Remember back to 2007-2008 when the computer companies started to introduce netbooks? They were extremely inexpensive laptops for people that just wanted basic computing capability on the go. Sales of them helped boost the industry for a few years but consumer interest waned in them as prices climbed from around $200 towards $400 while traditional laptop prices fell closer to $500. Sales essentially became non-existent once tablets were released. Over the past couple of years, consumer interest in affordable computing devices has peaked again thanks to low cost Chromebooks. Chromebooks along with tablets have eaten into Microsoft’s sales of Windows and they are hoping with new licensing that a new round of low cost laptops will entice consumers to once again try a low cost computer. But is it enough to entice people to actually buy it?

The HP Stream

News leaked of the HP Stream, the first of the new $199 Microsoft Windows laptops that should be available for the 2014 holiday shopping season. Details about the laptop were very specific thanks to the located on HP’s web servers. The specs seem very similar to some of the latest Intel based Chromebooks but using an AMD A4 quad core processor instead of the Intel Celeron processors. Others key items include a 14-inch 1366×768 display, 2GB of DDR3 memory, 32GB solid state memory and 802.11b/g/n wireless.

In terms of features and performance, it seems to be very similar to that of the current Intel BayTrail based Chromebooks on the market. There are some key differences though. As it runs the Windows 8.1 operating system, it has a greater level of flexibility in the software and offline use compared to the Chromebook.

While the pricing seems great and makes it a true competitor of the Chromebook and low cost tablets, there are some big issues with this new low cost Windows laptop. The most notable of them is the storage. Since Windows relies heavily on programs and applications loaded onto the system, the 32GB of storage will quickly be used up by consumers storing files. Sure, it comes with 100GB of cloud storage but programs are not stored in the cloud, just files. If you want to keep some of your HD movie files on the system for offline viewing, that can quickly use up that space. Now HP will have a version with 64GB of storage space but the price will jump up to around $299 which puts it very close to the cost of some discounted budget laptops that offer more performance and features.

Performance is also likely to be an issue. Most budget class laptops feature 4GB of memory in them. This provide them with a sufficient level of memory for multitasking and applications. The HP stream is going to be limited to just 2GB of memory which is really the bare minimum for Windows. In addition to this, the speed will only run at 1333MHz instead of 1600MHz. This is going to severely limit the performance of applications in Windows especially if you are planning on multitasking much.

Next we have size. The 14-inch display does provide it with a larger screen that can be useful for those that want it but it makes the Stream much less portable than previous netbooks and most of the Chromebooks and tablets it will be competing with. The display resolution is also quite low which has been a problem with most Chromebooks but the majority of tablets have full 1080p capable touchscreens. After all, why have a large laptop when the major benefit of a Chromebook is portability of the device and the data.

Of course, we won’t know how successful the product will actually be until it is released and people have had time to use it. Even with the limited performance of the Chromebooks, consumers seem to like them but it does have a very specialized software that works well with the limited resources it has. Windows has not had this same level of optimization and is reliant upon legacy software. I think sales will likely do well at first but consumer sentiment will likely wane quickly because of this. But that is just my opinion…