HP has a couple of new mini desktop options, dubbed the HP Stream Mini and HP Pavillion Mini. They're both tiny little things, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, are on the lower spec end, and start at just under $200. With its new line of mini PCs, HP intends on changing the idea we have in our heads of what a computer has to look like in order to accomplish desktop tower tasks. I mean, how cool is it that now-a-days, we can fit a desktop PC in our entertainment center to be friends with all of our other devices?

It's actually been several years since small form-factor desktops have been popular; back when folks would set up their own media center computers by hooking em up to their TVs. Then the Chromecast happened, and the Roku, and Apple TV, and now countless others? So what are these new HP mini computers all about?

Well, both models measure a mere 5.7 x 5.7 x 2.1 inches, weigh 1 ½ pounds, come with an HMDI port and DisplayPort (both of which can be viewed simultaneously); and of course, Giagabit Ethernet, 2.4 GHz 801.11n Wi-Fi (not great), and Bluetooth 4.0. They also both come with a keyboard and mouse.

The HP Pavillion Mini, priced at $450, is powered by an Intel Core i3 Haswell processor (with the option of another version powered with Pentium's 2558U processor for $320), Intel HD 4400 graphics, 4 GB of RAM, 1TB hard drive, and 4 USB ports. The HP Stream Mini system, priced at $180, contains a Celeron 2957U processor, 2GB of RAM, and a solid slate disk (SSD) with 32 GB of internal storage (Geeky Gadgets). It's designed to be cloud-based, so, if you can stand the idea of all of your 32 GB taken up by OS files, this one's for you.

​Despite the lower-end specs and processors, the Stream Mini and Pavillion Mini are fully equipped right out of the box, and both come with a Windows 8.1 with Bing-64-bit (Ubergizmo). Neither model is perfect, and it might be a little irritating to deal with the 2.4 GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 combo adapter (5GHZ would be “preferable”) (Ars Technica). All-in-all, for a more fully fledged mini PC capable of replacing a daily-use desktop, the more expensive Pavillion Mini might be for you. They are both available now.