Will HP's $200 Stream 11 Make People Forget About Chromebooks?

theodp writes With an 11.6" screen, Windows 8.1, and free Office 365 for a year, the $199.99 solid-state HP Stream 11 laptop is positioned to make people think twice about Chromebooks (add $30 for the HP Stream 13). But will it? "The HP Stream 11 is clearly both inexpensive and a great value," writes Paul Thurrott. "At just $200, it's cheap, of course. But it also features a solid-feeling construction, a bright and fun form factor, a surprisingly high-quality typing experience and a wonderful screen. This isn't a bargain bin throwaway. The Stream 11 is something special." The HP Stream Family also includes the HP Stream 7, a $99.99 Windows 8.1 Tablet that includes the Office 365 deal. By the way, at the other end of the price spectrum, HP has introduced the Sprout, which Fast Company calls a bold and weird PC that's bursting at the seams with new ideas, from 3-D scanning to augmented reality. (We mentioned the Sprout a few days ago, too; HP seems to be making some interesting moves lately, looks like they're getting on the smartwatch bandwagon, too.) If you're looking at the Stream as a cheap platform for OSes other than Windows, be cautious: one of the reviews at the Amazon page linked describes trouble getting recent Linux distributions to install.

Comments

No

[AmiMoJo]

Chromebooks are not just cheap, they are very low maintenance and easy to use. If you buy your mum a Windows laptop she will need technical support. If you buy her a Chromebook after the initial set-up you can forget about it.

Re:No

[Anonymous Coward]

Install Ubuntu on it and don't give her the root password. Teach her how to access the web browser, email program, and LibreOffice. Problem solved for 99% of mums.

Re:No

[gbjbaanb]

Even Paul says its not too good (without saying "its too underpowered"):

Whether the Stream's Celeron process, 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of eMMC storage will stand the test of time will of course require some, well, time. But I can offer a few quick observations.

First, this configure seems perfectly capable of running Windows 8.1 (and thus Windows 10 as well) and doing well for the types of casual computing tasks one should expect of such a machine. You can run Word and Office 2013. IE. Facebook. That kind of thing. My bloated Chrome configuration, with multiple add-ons, quickly overwhelmed available memory, and while it does run fine, you won't want to run Chrome alongside any other heavy hitters.

so its not really enough to browse the web with the addons one expects nowadays (and I assume heavy javascript web pages) and do anything else, and he goes one to say you have 10gb storage free. You'll have to carefully manage that once you store a load of music or movies on it.

Re:No

[Anonymous Coward]

Chromebooks are not just cheap, they are very low maintenance and easy to use. If you buy your mum a Windows laptop she will need technical support. If you buy her a Chromebook after the initial set-up you can forget about it.

This is precisely the reason I recommended my mother buy an Acer Chromebook because after years of supporting her Microsoft Windows-running computer it was definitely a blessing to have a computer which I could set-up for her the features (email, web browsing) she cared about and be done with support. The only support request I get these days, which admittedly is as rare as hen's teeth, occurs when the track-pad mouse freezes - attributable to the suspend mode I dare say. For 99% of the things I use a computer for these days a Google Chromebook would suffice since any software development work can be done on a virtual machine or physical server accessible via SSH from the Google Chromebook.

Re: No

[Pikoro]

Chrome Remote Desktop. Full password protected access from anywhere in the world, even if she's NAT'd behind her router. Chrome Web Store

Re:No

[timeOday]

This $200 Stream has an SD Card slot. For $110 you can expand it to 256 GB if you want. OK, that's overkill for a $200 device, but you get the point. Get a 32GB card for $15 instead.

Re:No

[NJRoadfan]

An extra $20 gets you a usable machine (sometimes it goes on sale for $200): http://www.microcenter.com/pro...

Granted it isn't as small as the Stream, but it certainly isn't bulky or heavy. 4GB of RAM is plenty for current apps and storage isn't a concern. I landed up getting two for a friend of mine to replace some really old XP boxen. Performance was good for day to day tasks and the Celeron N2830 has GPU accelerated video for playing 1080p cat videos on YouTube. The only "con" I have with it is that it only has 2 USB ports.

