Chromebooks have been consistently residing in the top selling computers since their updating. Their easy of use, quick start up, and above all cheap cost have quietly lead to them eating into Microsofts domino of lower price laptop and desktop computers running a traditional Desktop interface. However, HP looks set to announce the first device to lead Microsoft’s fight back.
The $199 HP Stream 14
The HP Stream 14 is rumoured to be priced as low as $199 but equipped with Windows 8.1 and nearly identical spec to HP’s Chromebook 14 which features:
- 2 GB of RAM
- 14 inch 1,366×768
- HD Webcam
- Beats Audio (and Four Speakers)
The HP Stream 14 however, sports a 1.6GHz AMD processor instead of the Chromebook’s 1.4GHz Intel chip, and 32GB or 64GB of internal storage. To help compensate for the lack of onboard storage the HP Stream will offer 100GB of Microsoft data storage instead of Google Drive storage.
It’s interesting to see Microsoft taking on Google with a similar line of products and that HP is producing two so similar specced devices but running different OSes. It will be interesting to see if other companies will produce their own Microsoft chrome book alternatives and whether they will be similarly specced.
From a consumer standpoint, the extra offline services available to Windows instead of Chrome OS may be enough to persuade users to choose one of these devices instead of a Chromebook, but Google has been moving to get more of their apps to work offline. If they succeed here then it’s possible that Google’s drive service will win out over Microsoft’s offerings in the long run.
Which would you go for? An HP chromebook or the HP Stream? Let us know in the comments below, or on Google+, Facebook, or Twitter.
[button link=”http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-199-stream-14-the-first-of-microsofts-chromebook-killers-2014-8″ icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Business Insider[/button]Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
