Product Description
HP Stream 11-d010nr Notebook Work from a happy place with a Windows-based PC that lets you store your content in the cloud for easy access in more places. Cloud storage included: Get 1TB of Microsoft OneDrive so you can store all you want for a year. Thinner, lighter design: With flash storage and fan less design, this PC is built for cloud computing on-the-go. Office 365 Personal included Windows 8.1 with Bing Processor: Intel Celeron N2840 Processor Display: 11.6-inch diagonal HD Antiglare WLED-backlit display (1366 x 768) Memory: On-board 2GB 1333 MHz DDR3L SDRAM Storage: 32GB eMMC Graphics: Intel HD graphics Battery life: Up to 8 hours and 15 minutes Product weight: 2.82 lb. Keyboard: 97% size island-style keyboard See it clearly with HD: Experience your digital world with the crystal-clear HD display. 32GB flash storage: Recently accessed files save to flash storage for quick and easy recall. Windows Store gift card included: Buy apps, games, music, movies, and more from the online Windows Store. DTS Studio Sound: Enjoy dynamic audio nuances and rich sounds with DTS Studio Sound. Dual-core processors: Quality processing power means everyday productivity. Packed with ports: Connect to displays, printers, devices and more with ease. Fanless design: Your system runs quietly with a design that eliminates the fan. HP Connected Drive: Find and access your files across your PC, tablet, smartphone, and online services-all in one place. HP Connected Photo: Enjoy your photos, anytime, all in one place. HP Connected Music: Listen to music from multiple sources - all from one app. HP True Vision HD webcam: Capture all the details with a wide viewing angle lens, even in low light. HP Free Setup Service: Easily set up your PC with trained and certified agents. McAfee: Free 30-day Trial of McAfee Live Safe service included. ENERGY STAR QualifiedProduct Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #26 in Personal Computers
- Size: 11.6-inch
- Color: Horizon Blue
- Brand: HP
- Model: K2L95UA#ABA
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: .78" h x 11.81" w x 8.10" l, 2.82 pounds
- CPU: Intel Celeron 2.16 GHz
- Memory: 2GB Unknown
- Hard Disk: 32GB
- Processors: 1
- Display size: 11.6
Features
- Intel Celeron N2840
- 2 GB DDR3L SDRAM, 32 GB Solid-State Drive and 1TB OneDrive Cloud Storage for one year
- 11.6-Inch Screen, Intel HD graphics
- Windows 8.1, 8.25-hour battery life
- Includes $25 Microsoft App Store Credit and Office 365 Personal for 1-year ($69.95 value)
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews77 of 81 people found the following review helpful.
Superb laptop for the money - After you remove the crapware
By formortals
I just bought my nephew who is going to college an HP Stream 13 for $230. Beautiful and powerful computer, but it took me 90 minutes to remove all the stickers and all the crapware & adware. I still need to offload the recovery partition to a flash disk to recover the SSD storage. It has a total of 32 GB SSD storage so every bit counts. I'm also waiting for a 64 GB MicroSD card http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IVPU7AO so I can expand the storage.
Removing the crapware and adware took 2 hours plus another hour to install Windows update. I removed all the browser extensions and add-ons in IE and then installed Chrome. Then I installed CCleaner and removed McAfee anti-virus so that I can just use the free Microsoft AV. Also removed a bunch of bloatware like Cisco wireless networking utilities like LEAP and Apple Bonjour. Removed the Realtek card reader software since it slows the card reader down. Then downloaded fresh Realtek card reader driver and manually installed the driver without using their setup program.
UPDATE - I had to remove all the HP tools (support and registration) as well. They were intermittently hammering the CPU to 100% and other people in HP forums were complaining about this problem. Once uninstalled, the CPU usage problems went away. Something else that caused some mildly high CPU usage during media playback was the Realtek DTS audio processing service and I've disabled that and the system performs better. It was not needed for playback quality and it was actually detrimental to audio recording quality.
The thing that slowed me down was that I had to gather my nephew's personal info to create a Microsoft account for him. It was mandatory since this is the free version of MS Windows 8.1 (with Bing). But the MS Account allows him to use MS Office online for free so it's worth setting up. I also had to carefully remove 3 stickers on the keyboard rest. Intel sticker was tilted. Now it's a beautiful clean system and it boots very fast and loads everything fast. It handles most computing tasks just fine and now I'm loathed to give this away.
Some people will complain about the 2GB of RAM which is not expandable, but I never have any problems with 2GB RAM because I don't leave a 20 browser tabs open. You're not going to use this laptop for 3D intensive gaming or 3D rendering so the RAM shouldn't be an issue. I have a desktop computer with 8 GB of RAM for running games and virtual machines and content production and no one should expect the HP Stream 13 to perform this role. It runs fewer than 10 web browser tabs just fine and it's extremely snappy running Microsoft Office Online or Google apps.
