pay a little less but the clothes shrink or fall apart.

    And there on my ruined clothes it says Gap or Banana Republic - 2 brands I've bought lots of stuff from before, and will never ever buy again. But they made a little money, and I 'saved' a little money.

    This laptop is the outlet mall version of an HP laptop - itself a brand that doesn't exactly exude quality these days..

    1. Re:2 GB of RAM by Ralph+Wiggam · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Seriously.. my cell phone has 2 GB of ram.

      Your phone costs two or three times as much as this computer.

  4. Already had this with the Lenovo Miix... by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I bought my Lenovo Mix (8" tablet) with full Windows 8.1, 4GB RAM and Office 2013 Home for just $200. I added a nice bluetooth keyboard and case for another $60 and now it's my primary "walking around the company campus attending meetings" device (replacing a laptop). $260 was already in the ballpark of my son's Nexus 7 table.

    I hope Microsoft (and HP and all the interchangeable PC providers) keep this up - if Apple's not going to drop price it helps consumers to have another company with deep pockets engaged in the tablet price war.

  5. They need to match more than price by technomom · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's the thing. Part of the problem is that they're not really beating Chromebook on anything, just matching the price. I still am going to need to load an anti-virus program, still going to have to sit through a long startup, and still have to sit through Update Tuesday. Yeah, I know Chromebook isn't perfect, but for most of what I do, it's really good enough and with my Macbook covering the 10% of things I can't do with my Chromebook, I'm really not seeing the need for Windows at all. Office? Please. I've been using OpenOffice and/or Google Docs for the past 4 years and no one has even noticed a difference so long as I save to .doc format.

  6. will it boot in 4 seconds or less? by raymorris · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If they can make their 2015 machine cold boot in under four seconds, and come up from suspend in under one second, it'll be almost as good as a 2013-2014 Chromebook. Here's to hoping Microsoft can catch up.

  7. 2GB more than enough for Windows 8.1 by HannethCom · · Score: 4, Informative

    One of the things Microsoft did right with Windows 8.x is reduce the memory it uses. So much so that it only actually needs up to 360mb of memory to run the OS while in desktop mode. That is up to, that is not at least. In this case the OS will definitely NOT be getting in your way. Actually, I've found Windows 8.1 is better to use on low end hardware as they have also reduced CPU use and optimized the start-up time.

    2GB is enough for basic Windows use with running multiple programs. Of course depending on what programs you are using. I have a netbook that isn't officially supported by Windows 8. It went from 80 seconds start time in Windows 7 to 20 seconds in Windows 8. Programs launch and respond better now with the Windows 8. While there are many, many things wrong with Windows 8, it works extremely well on low end hardware.

    Don't get me wrong, I hate Windows 8.1. Metro sucks, they messed up the configuration by having it spread all over the place. They broke multiple programs. On my last main machine it slowed down my boot time from 60 seconds to 90 seconds, though some of those problems were because I upgraded instead of fresh installed. The upgrade process is broken, it will upgrade you, but may forget to install critical OS files and will offer no way for you to fix it without reinstalling. Windows 8.1 feels like Windows Vista. They messed up the little things, which is what they got right in Windows 7 and is really important in your day to day usage. On my new main computer, old one the SATA controller failed, I upgraded to Windows 7, but my netbook, I wouldn't want to go back to Windows 7 on.

    --
    Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon what's the difference? All steal money from devs and control with walled gardens.
  8. Re:Why bother? by hendrips · · Score: 4, Informative

    Um what? I count 328 laptops under $250, just including laptops running Windows 8 and Windows 7. There's a $229.00 ASUS laptop literally right there on the front page of Newegg right now.

  9. Probably Cold Boot in 2 Seconds by HannethCom · · Score: 4, Informative

    My 2012 Surface Pro "Cold Boots" in 2 seconds. Flash Drive. My 2010 netbook boots in 20 seconds. 5400rpm hard drive. A lot of the boot process is dependent on the hard drive, so a low end 2015, should probably boot as fast as a higher end 2012 machine. I put "Cold Boots" in parenthesis because Windows 8.1 almost never really cold boots. It uses a form of hibernate where it figures out what is exactly the same each boot time and stores an image of that on the hard drive, then just loads it into memory. That combined with UEFI makes Windows 8.1 boot really fast on new hardware, even if it is low end.

    --
    Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon what's the difference? All steal money from devs and control with walled gardens.
  10. Re:SSE2 and NX by Nimey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Low-end, not antique. Old junk like that probably won't have Win8-compatible drivers anyhow.

    --
    Hail Eris, full of mischief...

    E pluribus sanguinem
  11. 32GB of flash storage by bored · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If this device is anything like the dell venue pro with 32GB, it works out to something like 17GB usable when you turn the device on, but by the time windows update runs its going to be less than 10GB free.

    Lots of discussion about this on the internet, for example:

    http://en.community.dell.com/s...