HP Stream 11 Laptop Includes Office 365 Personal for One Year (Orchid Magenta)

CUSTOMER REVIEW



I just bought my nephew who is going to college an HP Stream 13 for $230. Beautiful and powerful computer, but it took me 90 minutes to remove all the stickers and all the crapware & adware. I still need to offload the recovery partition to a flash disk to recover the SSD storage. It has a total of 32 GB SSD storage so every bit counts. I'm also waiting for a 64 GB MicroSD card http://ift.tt/S79fhJ so I can expand the storage.



Removing the crapware and adware took 2 hours plus another hour to install Windows update. I removed all the browser extensions and add-ons in IE and then installed Chrome. Then I installed CCleaner and removed McAfee anti-virus so that I can just use the free Microsoft AV. Also removed a bunch of bloatware like Cisco wireless networking utilities like LEAP and Apple Bonjour. Removed the Realtek card reader software since it slows the card reader down. Then downloaded fresh Realtek card reader driver and manually installed the driver without using their setup program.



UPDATE - I had to remove all the HP tools (support and registration) as well. They were intermittently hammering the CPU to 100% and other people in HP forums were complaining about this problem. Once uninstalled, the CPU usage problems went away. Something else that caused some mildly high CPU usage during media playback was the Realtek DTS audio processing service and I've disabled that and the system performs better. It was not needed for playback quality and it was actually detrimental to audio recording quality.



The thing that slowed me down was that I had to gather my nephew's personal info to create a Microsoft account for him. It was mandatory since this is the free version of MS Windows 8.1 (with Bing). But the MS Account allows him to use MS Office online for free so it's worth setting up. I also had to carefully remove 3 stickers on the keyboard rest. Intel sticker was tilted. Now it's a beautiful clean system and it boots very fast and loads everything fast. It handles most computing tasks just fine and now I'm loathed to give this away.



Some people will complain about the 2GB of RAM which is not expandable, but I never have any problems with 2GB RAM because I don't leave a 20 browser tabs open. You're not going to use this laptop for 3D intensive gaming or 3D rendering so the RAM shouldn't be an issue. I have a desktop computer with 8 GB of RAM for running games and virtual machines and content production and no one should expect the HP Stream 13 to perform this role. It runs fewer than 10 web browser tabs just fine and it's extremely snappy running Microsoft Office Online or Google apps.



I ran a Youtube 1080P on Chrome browser. Google is screwing all of us now by forcing their VP9 codec on us which forces this computer to use software video decoding. This dual-core CPU is pegged at 100% utilization and forced to overclock to 2.58 GHz and it will still hiccup if a youtube ad shows up. Of course this is just chewing up the battery. By comparison, I tested a 1080P H.264 .MP4 video downloaded from Google and the CPU hovered around 8% during smooth playback. Google needs to shove their VP8 & VP9 codec where the sun don't shine. But thank goodness for "Magic Actions for YouTube" (a Chrome plugin) letting me disable Google's VP9 HTML5 crap. Now Chrome runs Youtube in flash mode with H.264 hardware decoding and the CPU hovers around 20%. Here's a screenshot of the CPU pegged at 100% with VP9 software decode http://bit.ly/1u0O3bV. Here's the CPU hovering at 20% using Flash mode with H.264 hardware decode http://bit.ly/1uahXfx.



I've been hammering on this system with tests for over two hours. The Intel N2840 2.16 GHz processor is being forced to burst to 2.58 GHz from all the work I'm throwing at it. Windows Update is hammering the IO and CPU. The brightness level is even set to 60% and the battery level still reads 79% with 4 hours 24 minutes remaining.



After all the tweaks and cleanup I've done, the slim HP Stream 13 3.42 lb laptop is running smooth as butter. The 13.3" 1366x768 non-glare matte screen is the perfect compromise between viewabiliy and compactness. Would be even nicer if HP could sell us a 1920x1080 13.3" screen but probably not at the $230 price point. Another small gripe is that the bezel is a little bigger than I'd like.