I ran a Youtube 1080P on Chrome browser. Google is screwing all of us now by forcing their VP9 codec on us which forces this computer to use software video decoding. This dual-core CPU is pegged at 100% utilization and forced to overclock to 2.58 GHz and it will still hiccup if a youtube ad shows up. Of course this is just chewing up the battery. By comparison, I tested a 1080P H.264 .MP4 video downloaded from Google and the CPU hovered around 8% during smooth playback. Google needs to shove their VP8 & VP9 codec where the sun don't shine. But thank goodness for "Magic Actions for YouTube" (a Chrome plugin) letting me disable Google's VP9 HTML5 crap. Now Chrome runs Youtube in flash mode with H.264 hardware decoding and the CPU hovers around 20%. Here's a screenshot of the CPU pegged at 100% with VP9 software decode http://bit.ly/1u0O3bV. Here's the CPU hovering at 20% using Flash mode with H.264 hardware decode http://bit.ly/1uahXfx.
I've been hammering on this system with tests for over two hours. The Intel N2840 2.16 GHz processor is being forced to burst to 2.58 GHz from all the work I'm throwing at it. Windows Update is hammering the IO and CPU. The brightness level is even set to 60% and the battery level still reads 79% with 4 hours 24 minutes remaining.
After all the tweaks and cleanup I've done, the slim HP Stream 13 3.42 lb laptop is running smooth as butter. The 13.3" 1366x768 non-glare matte screen is the perfect compromise between viewabiliy and compactness. Would be even nicer if HP could sell us a 1920x1080 13.3" screen but probably not at the $230 price point. Another small gripe is that the bezel is a little bigger than I'd like.
The Stream 13 has a 720P webcam, but I wouldn't even call it 360P quality. It's incredibly grainy using indoor lighting, but what were you expecting for a $230 laptop? It's certainly not going to look like the camera on the MacBook Pro. Get yourself a $66 Logitech C920 which has awesome image quality and 1080P hardware encoding if you want a nice webcam. Even a $29 720P webcam will look leaps and bounds better.
On the audio output side, the HP Stream 13 has good sound output from the TRRS jack. It can drive my large 808 headphones with authority. By comparison, my Lenovo ThinkPad T430 business laptop couldn't push my 808s at all! The audio recording on the other hand stinks in the default setting. The integrated microphone sucks like most integrated microphones on laptops. It is very laggy because of all the noise cancellation algorithms they apply to it. The recorded sound (using Audacity) is noise free but it is extremely unnatural due to excessive noise reduction. I don't like the recorded sound at all.
UPDATE - After disabling the DTS Realtek audio processing, the playback quality was still just as good. Recording with the internal microphone actually improved a lot. The internal microphone in the HP Stream 13 actually isn't too shabby. It is surprisingly usable quality for VoIP or Video Calling.
The Stream 13 also has a 3.5mm TRRS phone connector port for headphones and earbuds with microphones. That means you can use the same earbuds with mic that you use with your smartphone. The problem is that while it sounds a lot more natural than the integrated microphone, it's a faint yet noisy signal. The input volume was set to 100% with a 10 dB (fake software preamp) boost and it's still only reaching 20% peak sound levels in Audacity. My Nexus 4 and Samsung S4 on the other hand produce extremely good quality recordings with the same earbuds or headphones with microphones. To put this in context, my Lenovo ThinkPad T430 from work has the same audio recording quality problems with the integrated mic and TRRS port.
If you want to work around these sound recording issues, buy yourself a $34 Samson GoMic. It's the best money you'll ever spend on a USB microphone. The other option is that you can get a bluetooth headphone with microphone since the HP Stream 13 has bluetooth capability.
The trackpad on the HP Stream 13 is large and usable. It supports gestures like two-finger scrolling. But if you really want a good experience, buy a bluetooth mouse and use the integrated bluetooth in the Stream 13.
Lastly, here are the disk performance results for the internal 32 GB SSD storage. It's one of the slowest SSDs on the market, but it's still around 15 times faster than a normal hard drive when it comes to small file transfers.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2hos9mfpuqrg8ne/diskmark.png
Conclusion:
This is a superb mobility laptop for the money, but only if you remove all the crapware and apply all the optimizations I performed above.
Summary of crapware removed and optimizations performed.
* Apple Bonjour.
* Cisco LEAP and EAPFAST
* McAfee AV
* Realtek cardreader software (note that you need to download just the new drivers and then just install drivers manually without software. Don't remove if you don't know how to install new drivers because you'll lose the card reader)
* HP Tools registration
* HP Tools support
* Disable Realtek DTS audio effects. Just type DTS at start screen and the program will pop up.
