These specs are okay for a Chromebook, but not for a Windows 10 system.
The 4 GB of RAM is adequate for basic purposes (2 GB is practically unusable, so 4 GB should be considered the bare minimum), but a 32 GB drive makes for constant frustration, with every significant Windows update becoming a juggling act. I wouldn’t go below 64 GB, even on laptop intended for occasional use.
If having a decent keyboard is important to you, avoid HP and Dell and look for something from Lenovo or Acer.
@Rowsdower Agreed. The slow processor can still be usable for someone who only does simple stuff like email and web browsing. The 4GB RAM is adequate. That 32GB though… insurmountable. I would definitely have sent one to Mom at this price, but I can only imagine the endless hours of phone calls trying to talk her through recovering from a failed Windows update.
Just saying for 100 bucks I just picked up a used Dell e6410 (14in. screen)with an I5 m560 2.6 GHz processor, 8 gig of ddr3 ram 500 gig hard drive, and windows 10 Including an optical drive fingerprint reader and 4 USB ports and an HDMI port , and for 20 bucks more picked up another unit same model missing the hard drive so now I have all the spare parts for the working one all with free delivery. The machine runs magnificently. From past experience I’m telling you the model offered will frustrate the hell out of you don’t even think about opening up 2 tabs it will be slower than a turtle moonwalking One of the few times I have ever said this in 5 years as a Meh head tonight’s deal is a (“BAD DEAL”)
@mellowirishgent used laptops can be a good deal for sure, but don’t discount the fact that the battery has been cycled hundreds of times, is operating at lower capacity and will soon need to be replaced. And same goes for the hard drive.
Both units came with 9 volt batteries that appear to be fully charging and I just bought another new 9v battery for 14 bucks on ebay so I’m good for approx 10 hours of runtime, when the hard drive goes I’ll replace it with an SSD , but I understand your point and TY
@mellowirishgent I think you mean 19V battery. But, just a heads-up, I bought a $14 replacement battery for my 9-year-old Dell E6400 about a year ago. After one year, I can get about 20 minutes of runtime out of it.
I bought three Streams brand new for my kids a couple of years ago. Biggest mistake ever. They’re absolute garbage. Only one of them made it more than 6 months without having to be completely restored, and there wasn’t enough capacity for the kids to even try to abuse them. If you want an outdated OS and room for a halfway decent antivirus, but not much else? Go for it.
@canneddirt You can. Windows store, look for Ubuntu on Windows. It’s not exactly a VM, but it literally runs ELF binaries and is full-frontal Ubuntu. Requires a one-time Powershell enablement, but works on Win10 Home, and doesn’t require Pro.
@radi0j0hn or mint, used to be a nice lightweight distro. Any experience with disabling uefi on HP? Haven’t messed with new OS installs on Win10 machines.
@canneddirt@radi0j0hn You can disable SecureBoot if you don’t want to use it, but most current distros support using it. Any device that has an Intel or AMD processor w/ Win10 must let you disable SecureBoot and let you provide your own keys. Otherwise, you can’t really disable UEFI- that’d be like asking to disable the BIOS (which is what UEFI is- it’s the successor to BIOS).
@dashcloud and @radi0j0hn Ah! Probably need to bone up on this. I just remember the controversy around the launch of Win8 or Win10 of Microsoft not requiring OEMs to provide a way to disable secureboot from UEFI. This was seen as a sneaky way of locking PCs to windows. It seems HP does allow secureboot disabling, so no worries here.
@canneddirt@radi0j0hn There indeed was a controversy, and a fear that that exact thing could happen, so this is the compromise written into the Win10 certification docs (unless you have an ARM-only device, previously just WindowsRT, which can’t have SecureBoot turned off, or at least not required to let you do so).
I ordered one of these before Christmas last year. It was new and worthless. Nothing more than a paperweight. It went back. My cheap tablet did more and faster.
Could be big with Baltimore Ravens fans, they dig purple. Or fans of grapes, them too. Also very theft resistant, since who’s gonna wanna steal a purple laptop, and it would be easy to spot a culprit using it.
