HP launches second-gen netbook: 2133 problems fixed!

As APC tipped three months ago, HP has released a second-gen netbook which puts the consumer in its crosshairs. The good news? It keeps almost everything that we liked about the original ground-breaking model 2133 Mini-Note, while improving in just about every other department.


The Mini 1000 is packed full of changes, and most of them are very welcome indeed...

You thought the VIA processor was simply too underpowered and prone to overheating to the extent that it’d sear your thighs like a tuna steak? HP has addressed both those concerns by stepping up to the popular Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz processor.

You weren’t a fan of the preloaded Windows Vista? HP agrees, as the Mini 1000 now sports Windows XP (Ubuntu Linux is also available overseas, but there’s no word if it will be on the local menu).

And even though the 8.9 inch screen was pretty neat, HP has now added a 10 inch version (well, 10.2 inches if you want to get pedantic about things).

You’d have liked the option of a solid state drive to keep your netbook running longer faster and cooler? In addition to the 60GB hard drive the Mini 1000 can be ordered with an 8GB or 16GB SSD (although once again, let’s see how the local offering shakes out).

Yet the Mini 1000 retains the aluminium chassis and magnesium framework and display hinge of its predecessor, even if it’s now decked in a svelte all-black design – the result of which makes it look less like Apple’s 12 inch PowerBook and more like a black MacBook, and we have no issues with that.

The new netbook even gets a similar subtle swirly-patterned high-gloss lid as its consumer notebook siblings and on the 10.2 inch edition, an edge-to-edge screen coating (as seen on Apple’s very latest notebooks).


While the 2133 Mini-Note was all business, the stylish Mini 1000 makes no pretence about chasing the consumer

And joy of joys, HP didn’t change the 2133’s glorious and almost full-sized keyboard, which we’ve long praised as the best netbook keyboard you can get. But the keys now have a pleasingly subtle texture. This is all good news. Apart from the trackpad, which has the same layout of positioning the buttons either side of the pad rather than directly below, but this is something you quickly get used to.

The speakers are now perched on the top deck above the keyboard under a chrome grille while the screen uses LED backlighting. An access panel on the underside provides for easy memory expansion, with a slot for a 3G HSPDA mini-card which we hope will be filled in the Aussie editions.

The rest of the spec is par for the course: two USB 2.0 ports (how we wish for three, though), 802.11g Wi-Fi and in some models Bluetooth, a 10/100 Ethernet port, a 0.3mpx webcam and memory card slot. The standard three-cell 25Whr battery should deliver around 2.5 to 3.0 hours depending on usage, and double that with the optional six-cell 52 WHr lithium-polymer wedge.

However, HP has still squeezed a few new twists into the netbook formula. One is the ‘HP Mini Mobile Drive’, which is offered in the SSD models. This is a tiny customised USB flash drive with 2GB, 4GB or 8GB capacity that slides all the way into the netbook (rather than poking out as a regular drive would) to dock with a USB port deep in the bowels of the netbook. It sounds neat but it also sounds like a way for HP to sell specially designed but way over-priced flash drives, as no other USB device can utilise this embedded port.

The real star of the Mini 1000 show is HP’s Mobile Internet Experience (MIE) shell, which is available only on the Ubuntu-based Linux system when it’s released in January next year to the US market.

Positioned as a home screen for novice users and bearing more than a passing resemblance to the latest iteration of the slick TouchSmart interface, the stylish MIE screen has shortcuts to the most commonly-used tasks and lets you read the most recent emails in your inbox (for which the Mini 1000 uses Thunderbird).


The Linux edition of the Mini 1000 comes with this customised shell which acts as a home base for the novice user

It also has a pane for entering a search term or Web address plus thumbnails of your four most recently-visited Web pages to which you can return with a click (using the  Firebox browser) plus quick access to the Music and Photo apps, while a ‘dock’ for switching applications stretches along the bottom of the screen.

HP will seek to streamline software installation by certifying only particular programs to load into the MIE shell and making these available for free download, although of course advanced users can install any Linux software they wish.

But not all of the original 2133’s geeky goodness survived intact. Gone is the ExpressCard slot and with the hi-res 1280 x 768 screen – the new panels clock at a more standard 1024 x 600 pixels.

The VGA port is also deep-sixed in favour of a smaller slim-line connector which requires that you buy an optional HP adaptor before you can hook up an external monitor. While we agree with HP’s rationale that consumers would rarely connect the netbook an external display, this could cruel the deal for business buyers who rely on their netbook to do PowerPoint presentations or live Web demos. And there’s the option to buy the Mini 1000’s docking station, also new in the netbook space, to gain a complete set of desktop-grade ports and outputs.

The 2133’s accelerometer-based hard disk protection has also been dropped (no pun intended) and the fast 7200rpm hard drive swapped out for a 4200rpm platter.

So how much does all this cost? The entry-level 8.9 inch Windows XP edition, with an 8GB solid state drive and 512MB of RAM (but no Bluetooth or webcam) sells for US$399, while an 8.9 inch Linux version will be released in January for US$379.

The fully tricked-up XP edition with a 10.2 inch screen, 1GB of RAM and 60GB hard drive costs US$499.

Things get seriously insane with a special edition based on the above spec but developed in conjunction with designer Vivienne Tam. Styled to look almost like an oversized clutch purse (painted in vibrant red with a peony flower motif, inspired by Tam’s Spring 2009 collection), the Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam edition takes aim at female fashionistas for a gulp-inducing US$699.


The US$699 Vivienne Tam edition offers a little dash of laptop luxe. HP's marketing department is nothing if not bold!

At least it comes with a matching embroidered sleeve slip-case. Yeah, now we feel much better about spending that extra US$200.

UPDATE: APC now has full Australian pricing and release details on the Mini 1000.



Dress, shoes and matching netbook - okay girls, now let's hit the cocktail circuit!