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HP Stream 14 - $199

  • Last Updated:
  • Feb 11th, 2020 9:19 pm
Banned
May 17, 2005
4845 posts
661 upvotes
shwab wrote: It's not a huge deal, but might be distracting watching movies in letterbox format.
agree
Deal Addict
User avatar
Nov 23, 2008
4018 posts
2517 upvotes
Halifax
electricJP wrote: 99% of people using classic shell never really tried to use the new UI. By the way, I don't know anyone in my relations using classic shell (and we all use Win10) . go figure.
matus201 wrote: Actually make sure you try what windows 10 has to offer before installing this junk.

If after that you feel like you're too old to change, and miss the days of windows 7, yeah install classic shell.
What, pray tell, does the old UI do better than the old UI? Exactly.

I have the new UI at work, and I hate it as much as day one. I have a good Windows 10 phone, and the same UI makes sense, but on a computer? Pointless and confusing.
Deal Addict
Feb 6, 2008
1331 posts
1060 upvotes
Hamilton
bridonca wrote: . I have a good Windows 10 phone, and the same UI makes sense, but on a computer? Pointless and confusing.
I used to use a Windows Phone, and found it to have the best UI of the three major ones.
Deal Guru
Mar 1, 2002
13237 posts
12065 upvotes
Toronto
bridonca wrote: What, pray tell, does the old UI do better than the old UI? Exactly.

I have the new UI at work, and I hate it as much as day one. I have a good Windows 10 phone, and the same UI makes sense, but on a computer? Pointless and confusing.
It does touchscreens better, but unless it's a tablet I install Classic shell immediately.

Also good to know the search function and a lot of kb shortcuts so can get around regardless of start menu.
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May 2, 2010
3949 posts
3570 upvotes
Markham
FedEx delivered mine this noon at lunch time. Here is my quick impression of it.

The build is pretty decent considering the price point. No way I would pay the full price of $400 for it though.

Setting up Windows 10 was easy and took about 15 minutes or so - assuming it was downloading some updates. It runs quite reasonably smooth before I have time to do some tweaks in post#54 to speed up Windows 10 on this laptop.

Immediately switched out of S mode and installed Chrome browser.
Tried a sample Youtube video. The picture ran smoothly and the sound from the speakers was quite acceptable, too.

Will back up Windows 10 and install a Linux distro as my main OS. May use a low profile USB drive to install Windows 10 on it as standby for those rare occasions when I cannot avoid using it.
Jr. Member
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Jan 23, 2014
136 posts
76 upvotes
Montréal
bridonca wrote: What, pray tell, does the old UI do better than the old UI? Exactly.

I have the new UI at work, and I hate it as much as day one. I have a good Windows 10 phone, and the same UI makes sense, but on a computer? Pointless and confusing.
Honestly you don't really use the UI in a work environment, you start all your tools once and switch between the windows using keyboard shortcuts. Even at home, I see the start menu once in a while on my desktops. I use the UI mostly (only?) on tablets.
Anyway, I passed the all-custom-stuff age and just run vanilla, less problems to solve.
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Jul 17, 2011
6609 posts
3909 upvotes
Where's the setting for the classic shell? Or is that something I have to install separately? Is it a theme?
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Jan 12, 2017
23017 posts
6890 upvotes
Scarberia
im setting up mine now..how come its not 'fullscreen'? this thing has THICK bezels lol , looks ancient, so much white empty spaces, ya im complaining bout a 200 cheap lappy!

im on the blue dots spinning screen " 'We're still working. " takes forever
*SIG: Ryzen R5 2600 cpu w/ ASrock B450M OCd to 4.0ghz@1.265v stock cooler 16gb ram win10 pro w/radeon rx460 rogers Gigabit<< xb1 gamertag: mikka2017 >>
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Jul 17, 2011
6609 posts
3909 upvotes
mikka2017 wrote: im setting up mine now..how come its not 'fullscreen'? this thing has THICK bezels lol , looks ancient, so much white empty spaces, ya im complaining bout a 200 cheap lappy!

im on the blue dots spinning screen " 'We're still working. " takes forever
Lol just remember that the laptop is likely cheaper than the phone you're using now, so the thick bezels comes with the price.

At least it's relatively lightweight, and despite it being plastic, the build quality is still nice and feels good.
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Jan 12, 2017
23017 posts
6890 upvotes
Scarberia
anyone else notice a slight light bleed at top left a bit..seems like another user mentioned this its not big or anything but i did notice it on the blue setup screens, i don't remember windows taking this long to setup~!

doing upgrade now, put in an old win 8 pro key,
Last edited by mikka2017 on Sep 13th, 2019 4:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
*SIG: Ryzen R5 2600 cpu w/ ASrock B450M OCd to 4.0ghz@1.265v stock cooler 16gb ram win10 pro w/radeon rx460 rogers Gigabit<< xb1 gamertag: mikka2017 >>
Sr. Member
Dec 3, 2007
996 posts
876 upvotes
Toronto, Ontario
mikka2017 wrote: im setting up mine now..how come its not 'fullscreen'? this thing has THICK bezels lol , looks ancient, so much white empty spaces, ya im complaining bout a 200 cheap lappy!