Re:No

[AmiMoJo]

It's a low cost device for casual use. People who need a lot of heavy Chrome add-ons are not the target audience. The target audience is people who listen to Spotify and other streaming services, or watch Netflix so have little need of local storage. It's basically for people who want something like a tablet but also with a reasonable keyboard so they can type a few emails or letters.

Re:No

[BBF_BBF]

The problem is the system does not see SD cards as a local disk. ITs not a trivial matter you can handwave away. Some programs wont let you install on removable storage. I own a Dell venue 8 32 GB, i will NEVER buy something with that little main memory ever again. I would like to add i have been managing small OS drives for 10 years, starting with a 74 GB Raptor drive. I prepared for this future of small OS storage, what i didnt prepare for is how long OEMs would rape us on memory and no one is saying anything about it.

Too bad that even with 10 years experience, you cannot figure out if a computer/tablet runs Microsoft Windows or if it runs Android. The Dell Venue 8 runs Android, the HP Stream and the Dell Venue 8 Pro both run Windows 8.

I own an Asus T100TA that also runs windows 8 and when I add a microSD, it shows up a drive D in windows. It looks and works like any other drive in windows. I can install programs on it no problem.

However, the Venue 8 is an android machine and with the newer versions of android, Google has really restricted what can be stored on an external microSD card and what each program can access on them. You're talking about restrictions on an Android platform and applying them to a thread about Windows 8 machines. Meh.

Re: No

[ranton]

You're complaining about the offerings of two entirely different price points. This for $200 versus a macbook air? It's only 5 to 6 times more expensive. For the price point the value is clear here, even if you're blind to price point.

While the AC is a bit silly for comparing any HP Stream spec with the Macbook Air, s/he does make a good point that 10 GB of free storage space is really really low. You need to produce a usable product for people to buy it, regardless of the price point. 10 GB is just too low, and it is pretty obvious IMHO that a 64 GB drive would have made this product far more useful, even if it would have made the product $225 instead of $200.

Office365 for year + 32GB = $70 a year

[Anonymous Coward]

Well Windows uses 24GB after all the patches, so the solid state storage is only 8GB or so. So that requires you use the 1TB online storage.

So you're actually looking at a $200 + $70 a year to continue the Office 365 + storage you filled up in the first year. $99 a year for the professional version. All your files would be online so you'll have to migrate if you ever want to stop paying.

It's maybe better to buy a Netbook and put OpenOffice on it, it will have a 500GB drive, and you can store your docs and files locally.

Chromebooks are for Google fans, its sort of a poor mans Windows, but with only 32GB of flash and Windows taking most of it, this isn't really a Windows laptop.

Re:Office365 for year + 32GB = $70 a year

[amiga3D]

Whatever. I never use a tablet for computing unless there is nothing else available. My dinky little Acer Aspire One is better at everything than my tablet with the exception of being a smart remote which is what the Samsung 7" tablet I have has become. It makes a fucking fabulous remote control though, I threw the logitech remote in the trash.

Re:Office365 for year + 32GB = $70 a year

[squiggleslash]

Heh, everytime I go by the laptops section in any large store that sells electronics, there's always a few Netbooks (usually not described as such, just as small laptops costing around $2-300.)

The "Netbooks are dead' meme has never made much sense to me. The marketing has changed. Indeed, I believe someone out there, maybe HP, is introducing some kind of small $200 laptop that runs Windows 8.1...

Maybe some

[drolli]

I for my part consider buying a cheap windows tablet, which includes a office 2013 version.

Answer: No.

[Johnny Loves Linux]

It's a Celeron CPU. Office 365 is a rental. It's 2GB of memory. It's Windows. vs. http://www.google.com/intl/en/... and the OS is ChromeOS which is automatically updated. And it's not a rental. And you can install Ubuntu/Debian if you want in a chroot using crouton if you want a fully functional OS for programming.

Re:Answer: No.

