HP Stream 7" Intel Quad-Core 32GB Tablet Price: $59.99 Shipping Options:: $5 Standard Shipping Estimates: Ships in 3-5 business days. (Monday, Oct 19 to Thursday, Oct 22) + transit Condition: Refurbished
I have one of these. Works great with Windows 10. One thing to note after installing Windows 10 is that the rotation lock will be on by default, and the tablet will be stuck in landscape mode. Just swipe in from the right, or tap the little message bubble in the system tray, to bring up the notification center with the action buttons, and turn rotation lock off. While you’re there, you probably also want to turn Tablet mode on.
I have one of these that I purchased several months ago for $55. It works well and the upgrade to windows 10 is also nice, I did a clean install to save as much space as possible though. Plenty of open space.
My only complaint is that some apps don’t recognize the interface scaling, so Facebook and some others tend to have microscopic text. Of course its just as easy to load those up in a web browser instead of the app.
Hey, I have one of these too (I guess I’m bordering on electronics hoarder).
These tablets were $99-$119 new, and went on sale for $79 new a few times, so don’t expect a lot of speed or a lot of storage, but it’s fine for various everyday tasks and can even run some “full” Windows applications in a pinch.
As long as you go into it expecting basically a keyboardless touch-screen netbook you should be fine.
One thing that I (and some other folks) have noticed is a bit of electrical background noise (maybe from the touch screen) if you are using sensitive headphones and the music volume is very low. If you turn up the sound a bit more, the electrical noise doesn’t get any louder so the music completely overpowers it. It doesn’t affect Bluetooth audio and I don’t notice it in the speakers, just when using the actual wired headphone jack.
It actually doesn’t bother me, but some people are super picky about such things and might be bugged by it. Edit: Might be fixed now, see below.
I do like that it’s Intel-based so it runs essentially the same Windows OS and programs as a laptop or desktop (or netbook), and it still supports “desktop mode” on a 7 inch screen even though it sounds like Microsoft is going to start disabling that on new tablets that come out with a screen size less than 8 inches (This one was apparently already introduced before the change).
It looks like a poster in this HP forum thread reports that after upgrading to Windows 10, and separately downloading and updating the latest BIOS and drivers, the slightly noticeable headphone jack noise seemed to be fixed for them. I haven’t tried it yet, so YMMV.
Ok… i eed to be able to dictate text into a Microsoft environ during 2 hour daily non internet a le commute… have 64 gb micro card waiting… will this do than w/reasonably accuracy?
The specs as shown on Woot officially say “microSD Card Slot (up to 32GB, card not included).” However, it looks like some people have had good luck with larger cards, for example this person.
I haven’t tried speech recognition on mine. It would likely depend somewhat on the software you’re using. You’d also need to make sure that it meets the minimum system requirements for the software since this is a pretty low-end unit (hence the price). Also, these are refurbished so the 1 year of Office 365 that would come with it new might have already been used by the original owner.
I’d imagine speech recognition accuracy (for any device) is likely to be somewhat reduced during a commute due to the extra background noise, but couldn’t say for sure.
It is mind boggling how inexpensive these things are becoming and this seems to be a decent product. It’s like the same price as some no-name cheapo android tablet that’s running Android 2.x that you might find on sale at BigLots.
I need a tablet that will be used primarily for web surfing, YouTube, and email. Doesn’t matter if it’s Windows or Android. Is this a better option than the new $50 Fire Tablet?
For the three things you list, I would say yes. The advantage of the Stream is that it runs the full Windows OS on X86 architecture, which means you can run a multitude of web browsers WITH extensions (like an adblocker) and it will load webpages as the full version as oppose to the watered-down mobile version. You also of course have the option of using the ‘not-metro-apps’ in Windows 10 to do mail and such. The stream also has better screen resolution over the Kindle.
The advantages of the Kindle are that it comes with the Android ecosystem. This means better (or at least more) touch-centric apps over Windows. It also comes with nifty Amazon perks, and Android is currently a more secure OS platform.
I own a Stream 7 and various Android tablets, and in my personal opinion they both bring something different to the table. I give the edge to the Stream because I prefer working with a “full” os. I like the flexibility, even though you have to be patient with the non-touch optimized aspects of Windows 10. But note that you kind of have to treat the Stream as a laptop more than a tablet. If you press the side button to turn off the display it will drain battery faster than turning off the display on an android device. Even in sleep mode the Stream will be complete dead if you don’t charge it in 3-4 days.
So basically
Stream = Less optimized for touch, but more options
So this comes with Office? Is the “Personal” version full-featured? How long does the subscription last? Can I buy this and have access to Office on my other computers?
It’s my experience that refurb tech does not include productivity tools licensing. Plan to keep using whatever you’re using now for your document management needs.
Ok, so it looks like there are no video out ports. Not even sure the micro-usb connection could be used for keyboard/mouse. Looks like more of a media consuming device, not a productivity device.
While this is a fine deal for this particular HP tablet, I have to mention that Microcenter sells their Winbook TW700 for $59 new. The best part is that the Winbook has both MicroHDMI out and a full sized USB 2.0 port (+ the microUSB charging port). You can jump up to the TW801, which has 2gb of memory, an 8" screen and USB 3.0 for $99. With the HDMI out, you could easily connect these to an external monitor (I have done it) and get a full sized desktop out of it. I’ve owned just about every brand of small tablet out there so far (hp, toshiba, dell, winbook etc) and considering the specs and prices, the Winbook blows them all away.
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