Reddit reviews (Discontinued) HP Stream 13.3 Inch Laptop (Intel Celeron, 2 GB, 32 GB SSD, Horizon Blue) Includes Office 365 Personal for One Year

Do you have a restriction on where you're ordering your laptop from? I'm looking at it on Amazon right now and it doesn't seem that at risk of going out of stock. You don't get the color options or upgrades from buying it from HP, but HP doesn't seem to actually carry the 14 anymore anyway.

As far as cheaper goes, I believe HP is phasing out the Stream 14 for the Stream 11 and 13, which are closer to the near rock bottom of about $200. But as far as I can tell the Celeron equipped on both the 11 and 13 is considerably less powerful than the A4 APU on the 14 (as well as slightly worse integrated graphics.)

Most of your other options are similarly equipped, but there is this $319 Acer Aspire. Faster processor, twice the RAM, and a (slow) 500GB hard drive instead of the tiny 32GB eMMC storage on the Stream 14. Also weighs about 1.2 pounds more and is slightly thicker. Still probably decently portable though.

I've got a cheapy Chromebook that I initially was using around the house for basic stuff and decided to try and get Lightroom loaded on it. I found out a few things:

The hardware is super limited, which is a given. I figured for the few times I would be using it out in the field I could deal, but unfortunately even on Ubuntu we have issues with rendering .CR2 files (they have a pink hue added to them). The library used to read them in Linux isn't the best, and it seems that people haven't find a solid way to work with them "natively" yet. I tried using Darktable, Gimp, Krita, Rawtherepee, etc and all handle them the same way.

I've tried using Wine to get LR (different versions have different successes), but on the hardware (Acer C710) the installs go between being successful with failed start up to failed installs.

There is a Gimp chrome app that you can use, but that does require an internet connection since all of the processing happens on a server floating on a cloud, so no go when you don't have an internet. Still a super slow way to edit anyway.

I haven't really given the iPad a try, but I assume there are other constraints. I'm sure since the hardware is very limited that some editing will be slow, but I would have a look at the HP Streams for a sub $250 solid state laptop. The specs look similar to (and are based on other HP chromebooks) but run Windows 8.1, so no workarounds with anything.

The best mix of portability, durability, low price, and build quality would be the Lenovo ThinkPad X140e, IMO.

It's inexpensive, has a great keyboard, it's lightweight, and would easily handle your work. I'm also a pretty big fan of the TouchPoint (the little nub mouse).

Alternatively, the HP Stream 13 or 11 would be a good option as well.

Does it have to be a chromebook? The HP Stream 13.3 is only $200, runs full windows, and should run the apps fine. It comes with a free Office subscription and is a pretty good device. It is about as powerful as most Chromebooks! I know you said you were looking for a Chromebook, but this could be a great choice!

http://www.amazon.com/HP-Stream-Laptop-Personal-Horizon/dp/B00O65HZKS/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1426701933&sr=1-1&keywords=HP+Stream

Chrome OS is basically a light OS which uses the Chrome browser. That's about all, really. No programs or anything else. Basically a Chrome browser and nothing more. Since you need Skype, this would not work. You can use Google Docs which is a great alternative to Word and Excel; I prefer Google Docs over Word and Excel, actually. Also Google Docs lets you save it on the internet so basically you can pull up your docs from any computer you want w/o a flash drive.

Unfortunately in your price range, you are rather limited in power and quality. If it is possible, go for the Stream 14 seen here. It has great quality and is good for what you need it for. Has a faster processor and much better quality than other laptops in it's price range. If you can't do that, go for this.

Personally I would go for something like this Dell Inspiron 11 3000:

• 11.6 inch, 1366x768p touchscreen
  
• Intel Pentium 3556U + 4 GB of RAM
  
• 500 GB HDD
  
• Price: $329
  
  It has a decent CPU and long battery life.
  
  If you just want to save some bucks, take a look at the HP Stream 11 or HP Stream 13. They will come with MS Office included, which is quite nice (though it's a one year subscription).

You might have problems. A guy in an Amazon review for example describes some of the problems he had installing Ubuntu :

http://www.amazon.com/HP-Stream-Includes-Personal-Horizon/product-reviews/B00O65HZKS

The issue would seem to be some device drivers. You also need the 3.16 kernel according to the review, but I do have that with Debian testing. I don't know offhand what kernel Debian stable is using.

You're not really going to get a powerful machine at this budget, but the HP Stream 13 would be something that has the right form factor and uses a small SSD to run, similar to Chromebooks. However, since it uses Windows, it's better suited for you.

Get your self a computer, my laptop was broken on July 2014, i sent it to repairs, they didn't send it back, in december someone nocks on my door, giving the laptop with a used hard drive inside, it broke in 6 days, but i'm running the OS from a USB stick, yeah. Get your self a budget laptop i'd recommend This

Maybe I don't. I honestly don't know what my options are. I own the HP Stream laptop. (How else could I connect?)

The stream 13 looks about perfect for me, except for the color. The 14 looks much sleeker.

I have a copy of Office, that my uncle gave me the code for, installed on my desktop. Do you know if that code will carry over to whatever laptop I end up getting (assuming I'm logging into the same Microsoft account)? I can't find any definitive answers online.

Don't know about the games too much but for 300 the best laptop out there is probably http://www.amazon.com/HP-Stream-Includes-Personal-Horizon/dp/B00O65HZKS I think it will handle minecraft, terraria, or hearthstone, but without testing it myself I couldn't say.

I was recently thinking something similar. I had thought that one of the new cheap Stream notebooks would make an absurdly good linux box, but turns out that the hardware support isn't really there, so they don't run linux worth a poop. (at least not yet.)

What you've linked there is a damn nice Chromebook. I'm not sure there's better available right now outside of the Pixel.

Regarding linux on a Chromebook, my experience is pretty weak. I'm sure there are some who've removed Chrome OS and boot straight into grub, but most that I've seen are using chrosh to run Chrome OS and insert distro name here along side each other.

This is close if cloud storage is acceptible, and low price trumps all other factors.