[NotInHere]

I'm still missing codesearch. Luckily Github has improved its search since then.

Re:Answer: No.

[gbjbaanb]

no, true... but then Google doesn't expect you to pay regularly to continue to keep accessing your files (first year free).

I would say that a lot of Google services have not been closed but morphed into a different product - Wave was the start for functionality now in Google Docs for example.

Windows 10 please.

[wjcofkc]

This will be a formidable low-end x86 machine if Windows 10 actual hits before the end of 2015, otherwise it's getting late into the game for these things. Then give anyone who buys one now a free upgrade. I would not want the tile interface unless I could use it like a tablet, and switching between tablet and notebook mode all the time just doesn't sound practical. A simple micro hdmi connector or even MHL compatibility would make this greater.

So is this one of those situations where I have to say, "mod me down all you want.." in ordered to get modded up? Just for the record I have been a huge Linux geek since about 95 with Slackware. Computers, operating systems, and software are tools and I explore all available tools. I've been running the Tech Preview pretty happily. It would make this machine an impulsive buy.

Why?

[Monoman]

If people buy these simply based on price then most are likely to be disappointed. My guess is they will be marketing these towards students which is probably the best angle. Assuming they sell an acceptable number of them then only time will tell us if these keep customers happy for a reasonable amount of time. They'll need to make the upgrade to Windows 10 (and Office ?) free AND easy. They'll need to "just work" and stay that way. If these things things get easily infected with malware, spyware, or something more costly like Cryptowall then all money saved will be lost and then some. Windows has a reputation to fix and I'm just glad it isn't my job to try to fix it.

Impartial

[QuietLagoon]

..."The HP Stream 11 is clearly both inexpensive and a great value," writes Paul Thurrott....

Now there's an impartial opinion.

Re: Impartial

[leonbev]

Yeah, the guy gets paid to write about Microsoft products for a living. Not exactly a guy to go to for an unbiased opinion.

Re:Impartial

[amiga3D]

Both.

And with colors that ugly...

[gaiageek]

No one would steal it, because they'd think it's a toy. But seriously, call me when it boots Linux Mint 17, and is available in black or silver.

Re:And with colors that ugly...

[fustakrakich]

Buy a can of spray paint. Rumor has it that Linux will run.

Role reversal?

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

I just saw in Costco a HP Chromebook, 13 inch full HD screen, 1 year of 4G service (I think capped to some ridiculous 200 MB per month. But still good enough for very occssional use), 10 sessions in domestic flights, etc. Priced at 300$. Paired with T-mobile. T-mobile has some great pay-as-you-go data plans too.

So HP is pushing a souped up Chromebook, and a bare bones PC, along with bare bones chromebook and the usual standard formfactor laptops. Looks like HP is throwing everything on the wall and is waiting to see what sticks. It might drop the bare bones chromebook price down too. Come Christmas I would not be surprised to see same spec chrome book at 99$ or 129$

Basic selling point of Chromebook is not just the low price, it is a low maintenance streaming device, with a full keyboard and better screen. HDMI out, bluetooth keyboard, ... why would I even think of buying Roku or chromecast, or smart TV?

"... solid-state HP Stream..." Solid-state?!

[fygment]

Hell no! I want the vacuum tube version. Better yet, get me a steam powered version with 1.2 cycles per second pistons.

Seriously, since when is 'solid-state" anything but all-pervasive in the world of laptops?

No, but schools will take a second look

[vjlen]

We test piloted Chromebooks vs Windows laptops last year, and the decision was made to go with Chromebooks by the district's tech committee over the summer. 700 Chromebooks were purchased and rolled out to a complete grade level plus classes in other grade levels.

The decision to go with Chromebooks was purely political. There was a staff member on the committee (who is no longer with the district) that hyped Google Apps, but when September came, everyone found out you could not run Office on them, and many of the Google "Apps" listed in their directory for Chrome were either just shortcuts or weren't free, so there has been some resentment towards the Chromebooks and Chrome.

