HP Launches 'Stream 14' Low-Cost Windows 8.1 Laptop as Chromebook Rival

After launching its 11-inch and 14-inch Chromebook laptops at IFA 2014, HP on Monday announced its low-cost Windows 8.1 based offering, the HP Stream 14.

The Stream 14 is listed on the HP UK website as 'Available' along with a price tag of GBP 229 (roughly Rs. 17,800) and detailed specifications. The launch date in other regions is yet to be known.

As per the listing, the HP Stream 14 runs on 64-bit Windows 8.1 and is powered by a 1GHz quad-core AMD A4 Micro-6400T processor with a 350MHz Radeon R3 GPU (2MB cache), and 2GB of 1600MHz DDR3L RAM.

Aimed at competing with the low-cost Chromebook offering since it was first mentioned by Microsoft in July, the HP laptop features a 14-inch HD (768x1366 pixels) resolution BrightView WLED-backlit display. The HP Stream 14 also houses 32GB of inbuilt storage, with 25GB of Dropbox storage along with a 100GB of OneDrive storage on a 2-year subscription. The laptop also features a HP TrueVision front-facing HD webcam with integrated digital microphone.

The connectivity features on the HP Stream 14 include Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, one HDMI port, headphone connector, 2xUSB 2.0 ports, 1xUSB 3.0 port, and one multi-format SD media card reader. Powered by a 3-cell, 32Wh Li-ion polymer battery, the HP Stream 14 measures 344x240x17.8mm, and weighs 1.75kgs.

Some of the pre-installed software that comes with the HP Stream 14 are McAfee LiveSafe, Adobe Shockwave Player, CyberLink Media Suite, Evernote, Netflix, Skype, and TripAdvisor.

Notably, the HP's Chrome OS-based counterpart for the HP Stream is based on an Nvidia Tegra K1 processor, and is priced aggressively at $299 (roughly Rs. 18,130) onwards.