The only way to rectify the Stream 11’s dull screen is to use it plugged into an external monitor. That’s not possible if you’re out and about, but if you’re using this laptop at home, the full-size HDMI port makes it a cinch to connect a larger display. As with the SD card slot, the HDMI port is a welcome addition that's rare even on more expensive laptops. HP Inc UK Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA FRN 973346) and acts as a credit intermediary and not a lender, offering credit products provided by a limited number of finance providers. Such credit products may not be suitable for everyone. Borrowing more than you can afford or paying late may negatively impact your financial status and ability to obtain credit.

PROCESSOR: Intel Celeron N4020. SCREEN SIZE: 11in. MEMORY: 4GB. STORAGE: 64GB. OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 11 Home. SCREEN TYPE & RESOLUTION: HD (1366 x 768), anti-glare. BLUETOOTH: 5.0. PORTS: USB Type C, 2 USB Type A, HDMI,1 microSD media card reader. GRAPHICS CARD: Intel UHD Graphics 600. BATTERY LIFE: Up to 13.5 hours. The Stream 11 has a front-facing camera that offers startlingly low-quality video, even by the relatively low standards of modern laptop webcams. The entire field of view is filled with noise and distracting artifacts, even in a brightly lit room. Audio quality from the stereo speakers isn’t much better.The dreary numbers continued as we ran Primate Labs’ Geekbench Pro, another CPU stress test meant to simulate real-world applications. The HP Stream 14 came in dead last again, owing its poor performance to its Celeron processor. Forget about running more than a couple of apps at one time while using it. Between home, school, and work - your mobile life demands a PC that just doesn't quit. With up to 13 hours and 15 minutes of battery life, the HP Stream does everything your smartphone can't. Post, play, and stay productive all day with the familiarity of a Windows PC that's affordable, portable, and incredibly stylish. EXPRESSIVE DESIGN. Live your best life on-the-go and in style with a slim, expressive design. With its smooth finish and vertical brushed pattern, the HP Stream that perfectly fits your personality. MORE FEATURES. MORE VALUE. With Intel processors and up to 13 hours and 15 minutes of battery life, work all day or binge-watch your favourite shows - all while staying under budget. Plus, stay connected with fast Wi-Fi, plenty of storage options, and all the ports you need. WINDOWS YOU LOVE. OFFICE YOU NEED. Everything you love about Windows and more. Now, you're ready to do what you love confidently with improved performance and a user-friendly interface. Before I joined the tech-journalism ranks, I wrote on topics as diverse as Borneo's rain forests, Middle Eastern airlines, and Big Data's role in presidential elections. A graduate of Middlebury College, I also have a master's degree in journalism and French Studies from New York University.

The Stream 11 lasted for more than 11 hours on our video rundown test, which involves playing a 720p video at 50% screen brightness with Wi-Fi turned off. (Note: Since our video file is too big to fit on the Stream 11’s internal storage drive, we played it from an external SSD.) Other tests that we usually run, including our Handbrake video render, our Photoshop filter test, and 3DMark's graphics trials, were beyond the Stream 11.

Beware the Bloatware

One more bit of maintenance is recommended, beyond upgrading to full Windows 10: bloatware cleaning. Plenty of preinstalled apps take up too much of the computer’s precious 57GB of available space, including Netflix, Dropbox, LastPass, and McAfee Antivirus. HP’s preinstalled configuration utility, myHP, also constantly sends notifications reminding you to install updates.Thankfully, all of it can and should be uninstalled. On the upside, the HP Stream 14 also comes with a one-year subscription to Microsoft 365, giving users access to Microsoft's suite of programs. The one test that didn't end in defeat for the HP Stream 14 was the display test. Using Datacolor's SpyderX Elite calibrator tools, we test every laptop's screen-brightness output levels at 50% and 100% brightness. We also measure gamut settings for the three most relevant color spaces for laptop users: the sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 standards. What about video encoding? At this point, you might be able to guess, but the HP Stream 14 is not meant for this kind of work. To see how ill-equipped the machine is, we ran HandBrake 1.4, an open-source video transcoder for converting multimedia files to different resolutions and formats. The HP Stream 14 was fighting for its life in this test, taking almost two hours to complete the benchmark. High-end laptops tend to do it in well under 10 minutes. Graphics Tests In GFXBench's 1440p Aztec Ruins test, the HP Stream 14 maintained an average of 7 frames per second during the tests. Surprisingly, the 1080p Car Chase test ran at an average of 33 frames per second, so there's some hope for the machine if you decide to play something simple. Really simple. Battery and Display Testing Wireless connections include Bluetooth and 802.11ac Wi-Fi. The laptop doesn’t support Wi-Fi 6, but at this price we don’t expect it to. Over several days of testing, the Stream 11 easily stayed connected to my home wireless router without any dropped connections. (Photo: Molly Flores)