HP so confident in the UMPC 2133 it's building 2m units?

HP apparently wasn't kidding when it said it expected people to buy that hot new UMPC 2133 sub-notebook "without a thought": DigiTimes is now reporting that the company has contracted Wistron to crank out two million units this year. That's an astonishingly high number -- almost 10 percent of HP's worldwide laptop sales last year -- and even wilder compared to the EeePC, which completely blew away expectations by selling 350,000 units worldwide last quarter, or Samsung's Q1, which has only moved a couple hundred thousand in two years on the market. Sure, the 2133 looks sexy as hell, but at a rumored $630, HP's going to have to put some serious sales muscle behind this guy to move that many -- it's just slightly too expensive to be an accessory, and probably way too underpowered to be your primary machine. On the other hand, while this is just a rumor and could be totally wrong, we'd actually like to think HP has a product so good it's going to roll the dice a little. Guess we'll find out soon enough, eh?

[Via jkOnTheRun]

[Ypoknons @ Feb 26th 2008 5:39PM]

Well, if HP overestimated, then the excess supply would make these things really cheap... I'd love one for an accessory.

[@sushi @ Feb 26th 2008 5:46PM]

I was totally thinking the same thing..

[Reader @ Feb 26th 2008 6:40PM]

As long as you don't have stock in HP then this is good! I will be waiting for the price slashes.

[Zach @ Feb 26th 2008 6:44PM]

as much as i HATE to death my hp laptop (the hard drive crapped out..or something.., and had to deal with outsourced tech support for a combined total of well over 13 hours) if this was $299 (VERY unlikely) i would take a look at the 2nd gen EEE (before buying the eee, that is)
down with hp. :(

[phanbouy @ Feb 26th 2008 5:41PM]

that bezel's as big as my keyboard

[JD @ Feb 26th 2008 7:21PM]

No kidding. As a (happy) eee user, I think that this trend of shrinking the screen needs to stop. It'd be worth the extra dough to fill the freakin laptop with display, wouldn't it?

[Derek @ Feb 26th 2008 5:42PM]

While this is a (very) sexy device, I do think it is too expensive, as a full fledged laptop could be bought at the same (or a little more than) price (but it might not be as good looking)

[Jon Doe. @ Feb 26th 2008 6:51PM]

I find it funny that people keep pulling out well I can get a full blow laptop for around the same price. I do Dell and now HP warranty work. Those sub-1000 laptop that everything likes throwing out as a competitor to devices like this are complete, total, and utter _SHIT_. The odds of having to take one in for repairs are probably in the 30 to 1 range. Because manufacturers go cheap on this shit. They don't bother to really stress test them in the plant, they don't spend much time in terms of design (So heat dissipation becomes a critical issue, they use mobos that are cheap as hell so what routinely happens is the solder joints EASILY fail, the LCD's used in these laptops are on the extreme side of cheap. In short they are trying to make something that is suppost to be a $1000+ product fit into a 3 figure bracket and it does NOT work. Conversely this is more akin to a PDA that happens to run a full blown OS with cheaper components. Its a 3 figure product with higher end components in it.

Oh and this is for the numbnut who is invariably going to respond. Well my $700 laptop has been working fine. Please refer to my 30 to 1 odds. Yah its pulled out of my ass but from what I've seen in my job its pretty damn accurate. a HUGE chunk of these cheap ass laptops account for our business. Even the sun has to shine on a dogs ass from time to time and while you may get lucky with that cheap ass laptop, MANY MANY MANY people do not.

[Tim @ Feb 26th 2008 7:34PM]

"Even the sun has to shine on a dogs ass from time to time"

I don't mean to detract from what you're saying, but wow, that's the best one liner I've heard all day!

[bobartig @ Feb 26th 2008 8:03PM]

1/30 failure rate? You mean 3.3% That is actually not bad for a 1st year failure rate. I'm assuming that you've never worked for a major PC mfr?

[Maneki Neko @ Feb 26th 2008 8:28PM]

No, he does not mean 1/30 odds, he means (and said) 30/31, i.e. 30 to 1 odds, which is about 97%.

[o29 @ Feb 26th 2008 8:42PM]

I'm not taking sides here, but just for the record, I have a two year old $600 laptop that's never given me any problems.

[o29 @ Feb 26th 2008 8:44PM]

Heh, then I went back and read your post and the last line and felt dumb. Anecdotal evidence might not be the strongest, but I think the problem of failure rates might be more related to certain laptop manufacturers rather than saying EVERY sub-$1000 laptop is poorly built.

[buu700 @ Feb 26th 2008 11:25PM]

@John Doe

Actually, my ~$700 HP Pavillion dv6119us is very nice and running fine (other than some battery issues and a BIOS problem that won't let me run Linux and APIC at the same time).