I just bought an ASUS L402SA, which is pretty much the same thing spec-wise. Windows 10 is super dumb about disk space, and happily downloaded way too many updates that then could not be installed. I had to clear the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download folder and start over. Bought a SanDisk USB 3.1 128GB flash drive, and Windows does allow you to use that when updating. But it is a bit of a PITA. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4013876/windows-10-freeing-up-space-to-install-latest-update
This was bought as a gift for a friend, and I am seriously worried about how well he will be able to handle future updates if there are space issues. I think I’m just going to throw in the flash drive and tell him to not remove it.
Really???! The laptop I’m using to post this message is 7 years old and it’s specs are better than this. For the record: i7 - 2.7 GHz 8GB 500 GB and I paid $170 for it 2 months ago.
From an Amazon review. Might be worth thinking about if you’re not planning on swapping it over to an alternate OS.
“Update:
This laptop won’t be able to upgrade to the newest windows anymore, due to space constrains.
DO NOT BUY!!!
Your operating system will be vulnerable to modern security threats!”
Having Windows 10 on a system with only 32GB of storage is a real pain when it comes to major updates. You have to have a flash drive installed with at least 10 gigabytes of space available for updates like the spring creators update or the recent fall 2018 update.
I just went through this on a HP stream identical to this and it kept telling me I needed to clear storage space and no matter what I tried I didn’t have enough room and finally they gave me an option for a flash drive which for which I was like why didn’t they give me this option to begin with!!
@rtjhnstn@sjk3 I dunno, but there are a lot of forum posts from 2015-16 suggesting that the main thing standing between Chromium (and, I suspect, other Linuces) is the user’s willingness to install a DRM plugin called Widevine.
@mindysangels I am sure you will-most of the many things I purchased from Meh I regretted buying. Not because they were bad purchases, but the grief my wife gave me for purchasing all that crap.
@wew Doubt it. That Celeron processor is slow AF. Passmark benchmark score is 994. The 32GB eMMC storage drive is WAY too small. First Win10 update will probably kill it.
@ruouttaurmind and @jandrese thanks friendos. Today I told workbro I didn’t have to write something down because I had stored it in the 386 CPU of my mind. Workbro just stared at me and asked me how many cores it had.
As I approach my 60th on Friday, I’m wondering if I might not be as cutting edge as I used to be.
@Hanky A few years earlier, I accompanied my buddy to a Hamfest, where he bought an external HD for his Amiga BBS warez board for the sweeeeet price of $100 GB.
@ruouttaurmind Not totally. Was gifted a 1gig he for my birthday in 1994. Quite the generous gift as they were selling for around a grand at the time. I suspect that the gifter acquired it with a five finger discount from Micropolis where they were employed though.
Wayyyy more storage than I needed for my basic 386 running Windows 3.1, so I traded it with a BBS operator’s 320MB drive. Yes, back then this laptop would have knocked our socks off. (If we ever figured out what those odd rectangular ports we’re used for)
@ciabelle I’ve mentioned in other threads… buying a 100MB SCSI drive for my Mac for $1,000 and thinking I was after getting a bargain. And don’t get me started on the 256k chip I paid a bundle for so I could be sporting 512k in my XT.
Here’s a story about a guy going to jail for distributing Windows recovery disks even though these particular disks can be used only to restore windows on machines that came originally with windows.
It’s like taking seventh level nontransferable and then cranking it up to eleven.
I think you’d be safer using the Chrome Download Manager extension and prepping a flash drive with an HP “FALCO” image. A google for that ISO name in that link you provided revealed all kinds of downloads sites, but not a respectable parent site like CloudReady or Chromium.org. I wouldn’t risk signing in with my credentials on what appears to be a one-hit wonder (release).
Hope my wife doesn’t go onto Meh today. Just bought her the 11 inch version primarily for the color and weight for Mother’s Day. Going to be used for travel exclusively.
This might be a good candidate for Chromium. https://www.chromium.org/Home
Don’t know how the Win keyboard works with Chromium but at this price might be worth the try.
This doesn’t seem like a very good price. However, I’m not sure what some of you are talking about when you say because it has 32GB of space it can never be updated. I have two tablets with that amount (and only 2GB RAM), and have never had any problems updating them. And one of them started with Windows 8.1 and updated to 10 with no issues. So unless there are special rules for tablets, or having a microSD card in makes it work, I’m not sure that’s accurate.