The Stream 13 has a 720P webcam, but I wouldn't even call it 360P quality. It's incredibly grainy using indoor lighting, but what were you expecting for a $230 laptop? It's certainly not going to look like the camera on the MacBook Pro. Get yourself a $66 Logitech C920 which has awesome image quality and 1080P hardware encoding if you want a nice webcam. Even a $29 720P webcam will look leaps and bounds better.



On the audio output side, the HP Stream 13 has good sound output from the TRRS jack. It can drive my large 808 headphones with authority. By comparison, my Lenovo ThinkPad T430 business laptop couldn't push my 808s at all! The audio recording on the other hand stinks in the default setting. The integrated microphone sucks like most integrated microphones on laptops. It is very laggy because of all the noise cancellation algorithms they apply to it. The recorded sound (using Audacity) is noise free but it is extremely unnatural due to excessive noise reduction. I don't like the recorded sound at all.



UPDATE - After disabling the DTS Realtek audio processing, the playback quality was still just as good. Recording with the internal microphone actually improved a lot. The internal microphone in the HP Stream 13 actually isn't too shabby. It is surprisingly usable quality for VoIP or Video Calling.



The Stream 13 also has a 3.5mm TRRS phone connector port for headphones and earbuds with microphones. That means you can use the same earbuds with mic that you use with your smartphone. The problem is that while it sounds a lot more natural than the integrated microphone, it's a faint yet noisy signal. The input volume was set to 100% with a 10 dB (fake software preamp) boost and it's still only reaching 20% peak sound levels in Audacity. My Nexus 4 and Samsung S4 on the other hand produce extremely good quality recordings with the same earbuds or headphones with microphones. To put this in context, my Lenovo ThinkPad T430 from work has the same audio recording quality problems with the integrated mic and TRRS port.



If you want to work around these sound recording issues, buy yourself a $34 Samson GoMic. It's the best money you'll ever spend on a USB microphone. The other option is that you can get a bluetooth headphone with microphone since the HP Stream 13 has bluetooth capability.



The trackpad on the HP Stream 13 is large and usable. It supports gestures like two-finger scrolling. But if you really want a good experience, buy a bluetooth mouse and use the integrated bluetooth in the Stream 13.



Lastly, here are the disk performance results for the internal 32 GB SSD storage. It's one of the slowest SSDs on the market, but it's still around 15 times faster than a normal hard drive when it comes to small file transfers.

http://ift.tt/1vNXldt



Conclusion:

This is a superb mobility laptop for the money, but only if you remove all the crapware and apply all the optimizations I performed above.



Summary of crapware removed and optimizations performed.



* Apple Bonjour.

* Cisco LEAP and EAPFAST

* McAfee AV

* Realtek cardreader software (note that you need to download just the new drivers and then just install drivers manually without software. Don't remove if you don't know how to install new drivers because you'll lose the card reader)

* HP Tools registration

* HP Tools support

* Disable Realtek DTS audio effects. Just type DTS at start screen and the program will pop up.

* Install Chrome

* If you use Chrome, install "Magic Actions for YouTube" plugin for Chrome to disable ads, pick the default resolution, and force Flash mode instead of HTML5 mode. Flash mode uses H.264 MPEG AVC video which supports hardware acceleration for very low CPU usage.



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ASUS 15.6-Inch Intel Dual-Core Celeron 2.16 GHz Laptop, 4GB RAM and 500GB Hard Drive

CUSTOMER REVIEW



The notebook is absolutely perfect and fast enough for light (student) use however in the question and answer section someone from ASUS was posting a misleading information about this particular laptop, this machine doesn't have CD/DVD player but the representative from ASUS was telling people it comes with one. That is ASUS fault not the sellers since they didn't post it as if it's equipped with one.



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Lenovo G50 15.6-Inch Laptop (Core i3, 6 GB, 500 GB)

CUSTOMER REVIEW



I purchased the g500 with i3 core processor, 4G ram 17 inch model through Amazon Prime. It's a fantastic laptop. Lenovo laptops come with the one key recovery system which let's you restore the system to its original state or create backups of the system in its current state.



I found this feature useful and initially reinstalled the o/s a few times using one key recovery while trying to set up my system exactly as I wanted it. I uninstalled all the bloat ware and there is alot.



I now have windows 8.1 running. It takes some getting used to but is worth the learning curve.



