14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft released Windows 8.1 with Bing in order to lure slate manufacturers to use the platform on board of their budget products.
For the time being, we have seen a bunch of Chinese white box vendors roll out tablets equipped with the operating system, but key players in the tech industry aren't lagging off behind.
Toshiba was one of the first of the big names in the business to roll out the Encore 2 tablet, which is sold for $199 / €151, but more brand vendors are going to be jumping in the same bandwagon soon.
The folks at Mobile Geeks have already spotted a new tablet running the same operating system. The device comes from the HP garden and goes by the name Stream 7.
It arrives with a 7-inch screen and draws life from an Intel Bay Trail processor. Since the retail listing has been spotted in Europe, the price is €179 / $234, but when the device makes it in the United States, it will probably sell for less.
As you might already be accustomed with budget Windows 8.1 slates, the HP Stream 7 will offer mid-range specs.
The tablet will bring about 1280 x 800 pixel resolution, an Intel Atom Z3735G processor fitted with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. However, in an earlier piece we advised you not to get so excited about these cheap slates, as they might not be worth your while yet.
Even so, those of you buying this tablet will discover the slate has only a rear snapper but is lacking one up in the front. However, its budget-friendly price might attract some HP enthusiasts looking to do business with the company once again.
If the Stream moniker might sound familiar to you, it’s because HP also launched a laptop bearing the same name.
This is also a budget product, a laptop in fact that arrives bundled with Windows 8.1 with Bing out of the box.
The laptop can be yours with a 14-inch screen, 1366 x 768 pixel display, an AMD A4 Micro-6400T “Mullins” processor (a 4.5W quad-core processor with Radeon R3 graphics, 2GB of RAM and either 32GB / 64GB of eMMC solid state storage).
The HP Stream 14 is part of Microsoft’s host of BingBooks which are laptops designed to take on Chromebooks head on. Most of them come with almost identical specs (with the exception of this one) but what differs is the operating system.