News - HP Stream 14 Windows laptop to be priced at US$199

[HEXUS]

Comes with 2 years worth of expanded cloud storage, just like a Chromebook.

Read more.

[crossy]

I'm confused - what's the purpose of that last graphic in the article. I mean are users expected to "install the system board", so this is laptop equivalent to Ikea flat pack furniture?

Even if that $199 ends up as £199, this is attractive at first glance. I guess I could even work around the limited storage, since after all there's a micro-SD slot. But 2GB RAM with Windows8, sorry no sale.

[shaithis]

2GB RAM for windows 8 and office is absolutely fine.

[YazX]

@crossy, its windows and office RT, so it doesnt need same RAM amount of windows desktop versions, so 2 GB is fine, it would have been alot better if it was 4 GB though.

[scaryjim]

@crossy, its windows and office RT

No, it's full x64 Windows. And 2GB is plenty - I've run Win 8 VMs on 1GB with no noticable performance issues, and I have a mate running Win 8 on an old 1GB laptop and he swears it now runs better than it did with either XP or Win 7. I'd be perfectly happy with 2GB for a web/office device.

And if I ever need a new ultra-portable, this will be very close to the top of my list

[Biscuit]

Obviously it depends what you're doing with it, but i would never run with less than 4GB on a dedicated machine.

[crossy]

@crossy, its windows and office RT, so it doesnt need same RAM amount of windows desktop versions, so 2 GB is fine, it would have been alot better if it was 4 GB though.

Sorry, according to Gizmodo, TheVerge, TechRadar, etc it's not RT, it's the full-blown Windows8.1.

2GB RAM for windows 8 and office is absolutely fine.

Hmm, you're probably right - I keep thinking that this is a Windows laptop, whereas it's probably more like a large netbook. So you probably won't be wanting to run Photoshop etc on it, instead the usual social-media, web, email and Office. Strange that it's not touch-enabled though - might even be a good place to use that LeapMotion license.

Looks like the info on it wasn't released, but "escaped" instead - because the (offending?) doc on the HP US site has been taken down and is now only available via Google cache.

Interesting product and one, imho of course, that makes 1000x more sense than a Chromebook.

[gordon861]

Why are they still using the damn 1366x768 screens, they are crap.

[shaithis]

Why are they still using the damn 1366x768 screens, they are crap.

$199!!

[zaph0d]

With the fact that it's got USB ports and HDMI it'd make a great low power media centre. Get an RF remote control and stuff the thing behind the TV, Job Done.

[scaryjim]

I'm confused - what's the purpose of that last graphic in the article.

Maybe it's a teaser of a similar specced 8" tablet that Hexus have heard rumours of? That's a *tiny* system board! They could easily stick that behind an 8" screen (although there might not be much room left for batteries and peripherals ).

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

So a Jaguar based quad core and a 128 GCN shader IGP for under $200!

Very good for the price IMHO.

[mtyson]

In related news Lenovo has launched a £229 (inc VAT) laptop in the UK.
It's the Lenovo B50-30 with a 15.6-inch screen.
"Complete with Windows 8.1 enabled with Bing 64bit, Intel® N2830 2.16GHz processor, 4GB memory and full connectivity experience"

http://hexus.net/tech/items/laptop/7...e-laptop-ever/

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The B50 is actually £170 after cashback:

http://www.ebuyer.com/645880-lenovo-b50-laptop-mca28uk

However,its only a dual core BT Celeron and looks to be less portable.

The HP laptop looks to be cheaper and smaller though and the AMD SOC appears to be a lower TDP and SDP design.

[Nezbert]

I wonder if it would run Linux? It'd make a good Lubuntu PC for browsing in bed.

[wasabi]

Interesting. I'd be keener if it were a 12 or 13 inch device, but good at the price. Hopefully the dollar conversion rate will hold true.