im on the blue dots spinning screen " 'We're still working. " takes forever
Your reputation precedes you. Even when you're not on a thread bashing a super cheap deal, someone else is doing it in your name.
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Nov 13, 2007
3748 posts
6586 upvotes
Calgary
mikka2017 wrote: anyone else notice a slight light bleed at top left a bit..seems like another user mentioned this its not big or anything but i did notice it on the blue setup screens, i don't remember windows taking this long to setup~!
If you think Windows setup is taking a long time, wait till you start downloading the updates! About 1 hour in, and it's still updating lol. Kinda scared of updating it to 1903 which I'll probably do overnight. That said, for $200, I'm actually quite impressed. Display is a lot nicer than I expected. Performance is passable. The last time I had something this basic was a old Dell Netbook.
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Jan 12, 2017
23017 posts
6890 upvotes
Scarberia
i wonder how much battery life u get if u max out the cpu in the power options..im still using stock cpu speeds
*SIG: Ryzen R5 2600 cpu w/ ASrock B450M OCd to 4.0ghz@1.265v stock cooler 16gb ram win10 pro w/radeon rx460 rogers Gigabit<< xb1 gamertag: mikka2017 >>
Sr. Member
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Jul 29, 2007
904 posts
674 upvotes
Pacific Northwest
So, which Linux distro are you going to install on this thing? I am thinking of a couple, either Linux Mint or MX Linux. I have both of them on a USB drive already as live usb (non persistence mode) which I already use for my old dell laptop that has similar settings as this laptop. I may just need to set them up for persistence mode and leave windows 10 s mode as is for now... I don't think i'll update it to Windows 10 home until later down the road. For extra storage, I just bought 4 Kingston removable media (2 USB - 32gb each, 2 SD cards - 64gb each). I am leave the crappy ssd alone for Windows only.
Thank you RFD community for helping me with spending money!
Deal Addict
Mar 26, 2012
1429 posts
1157 upvotes
I think this is the first time a laptop for $199 has a 1080p IPS display. Perfectly acceptable for browsing dank memes, filling tax returns, sending off job applications to not use this laptop anymore lol
Deal Guru
Mar 1, 2002
13237 posts
12065 upvotes
Toronto
Luyuan20 wrote: I think this is the first time a laptop for $199 has a 1080p IPS display. Perfectly acceptable for browsing dank memes, filling tax returns, sending off job applications to not use this laptop anymore lol
The iSmart from CC has it, but I'd take HP over an unknown China brand any day.
Deal Fanatic
Sep 13, 2004
6019 posts
3613 upvotes
Toronto
Saltywetguy wrote: So, which Linux distro are you going to install on this thing? I am thinking of a couple, either Linux Mint or MX Linux. I have both of them on a USB drive already as live usb (non persistence mode) which I already use for my old dell laptop that has similar settings as this laptop. I may just need to set them up for persistence mode and leave windows 10 s mode as is for now... I don't think i'll update it to Windows 10 home until later down the road. For extra storage, I just bought 4 Kingston removable media (2 USB - 32gb each, 2 SD cards - 64gb each). I am leave the crappy ssd alone for Windows only.
I don't have this machine so this is going to be untested advice.

Someone on the internet said that Ubuntu 18.04 didn't support the WiFi hardware in this computer. But they suggested that later versions might support it. Hard to tell what's true. That problem might carry over to Mint because it is based on Ubuntu (if I remember correctly).

Some firmware makes it hard to boot an installation "disk" that isn't properly signed ("Secure Boot"). I don't know if the HP firmware requires this. I use Fedora which is signed. It might be a problem with Mint.

I haven't found dual booting to be useful very often. And the cost on this machine is quite high: the eMMC is big enough to be comfortable for one system but not for two. Microsoft has even said that it will stop supporting systems with only 32G of "disk". Using external media seems pretty fiddly and slow.

Why you might not want to use Fedora: it has a constant stream of updates and that can get bothersome. I actually like this.
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Sep 13, 2004
6019 posts
3613 upvotes
Toronto
Luyuan20 wrote: I think this is the first time a laptop for $199 has a 1080p IPS display. Perfectly acceptable for browsing dank memes, filling tax returns, sending off job applications to not use this laptop anymore lol
I have a couple of Acer Spin 1 notebooks and an iSmart notebook with similar specs and price from around last Christmas. They were clearance deals from Canada Computers. This kind of deal has been very rare.

I'm so glad that 1080p IPS is no longer limited to $600+ notebooks.
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Jan 12, 2017
23017 posts
6890 upvotes
Scarberia
Wow this laptop can play 4k 60fps on edge no problem huh
Even my desktop struggles..weird
4EDB3304-AF07-4679-9418-92AF866B0EA4.jpeg
*SIG: Ryzen R5 2600 cpu w/ ASrock B450M OCd to 4.0ghz@1.265v stock cooler 16gb ram win10 pro w/radeon rx460 rogers Gigabit<< xb1 gamertag: mikka2017 >>
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Feb 6, 2008
1331 posts
1060 upvotes
Hamilton
Hugh wrote: I don't have this machine so this is going to be untested advice.

Someone on the internet said that Ubuntu 18.04 didn't support the WiFi hardware in this computer. But they suggested that later versions might support it. Hard to tell what's true. That problem might carry over to Mint because it is based on Ubuntu (if I remember correctly).
I was using Ubuntu "Live" on a USB dongle and everything seemed to work fine. This was 18.04.

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