HP Stream 13 Gets Early Black Friday 2014 Price Cut

The Hewlett Packard and Microsoft might have set the world on fire earlier this year when they jointly announced the HP Stream 13 at $229, but even that low price is being overshadowed by an early Black Friday 2014 from Microsoft. Starting today, the HP Stream 13 is just $199 when buyers order it from the Microsoft Store retail website.

Microsoft added the HP Stream 13 to its Black Friday 2014 deals earlier today. Right now its Black Friday 2014 deals page shows the HP Stream 13 on sale along with the HP Stream 7 and Beats Powerbeats 2 Wireless In-Ear Headphones. The HP Stream 7 is just $99 and the Beats Powerbeats 2 Wireless In-ear Headphones are $179.99. It’s only when shoppers add the HP Stream 13 to their cart that the lower-pricing surfaces.

The $199 HP Stream includes a 13-inch high-definition display, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. All the processing in the HP Stream 13 is handled by a basic Intel Celeron processor. There’s a front-facing web camera for video chatting in the HP Stream 13’s notebook body. The model that Microsoft is selling comes in light blue with a white keyboard trackpad.

The HP Stream 13 could make a perfect entry level notebook for some. It isn’t the most powerful PC, but it’ll be able to handle Microsoft’s Office applications, email, web browsing and light gaming without a problem. Videos should do fine on its spacious 13-inch display too.

Beyond the price cut, Microsoft is making the HP Stream 13 an even better Black Friday 2014 deal than it already would be. The HP Stream 13 comes with Windows 8.1 with Bing installed. That’s a long way of saying that Microsoft is throwing in a key bonus for HP Stream 13 buyers. For the first year, HP Stream 13 users will get Microsoft Office 365 Personal at no additional cost. Normally, a year subscription to Office 365 Personal would cost $69.99. Office 365 Personal includes Outlook, OneNote, Excel and Microsoft Word. After that first year users will need to purchase another year of Office 365 Personal from Microsoft for $69.99. Users can also break that down into monthly $6.99 payments. There aren’t any contracts or additional requirements.

Windows 8.1 includes stores for purchasing music, apps, videos and games. There isn’t one app for making all of those purchases on the HP Stream 13, but there is just one gift card that users need and Microsoft is giving HP Stream 13 buyers $25 in store credit to use in those apps. It’s just another perk to make this deal more enticing. To be clear, Windows 8.1 with Bing is functionally the same as regular Windows 8.1. Desktop apps can be installed on the HP Stream 13 to run alongside other desktop apps like iTunes.

Microsoft has plans to offer more Black Friday 2014 deals following the Thanksgiving Holiday. It’s slashing prices on its Surface 2 tablets by $150. Every Surface Pro 3 with an Intel Core i7 Processor is getting a $150 price cut. These price changes mean that the Surface 2 will cost Black Friday 2014 shoppers $300 instead of $449. Microsoft isn’t offering any deep discounts on the Surface Pro 3 with Intel Core i3 Processor. None of the convertibles accessories are on-sale either.

Microsoft is offering free holiday shipping and returns to anyone who purchases big ticket items like the HP Stream 13 from them. Shipping time is about 3-7 business days. Those who purchase the HP Stream now could have the device home for the holidays before Thanksgiving even begins. At the very least it’ll arrive long before Christmas.

The HP Stream 13 isn’t to be confused with the HP Stream 11. That’s HP’s other low-end notebook for casual users. That model has the same internals but includes a smaller display for more portability. It launched earlier this year at $199. It doesn’t appear as if Microsoft has any plans to discount it.