HP refreshed its highly accessible Stream notebook series

Oct 7, 2015 14:30 GMT  ·  By
With such color palette some of us would feel like pulling out their eyes
2 photos
   With such color palette some of us would feel like pulling out their eyes

These are the ultra-low priced, Chromebook-style notebooks that don't even need to be judged for their performance, but rather for their accessibility, and why not, looks. But now, HP made the Stream 11 and 13 notebooks a tad more powerful.

Since HP launched the low-priced HP Stream 11 and 13, the two notebook series have been massive hits. Their low prices meant that everyone could have a light, cheap, easy-to-carry computer that allows people to do whatever jobs they have to do without expecting their Stream notebooks to do too much for their needs. If there is web browsing, mail sending or occasional movie streaming, the Stream series were perfect.

Now HP made them thinner, more powerful, and so much more colorful. The new Stream 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch laptops are both powered by Intel Celerons processors, replacing the old Bay Trail Celerons to new Braswells that should bring some modest performance improvements. In other words, if your new Stream notebook flies like a rocket compared to your old one, it's probably because you got your old one virused.

Cheap, affordable, and easy to carry. Who cares that it comes in crazy colors?

Battery life has also increased, but again, not by much, since the new Stream 11 is rated for nearly 11 hours of battery life, and the Stream 13 up to 8.5 hours of runtime, which is OK, keeping in mind that these are not machines designed for performance computing and they shouldn't chug battery life like other more powerful laptops.

However, their greatest features are size and weight. Measuring 0.72 inches thin and weighing 2.6 pounds is a piece of cake to carry even for little kids. The new device is apparently 2 mm thinner than the old model. The larger model is also not so encumbering since it can be pretty portable as well at 3.42 pounds and 0.77 inches.

Ports-wise, the new Stream 11 and Stream 13 come with one USB 3.0 port, one HDMI port, and a microSD card reader. However, the fun part is that the devices come with 32GB of built-in eMMC flash memory so you really need that internet connection to access that free 1TB of OneDrive storage for a year that comes bundled with the new Stream notebooks.

Color-wise, boys would have some major problems finding the new notebooks attractive since they come in Cobalt Blue, Violet Purple and Ash Silver. Clearly, these aren't machines to be taken seriously unless you're a Facebook-addicted schoolgirl.

But for $200 (€178) for the Stream 11, and the HP Stream 13 at $230 (€204), you don't really have to worry about that.

Photo Gallery (2 Images)

With such color palette some of us would feel like pulling out their eyes
HP Stream 11
Open gallery