HP Stream 14-z050ng Notebook Review

HP equipped the Stream with a glossy 14-inch display with a native resolution of 1366x768 pixels. The brightness of 221.9 cd/m² is not especially impressive but usual for a computer of this price range. The same is true for contrast (359:1) and black value (0.64 cd/m²).

The HP Stream 14 is a simple 14-inch office notebook. Its processing performance is more than sufficient for the intended use (office, Internet, video playback). The Stream 14 is, so to say, a Windows-based counterpart to the Chromebooks from Google. Our test model costs 299 Euros (~$379). Models with different hardware are not available. We only saw a model with different colors (green and silver; HP Stream 14-z052ng).

The Stream is powered by an AMD A4 Micro-6400T APU (Mullins). The CPU part of the APU consists of a quad-core processor with a base clock of 1 GHz. The clock rate can increase to up to 1.6 GHz. With a TDP of 4.5 Watt, the APU is very frugal. Thus, it can be cooled passively. AMD primarily designed this APU for use in tablets.

The processor clocks at 1.2 GHz during the multi-thread tests of the Cinebench benchmarks. When running the single-thread tests, the clock rate of one core is usually increased to 1.6 GHz. The single-thread performance is on a par with that of the Bay Trail processor from Intel. In multi-thread apps, the processor can catch up to Intel's Haswell Pentiums. The results in the browser benchmarks depend heavily on the used browser. In order to show the differences, we ran the test with the preinstalled Internet Explorer 11 as well as with Chrome (38.0.2125.104). All things considered, the APU left a good impression. It would be interesting to see how the APU performs in conventional notebooks which currently use Bay Trail Pentiums.

The system works smoothly and Windows boots quickly. Unfortunately, we can not deliver PCMark 8 results, since the computer crashed and restarted when we executed it.

An eMMC chip is used as data storage. The transfer rates of the eMMC memory are largely up-to-date. However, the 4k performance is significantly lower than other computers' with eMMC memory. The storage device is far from keeping up with SSDs in terms of performance. HP has incorporated a memory module with a capacity of 32 GB. About 10 GB is occupied by the recovery partition and about 12 GB is used by the Windows installation. As a result, the user can use just under 10 GB. Additional storage space can be added with a MicroSD card. In addition, buyers of the Stream 14 are provided with 100 GB storage capacity in Microsoft's Cloud memory (OneDrive) for two years.

Graphics output is done by a Radeon R3 graphics core. The GPU supports DirectX 11.2 and clocks at 350 GHz. The results of the 3DMark benchmarks show that the performance of the chip is about in between the Intel HD Graphics 2500 (Ivy Bridge) and HD Graphics (Haswell). So, it is significantly faster than Intel's Bay Trail GPUs.

Neither the used APU nor the computer itself were designed for modern computer games. Apart from that, the existing storage capacity is hardly sufficient for most games. Several older titles like Trackmania Nations Forever or Resident Evil 5 run smoothly with low resolution and low quality settings. Those wanting to play occasionally should stick to games from the Windows Store.

The APU is cooled passively. Thus, the Stream does not produce noise.

The stereo speakers of the Stream are located on the underside of the computer. The sound is rather thin, lacks bass, and appears slightly tinny. The preinstalled Beats Audio Software is active. The sound can only be improved by external speakers or headphones.

Power Consumption

The energy demand of the Stream is quite low in all load scenarios. This is not surprising since the computer houses a frugal APU. Conventional Windows computers with a size of 15.6-inches and Bay Trail CPUs need significantly more energy. This is also true for Chromebooks with Intel hardware. But, Chromebooks with ARM hardware are even more frugal; for example, the Acer Chromebook 13 with Tegra K1 SoC.

Our realistic WLAN test automatically loads websites in 40-second intervals. The energy-saving profile is active and the display brightness is set to about 150 cd/m². The Stream achieves a battery life of 5:17 h. While this is alright, it should have performed significantly better. This notebook was designed for mobility. Even in the 300 Euros (~$380) price range, there are notebooks with significantly longer battery life, for example, the Packard Bell EasyNote TF71BM-C8R1 (Pentium N2830, HD Graphics (Bay Trail)): It costs about 250 Euros (~$316) and achieves a battery life of 7:09 h. The Stream was designed as a competitor to Chromebooks and has to keep up with these. Again, things look black. Acer's Chromebook 13 (Tegra K1) achieves 10:04 h on a single charge.

All things considered, we liked the HP Stream 14-z050ng. Practically, you'll get a Windows-based Chromebook, which can run "normal" Windows applications, too. The processing performance is sufficient for office, Internet and video playback. The computer works silently and hardly gets warmer during everyday tasks. The hardware is housed by a thin, nice case. The display will not win any prizes but matches the price range. However, we expected a matte display, since the Stream will be used in different locations and the user should be protected against reflections. The battery life should also be better in a device designed for mobility.

The Stream has some potential. HP should improve display and battery life and decrease the price at the same time. Several conventional 15.6-inch computers are available in the 300 Euros (~$380) price range, which feature more storage capacity and longer battery life but are significantly heavier and thicker. The Stream has to be at least on par with devices of both categories in order to be competitive. A Stream 14 with matte display, 64 GB memory, big battery capacity and integrated 3G modem could definitely find its buyers for 250 Euros (~$316) or less.