Yes, Chromebooks are lower maintenance. However, it would have been only a slight edge with Windows 8's recovery features. Windows 8 can run in 2GB pretty well for what kids would need it for.

Re:No, but schools will take a second look

[wonkavader]

They'll take a second look, and the smart ones will go with chromebooks. The chromebook world is full of boxes which perform acceptably at a low cost. They have no recurring costs. They're disposable. When one is smashed, you can use can replace it with without any setup at all. Work is never lost due to a disk crash.

The kids can install Linux and mess with that on these things. It runs reasonably well.

You can still have some Windows or Macs around to do the hard-core crap (that wouldn't work on underpowered windows boxes either) but the massive bulk of the computing needs for the students should be chromebooks. It solves lots of problems and has both a low entry price and a low continuing price.

Hardly a political decision.

Or for twice that I can do actual useful work

[damn_registrars]

I frequently see new ThinkPads on sale for less than $400 brand new through Lenovo. I don't see what the advantage of this crippled $200 netbook would be; I would sooner spend a little more money to buy a vastly more useful system. Or spend a lot more and get a really nice thinkpad that won't need attention or upgrades for many years to come.

Re:Or for twice that I can do actual useful work

[l0n3s0m3phr34k]

It's market is in places where you need cheap hardware. I used to have National Grid as a client; many hours trying to troubleshoot their mobile collection laptops (mostly toughbooks) that where honestly far over-powered and complex for that situation. Schools too; low-powered systems might be more secure and have less "after class chicanery" than with a fully-functional laptop. Unfortunately, this product doesn't fall under that idea since it's Windows 8.1 lol. I doubt it would even work for companies like National Grid since I doubt it supports various other requirements but really the "tough" part isn't really needed as much anymore since most of the linemen today comprehend the frailty of electronics (they all have smartphones and know how to keep them alive) and probably don't need the whole toughbook idea, or at least not for all of them. And those things are HEAVY...my gf on the other hand is sometimes quite clumsy and her Toughbook is still functioning even with chunks of the case missing from being dropped, and stepped on. Her new one was recently a victim of a cat attack that poured a glass of water all over the bottom it while it was upside down and closed on the floor...any other laptop would have been toast! Thus why I pushed her to get another one...I just said "look at this old one, no other laptop can withstand you" lol.

Re:Or for twice that I can do actual useful work

[weilawei]

Or you can buy a refurb'd Thinkpad for $125-150 with specs and durability that will blow away these toys. Works just fine.

Re:Or for twice that I can do actual useful work

[damn_registrars]

Or you can buy a refurb'd Thinkpad for $125-150 with specs and durability that will blow away these toys. Works just fine.

I do the majority of my work on a thinkpad that matches that description. It was ~2 years old when I bought it used and it's still humming along just fine 2+ years later. I've had previous ones meet those kind of reliability numbers as well, and I'm not exactly easy on my hardware.

Frankly it baffles me how much people will pay for hardware that won't last this long.

Re:"... solid-state HP Stream..." Solid-state?!

[jones_supa]

You are of course right, but just as a sidenote for those who don't know, in electronics solid-state is a broader concept than just hard disks with flash memory.

Re:No one can catch the ginderbread man!

[l0n3s0m3phr34k]

lol thus why Enterprise Services is going it's own way. My division at HP is far more concerned with up-time, reliability, meeting SLA's, and 24/7/365 monitoring and troubleshooting than profit...probably stemming from the massive fine we got a few years ago from the Feds lol. Now every time I see some new product I wonder which side it is on...

But personally I think Meg's ideas are mostly working...the split puts both sides in better shape, faster reactions as a corp, and a finer tuned "vision". Of course I'm unhappy seeing some of my friends loose their jobs but that's just corporate life ESPECIALLY in IT and from what I've seen no one was "singled out" it is pretty random. Even while some divisions are laying off people others are hiring...we lost some help desk people but are adding mainframe operation techs and they get paid almost twice as much! Honestly I'd much rather see HP having more "mainframe" level activities going on than expanding contracted help desk operations but we have to leverage the capabilities we have in-office.