* Install Chrome
* If you use Chrome, install "Magic Actions for YouTube" plugin for Chrome to disable ads, pick the default resolution, and force Flash mode instead of HTML5 mode. Flash mode uses H.264 MPEG AVC video which supports hardware acceleration for very low CPU usage.
281 of 312 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent value, performs better than the HP Stream 14
By Lon J. Seidman
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RX39OO1WIIZDU In many ways the HP Stream 11 is a better buy than the more expensive HP Stream 14.
This 11 inch model costs $100 less, yet has the same overall screen resolution as the larger device. The 11 also has a better performing Intel processor, an N2840 Celeron, that does better with core browsing and computing tasks. And if that's not enough, the 11 comes with a one year subscription to Office 365 so that a full version of Office can be installed on the 11. The 14 does not come with the Office subscription.
Like the 14 there are some limitations. The device is limited to 2 gigs of non-expandable RAM and has a very small 32 gig solid state disk that's also not accessible. Although 32 gigabytes is double the storage available on most Chromebooks, Windows and its applications require much more disk space to operate.
Despite its limitations this is a very capable and VERY affordable Windows PC that is designed to go head-to-head with Chromebooks. In fact it has most of the same guts as a Chromebook but runs Windows 8.1 instead.
I am excited about the current state of the low-end market. We are getting great capable PCs at very low prices. For once it's nice to see some real competition at this end of the market.
111 of 121 people found the following review helpful.
HP Stream 11: Initial Impressions
By Voltron00x
Just over a year ago, I got my first Chromebook, the Acer C720. Since that time, except for gaming, it has been my most used computer for everyday web consumption: Ebay, Amazon, Facebook, Google+, Wordpress, Netflix, Youtube, etc. I even figured out how to use Crouton to install Linux (Ubuntu) on it, so that I could install Steam for local gaming and Steam Streaming. While the Acer doesn't have a great screen, or even a good screen, and it feels kind of, well, cheap overall, for the price it was a fantastic value.
With the release of the HP Stream 11, I think Windows has a device that hits a similar value/performance intersection. I've only owned it one day but based on initial impressions, this is a fantastic value and an easy recommendation for a LOT of use cases.
SPECS
The HP Stream 11 is an 11.6" Windows 8.1 Laptop, powered by an Intel Celeron N2840 processor at 2.16 GHz. It has 2 GB of RAM and a 32 GB SSD, neither of which can be upgraded. It is rated for 8.5 hours of battery life, depending on performance and brightness settings of course.
The screen is a 1366x768 high definition LCD screen, which has a matte coating for anti-glare. This is basically the same screen as the Acer C720. Which is to say, the screen is pretty bad. The matte coating takes a relatively low-resolution affair and makes it that much more dull and muted. That said, it is serviceable enough and has decent brightness considering the price point. Just know going in that your tradeoff for choosing this over a similarly priced $200 Windows Tablet is that the screen on a tablet will likely be IPS and significantly better in terms of clarity and viewing angles. However, this matte coating does help very much with glare in overhead and outdoor lighting situations.
As far as ports, the Stream 11 has 2 USB ports (one 3.0 and one 2.0), a full-size SD slot, and HDMI. It has a single combo headphone/mic port.
It also has two down-firing speakers that put out decent sound for the price point.
SETUP
Setting up this device wasn't too bad. Windows 8 has come a long way over the past 12 months. In December 2013 my wife's HP required several hours of updates, and updating my Surface Pro (1st Gen) from Windows 8.0 to 8.1 was very difficult; there was a point where the update hung, and I had to do quite a bit of research to get past it.
Contrast this to the HP Stream 11: It took 10 minutes to get from unboxing to a functional Windows desktop. Once there I removed Norton, installed Avast, installed Chrome, and installed Steam, and then installed 35 Windows updates (33 required and 2 optional). This took 22 minutes, plus another 12 minutes of processing after I rebooted, for a total time of 34 minutes. The system handled them all with no crashes, hangs, or issues.
Drivers for accessories like my USB Logitech Mouse and Dell Printer were plug and play with no issues.
PERFORMANCE
This processor/RAM setup powers a lot of 2014's Chromebooks, and thus it has Octane benchmarks similar to devices like the Asus C200 Chromebook and Toshiba Chromebook 2. My personal Octane scores were in the 7,500-8,000 range. As a point of comparison, the Acer C720 and HP Chromebook 11, with 2 GB of RAM and an Intel Celeron 2955 processor with Haswell architecture have benchmarks in Octane of around 11,000. You're looking at about 20% decrease in performance.
In general, most websites load quickly, but more intensive sites like The Verge hang a bit while various images and videos load. Once pages are loaded, everything scrolls smoothly. I read some people complaining about Chrome being an issue on this device but it ran fine for me. I had IE with one tab, Chrome with three tabs, and Steam open and the web pages were running fine. I also tested Google Docs and that ran smoothly.
