hpstream_poprocks-heroBanner_1920x6253HP has just issued a press release announcing two new additions to its Stream range of cheap notebooks – with mouthwatering specs and prices. The new HP Stream 11.6 and 13.3 diagonal notebooks offer “great battery life, Windows 10 optimization and bold new colors,” according to HP. They also retail at just $199.99 and $229.99 respectively.

The Stream 11.6 comes with a claimed 10.5 hours of battery life. Both devices also offer “1 TB of Microsoft OneDrive for one year” and “Office 365 Personal for one year to edit, share or collaborate in real-time,” as well as 32 GB of SSD storage and one USB 3.0 port, one HDMI port, and a micro SD card reader, plus the usual USB 2.0 ports. The 13.3 model also packs a touchscreen.

These may not be the highest-specced laptops you will ever see, but they boost the Windows campaign against cheap Chromebooks even more. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see them make some inroads into the tablet market too. After all, for your back-to-school device, wouldn’t a laptop like this make more sense for your work and play?

This also means that ereading apps on the Windows Store, like the Kobo Books app, the BookReader app, the Kindle app, and the various other ereading solutions should be seeing more and more traction too. Tablets may be more comfortable to hold as ereading devices, but I bet that not everyone will want to shell out for both. For Chromebooks, meanwhile, these could be interesting times.

 

 

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