I think though that my location might be a "special case" since we're the site of IBM's 360 SABRE location and this system can't be "moved" easily. It's all underground, multiple bubble doors, iris scanners, password-of-the-day stuff. I work a few hundred feet away for almost two years and haven't seen the inside of it but walk around the top of it during my smoke breaks every night...yet I have worked deep inside the Cherokee Data Center for months on end so I have whatever "clearance" to be inside of it technically. Our location is quasi-government entangled and is kinda it's own entity inside of HP lol.

ExplorerBook

[Luthair]

I think unfortunately these devices are very misleading, with 32gb of (very slow) local storage they simply don't offer anything more than a Chromebook. There isn't space for installing programs (or games), nor is there enough space for local media.

Another HP 2000

[Deathlizard]

Awhile back, HP made the HP 2000 Laptops running low end AMD Processors and sold them at Walmarts at $279.

Piece of Crap doesn't even describe this PC. These are easily the slowest PC's I have touched in years, and it's not because of Windows 8. (Hell, I think Chrome OS Would struggle on these things.) It's the Hardware components they chose to use with them. Using Low end AMD C and E processors coupled with hard drives with embarrassing slow speed and latency times, it's built to be as cheap as possible and it shows. HP seems to have a track record with this as well, Slipping Tablet, Phone and NetBook Components in full size laptop form factors to convince Granny that she's getting more Laptop than she actually is.

I constantly get these in the shop and I tell the customers there's nothing I can do to them speed wise to make them any faster. Even if you reset them to factory (Which Amazingly removes all of the bloatware down to only essential Hardware necessary items) it's takes practically 30 minutes to boot before you can actually use it. Patching it takes about 1 full day between waiting an hour for it to actually register updates, to installing Windows 8.1, which takes 4-5 hours, and another 6-8 hours installing the Windows 8.1 patches. With just about any other laptop (short of the Toshiba's that follow this same Price model) I can go from windows 8.0 factory to fully 8.1 patched in under 3 hours.

If $279 Gets you crap like the HP 2000, I can't imagine what these $199 systems would be like, Unless MS is seriously giving HP Money each time they sell one of these.

Re: It didn't work like that for me in reality.

[Anonymous Coward]

Lol, it took you 3 hours to turn a Chromebook on and create a Google account!? You must be a special kind of stupid.

No. Chromebook is actually the better package.

[Qbertino]

No. Chromebook is actually the better package for most people.

8 hrs. battery time. Boots in 8 seconds. Zero maintenance. Zero worries about backups. Zero worries about installing programms. Zero virii. Zero synching your photos, videos, audios, whatnot with your tablet and/or phone. Everything in the cloud. Drop your laptop, have it stolen, pour coffee into it - no problem. Order a new one, log on, all your stuff is there and you didn't even have to archive. While the the one is being shipped you can use your friends computer or your cellphone to do the most important stuff until it arrives. I gave my fiance a laptop (IBM Thinkpad, Ubuntu 14.04, all ready and set up) and an android tablet. She used the laptop once. The tablet she uses constantly. Just watching her is a real eye opener.

Anther Point in case:
I'm your type A slashdot computer geek and even *I* would prefer a chromebook over a windows laptop (typing this on Linux btw.)

I'm quite convinced that my next portable computer will either be an android tablet with an extra bluetooth keyboard or a chromebook - routing a chromebook with crouton and installing linux on it is quite easy, and 8 hrs battery time for 299 has a nice ring to it.

The truth is: Google is set to bring the second half of humanity online. They are basically the budget Apple. You pay significantly less with at least as much convenience, if not even more. Google takes care of you and all your computing stuff for free and in turn the may observe you 24/7. That's the basic deal and there is no upside MS can offer to that.

With MS it's pay premium, and get observed, and functionality degraded over time and virii and we want to know all your details before you can use windows unencumbred. Oh, and MS Office is a subscription now. ... Who the eff wants that? ... MS only has a chance to do that for historical reasons, and those are wearing off quickly.

No one I know would want this ugly laptop with windows on it.

My 2 cents.