Bonum Certa Men Certa

HP Stream Laptops at Walmart and Reality of Microsoft Windows Bloat



Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer.

HP Stream Laptops at Walmart. How Much Computer Do You Need in 2023?



I saw some $179 HP Stream Windows 11 craptops at Sprawl Mart yesterday.



And I was like, “Really? HP is still letting Microsoft command them to sell computers that barely work? How big is the market of people who haven’t already fallen for these?”.



16 GB of RAM is “barely enough” these days, due to software bloat, if you’re using more than several programs at once.



They sell Windows 11 systems with 4 GB!



You can barely use Linux productively with 4 these days. Much less Windows.



With Windows 11 and 4 GB, you can barely even boot the computer and load one program. These things don’t age well because they can barely handle a single use case that people are going to take them home for.



They are not comparable to Chromebooks, where Google has at least made a Linux-based OS centered around the device, planning out that it MUST work well with 4 GB RAM.



Windows always needs a new PC, and a good one, because it’s designed to force people to keep upgrading hardware when Windows “slows down”. It’s deliberate. They make Windows slower and more obese over time to “feed the pigs” over at Intel and AMD, who could otherwise not sell very much hardware.



The reason why moving over to Linux feels like you’ve turned back the clock and bought a new PC again is because there’s nobody trying to sell you a new one.



By far, the worst and most bloated thing I do on Linux, is not even the fault of Linux, it’s this trend to bigger, fatter, Web browsers for a more obnoxious Web experience. Not the fault of the base OS, which has barely increased in system requirements in more than a decade.



This HP Stream funny business cannot possibly be as successful as it was to start with.



Thanks to the “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.” concept, people who bought a previous model with Windows 10, and then didn’t even have enough storage space to upgrade to a newer version of Windows 10, probably don’t fall for this trap, again.



So the business model of fooling people who have never seen an HP Stream into buying another really bad computer is almost certainly self-limiting.



Windows screenshot



Computer review



Other customers who bought the Stream complained of:



Poor battery life.



HP putting the keyboard buttons on in the wrong places.



Broken screens, from the factory.



Computers that suddenly booted up to a black screen, seemingly for no reason, one day, with no obvious repair. (Common problem with Windows.)



“45 minutes to load one [Web browser] tab.”



One reviewer, on Amazon, claimed that there was static buildup and every time he went to type something, the keyboard shocked him.



One more note: Have used this on a treadmill and there is massive static electricity on every key. On other laptops there’s some static on the machine at first so you can ground yourself and then type just fine. But this one delivers a shock for every. single. key. stroke. Ouch.

-“S Larson”


Multiple complaints that even if you don’t use the C: for any user files at all, you eventually can’t install a Windows update, even if all of your files are on an SD card.



For $80 less, you can get a Raspberry Pi 4 Personal Computer.



It’s contained in a keyboard with lots of ports. You get 4 GB of RAM and an ARM CPU, you load the OS and store your user files on an SD card of your choice in size.



It runs Linux OS images that are actually made planning on the fact that the thing has 4 GB of RAM instead of being an OS that was meant for 16 GB systems that was put on the HP Stream after-the-fact.



Hell, for $50 less you could buy a Chromebook. (With support for Linux and Android applications.)



I don’t know why, exactly, Microsoft continues to get away with convincing OEMs to cheapen and denigrate their brands to pretend it has something in the same league with small computers that were made to at least work properly.



HP Stream is a clear example of Microsoft convincing other companies to fall on their sword to serve Microsoft.



If you handed me one of these HP Streams for free I might take it and see if I could shoehorn Linux on it somehow, but I would certainly not risk $179 of my own money on one given the things I have heard from people who did.



From what I’ve read on Reddit, at least some people using the HP Stream have installed Arch Linux, but they couldn’t install Grub (the bootloader), and for some reason systemd-boot (LOL) worked. Maybe HP and Microsoft can “fix that” so that word won’t get around that you can at least use a real operating system if you have one of these things.



The HP Stream is a Microsoft panic response “but they still don’t GET IT” to the Chromebook. Which is $50 cheaper, runs faster, and is Linux.



Many people who get a Stream use it… to go back to whatever Web site they bought it from and talk about all the problems they have with it that make it impossible to use.



Which is exactly what you would expect from a <$200 thing that came with Windows.



The market for new devices is limited. Largely by Linux. It’s feasted off of the legacy UNIX systems and now it kills Windows too.