What is the newest major update and what’s the minimum amount of space required to install it?
@Al_Coholic If you look on newegg.com you will see some refurbished chromebooks for 25% to 33% of the original costs-so this one which is over 50% of the cost of a new one is not a good deal even if it works.
@Al_Coholic@Inessence The one I got my wife is purple also. That was the attraction. Also got her a purple mouse and a magenta carrying case-all make by HP for that size and type of computer.
@Al_Coholic 32 gig is the hard drive storage your 2 gb is the ram ,they are referring to the hard drive not your memory, so obviously your hard drive is greater than 32 gig .hence no update issues.
FYI, Blinq has this as an open box for about the same price this weekend (if you live in CA like me and get taxed at 9%+). And you’ve got a better shot at getting warranty coverage from the manufacturer on an open box (but happy to be proven wrong on that).
Purple AF
We all know who this is for…
@spitfire6006006
We do?
Cz I feel like I’m missing something. Like, who?
The color is appealing. The specs are not.
Wasn’t it this price on morningsave?
PURPLEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
These specs are okay for a Chromebook, but not for a Windows 10 system.
The 4 GB of RAM is adequate for basic purposes (2 GB is practically unusable, so 4 GB should be considered the bare minimum), but a 32 GB drive makes for constant frustration, with every significant Windows update becoming a juggling act. I wouldn’t go below 64 GB, even on laptop intended for occasional use.
If having a decent keyboard is important to you, avoid HP and Dell and look for something from Lenovo or Acer.
@Rowsdower Agreed. The slow processor can still be usable for someone who only does simple stuff like email and web browsing. The 4GB RAM is adequate. That 32GB though… insurmountable. I would definitely have sent one to Mom at this price, but I can only imagine the endless hours of phone calls trying to talk her through recovering from a failed Windows update.
@Rowsdower - +1. Sucks for Win10. But does it have an SD card slot for apps & data, like I do wth my Kindles?
@dls954 @Rowsdower it has a media reader that you can put an SD card in, but it may stick out some
Just saying for 100 bucks I just picked up a used Dell e6410 (14in. screen)with an I5 m560 2.6 GHz processor, 8 gig of ddr3 ram 500 gig hard drive, and windows 10 Including an optical drive fingerprint reader and 4 USB ports and an HDMI port , and for 20 bucks more picked up another unit same model missing the hard drive so now I have all the spare parts for the working one all with free delivery. The machine runs magnificently. From past experience I’m telling you the model offered will frustrate the hell out of you don’t even think about opening up 2 tabs it will be slower than a turtle moonwalking One of the few times I have ever said this in 5 years as a Meh head tonight’s deal is a (“BAD DEAL”)
@mellowirishgent used laptops can be a good deal for sure, but don’t discount the fact that the battery has been cycled hundreds of times, is operating at lower capacity and will soon need to be replaced. And same goes for the hard drive.
@mellowirishgent 5 years?
Both units came with 9 volt batteries that appear to be fully charging and I just bought another new 9v battery for 14 bucks on ebay so I’m good for approx 10 hours of runtime, when the hard drive goes I’ll replace it with an SSD , but I understand your point and TY
@ruouttaurmind Think its older and has been refurbished quite nicely, this model is a work beast , looks and runs new.
@mellowirishgent No, I was takin the piss about this:
Meh’s 4th anniversary is July 8th.
@ruouttaurmind Ha Ha seems so much longer
@ruouttaurmind To be exact my first purchase was April 2015 and I hit the buy button exactly 125x so there lol I stand corrected…
@mellowirishgent 3 years not 5 duh me lol
@mellowirishgent Understandable. Time flies when you’re having fun.
@mellowirishgent I think you mean 19V battery. But, just a heads-up, I bought a $14 replacement battery for my 9-year-old Dell E6400 about a year ago. After one year, I can get about 20 minutes of runtime out of it.
@Limewater 9 volts not 19 never heard of a 19 volt battery and yes the cheap batteries are crap but dell sells oem for 129 what a stupid price lol
@mellowirishgent I just pulled mine and checked. It’s 11.1V. I messed up because most (all?) Dell laptops run off 19.5V power supplies.
