The Notebook War Is On, HP Stream Products To Rival Chromebook
Its cheap, its sleek and the colors are popping.
That is what HP wants you to think of the newest additions to its Stream line-up of thin and light Windows products.
PC World reported that at a press event in New York on Monday HP announced its most affordable laptop yet.
The HP Stream 11.6-inch laptop has a retail tag price of $199, is powered by Intel Celeron, has HD non-touch display and 32GB of onboard flash memory for storage.
In addition to the 11.6-inch Stream, HP has also announced a 13.3-inch laptop and a 7-inch stream 7 and 8-inch stream 8 tablets, according to PCMag.
Both the 11.6-inch and the 13.3-inch Stream laptops have a fanless design and comes in either orchid magenta or horizon blue. HP claims that the 11.6-inch model has a battery life of 8 hours 15 minutes for HD Video playback and about 7 hours 45 minutes for the 13.3-inch.
The Stream notebooks which run on Windows 8 will also come with a host of Microsoft offers. A press release from HP outlined all the free stuff that comes with the Stream.
“HP teamed up with Microsoft to bundle a bevy of free goodies with each of the Stream notebooks, including a one-year subscription to Office 365 Personal, 1TB of cloud storage for one year on Microsoft’s OneDrive service, and a $25 gift card that can be used at the Microsoft Store,” the release said.
Michael Brown of PC World has argued that the partnership between Microsoft and HP on the Stream line-up of products is critical for Microsoft as they have been under intense pressure to respond decisively to the increasing popularity of Chromebooks and Android tablets. He backed up his argument with the latest sales figures which indicate that Chromebooks sales leaped 37 percent this back-to-school season, while sales of Windows PCs dropped by three percent.
Mike Nash, Vice President of Product Management at HP, has said the new Stream products will meet consumers computing needs. He made a statement about the devices at the press launch.
“Today’s consumers demand mobile products that fit their personal style and allow them to work and play where ever they are. The HP Stream products announced today hit the mark with sleek design, portability, access to free cloud storage, and the familiarity of Windows and Office 365.”
The HP Stream series of products were designed to compete directly with Chromebook. The Inquisitr had heralded the release of Chromebook as a significant shift in the world of computing.
It is hoped that the Stream line-up of notebooks and tablets will have a similar impact.
[ Image Credit: HP]
