HP Stream 11 Pro Reviews

The HP Stream laptop deftly balances fashion and function at a rock-bottom price.

The HP Stream 11 is using the cheapest Intel chip that can run Windows comfortably, has a very limited eMMC storage card with just 20 GB available space, and includes a free version of Windows given away to PC makers to keep Google Chrome OS at bay. But the result is a surprisingly useful compact laptop, attractively styled for anyone that likes bold bright colours. It runs quick enough to surf and type, and always remains cool and silent. To use HP’s own bizarrely chinglish marketing prose, that’s got to help you ‘work from happy place’.

Are you looking for a $200 laptop? A cheap-ass device that is good for doing typey things? A budget machine you plan to use exclusively for light web-browsing and MS Office-ing? Then yes, yes, and yes. The HP Stream 11 is not a powerful machine, obviously, but it's worth every penny of its $200 price. With killer build quality and above average performance for its price-range, the Stream definitely puts the pressure on Chromebooks. The only big sacrifices you're making are battery life and screen quality. Maybe the touchpad, too. The Stream is not a great option for watching or looking at pretty things, and it will never ever be able to last a whole work day. But if neither of those things are a problem for you, the Stream is a damn good bargain.

We approached the HP Stream 11 with considerable skepticism: A $199 laptop in garish colors with Windows 8.1 with Bing and the hardware specs of a tablet, especially that miniscule 32GB flash drive? But darned if the thing doesn't work, especially if you adopt a (dare we say it) Chromebook-like attitude to making do with just a few essential apps and practicing disk space conservation. We installed a handful of favorites like Chrome and Paint.Net and our important data files, moving bulky backlogs to OneDrive, and we've got ample storage room remaining. Plus, we can work on our commuter train or in other Wi-Fi-free zones with less advance planning than Chromebooks require.The screen's viewing angles, to be sure, are a disappointment, but the keyboard is pretty comfortable, the ports are adequate, and even Horizon Blue is growing on us. The Stream 11 is a niche product compared to low-priced laptops with conventional storage, but we've given four stars to numerous Chromebooks and the HP deserves no less.