I bought three Streams brand new for my kids a couple of years ago. Biggest mistake ever. They’re absolute garbage. Only one of them made it more than 6 months without having to be completely restored, and there wasn’t enough capacity for the kids to even try to abuse them. If you want an outdated OS and room for a halfway decent antivirus, but not much else? Go for it.
@Howiemom Yup, bought one for my kids too on the cheap. It is still going, but it’s a pretty crappy computer. I should have got them a chromebook.
@Howiemom @mfladd you can convert them to pretty much be Chromebooks, see the discussion below: https://meh.com/forum/topics/hp-14-stream-laptop-pc-refurbished-1#5af84d689c56560f349e0d1f
You can also try Linux Mint, it’s really easy. Boot it off a USB and play with it. http://linuxmint.com - you probably want the Cinnamon version.
HDD is way too small for Win10. Wonder if I can put linux on it…?
@canneddirt Manjaro screams on one of these.
@canneddirt You can. Windows store, look for Ubuntu on Windows. It’s not exactly a VM, but it literally runs ELF binaries and is full-frontal Ubuntu. Requires a one-time Powershell enablement, but works on Win10 Home, and doesn’t require Pro.
@canneddirt @mike808 Full frontal Ubuntu sounds lewd…
@radi0j0hn or mint, used to be a nice lightweight distro. Any experience with disabling uefi on HP? Haven’t messed with new OS installs on Win10 machines.
@mike808 huh, that’s one way to do it. I usually just nuke windows and install another os.
@canneddirt @radi0j0hn You can disable SecureBoot if you don’t want to use it, but most current distros support using it. Any device that has an Intel or AMD processor w/ Win10 must let you disable SecureBoot and let you provide your own keys. Otherwise, you can’t really disable UEFI- that’d be like asking to disable the BIOS (which is what UEFI is- it’s the successor to BIOS).
@dashcloud and @radi0j0hn Ah! Probably need to bone up on this. I just remember the controversy around the launch of Win8 or Win10 of Microsoft not requiring OEMs to provide a way to disable secureboot from UEFI. This was seen as a sneaky way of locking PCs to windows. It seems HP does allow secureboot disabling, so no worries here.
@canneddirt @radi0j0hn There indeed was a controversy, and a fear that that exact thing could happen, so this is the compromise written into the Win10 certification docs (unless you have an ARM-only device, previously just WindowsRT, which can’t have SecureBoot turned off, or at least not required to let you do so).
I ordered one of these before Christmas last year. It was new and worthless. Nothing more than a paperweight. It went back. My cheap tablet did more and faster.
Could be big with Baltimore Ravens fans, they dig purple. Or fans of grapes, them too. Also very theft resistant, since who’s gonna wanna steal a purple laptop, and it would be easy to spot a culprit using it.
I just bought an ASUS L402SA, which is pretty much the same thing spec-wise. Windows 10 is super dumb about disk space, and happily downloaded way too many updates that then could not be installed. I had to clear the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download folder and start over. Bought a SanDisk USB 3.1 128GB flash drive, and Windows does allow you to use that when updating. But it is a bit of a PITA.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4013876/windows-10-freeing-up-space-to-install-latest-update
This was bought as a gift for a friend, and I am seriously worried about how well he will be able to handle future updates if there are space issues. I think I’m just going to throw in the flash drive and tell him to not remove it.
Really???! The laptop I’m using to post this message is 7 years old and it’s specs are better than this. For the record: i7 - 2.7 GHz 8GB 500 GB and I paid $170 for it 2 months ago.
@allen721 Nice deal you got almost as good as mine but not quite but you have a nice machine…
@barney https://www.thepurplestore.com/
From an Amazon review. Might be worth thinking about if you’re not planning on swapping it over to an alternate OS.
“Update:
This laptop won’t be able to upgrade to the newest windows anymore, due to space constrains.
DO NOT BUY!!!
Your operating system will be vulnerable to modern security threats!”
@legnip You could always put more memory in it…
@legnip @NMA No. I it’s not upgradable. AT ALL. You MIGHT be able to do Ready Boost.
@legnip @sflesch No SD card slot?!
