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.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
157 Comments
View All Comments
sonny73n - Saturday, December 20, 2014 - link
Sony would never send their junks to this reputable site.hpglow - Friday, December 19, 2014 - link
How many times can you bitch about the lack of Sony reviews in these comments sections?sonny73n - Saturday, December 20, 2014 - link
What about it? Sony Z3 phones are garbage. I just bought a Z3C from BH Photo last week. I thought 10+ positive reviews from popular tech sites couldn't be wrong. Turned out I've made the biggest mistake. You want one of the Z3 phones review? Here it is:Pros: Good looking, great battery life, micro SD slot.
Cons: Display is the worst I've seen on a smart phone beside other Sony junks of course. Touch panel patterns are clearly visible whether the screen is on or off. Color shift when tilt. Sony stock firmware contains spyware Baidu and bloatwares. Unlock bootloader will delete the TA partition which contains DRM keys.
Other thoughts: I wish its display has the same quality as my old iPhone 4 which was from 5 years ago. I bought 3 Sony phone in the past 2 year. First the ZR, it got very hot even at browsing the internet - returned. Second the ZL, it got uncomfortably warm at normal use. Both phones displays made with TFT panels which are just terrible. Now the Z3C after very careful consideration because of those 2 ZR and ZL but this time it just pisses me off so much. Let me repeat - the Z3C display is worse than the iPhone 4's aftermarket ones on eBay which just costs about $14 each. Sony is nothing but a scam. They didn't post the display types for those 2 ZR and ZL on the spec sheets. Now I wonder the Z3C IPS display is some new kind of low cost IPS tech they just invented. I'd rather have a TN display with no visible touch patterns than this junk they claim ips.
Wolfpup - Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - link
Are you serious? They've got malware on their stock phones?!? Yowzers, I almost bought one for the waterproof-ness, but ended up going with a Nokia 635 'cause figured it's cheap so if it gets damaged....well, it's cheap. (And actually I like my 635 quite a lot too as a phone...I think 90% of people would probably do just fine with it and don't need a $650 phone lol)victorson - Saturday, December 20, 2014 - link
If you are thinking that this subsidizied pos tablet is any different than what the Chinese are doing, good for you, but you have little touch with reality. I've had the chance to use and review the latest top smartphones from Xiaomi and Meizu, and those are nothing short of amazing smartphones, and yes, they are getting regularly updatedGich - Friday, December 19, 2014 - link
No one? I do.zero2dash - Friday, December 19, 2014 - link
Obvious troll is obvious.Why are you reading articles on "boring devices" and then bothering to leave a troll comment on top of it.
The device isn't something you're interested in - congratulations. Read another article then. If you're looking for phone only reviews, there's plenty of sites out there for those.
III-V - Friday, December 19, 2014 - link
What a sad world we live in, where we casually dismiss what others have to say as "trolling." And what makes you think he read the article?I don't necessarily agree with him, but you're just being incredibly stupid.
Cinnabuns - Friday, December 19, 2014 - link
So the OP's casually dismissive comment about a whole device category and the people who may be interested in it brought on a response in kind. This is sad how?schizoide - Friday, December 19, 2014 - link
It's a full, usable, x86 windows 8.1 tablet that regularly sells for $99 (and hit $79 on black friday!). It's not boring at all, it's downright astonishing that this thing even exists.