HP isn't placing all its low-cost computing bets on Google's Chrome OS. Following up from the release of its $200, Windows-based HP Stream laptops last year, the company has unveiled two small form factor desktop variants to go up against Chromeboxes and Apple's own Mac mini.
The HP Pavilion and HP Stream Mini are essentially puck-sized PCs powered by entry level hardware capable of handling everyday computing tasks. At just over 2 inches tall and 1.6 pounds light they're both practical and sleek looking.
The HP Stream Mini features a pastel blue paint job and comes with a 1.4GHz Celeron 2957U, 2GB of DDR3L/1600, a 32GB M.2 SSD and Windows 8.1. In terms of connectivity you get Bluetooth 4.0 and last-gen 802.11n Wi-Fi as well as a decent amount of ports for a machine of its size. These include DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 1.4 sockets, four USB 3.0 ports (two front, two back), an SD card slot, Gigabit Ethernet, and a 3.5mm headset jack.
That's pretty decent at $180 but HP is also throwing in a USB keyboard and mouse, $25 Windows Store credit, and 200GB OneDrive storage for 2 years.
If you want a bit more power or need more onboard storage the Pavilion Mini doubles the RAM to 4GB, packs a Pentium 3558U processor, and swaps out the Stream Mini's 32GB SSD for a 500GB hard drive (at the expense of speed).
Ports and connectivity remain the same but HP includes a wireless keyboard with the Pavilion Mini, a white paint job and a starting price of $320. Both will go on sale January 14th from HP's website and February 8th in stores.