- Hey guys, this is Austin.
This is a 188 dollar laptop, and I'm about to give you
five reasons why you should pick one up.
Starting off at number one, we have the price.
At 188 dollars, the HP Stream is one of the cheapest
Windows laptops that you can buy brand new today.
Now, I took at look at the HP Stream a couple years ago,
the original model, and it was good but it had a lot
of compromises.
However, over the last couple years,
while keeping that price low, they've actually done
a fair bit to make it a better laptop.
Recently, I did a video on a 200 dollar MacBook
that I picked up off of eBay.
Now it was a good system, however it is not for the
faint of heart.
Now, not only is it going to be nearly ten years old,
but there is no warranty and no guarantee
that it's ever going to get updates.
At least with the HP Stream, you know that if something
goes wrong, you can just go yell at HP about it.
To really put the 188 dollar price tag into context,
you could pick up 15 of these HP Streams for less
than the price of a mid spec 15 inch MacBook Pro.
Now obviously, the MacBook is going to be a better
laptop.
When you consider just how much this is able
to do, for so much less, it starts to make sense
for a lot of people.
And that brings us to reason number two.
This is really all that you need.
And sure, some people do have specific things
they have to do with their laptops,
but a lot of people are rocking
a thousand dollar MacBook Air in their backpack,
and doing nothing besides watching videos
and typing some docs or emails or whatever.
And it just so happens that the HP Stream will also
do that, for less than a fifth of the price.
So, no, you should not buy the HP Stream if you plan
on doing hardcore gaming, or any kind of video editing.
However, if you're doing lighter stuff like most people do,
web browsing, watching video, playing games,
you know, on Facebook,
wait, do people still play games on Facebook?
- [Offscreen Voice] Yes.
- Okay, well if you're doing any of that stuff,
the HP Stream is going to be totally fine.
It's also still a full fledged Windows computer,
so unlike a Chromebook, you have all the advantages
of running a complete copy of Windows 10,
as well as all the disadvantages of running a complete
copy of Windows 10.
This gives you the freedom of using incredibly advanced
technology like not Google Chrome, you can install
heavy apps, such as Photoshop, if you have a lot
of patience, and you're going to get access to the full
library of thousands and thousands of Windows apps
that have been created over the years.
Number three is the hardware.
Now when you hear the words, 188 dollar laptop,
it probably doesn't fill you with confidence.
But the Stream is, well, actually not that bad.
Take the keyboard, for example.
On a lot of ultra cheap laptops, it definitely feels cheap,
and while it isn't on the most premium side
for the Stream, it has a little bit of clickiness
that does feel pretty nice.
The trackpad also isn't too bad, and that follows through
with the rest of the chassis.
Sure, it's all made of plastic, at this price point,
you shouldn't expect anything else,
but there's no real flex besides a little bit with
the screen, and the overall hardware feels pretty
decent, especially considering how light it is.
It's definitely not fancy, but you have all the basics,
including three USB ports, HDMI, a headphone jack,
as well as an SD card reader, which is important
for something that I'll get into in just a second.
One of the biggest downsides is the screen.
So, with a 14 inch 1366 by 768 panel,
it was never going to be the sharpest thing in the world,
but what really lets it down is the fact that it is
a thoroughly average TN panel.
Color accuracy isn't great, the brightness could be better,
but that being said, for 188 dollars,
it is going to be usable.
Reason number four is the performance.
It exists.
So at 188 dollars, you should expect this to be
a blistering fast PC, and surprise, surprise,
blistering fast, it is not.
Inside, you're getting a dual core Intel Celeron processor
four gigabytes of RAM, as well as a massive 32 gigabytes
of flash storage.
Nothing is what I would call snappy, but at least it works,
and a big part of that is because this guy has four gigs
of RAM, unlike earlier versions, which only had two.
As you can imagine, Windows computers really aren't
that happy with only two gigabytes of RAM,
especially with certain apps.
(coughs)
Chrome.
(coughs)
Sorry, cough, I don't know what that was.
The processor is decent enough for basic tasks.
So because it is so low powered, you actually don't
need a fan inside the Stream, which at least does make
it completely silent.
One of the bigger issues is that 32 gigabytes of storage
though.
Now, yes, you can get Windows on 32 gigs of storage,
but install more than a couple apps,
it's going to fill up quickly.
Thankfully, though, that full sized SD card reader
actually does come in handy.
Put something like a 128 gig card, for about 40 dollars,
and you actually should be pretty well set.
Reason number five is that it's practical.
So you think of a lot of the things that will make
a good laptop good, the HP Stream has them.
I mean, some of them, at least.
Battery life is a big one.
So with a 41 watt hour battery, while that may not be
impressive for a lot of laptops, this has such power
sipping internals, that even when you're completely
cranking it at 100 percent, you're going to be getting
decent battery life.
And for normal usage, you're looking at around 10 hours.
You're also getting some surprising features
at the price point, including 2x2 802.11ac Wi-Fi.
Now yes, this is not going to be as reliant on the internet
as something like a Chromebook,
but you still think about it, it's called the HP Stream
for a reason, and most of the time, you're going to
be online, so it's nice that it has solid Wi-Fi.
The HP Stream is definitely not for everyone,
but I'm continuously impressed with just how much you're
able to get for so little.
So, I'm curious, what do you guys think of ultra cheap
laptops, like the Stream?
Let me know in the comments below,
and I will catch you in the next one.