[theycallmetak @ Feb 27th 2008 5:29AM]

@ Jon

Did you know that approximately 76% of all statistics are fabricated?

You must have something against cheap laptops. If they break as much as you claim they do they're keeping you in business and you should shut up. If you know anything about computers you'd realize laptops have always had and will continue to have higher failure rates than desktops. If you did a little reading you'd also find that laptops are becoming more and more reliable and there's a stronger argument for checking failure rates by manufacturer rather than by price point. That $600-$700 laptop can option out to well over $1500-$1800 when you start building a decent system. Does that buy you more reliable solder connections and a better burn in? Most likely not.

Another interesting thing and a point not mentioned thus far is that a "business" laptop would likely get you a better warranty and better service for the money if not a more reliable computer.

And yes I'm a numbnuts. I'm writing this on the cheapest laptop I could find at the time. $299 Toshiba from Best Buy, $80 2GB RAM from Compusa (way before they went out of business), $70 120GB WD external HD. Celeron M 520, 2GB DDR2, 80GB, USB2, Firewire, blah, blah, blah... I don't game on this, but it does play nice with 1080p video (yeah it's useless because it downscales to the monitor) and runs Vegas Pro 8, Sound Forge 9, and Elements 5 and Gimp just fine. May not be "Full Blown" since there's no webcam or built in mic but it's full blown enough.

[john @ Feb 26th 2008 5:44PM]

Why do you think it'll be too underpowered to be a primary machine? I think it'd be just fine for everyday things (email, web, IM, etc.). It'll only be overpowered if you're doing heavy things (photoshop, intensive games, etc.), for which you should probably be using a desktop anyway.

I'm seriously considering one of these, if Apple doesn't pull their heads out of their butts and enter this market soon.

[Homeboy @ Feb 26th 2008 6:47PM]

Uhm, it might work fine as a primary computer for a 11 year old or a pension but not for the average guy who has run multiple programs like bitcomet, Live messenger, FF, Zune software, anti-virus and MS word at the same time. This machine simply won't cope.

The $630 isn't that terrible and given the build quality and good satisfactory specs, it should be a very attractive and rather inexpensive laptop for those in the market for an ultra portable laptop or simply a compliment to their behemoth Dell desktop.

Although the price doesn't make it a bargin I'm clearly interested. I'm waiting for HP to release the full specs and write the price in stone so what we really now what's up.

[Nick @ Feb 26th 2008 6:58PM]

The MBA is quite a bit more expensive and a bit bigger than this, but I think the MBA was Apples response/entry into UMPC/ultra light laptop.

[Eric M. @ Feb 26th 2008 7:10PM]

I'm guessing you meant "underpowered" instead of over "overpowered" because if this little sucker was overpowered for photoshop and everything then that would be great ;).

By the way, I use my 17in dv9500 from HP for photoshop and everything =D..

[john @ Feb 26th 2008 7:15PM]

Eric: yeah, I meant underpowered, sorry :-)

Homeboy: the problem there isn't the machine, it's that you're running windows. Here's a nickel, kid, buy yourself a real computer.

[Homeboy @ Feb 26th 2008 7:33PM]

john: I don't need a new computer I'm rocking a loaded Pvailion DV9000. You obviously need one since you're only seem to be sufficient for mail, IM and web.

[qwert @ Feb 27th 2008 4:53AM]

heres another vote that this would be fine as a primary machine for most people.
you just have to skip windows, and stuff like gaming and photoshop etc. im running my ibook or my old amd t-bird linux system with two browsers, email, messenger, office, calendar, terminal, pdf viewer, music etc. all open and in use at once without any problems.
but not to sound like an aplle/linux fanboy, this is also possible with windows too, it just needs a bit more work (and maybe a bit more waiting when switching applications). you just have to make shure that only processes are running that you really need (that means your taskbar should be more or less empty).

oh, and of course you should plug this thing into an external monitor and keyboard, while you use it on your desk, but apart from this this machines are fine.

qwert

[David @ Feb 27th 2008 6:57AM]

Homeboy:

I have had many apps running simultaneously on my Eee, including some of the ones you mentioned (well not Zune -- who has one of those anyhow?? Sheesh!) and I have yet to overwhelm my Eee or crash it or slow it down. I'm running XP on it.

[Kamokazi @ Feb 26th 2008 5:46PM]

If they can make it $300-400 they might have something here (And with those quantities it might be possible) . HP has better name recognition and sales channels than Asus by far (I'm personally a huge Asus fan, but the average consumer generally has no idea who they are)...so selling a better product at the same pricepoint and getting a lot more visibility, it might take off like crazy.

[L @ Feb 26th 2008 5:49PM]

Erm yeah, Digitimes were also the ones that mentioned it was Penryn-based. Not the best or most reliable source, I dare to say.

Anyway HP, could you please announce this thing already?