The only problem I have is a very flaky touch pad. My laptop is still under warranty but I'm just getting around this problem by using a mouse and disabling the touch pad using function key 6. I tried changing the sensitivity of the touch pad which didn't help. I also tried reinstalling the device driver. That didn't resolve the problem either.



I hope lenovo will address the problem with the touch pad. Other than that it's been the most reliable windows laptop I've owned.



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Toshiba Satellite C55-B5308 15.6-Inch Laptop (AMD E1-Series - 4GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive - Jet Black)

CUSTOMER REVIEW



This is my second Toshiba Laptop and it's as solid as my first one. Long life on its Lithium-Ion Battery, Great Display and Keyboard (although I still prefer the wireless external mouse I bought to the mouse pad and buttons built in). Furthermore, this laptop has a GREAT processor and taking the price in account this laptop was one of the best I could find to buy new; and it doesn't disappoint. The computer has a great readable screen, plenty of memory, plenty of storage at 500 GB and a DVD or CD + and - player/writer, plus an HDMI port to hook up to your widescreen 1080i Big Screen TV as a second monitor, and Speakers built-in or headphone jack with microphone input. Another reason why I bought this laptop was because of my old laptop which is listed here:

http://ift.tt/1F8N8Nl my first time using



The laptop listed above was very slow and also had Windows 7 installed. So before buying this Toshiba Satellite with Windows 8 on it I was a little bit worried to use this for the first time but I can tell you that it is easy enough to get used to new Windows 8 interface.



Overall, this Toshiba laptop is a very decent laptop. Not lightning fast but certainly not slow either. And this for a good price in comparison to so many laptops out there (and also lower cost than many tablets!). So I would surely recommend this to everyone!



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Acer Chromebook 11 CB3-111-C670 (11.6-inch HD, 2GB, 16GB)

CUSTOMER REVIEW



My macbook pro died this Monday while I was writing an essay. I immediately headed to Best buy to get a Chromebook, thinking that if I got the macbook to work again, I'd just return the Chromebook and keep the 100gb of Google drive.



I'm actually loving this little laptop. It's very solid feeling and looks pretty nice without trying to be a macbook air. The screen is admittedly not the best in terms of viewing angles but for some people I know that's actually a feature.



The fact that it's matte makes it amazing though. I don't think I could go back to a glossy screen.



I installed Linux on it easily enough and thus can swap to a more powerful OS whenever I want to play games for instance ( got hearthstone installed and working well)



The best thing about this laptop though is that it's an absolute battery champion. Today it's lasted me through a 3h class during which I downloaded about 2gb worth of tv shows. After that I hopped on a bus to go to Massachusetts which got into an accident that delayed us 3h. Rolled up into Connecticut for my connection with 30% battery left having watched 2 movies, played a couple of games of hearthstone and browsed for the remainder of the 6 hour bus ride from hell.



I can not recommend this enough. Can't imagine anything being a better value for money. It's managed to not make me miss my 2000$ macbook!



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Acer Aspire E Notebook (ES1-512-C323) - Dual-core Intel Celeron / 4GB DDR3L SDRAM / 500GB HDD / Windows 8.1 / WiFi / Webcam / 15.6" HD LED Display - Black

CUSTOMER REVIEW



I purchased this for my kids and I have not been disappointed. Overall is a really well built laptop for the money, though it is a little under-powered. The “Intel Celeron” in this model is basically a high-end “Atom” CPU and it based on the new “Bay Trail” architecture designed for tablets. So for starters, think of this as a “high-end tablet with a big screen and keyboard.” That’s not really a bad thing. You get really good battery life (they claim six hours, my kids are getting around that) out of a pretty small battery (3 cell). That helps keep the weight and cost down. The graphics are only suitable for web browsing, Office-type programs and basic gaming. Anything like Minecraft and similar “App” type games are fine. You will not be able to play anything close to a new, high end 3D game on this (though older 3D games will run okay).



