The HP Stream 11 is an 11.6" Windows 8.1 Laptop, powered by an Intel Celeron N2840 processor at 2.16 GHz. It has 2 GB of RAM and a 32 GB SSD, neither of which can be upgraded. It is rated for 8.5 hours of battery life, depending on performance and brightness settings of course.
The screen is a 1366x768 high definition LCD screen, which has a matte coating for anti-glare. This is basically the same screen as the Acer C720. Which is to say, the screen is pretty bad. The matte coating takes a relatively low-resolution affair and makes it that much more dull and muted. That said, it is serviceable enough and has decent brightness considering the price point.
Just know going in that your tradeoff for choosing this over
a similarly priced $200 Windows Tablet is that the screen on a tablet will
likely be IPS and significantly better in terms of clarity and viewing angles.
However, this matte coating does help very much with glare in overhead and
outdoor lighting situations.
As far as ports, the Stream 11 has 2 USB ports (one 3.0 and one 2.0), a full-size SD slot, and HDMI. It has a single combo headphone/mic port.
As far as ports, the Stream 11 has 2 USB ports (one 3.0 and one 2.0), a full-size SD slot, and HDMI. It has a single combo headphone/mic port.
In many ways the HP Stream 11 is a better buy than the more
expensive HP Stream 14.
This 11 inch model costs $100 less, yet has the same overall screen resolution as the larger device. The 11 also has a better performing Intel processor, an N2840 Celeron, that does better with core browsing and computing tasks. And if that's not enough, the 11 comes with a one year subscription to Office 365 so that a full version of Office can be installed on the 11. The 14 does not come with the Office subscription.
Like the 14 there are some limitations. The device is limited to 2 gigs of non-expandable RAM and has a very small 32 gig solid state disk that's also not accessible. Although 32 gigabytes is double the storage available on most Chromebooks, Windows and its applications require much more disk space to operate.
Despite its limitations this is a very capable and VERY affordable Windows PC that is designed to go head-to-head with Chromebooks. In fact it has most of the same guts as a Chromebook but runs Windows 8.1 instead.
I am excited about the current state of the low-end market. We are getting great capable PCs at very low prices. For once it's nice to see some real competition at this end of the market.
This 11 inch model costs $100 less, yet has the same overall screen resolution as the larger device. The 11 also has a better performing Intel processor, an N2840 Celeron, that does better with core browsing and computing tasks. And if that's not enough, the 11 comes with a one year subscription to Office 365 so that a full version of Office can be installed on the 11. The 14 does not come with the Office subscription.
Like the 14 there are some limitations. The device is limited to 2 gigs of non-expandable RAM and has a very small 32 gig solid state disk that's also not accessible. Although 32 gigabytes is double the storage available on most Chromebooks, Windows and its applications require much more disk space to operate.
Despite its limitations this is a very capable and VERY affordable Windows PC that is designed to go head-to-head with Chromebooks. In fact it has most of the same guts as a Chromebook but runs Windows 8.1 instead.
I am excited about the current state of the low-end market. We are getting great capable PCs at very low prices. For once it's nice to see some real competition at this end of the market.
