We didn’t mention Chromebooks in our 2014 wrap-up, but the devices certainly gained momentum this year. No, the browser-based devices aren’t for everyone. They’ve found a place in schools, though, and in homes where people spend most of their time on the web. Chromebooks also gained the attention of Microsoft: The company admitted in June that it won’t cede the low-end computing market.
I still use the Chromebook Pixel I bought in March of 2013. It’s powerful enough for everything I need to do on a daily basis, has a superb 2560 x 1700 display and came with 1 TB of Google Drive storage. I’ve also tested a number of other Chromebooks since then. What I haven’t tried lately is the competition: The latest low-cost Microsoft Windows with Bing laptops meant to sway consumers away from Chromebooks.
Last night, I noticed that the online Microsoft Store was offering the HP Stream 13 laptop for $30 off, so I pulled the trigger and paid $199 for the Signature Edition laptop. It should arrive before the new year.
The HP Stream 13 — there’s also a smaller Stream 11 model on sale for $179 — is essentially Windows 8.1 running on Chromebook hardware. Look at the hardware specifications and if you didn’t know what operating system the device ran, you’d think this is a $200 to $300 Chromebook, not a modern-day netbook:
- A 2.16 GHz Intel Celeron N2840 processor
- 13.3-inch display with 1366 x 768 resolution
- 2 GB of memory
- 32 GB of internal flash storage and a microSD card slot
- 1 USB 3.0 port, 2 USB 2.0 ports, HDMI out
- 720p webcam
- 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
- Estimated battery life of 7.5 hours
Again, this is pretty typical fare for a Chromebook. And like Google’s offers of free storage, the Stream 13 comes with 1 TB of OneDrive storage. A one-year subscription of Office365 is also included.
From a general computing standpoint, I still think that Chrome OS is a bit “lighter” than Windows 8.1, meaning it does less but that keeps the whole experience simpler and faster.
Regardless, Microsoft and its hardware partners are trying to go head-to-head with Chromebooks with low-cost computers such as the Stream 13, so I’ll take it for a spin. It’s always good to see competing products and help keep things in perspective. I also use OS X and Linux computers, partly for this reason. I certainly won’t compare the $200 laptop to my $1,450 Pixel; this competes against similarly priced Chromebooks from Acer, Asus, Toshiba, Dell and HP itself.
Once the device arrives and I’ve had a chance to use it as my full time computing device for several days, I’ll share my thoughts.



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