http://www.amazon.com/HP-Stream-Includes-Personal-Horizon/dp/B00O65HZKS#productDetails

I'm just posting this because it might be a good very cheap on-the-go notetaking device.

I don't know how well Windows can run with 2G RAM + 32G SSD, but amazon reviewers give it 4.5 stars.

jimspoon wrote:

http://www.amazon.com/HP-Stream-Includes-Personal-Horizon/dp/B00O65HZKS#productDetails
I'm just posting this because it might be a good very cheap on-the-go
notetaking device.
I don't know how well Windows can run with 2G RAM + 32G SSD, but amazon
reviewers give it 4.5 stars.

I looked into the HP Stream series when it first came out. It's basically a Windows version of a Chromebook, i.e. cloud based device. I was attracted by the fact that I could run my usual Windows software on it, but the local storage is too limited, so it would really require a cloud-based existence.

In the end I wasn't convinced that on a day to day basis it would match the speed of a Chromebook for cloud-based work, especially browsing. But theoretically that could change, as this new product category (and Windows 10, when it arrives) matures...

Anyway, currently it seems to me (looking at the reviews of both) that it still carries some of the negative baggage of Windows, without necessarily matching all the strengths of a Chromebook.

Speaking of HP, just today heard of their new product, Sprout (a "creativity station"), which is at the other end of the price scale:
http://sprout.hp.com/uk/en/ Looks a bit gimmicky, but it's nice to see HP pushing the envelope and coming up with new product categories.

UK buyers will probably want to get the HP Stream stocked by PC World, which has 64GB of SSD storage (although enthusiastic users of the Asus T100 Transformer Book insist that 32GB is more than enough, if you're careful). The PC World price is also better than most competitors:

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/hp-stream-13-c009sa-13-laptop-blue-10077095-pdt.html#cat-0

It's also worth mentioning that it's running the full 64-bit version of Windows, not the cut-down 32-bit version that's common on low-powered machines.

Reviews have been very favourable. In fact, if I wasn't running on Mac/iPads etc., I'd be tempted...

Go on. You know you want it. It's shiny. It's new ... ;-)

MadaboutDana wrote:

In fact, if I wasn't running on
Mac/iPads etc., I'd be tempted...

You're right.

On the other hand, the prospect of a 12" MacBook later this year - or possibly even an iPad Pro - is enough to stop those CRIMPing fingers from twitching...

One positive thing you can say about Macs: they're too bloody expensive to be an impulse buy. Which means you have to stop and think.

In any case, I'm having much too much fun playing with the latest version of OneNote for Mac (and iPad), which now supports OCR and text copying. Just like Windows!