@legnip @NMA Someone I know has one and I read some of them do have SD Slots, but you can also use USB for Ready Boost.
PURPLE.
OTOH, this probably isn’t the laptop you want. Meh CPU and meh storage at a meh price.
This deal and Meh button remind me of “One eye one horn flying purple people eater.”
Do you like short shorts?
This deal doesn’t comput— well meh be it does
@AttyVette If it does, it would be doing it very slowly
But can it run Crysis?
Baby arm is stabby tonight- did someone give it a poop badge?
The price grabs me, the color pushes me away.
Later Barney
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Worthless, underpowered laptop with no storage room (as others have pointed out, it has so little storage that windows can’t even do updates).
Hard pass (and I’m disappointed in you, meh)
32g of disk space isn’t even enough to update Windows, so don’t even consider buying this one (you’ll regret it).
Having Windows 10 on a system with only 32GB of storage is a real pain when it comes to major updates. You have to have a flash drive installed with at least 10 gigabytes of space available for updates like the spring creators update or the recent fall 2018 update.
I just went through this on a HP stream identical to this and it kept telling me I needed to clear storage space and no matter what I tried I didn’t have enough room and finally they gave me an option for a flash drive which for which I was like why didn’t they give me this option to begin with!!
Love the color.
No need for a shitty laptop.
If your snooty silver MBP doesn’t match your shoes, you’re wearing the wrong shoes.
Windows key, “Control panel”, return.
And voila…
/giphy Windows XP skillz
“Processor: Dual Core 1.6 GHz Intel Celeron” – so that means it will be able to process both soft core and hard core?
If this was a Chromebook, instead of Win 10, with same specs and price, would it be worth it?
Can Chrome OS be installed to convert it to a neo-Chromebook?
@sjk3 I don’t think you can but yes, if this were a Chromebook it would be decent.
@sjk3
@sjk3 To answer my own question, yes, it can. Found a video of someone installing Chromium OS on this very model of laptop.
@sjk3 @whogots Chromium OS probably doesn’t stream Netflix or Amazon Prime, as it doesn’t in Linux!
@rtjhnstn @sjk3 I dunno, but there are a lot of forum posts from 2015-16 suggesting that the main thing standing between Chromium (and, I suspect, other Linuces) is the user’s willingness to install a DRM plugin called Widevine.
“Cute. Should I get this or another Chromebook?” I’ll check the comments.
And I need to see if I have a poop emoji
Doorstop
I’unno. I have a chromebook with the same specs, that is now handily running Linux (GalliumOS in my case).
Handles Minecraft at the very least.
My first MEH purchase. Hope I don’t regret it…
@mindysangels I am sure you will-most of the many things I purchased from Meh I regretted buying. Not because they were bad purchases, but the grief my wife gave me for purchasing all that crap.
Talk to me meh.
is this gonna be sold out in 4 minutes?
@wew Doubt it. That Celeron processor is slow AF. Passmark benchmark score is 994. The 32GB eMMC storage drive is WAY too small. First Win10 update will probably kill it.
@wew Shitty display, slow CPU, undersized drive…you should have plenty of time to think about it. Oh, and it is a refurb.
@ruouttaurmind and @jandrese thanks friendos. Today I told workbro I didn’t have to write something down because I had stored it in the 386 CPU of my mind. Workbro just stared at me and asked me how many cores it had.
As I approach my 60th on Friday, I’m wondering if I might not be as cutting edge as I used to be.
@wew People would have killed for such a powerful laptop back in 1999.
@Hanky @wew And I’m getting one to replace a laptop, vintage 2000. It all works out,
@Hanky A few years earlier, I accompanied my buddy to a Hamfest, where he bought an external HD for his Amiga BBS warez board for the sweeeeet price of $100 GB.
@Hanky My 13 year old Dell laptop with a Core Duo has a similar benchmark score.
@wew Hard drives were still measured in MB back in those days!
@Hanky @wew Even in 1999 Celeron meant “sucks”
@ruouttaurmind Not totally. Was gifted a 1gig he for my birthday in 1994. Quite the generous gift as they were selling for around a grand at the time. I suspect that the gifter acquired it with a five finger discount from Micropolis where they were employed though.
