HP Stream 7 Review: A $119 Windows Tablet
by Brandon Chester on December 19, 2014 8:00 AM ESTCPU Performance
Inside the Stream 7 we have Intel's Atom Z3735G, which is a quad core Bay Trail part that has a base frequency of 1.33GHz and a burst frequency of 1.83GHz. It's paired with 1GB of DDR3L-RS-1333 memory, where the RS stands for "Reduced Standby". As the name implies, it has a focus on improving standby battery life on devices like tablets. Z3735G unfortunately has one of the slower memory interfaces of the Bay Trail lineup, with only single channel support and a max memory bandwidth of 5.3Gbps. Nonetheless, the CPU itself is fairly powerful, especially for a $119 device.
Although the Stream 7 does run a full copy of Windows, I've decided to run it through our mobile workflows rather than our desktop/laptop ones because I believe most users are going to use it similarly to how they use other tablets. I will elaborate on this point later in the software section, but the main point is that the normal Windows desktop experience is just not very good on touchscreens, especially 7" 1280x800 displays. Because of this, it's better to run it through benchmarks where it can be compared to other tablets. The fact that PCMark requires more space than the Stream 7 physically has is also an issue.
As you can see, Intel's latest Atom platform performs very well in our tests. It should be noted that these tests were performed using Chrome rather than IE, to maintain consistency with the results from previous Windows tablet reviews. This means that the Sunspider score leaves much to be desired, as Google has stopped focusing on it as an optimization target. Looking at our other tests, we see that the Stream 7 is not the fastest tablet, but it is still very fast. In fact, it's competitive with the silicon inside tablets that cost two or even three times as much, which is impressive.
GPU Performance
The Intel HD Graphics chip in Bay Trail is architecturally similar to Intel's HD 4000 graphics on Ivy Bridge. It's simply a cut down implementation with 4 EUs instead of the 16 in an Ivy Bridge chip. The implementation in Atom Z3735G scales from 311MHz to 646MHz as needed. Thankfully, the Windows Store has up-to-date versions of 3DMark and GFXBench available, so we can compare the Stream 7 to the other devices that we've benchmarked in the past.
As you can see, Bay Trail isn't exactly a graphics powerhouse. However, the Stream 7's resolution means that the onscreen results aren't that bad, so you'll be able to get away with running some of the lighter games that you can on other platforms, provided of course that they're available on the Windows Store.
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darryl hall - Monday, June 15, 2015 - link
as an example of the skewed review, the desktop version of internet explorer scores 490 on the sunspider test and 5872 on kraken 1.1.oolzie - Friday, December 19, 2014 - link
While I have no issues or complaints with the Stream 7, I feel compelled to mention that Microcenter stores (or Microcenter.com) sell the Winbook TW700 7" Windows tablet for $59 and that also includes the one year of O365 Personal. The Winbook name may not be as popular as HP, but I've tested nearly ever Windows tablet on the market over the last year and this thing is no slouch at all. We've been loyal users of the Dell Venue 8 Pro and this thing has had comparable reliability and performance. The build quality is very solid and the specs are pretty much identical to all these other ultra low cost Win 8 tablets. The kicker, and this is a big one for me, is that the Winbook has a full sized USB 2.0 port, a microUSB for charging AND a micro HDMI out. That's something that none of these other low cost tablets have offered yet. I've tested this thing connected to an external monitor and it can very easily be a general home use desktop. They also offer an 8" version with similar specs and a USB 3.0 port for $89. Don't sleep on the brand. If you're in the market for a small Windows tablet, this thing is practically throw away prices. Hell, the year of O365 makes it practically free.http://www.microcenter.com/product/439773/TW700_Ta...
nathanddrews - Friday, December 19, 2014 - link
I have the TW100 10.1" IPS version that I got for $160. It's basically identical to this HP, except it has 2GB RAM, a full USB 3.0 port, micro USB 2.0, micro HDMI.My only complaint is a pretty big one - 2GB RAM for Windows just isn't enough. 4GB + 64-bit Bingdows is the key. I would gladly have paid another $20-50, knowing what I know now. There are so many applications that I COULD be running (games, mostly) that I can NOT run due to the 2GB limitation. I don't know how something like this can get by with only 1GB.
Old games designed with the low-RAM, 32-bit environment in mind run excellent, well over 60fps, but yeah my advice for Windows tablets is 4GB minimum.
Anonymous Blowhard - Friday, December 19, 2014 - link
Editorial: There's a random inclusion of the "Nexus 6 Daytime Test" on page 4 when talking about the camera.Brandon Chester - Friday, December 19, 2014 - link
Thank you very much, I had linked the wrong gallery. Fixed.tolgerias - Friday, December 19, 2014 - link
Glad to see more attention on Windows tablets. I am a happy owner of a Dell Venue 8 Pro, and I think full Windows on tablets has a lot going for it. Being able to download files into a folder I can access is a real plus. Networking with my Home Group is also super useful. Although I wouldn't buy a Stream 7 for myself, I would definitely purchase one for my 6-year old son instead of a $499 iPad.I just wish the Windows Store had a better selection (both in quantity and quality) of apps and games. Like the author said, most of the third party apps are either really bad or inferior versions of what you can get on iOS and Android. I hope this changes as more users adopt Windows.
TheWrongChristian - Friday, December 19, 2014 - link
So presumably, this is a regular PC compatible in tablet form? Could it be booted into Linux via OTG USB?lioncat55 - Friday, December 19, 2014 - link
I think you can. You may need to boot in to the BIOS from Windows. I will check once I am home. If not, the Micro SD card might also work.tipoo - Friday, December 19, 2014 - link
Yes, the UEFI is accessible and people have gotten Linux on it.yannigr2 - Friday, December 19, 2014 - link
Windows with 1GB of RAM. Great. As for Android devices at $99, if we are talking about branded tablets, yes, but there are a few Chinese companies out there that offer good quality products with hardware that usually you see at over $200 from known manufacturers.