Boot time to the log-in screen is about 10 seconds, plus another 5-7 seconds of loading after you enter your log-in credentials. Unlike Chrome OS, when you hit the desktop a Windows device is still processing and loading in the background, so the full boot takes a bit longer - but I'd still say the whole process is under 30 seconds and to hit the log-in in 10 seconds is impressive.
I had no problems installing Avast, Chrome, and Steam on the device. I tested Steam Streaming on my local network from my desktop computer and was able to play Wolfenstein: The New Order at an excellent FPS. I also tried a few games running locally including Pacman DX, Luftrausers, and Towerfall Ascension. These ran without issue. I would think that many indie games should run on this, especially those of the 2D variety, but 3D gaming performance will probably be terrible. You don't have much space to store modern games, anyway. As a Steam Streaming device though, it works fine. And, it should be able to handle most emulation of systems up through the PS1 / Sega Saturn / N64 generation as well as a lot of good retro games on GOG.
Oddly enough, the wireless speed I got using tests on this device were about 10-15% slower than the same tests on my Moto X or Acer C720 connected to the same network, from the same location. That said, the connection didn't drop at all for the four hours I had the computer running. (If interested: I have 50 Mb down and up via FiOS. My first speed test showed this was only getting 28 up and 25 down, but a re-test after rebooting later showed 37 up and 36 down)
I haven't had the device long enough to test the battery but I would expect 8 hours is pretty reasonable, keeping in mind that brightness and what you're doing for that time play a major role.
BUILD QUALITY
This is a mixed bag. As noted the screen is the low point of the device. It isn't so terrible that the device isn't usable, but it is pretty bad. If you can live with the C720, you can live with this, but you won't like it.
The Stream 11 comes in at under 3 lbs of weight (2.8 lbs), feeling just a bit heavier than my C720. Heavy compared to modern 10" tablets, but still relatively light.
One complaint I have is that this device only comes in two color options, Blue or Magenta. While I like the blue - it looks better in person than it does in pictures - the absence of a neutral color like white, black, or grey is strange. The diminutive size and blue color does make this look more like a young adult toy than a full-fledged Windows 8.1 device. That said, it is reasonably sturdy in the hand, feeling and looking mostly like a shrunken version of the HP14 Chromebook.
Unfortunately, the trackpad on the HP Stream 11 is NOT on par with the HP14 Chromebook. While the HP14 is a $300-$380 device (depending on specs), I don't think it is unreasonable to expect the touchpad to be on the same level of quality as the HP14 or C720. It isn't. I've used worse, but I definitely will prefer a mouse with this, whereas on my Chromebooks I think of a mouse as totally optional. Through use, I've gotten better with it, but at first I was having a very hard time just dragging and dropping files into folders, for instance.
The keyboard pretty much feels like a shrunken HP14 Chromebook keyboard. Keys are a bit squishy and don't have a ton of travel, but it is stated as 97% full sizes and my WPM was about the same as usual.
EXTRAS
On its own, this is a pretty compelling device for $200, but HP throws in some goodies.
You get a one-year subscription to Office 365 Personal (one computer + one tablet). This does not come installed on the device; you get a redemption key that must be used by the end of 2016. I actually love this, as you can redeem the subscription on another device if you choose to do so. This is a $70 value. I'm still debating whether to redeem this key for my Stream 11, so I did not test MS Office, but based on how it runs Google Docs and Sheets, I would expect they'll run just fine provided you don't have a ton of other applications going at the same time.
You also get a $25 Windows App Store gift-card.
Finally, you supposedly get 1 TB of MS Cloud storage for a year, which is pretty crazy if accurate. As I have no need for that yet - I have 150 GB of Drive storage from my Moto X and Chromebooks - I haven't tested it, but it is a very nice add-on.
These offers compare pretty well to those Google gives you with Chromebooks (12 GoGo In-flight passes, 60 days Google All Access Music passes, and 100 GB Cloud Storage for two years).
FINAL THOUGHTS
I'll need to spend some more time with this device before I know for sure how I feel about it, but first impressions have been pretty favorable. I didn't expect it to run Windows 8 so well, or have such a short boot time. The Chrome performance was much better than I'd expected based on what I read elsewhere, and Steam Streaming worked perfectly.
While I still wish there was a neutral color option like Black or Grey on the market, which would make me feel much better about suggesting to grown adults that this is a serious computing device, this is a decent-looking device with build quality and Windows 8 performance above expectations for this price point. For students or those seeking an ultraportable back-up computer, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with this computer.
If you're thinking about getting an Office 365 Personal subscription anyway, this computer is basically $130, which is an absurd value.
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