HP Stream 14, Celeron N150, 8GB, 128GB eMMC, Rose Gold

The HP Stream 14 is a light, cheap laptop for very basic tasks. It's compact and comes with a bunch of accessories, but the Celeron N150 and 128GB eMMC storage are near the bottom of our charts. Buy it only if your needs are simple and the price stays low.

The Celeron N150 sits in the 11th percentile for CPUs in our database. That's not a typo. It's a 4-core chip with a 1.1GHz base clock and 2.6GHz boost, and it's fine for one or two browser tabs and a document. Push it harder and you'll feel the lag. The 8GB of RAM is actually the bright spot here, landing in the 6th percentile but still enough for light multitasking. Storage is the real pain point: 128GB of eMMC is slow and cramped, sitting near the bottom of our charts at the 5th percentile. The integrated Intel UHD graphics are what you'd expect, fine for video but not much else. Battery life is listed at up to 11.5 hours of video playback, which sounds decent, but we couldn't verify that independently.

Stacked against the MacBook Pro M4 Max or ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, this HP is in a completely different universe. Those machines are for creators and gamers with serious budgets. The Stream 14 is for someone who needs a basic machine and doesn't want to spend real money. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition is a closer philosophical match, but it costs several times more and runs circles around the Stream in every metric. The MSI Prestige is also a step up in build quality and screen. If you can stretch your budget even a little, the Surface Laptop or a used business laptop will serve you far better.

The price isn't listed here, but HP Stream laptops typically sell in the $200 to $300 range. At that price, the included accessories and Microsoft 365 subscription soften the blow. But you're paying for portability and simplicity, not performance. If this thing costs more than $300, walk away. There are better options with faster storage and sharper screens for not much more.

The HP Stream 14 is a budget laptop that knows exactly what it is: a cheap, light machine for basic tasks. It's got a 14-inch screen, 8GB of RAM, and a Celeron N150 that won't win any races. But it's small, it's simple, and it comes with a pile of accessories in the box.

We dug into the numbers and the story is mixed. It's compact and people seem to like it, but the internals are about as entry-level as it gets. If you need a laptop for web browsing, email, and Word docs, this might do the trick. If you need anything more, keep scrolling.

Skip this if you need to run anything beyond a browser and Office apps. The slow eMMC storage and weak CPU will make photo editing, coding, or even heavy multitasking painful. If you need a machine for creative work, gaming, or running demanding software, look at a used business laptop or a budget machine with an SSD and a better processor. You'll be much happier.

The HP Stream 14 is for students or casual users who need a cheap, light laptop for web browsing, email, and light document work. It's not for multitaskers, gamers, or anyone who stores a lot of files locally. The 8GB of RAM helps, but the slow eMMC storage and weak CPU will frustrate you if you push it. If your needs are truly basic and the price is right, it's fine. Otherwise, save up a bit more.