[TIMMAH! @ Feb 26th 2008 6:06PM]

At $499 it's a maybe, but not at $630. Hopefully we'll see a really low street price.

[Sam @ Feb 26th 2008 6:15PM]

At $399 its a probably. At $299, I'll take 2 to go.

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Feb 26th 2008 6:20PM]

getting one at 399 is cheaper than getting 2. Besides, you don't really need 2 either.

[TIMMAH! @ Feb 26th 2008 6:22PM]

Yeah I'd buy one at $399 for sure.

[BradVT @ Feb 26th 2008 8:22PM]

Maybe Sam has a wife and they want to be ultraportable together

[iofthestorm @ Feb 27th 2008 1:23AM]

http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2008/02/cnet-hp-2133-to.html
$499 seems to be the going price. I was going to get an eeePC around summertime but unless Asus' 8.9" model comes out before this does, I might get this instead because $100 is worth it for nearly two more inches of diagonal and whatever else this can pack in the slightly larger formfactor. 1024x600 should be a minimum resolution for a laptop these days, and that's the only fault I can find with the eeePC really. I'm a bit nervous about the VIA chip in this though, because from what I've seen before VIA chips used to underperform P4s even at higher clock speeds. If it's a dual-core I'll be extremely happy though.

[Bazza @ Feb 26th 2008 6:10PM]

"a rumoured" not "an rumoured"

$100 a month, I'll proof read for you. *hint hint nudge nudge*

[phanbouy @ Feb 26th 2008 6:11PM]

in Soviet Russia, editor proof read *you*

[Mike @ Feb 26th 2008 7:03PM]

You spelled "proofread" incorrectly. Also, you write fragmented sentences.

[phanbouy @ Feb 26th 2008 7:14PM]

Mike, Bazza can't hear you right now. He's in the john by the looks of it. Brushing up on his Russian-English dictionary I gather.

[Christian @ Feb 26th 2008 6:14PM]

Why can't they make this with built in projector. I keep seeing mobile phones planned or still in concept with built-in projector but I think this would make more sense to have it so you can travel with your work and also share it when it's time for presentation.

Just a thought.

[TIMMAH! @ Feb 26th 2008 6:23PM]

What they should do is have a built in projector and no built in screen. You open up the cover and it projects onto the cover when you're not using it for presentations.

[Christian @ Feb 26th 2008 6:24PM]

That too, as long as it is readable under the sun.

[waterwagen @ Feb 26th 2008 6:27PM]

I'll be really curious to see what price this comes out at. Like a previous poster said, the amount of units being produced may be part of HP's attempt to keep the cost down. That plus the Via processor may get it down to a nice price point. I'm pretty tight with money right now, but I would very seriously consider one if they could get it down to $400. I doubt it'll be that cheap, but if it was...lookout.

[Eh @ Feb 26th 2008 6:47PM]

Make it a swivel screen to fold tablet style and put some media buttons on the empty bezel space and I might consider that price. Make it swivel and a touchscreen and I would preorder one right now.

[Jon Doe. @ Feb 26th 2008 6:55PM]

Welcomer to the 800-1000 ballpark then. This ain't what they are shooting for.

[Eh @ Feb 27th 2008 1:35AM]

I didnt know putting some plastic buttons on the bezel would cost $300 extra...

What Im getting at is if they expect to charge $630 then it better be multifunctional, some way to fold it and turn it into a multimedia device would greatly increase its value. It might be too soon to ask for a touchscreen but some back/foward/play buttons and maybe a little UMPC mouse isnt too much to ask for at that price.

[Jon Doe. @ Feb 26th 2008 6:55PM]

Ummm DigiTimes needs to up and die from a secret slash news dispensing site. They have the most horrid track record on the planet when it comes to news.

[bergroup @ Feb 26th 2008 7:02PM]

This is going to replace my Nokia N800. I need something I can take on the road and the N800 just doesn't cut it for me. (A wee bit too small for my eyes) The price is reasonable.

[shineliang @ Feb 26th 2008 7:12PM]

they are going to release it one mar. 5th in taiwan.

[shineliang @ Feb 26th 2008 7:15PM]

more like mid march

[phanbouy @ Feb 26th 2008 7:27PM]

you go, you. show yourself who's boss.

[mistereddie @ Feb 26th 2008 7:21PM]

Honestly, I like it but I think it is going to be too big to be an UMPC. With the 8.9 screen and the large bezel, it's going to much bigger than the eee, even when the eee gets the 8.9" screen.

[Brian @ Feb 26th 2008 8:40PM]

$450, max.

$630 is far too expensive for this size of a device.

[dvmrp @ Feb 26th 2008 9:07PM]

USD630 for 1366x766 is a great deal. If the CPU is also powerful enough to play 720p clip, it would be a excellent mobile entertainment center.