HP Stream 13-c010nr Laptop Review

13.3 inch HP Stream 13-c010nr
via Amazon

Horizon blue HP Stream 13-c010nr is a compact and lightweight entry-level Intel Celeron machine with a 2GB RAM, solid state drive of 32GB instead of a regular hard drive, HD LED-backlit screen, up to 7.75 hour battery life, Office 365 Personal with Cloud integration for 12 months plus a 25 dollar credit to use on Microsoft App Store and its price tag suggests it may be one of the lowest cost modern 13 inch Windows laptops on the market- if not the cheapest so it is especially good for students on budget or anyone who travels a lot.

HP Stream 13 has the dual core Intel Celeron N2840 processor (1MB cache) at 2.16GHz speed up to 2.58GHz when tasks require it with Intel Turbo Boost Technology (sufficient for daily tasks), 2 GB DDR3L SDRAM at 1333 MHz for OK multitasking (would be definitely better with a 4GB, so you can’t expect running many apps or browsers simultaneously without experiencing delays), 32 GB eMMC Solid-State Drive plus OneDrive Cloud based storage of 1TB for the whole year and Windows 8.1 operating system with Bing 64. It is a modern but basic system in terms of technical specs and does OK in performance tests, adequate for simple daily tasks- web browsing, social media, watching Youtube videos etc. and the presence of a small SSD and reliance on Cloud rather than a slower HDD helps with snappier performance overall as well as with quicker boot-ups.

13.3 inch diagonal HD LED-backlit non-touch display with 1366 x 768 pixel maximum screen resolution and Intel HD Bay Trail graphics (with up to 1001MB total graphics memory) offers decent image quality, sure it is not Full HD but this being a smaller screen, resolution seems to be fine and the image quality can appear to be better than larger screen laptops. The integrated graphics card (nor the Celeron CPU + 2GB RAM) is not suitable for gaming and it will run games slowly and you can’t play any of the latest demanding games- unplayably low frame rates but you can still play older titles like World of Warcraft at lower settings and resolutions with OK frame rates. It has stereo speakers and webcam is high definition with a built-in microphone so you can easily and comfortably connect live with friends and family on Skype or take still snapshots.

Horizon blue HP Stream 13 looks modern and pretty in horizon blue and with gradient finish on the palmrest, weighs 3.42 pounds and measures 9.02 x 13.12 x 0.77 inches- compact, thin and lightweight and has an innovative fan-less design so it works quietly. Its 3-cell 36 Wh lithium ion battery is claimed to give you 7.75 hours average battery life- slightly less than the 11 .6 inch model with up to 8.25 hours as the larger screen consumes more power. Full-size island-style keyboard with white chiclet style keys is not backlit and has no separate numeric pad due to the size restrictions but a decent functioning single piece touchpad in the middle with integrated left and right click buttons in it. There is no Ethernet port for wired internet access and no DVD drive but 802.11bgn wireless, Bluetooth 4.0, 2 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x USB 3.0 port, Bluetooth 4.0, an HDMI port, a Headphone/microphone combo and a microSD memory card reader.

Conclusion: HP Stream 13-c010nr (K2L96UA-ABA) is a slim and lightweight 13.3 inch budget notebook with up to 7.75 hr battery life designed for computing on the go. It is an Energy Star qualified and EPEAT Silver registered machine and comes with a 12 month limited warranty along with toll-free tech support. Despite its speed, 32GB SSD storage doesn’t appear to be a lot and you’d be running out of space pretty soon especially if you are downloading things constantly but you get a 1 year of 1TB Cloud based Microsoft OneDrive and you’d be relying on Cloud storage later on too. It doesn’t stand out with its super high tech specs and features but more with design, compact size, portability, long battery life, Solid State Drive and 1 year free Microsoft Office and if you are on a very small budget for a computer, it is something that will perform your simple daily tasks just fine. If all you want to do is stream videos, listen to music, surf the net, use social media, work on Word and Excel and play light games, then it is a good machine you should consider.

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