Wayyyy more storage than I needed for my basic 386 running Windows 3.1, so I traded it with a BBS operator’s 320MB drive. Yes, back then this laptop would have knocked our socks off. (If we ever figured out what those odd rectangular ports we’re used for)
@ciabelle I’ve mentioned in other threads… buying a 100MB SCSI drive for my Mac for $1,000 and thinking I was after getting a bargain. And don’t get me started on the 256k chip I paid a bundle for so I could be sporting 512k in my XT.
/giphy good times
is this thing good for anything?
/giphy purple
Since it’s only 32 GB, what can this laptop be used for?
@JT954 downloading part of a windows update.
@Seeds Ha! Fair one!
@JT954 This is a Chromebook with the wrong OS. Here’s a link for downloading an image of Chrome OS.
Chrome OS ISO
I believe the Windows license is transferable to another PC.
@JT954 @rtjhnstn OEM Windows licenses are tied to the PC and nontransferable.
@JT954 @narfcake @rtjhnstn
Here’s a story about a guy going to jail for distributing Windows recovery disks even though these particular disks can be used only to restore windows on machines that came originally with windows.
It’s like taking seventh level nontransferable and then cranking it up to eleven.
https://www.polygon.com/windows/2018/4/25/17280178/eric-lundgren-windows-restore-disks-microsoft-prison
I think you’d be safer using the Chrome Download Manager extension and prepping a flash drive with an HP “FALCO” image. A google for that ISO name in that link you provided revealed all kinds of downloads sites, but not a respectable parent site like CloudReady or Chromium.org. I wouldn’t risk signing in with my credentials on what appears to be a one-hit wonder (release).
Can I just have one?
Hope my wife doesn’t go onto Meh today. Just bought her the 11 inch version primarily for the color and weight for Mother’s Day. Going to be used for travel exclusively.
This might be a good candidate for Chromium.
https://www.chromium.org/Home
Don’t know how the Win keyboard works with Chromium but at this price might be worth the try.
This doesn’t seem like a very good price. However, I’m not sure what some of you are talking about when you say because it has 32GB of space it can never be updated. I have two tablets with that amount (and only 2GB RAM), and have never had any problems updating them. And one of them started with Windows 8.1 and updated to 10 with no issues. So unless there are special rules for tablets, or having a microSD card in makes it work, I’m not sure that’s accurate.
What is the newest major update and what’s the minimum amount of space required to install it?
@Al_Coholic If you look on newegg.com you will see some refurbished chromebooks for 25% to 33% of the original costs-so this one which is over 50% of the cost of a new one is not a good deal even if it works.
@Al_Coholic @Felton10 but this one’s PURPLE!
@Al_Coholic @Inessence The one I got my wife is purple also. That was the attraction. Also got her a purple mouse and a magenta carrying case-all make by HP for that size and type of computer.
@Al_Coholic @Felton10 I just ordered those from Amazon too. Great minds.
@Al_Coholic @Inessence Bought the mouse when I bought the laptop, but got the sleeve from ebay for $ 3 less than amazon was selling it for.
@Felton10 this isn’t a chrome book
@medz I know-bought this one (the 11.6 model) for my wife. I have an asus flip chromebook.
@Al_Coholic 32 gig is the hard drive storage your 2 gb is the ram ,they are referring to the hard drive not your memory, so obviously your hard drive is greater than 32 gig .hence no update issues.
@mellowirishgent Not sure what you mean. The hard drive on both tablets is 32 GB.
Install Linux on it and you might not even have to upgrade the eMMC.
I’m in. At least it will match my eyes!!!
Specs
What’s in the Box?
1x HP Stream 14-AX020NR Laptop PC
1x AC Adapter
Price Comparison
$219 (new) at Amazon
Warranty
90 Day Image Microsystems
Estimated Delivery
Monday, July 13th - Friday, July 17th
FYI, Blinq has this as an open box for about the same price this weekend (if you live in CA like me and get taxed at 9%+). And you’ve got a better shot at getting warranty coverage from the manufacturer on an open box (but happy to be proven wrong on that).
https://www.blinq.com/detail/electronics/laptops-tablets/pc-laptops-netbooks/1294426
So as I have said before, if it’s not at least half price, why sell it here?