Recent Techrights' Posts

Confirmed in the Mainstream Media: A Lot of Microsoft "Workloads" Were Just LLM Slop (Helping to Fake Growth for Years, as Microsoft Had Paid "Open" "AI" to Become a "Client") and Demand is Rapidly Waning, Datacentres Canceled and/or Shut Down
Anything to facilitate further accounting fraud
Taiwan's Media Covers Closure of Microsoft's "AI" Lab, It's Time to Talk About the Gradual Death of Windows and Implosion of the "AI" Bubble
Earlier this week we showed that mostly Asian media had the 'nerve' to mention Microsoft silently shutting down its 'AI' lab
More Gains for GNU/Linux, Based on Web Surveys
the Steam site shows rapid growth for "Linux" this month
 
Microsoft's Trouble in Africa and Asia
A new all-time high for GNU/Linux
Brett Wilson LLP Reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
The saddest thing in all this is that law firms can maintain high standards shall they wish to
Links 03/04/2025: Tariff Pains and C.D.C. Cuts
Links for the day
StatCounter: Microsoft is Masking a Disaster, It's Way Behind DeepSeek Already and Interest in LLMs Has Waned
it turns out the money "raised" for "Open" "AI" may not even exist at all
Links 03/04/2025: SoftBank Money for Microsoft "Open" "AI" Probably Doesn't Even Exist, Wikimedia Foundation Blasts LLM Nuisance While Microsoft Admits Demand Has Shrunk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/04/2025: Patch Panel and Pictures
Links for the day
Islamic Republic of Iran: GNU/Linux at All-time High This Month, Windows Falls to 12%
Vista 10 is up this month despite being "end of life" (EoL) soon
Indonesia: All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux
What's noteworthy right now is the growth of GNU/Linux
statCounter Says GNU/Linux Usage is Up Again (Internationally)
some preliminary April data
Only on April 1st Can the Free Software Foundation Associate With Microsoft's Open Source Initiative (OSI)
We saw some pranks that day linking the FSF to Microsoft (e.g. "endorsing" Windows)
IBM Gets Rid of Kelly Chambliss as Mass Layoffs Reported in IBM Consulting, IBM Loses Key Contracts/Graft
IBM Consulting has been in disarray lately
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Articles, Not Even Written by Humans
Why aren't Web sites more vocal about this problem?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 02, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 02, 2025
Links 03/04/2025: Apple Fined Over Secret Surveillance, "Elegant Writer For A More Civilized Age"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/04/2025: Books and Cold Tea
Links for the day
Links 02/04/2025: More Layoffs, Nokia Again Takes Advantage of Illegal and Unconstitutional Patent Court With Nokia Staff as 'Judges'
Links for the day
Links 02/04/2025: Seizures and Returns to Windows of 24 Years Ago
Links for the day
LLM Slop Helps Obscure and Distort News About Layoffs (IBM, GAFAM)
It's hard to find accurate information
Links 02/04/2025: Microsoft Developers Are Threatening to Go on Strike, World Backup Day Noted
Links for the day
Gemini Protocol Has Growing Appeal (the Web Got Too Bloated and Full of LLM Slop)
For any "data plan" with bandwidth limits or "tiers" it would be cheaper to use/browse Geminispace
The Web Can Survive LLM Slop, But Only If We Collectively Shun and Discourage Serial Sloppers
Doing nothing ought not be a possibility
Amid Secret Shut-downs and Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (4 Waves of Layoffs in 3 Months of 2025) Some Microsoft Staff Expected to Go On Strike
workers going on strike
Gemini Links 02/04/2025: No more on Mastodon and Gemini Mention Script in Go
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 01, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 01, 2025
My Motion Disbarring or “Striking Off” Brett Wilson LLP for Enabling Violent Americans Who Try to Crush Microsoft Critics in the United Kingdom by Multiple SLAPPs
"Guns for hire" (for Microsoft people who received Microsoft salaries)
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Hijacked Again by Patent Litigation Industry, as President Cheeto Prioritises Aggressors
The "mafia" has taken over the "industry" and the Federal system (justice and constitutions trampled upon)
Ubuntu Slop and FUD Manufactured With LLMs and Funded (by Oneself) 'Studies'
Slop and FUD are ruining the Web
Gemini Links 01/04/2025: Games and More
Links for the day
Links 01/04/2025: Apple Fined $162M for Privacy Abuses, Disinformation Online a Growing Concern
Links for the day
Why We're Reporting Brett Wilson LLP for Apparently Misusing Their Licence to Protect American Microsofters Who Attack Women
For those who have not been keeping abreast
Newer Press Reports Confirm That Microsoft Shuts Down 'Hey Hi' (AI) Labs Despite All the Hype
The "hey hi" (AI) bubble is not sustainable
Links 01/04/2025: Mass Layoffs at Eidos and "Microsoft Pulls Back on Data Centers" (Demand Lacking); "Racist and Sexist" Slop From Microsoft
Links for the day
Stefano Maffulli and His Microsoft-Funded OSI Staff Are Killing the OSI and Killing "Open Source" (All for Money!)
This is far from over
Gemini Links 01/04/2025: XKCDpunk and worldclock.py
Links for the day
50 Years of Sabotage and a Gut Punch to Computer Science (and Science in General)
Will we get back to science-based computing rather than cult-like following?
Techrights Headlines as Semaphore
"If you are hearing this, thank you"
3 Months in 2025, 4 Waves of Mass Layoffs at Microsoft, Now Offices Shut Down Permanently
"A recent visit by the South China Morning Post confirmed that the office was dark, unoccupied, and had its logo removed."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 31, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, March 31, 2025