Review on HP Stream 14-Inch Laptop with Intel Celeron N4000, 4GB RAM, 64GB eMMC, Windows 10 Home in S Mode - 14-cb159nr, Jet Black by Javarie Malick

Maybe you were like me waiting in line on some Black Friday for a super cheap laptop. After winning your prize, you went home to find that it still wasn't a good deal. This laptop almost falls into that category, although the build quality keeps it afloat. It's important to talk about Windows 10 S first. This is a very limited version of Windows 10 that only allows you to install official apps like Internet Edge. Browser and Microsoft Office and somewhat restricts multitasking. There are various reasons for its existence, including corporate/store use to prevent unauthorized applications and protect against viruses. It's also reportedly aimed at low-end devices, as it's a lightweight version of the operating system that's more in line with a Chromebook. This was my first experience with him so I went with an open mind. Everything seemed delayed and slow. Shouldn't Windows 10 S be fast? Sometimes a new computer downloads and installs updates in the background, making it slow. I checked and the computer was updated. Internet on my home WiFi, which works great for everything else, was patchy. The web browser sometimes worked slowly and sometimes not at all. I also quickly realized that almost everything I do on the computer is not available on Windows 10 S. I'm surfing the web in the Brave browser, which I couldn't install. I watch movies in VLC. So I decided to "upgrade" to Windows 10 Home Standard, which is free, but the page for it kept freezing. After giving the laptop a day off and taking it to work to try a different network on the older band (802.11). g) Windows has successfully disabled S mode. Annoyingly, I had to use a Microsoft account to do this. I checked and suddenly there were tons of updates to install. After that, the laptop was 500% faster, albeit still slower. It also worked great in my home network. Don't believe the pop-up warnings that your computer will slow down when switching. I also went into power settings and disabled GPU throttling, which is a ploy used by hardware manufacturers to give a more accurate estimate of battery life at the expense of performance. After downloading my favorite browser and software, I was able to browse the web and stream videos normally. I tried to use the HDMI port but I couldn't use the monitor. There seems to be some sort of bug that could be related to the monitor supporting HDR. Usually a computer that doesn't support HDR will only output non-HDR and it works fine, but there was something odd about it when the settings disappeared. When that failed after a lot of fiddling, I tried Miracast (Wireless Display Casting) and it worked with a slight delay, but it stalled after about 20 minutes each time. The screen is very outdated. Aside from the lower resolution, which I'm willing to put up with, the viewing angles require the screen to face the viewer very directly. When I try to look at the screen while standing, it looks blurry. Appearing in 2019 is unacceptable even for a cheap laptop. In general, the build quality is not bad at all for the low price. It has the look and feel of a business laptop that's not obnoxious and is more durable than some in this price range. The charger is more of a traditional block type than the convenient USB-C. There are no USB-C ports at all. No matter how many flaws this laptop has, it may be worth buying at a very low price, rather than the current rather low price point. If you just want a light display (not on a monitor or a good screen) and can handle OS headaches, I see it makes sense.