Tag: stream

HP says “Don’t cross the Streams”

Posted on September 30, 2014 by - News, Products

gb_pee-764695The maker of expensive printer ink, HP, seems jolly keen on putting Google’s Chromebook out of business.  This week it announced several new stream notebooks.  For those who came in late the Stream series is HP’s version of the low cost Windows laptop, meant to compete head to head with Chromebooks on price.

The difference between the two is that the Streams still offer a fully fleshed out operating system. The Stream 14 is available to purchase now for only $299, and comes with an AMD A4 APU, 2 GB of RAM, and 32 GB of eMMC storage.

Now HP has fleshed out its range and announced two additional laptops, and two tablets.

The laptops come in two screen sizes with the smallest being 11.6” and the mid-size being 13.3” and these are to compliment the already released 14” model.

HP is not saying what the exact specifications have not been disclosed yet, but both units will be powered by an Intel dual-core Bay Trail Celeron processor. This means that it is a fanless device, and both come with 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of eMMC storage. The 13.3” device has an optional touchscreen to go with the 1366×768 resolution that both laptops share. The 13.3” model also is available with optional 4G connectivity. HP is including 200 MB of free data every month for the life of the device. As another value add, HP is offering one year of Office 365 personal, which includes 1 TB of online storage and 60 Skype minutes per month.

Battery life is eight hours and 15 minutes for the 11.6” model, and seven hours 45 minutes for the 13.3” model.

The HP Stream laptops are available in several colours, and will be priced at $199.99 for the 11.6” model and $229.99 as the starting price for the 13.3” model.

HP also announced the HP Stream 7 Tablet, which is a 7” Windows 8.1 that comes in at only $99.99. There is also the HP Stream 8 which has a starting price of $149.99. Both tablets are powered by Intel Atom quad-core processors, and 1366×768 screens. Like the larger of the two laptops, the 8” tablet, if equipped with the optional 4G, comes with 200 MB of data per month for the life of the device, and both also come with Office 365 personal for one year.

Microsoft takes on Chrome

Posted on August 20, 2014 by - News

Chrome-4-Wallpaper-Background-HdSoftware giant Microsoft appears to be attempting to give the Chromebook a run for its money.

Vole has arranged a few deals with some of its hardware partners to create $199 to $249 Windows laptops which are based around cloud storage systems.

HP will be Microsoft’s number one chum and will lead the way to lower-priced Microsoft Windows computers this year.

First off the block will be a $199 laptop dubbed the HP Stream 14. Details for the device leaked to Mobile Geeks. The data sheet that the magazine got its paws on shows a  14-inch laptop which could provide an interesting alternative to a Chromebook.

The HP Stream 14 is a bit like a Chromebooks.  It has a 1366 x 768 display and energy-efficient AMD chips. It has an untaxing 2 GB of memory and either 32 or 64 GB of flash storage as well as an SDXC card slot. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, three USB ports, HDMI out and a webcam.

The laptop runs Windows 8.1 and is connected to Microsoft’s cloud storage services. Like a Chromebook, the HP Steam 14 will come with 100 GB of OneDrive storage for two years, which is the identical

It appears that Microsoft is not going to give the bottom of the market to Google without a fight and we are expecting to see other products from Volish partners in the $199 to $249 price range in the coming months.