Demand for HP's Mini-Note growing fast?
By Nilay Patel 
posted August 30th 2008 5:02PM
posted August 30th 2008 5:02PM
HP has always been confident that the 2133 Mini-Note would sell quickly, to the point where the company planned to build some two million units this year, and it sounds like that bet's paying off -- China's Apply Daily is citing sources at HP Taiwan quoting worldwide sales growing 50 percent monthly. That's pretty good for one of the more expensive small laptops on the market -- we'll see if that rumored cheaper edition moves even more.[Via Brighthand]
The cake is a lie.
Looks like the DELL E "waiters(?)" gave up.
Hehe if you think that....wait. My company is eyeballing deploying these things to our field techs to reference main. manuals. If you really think people aren't waiting on dell I have a bridge in the mid Atlantic to sell you.
Deli waiters?
The Dell E will blow us away... by it's price ($299) and build quality (it's a Dell).
However, if there was ONE other netbook I would buy instead, it would be an HP.
For the folks who still doubt the processing capabilities of this machine, or those who are just interested what it is capable of, I just shot and uploaded a very quick video using my cameraphone.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp2ZLlNkmig
It's a clean XP SP3 install on a HP 2133 with 1.6GHz processor and 2GB of RAM). The USB DVB-T stick is an uber-cheapy and it forces the PC to do almost all of the work. As you'll see in the video, the MiniNote barely breaks a sweat for SD playback and copes with true HD (1080) streams without a drama.
Guess you aren't in the UK where only the 1.2GHz processors are sold and I can guarantee that it won't play video under Vista (I've tried YouTube, BBC and Channel 4 feeds - no luck with any of them). In feel, it is much less responsive than the Advent (Wind clone) I bought my wife but I'll mostly use it for WP while travelling and presentations when I get there so no major gripes.
I was one of the first to get a Mini-Note (I can't say that about many things, so I'm allowed to brag for a second), and I am quite happy with it. I bike to school, so I'm delighted with the small size and weight in what is nearly a full laptop in capability. The processing power is fairly underwhelming, but for my purposes, it's an acceptable trade-off. I can type on the keyboard unencumbered and the high resolution means I can still surf the web easily (although sometimes a magnifying glass is required). The build quality is also outstanding and was a pleasant surprise considering the price point.
When Apple can climb into the solid double digits % of the market... they can claim some sort of hold in a 'FTW' type thing in relation to notebooks.
(nice Portal work-in there too). ;)
Anyone know if the HP or other netbooks work well with Office 2007? It's quite slow on my 5 yr old Celeron desktop.
Can anyone give us an edge-to-edge screen?
I saw a really small Sony notebook (a 9", I think), and it was beautiful and useful. The keyboard was outstanding, and the screen was nice.
It was around $2000 AUD though.....
Just add me to the list of people waiting for the Dell, but for $300, I'm not expecting the build quality of this HP.
will it play Crysis on Very High Details with AA enabled?
The Via C7-M is reasonably powerful for most basic tasks, however I'm looking forward to a version of the HP 2133 with a Via Nano. Being pin compatible, HP don't have to change the design much for the next generation of processors.
Those people who cry "Put an Atom in it and I'll consider it" really don't know that much about the Atom. There are plenty of reviews that compare tha Atom with the Celeron-M (EeePC 900 vs EeePC901), and while the Atom does perform better, that performance increase is marginal at best. The performance increases between the Via C7-M and the Via Nano should be much more pronounced.
In saying that, Via does need to upgrade the chipset too, but if the design ideal behind the Via Nano is followed, then the chipset should be a pin compatible replacement too.
As far as the netbook genre goes, I'm sick of the flood of Atom-based EeePC clones out there. The HP 2133 is something quite different. It has a wonderful keyboard, an ExpressCard slot and the build quality is extremely good. I am already considering one, and with a Via Nano that will be a certain purchase.
From what I have heard, HP have already made an order from Via for the Nano processors, and a Nano-based HP 2133 should be around as early as October.
http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20080814PD226.html
Could you comment on the day-to-day usability of the two vertical buttons on the touchpad?
@nimblesquirrel, thanks for that info about the VIA Nano processors. I really like the HP 2133, but I been wary of the reviews regarding the Via C7-M processor as well as the heat problems. I'm going to hold off until I see the next generation of HP's Mini-note model.
Phail.
Power HP battery sources
http://www.power2battery.com/hp-laptop-battery-c-81.html
I totally agree and approve them, even smaller 1.2 handles high quallity youtube in fullscreen.
HP has been outselling Dell for a while now. No one wants to go to hell.