What this is really built for is basic web and productivity apps. This is a great laptop for a student, because you can be sure they won’t be off playing games on it. And if they break it, you aren’t out much money. The screen is not 1080p (it’s 1366x768) but you don’t really notice it much: it has no trouble with HD movies. It is NOT a touch screen. Frankly there are no good touch screens this size in this price range, so for me that is a plus (good touch screen 15” laptops start at $500). Note that there is *NO* DVD or CDROM drive. Again, for kids this is almost preferred, because they tend to just break them. There’s not much out there you can’t download (in fact I’ve grown to love Amazon’s software download service because the program stays in your “software library” on Amazon which makes it easy to re-download when you buy a new computer). You can buy external drives for about $40 (I have one, but I haven’t had cause to use it in years). This should only matter to you if you have old software that’s on CD or DVD or wanted to watch movies that you had on DVD or Blu-ray.



This laptop has wireless (including “Miracast” which allows you to wireless transmit video to many TVs and set-top boxes such as Fire TV) and plenty of USB ports. It does not have Blutooth. That’s not a big deal for me, as I’ve never had a reason to connect Blutooth to a laptop, but if you had a reason to want Blutooth then you are going to want to look for a different model. It has three full sized USB ports (including one high-speed USB 3.0 port). It also has a full-size Ethernet and HDMI port.



So why buy this? For the price of a 8” tablet you get a 15” screen, full Windows support, full size ports (instead of mini or micro ports you can’t find a cable for) and a much more powerful CPU. No it’s not as powerful as an core i3 laptop but frankly there’s not much more you can do on an i3 that you can’t do here (you’ll enable a few more games, but it’s still not a “gaming” laptop). If you want more power you’ll really want to bump up to a Core i5. To be clear if 3D gaming matters to you a $800 Core i7 is pretty much your starting point. But if you are looking to find a good “basic” laptop I’m not sure you could do better at this price. And you are definitely going to have trouble finding this kind of battery life in a laptop at this price.



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Acer Aspire E 15 ES1-512-C88M 15.6-Inch Laptop (Diamond Black)

Product Description

Capacity: 15.6 inches

Product Description

Acer Aspire ES1-512-C88M comes with these high level specs: Intel Celeron N2840 Dual-Core Processor 2.16GHz with Intel Burst Technology up to 2.58GHz, Windows 8.1 with Bing, 15.6" HD Widescreen LED-backlit Display, Intel HD Graphics, 4096MB DDR3L Memory, 500GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM), Secure Digital (SD) card reader, 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN, Bluetooth 4.0, Gigabit Ethernet, Built-In Webcam, 2 - USB 2.0 Ports, 1 - USB 3.0 Port, 1 - HDMI Port, 3-cell Li-ion Battery (3220 mAh), Up to 7-hours Battery Life, 5.29 lbs. | 2.4 kg (system unit only)






CUSTOMER REVIEW



I have done thorough research and compared this with other similarly-priced products from Toshiba, Dell, Asus (2 of them), and HP. This Acer is definitely the BEST one of the five 15.6" in the $200-$250 price range. All five have the same basic specs (Celeron / 500GHz / 4GB / 500GB) but the below specs give this an edge over the others.



PROS:



USB 3.0

- Dell doesn't have it, the rest do.

- Acer has one port.



Bluetooth

- Only Toshiba has it, the rest don't.

- Acer has Bluetooth 4.0.



Battery Life

- One Asus has 3.75 hr life, the rest range between 4-5.5.

- ACER HAS SEVEN FREAKING HOURS OF BATTERY LIFE!



Speaker

- The Toshiba and HP speakers suck big time! They are very low quality and thin.

- ACER HAS AN AMAZING SOUND SYSTEM FOR A LAPTOP! You don't need a speaker to get crisp sound with enough base.



Thinness/Sleekness/Appearance

- Toshiba is the thinnest and sleekest, the rest are at least 0.25-0.50 inch thicker.

- Toshiba and Asus have a bad case of finger marking! It is so disgusting to look at. The slightest touch leaves finger marks on it. HP and Dell are okay.

- Acer is almost as thin as the Toshiba, which makes it neat looking too.

- Acer repels finger marks, thus no disgusting finger marks on them!



CONS:

- Acer is the heaviest of the lot, adding 0.50 lbs.

- Acer does not have the Caps or Num lock lighting

- Acer does not have an optical drive.

- Acer ports are at the back of the laptop, as opposed to the traditional sides.

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