How would you change HP's Mini 1000 Mi?
By Darren Murph 
posted April 17th 2009 10:47PM
posted April 17th 2009 10:47PM
posted April 17th 2009 10:47PM
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Exactly.
Normal trackpad buttons. Talk about the most annoying trackpad experience ever.
back-lit keyboard
I would put the real Ubuntu on it.
I got the Mi version, too restrictive and difficult to install/find apps easily.
I upgraded to 2 gb ram and put windows 7 on it and it works great. Not sluggish at all.
For general web browsing and email the screen size is more than adequate.
Purchased an HP mini 1000 from HP with Vista Ultimate for my daughter and she loves it. The keyboard is awesome.
Lower the specs, lower the price.
Windows 7 isn't even out yet... how about you just buy the HP - Pavilion Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Duo it still doesn't offer the fingerprint scanner but it costs $1500 dollars!
hmm I wonder why HP left all those features out
i bought the hp mini 1000 mi a month and a half ago, 512 mb ram, 10.1 in screen.
i love how easy it is to swap the ram out. i already had a 1 gb stick so rather than paying hp for it, i got the 512 and swapped it out when it arrived. it does run pretty hot, though.
honestly, all the complaints about the trackpad.. i love the trackpad. it's wider than the trackpad on my dell xps m1330, and i have absolutely no issues with the buttons. i find it much easier to use, in fact, than the buttons below the trackpad on my dell. i don't have to keep my fingers all scrunched up, i can have my hand in a normal position and hit the buttons.
the screen resolution wasn't an issue at first, but after using the web, definitely need to increase the resolution - it just can't fit most websites without the need to scroll tons.
i mostly use my hp mini to blog and check myspace/facebook/etc. i would've loved to use the email interface, but since it doesn't auto-update with previews of the email, it's worthless to me. i would have preferred an option of a web-based widget connecting directly to my gmail account. also, the option of re-arranging the widgets or adding new ones would be a big plus.
i downloaded freeciv and was playing that with pretty much no issues, and that's enough to keep me entertained for a little bit.
definitely does need something to fix hulu, and any other web tv. just keeps stuttering.
finally, battery life. 2 hours goes by a lot faster than it used to. and i don't want some extra crap sticking out. figure out a way to keep it thin and light and bump up to longer life. it's a netbook, all netbooks by default should have at least 4 to 6 hours of battery life, in my opinion.
Put an Ion in it, add a quicker hard disk, and leave the rest completely as it.
I recently bought the hp mini 1035nr. The keyboard is absolutely gorgeous for a netbook this size, also the screen is great.
Wish it had a faster hard drive, at least 5400, and a larger one, 160gb like most of the nowadays netbooks.
Upgrading the ram to 2gb is totally worth it
I don't own this netbook, but it's at the top of my list right now. I been waiting for the response of the Mi OS and from what I read so far it's slow and impractical. I really don't want to buy another Windows OS laptop. Based on the criticism I've read, I think Ubuntu would have been a smarter option.
Two major things that actually do need fixing is the loud fan, and the dark webcam. The webcam is easy to fix. The fan however is bet more technical.
I been wondering if there's a way to implement a liquid cooling system. Sure it might raise the price but I think it might be possible. Granted it might seem like overkill for what supposed be an underpowered mobile PC.
I noticed that just about everyone who has purchased this laptop, immediately upgrades the RAM. HP should just offer a model with the full 2 GB of RAM.
Lastly, I would like to see some alternatives to the graphics than the Mobile Intel GMA 950. Almost every single netbook out there has it and offer no other options.
1) convertible tablet version (with the Mi/Ubuntu software)
2) make the non-bevel (10" screen) version available with the non-glossy finish (netbooks with glossy screens are abominations)
3) 3G option (with the Mi/Ubuntu software)
whatever...its HP dude....quality first
drop the 2.5" harddrive and get a fast but small flash drive around 4Gb. Add a 1.8 drive for storage. Also/or two SD-card slots. One can get up to 64 per sd card nowadays for a reasonable price. Two slot mean you can have one (upgradable) card for stuff you always need and several if you got the need for more but possibly variable storage need.
M.
Make the dashboard customizable. Enable terminal on shipment. Allow desktop icons to be shown on dashboard somewhere.
The form factor, weight, keyboard, screen, fit and finish are wonderful. I loaned it to a Windows user and she had no trouble finding and using OpenOffice without assistance. But this is supposed to be about improvements.
I'd like the hinge to have more flexibility for backward screen lean; I'm tall and standard chair/desk heights leave the sweet spot for viewing below my eye level.
WiFi setup for non-broadcasted SSIDs only provides for WEP encryption, not WPA. That shouldn't be.
Battery goes dead after 2-3 days of non-use (when confirmed to be shutdown). That shouldn't be.
MIE GUI needs to be easily configurable. I don't care about music or pictures on my device but that takes up 33-50% of the "Desktop".
Camera is crippled, as mentioned elsewhere, and would be nicer to have higher resolution.
Packaged version of OpenOffice is 2.4 when current version is 3. No easy way to upgrade. Stock repositories for GIMP install version 2.4 when current is 2.6.
I tried Ubuntu UNR from a USB stick and that feels much better. Its stock OO.o and GIMP were latest versions. WiFi is fixed. Desktop is useful and configurable. Sound is dead but reportedly fixable. I'll probably make that a permanent install.
1. 6" x 9" x 1" max form factor.
2. 1/4" max bezel.
3. 8 hr batt, 4 hrs with wi-fi on.
4. Tablet version.
5. S-Video out.
6. GPS built in.
7. 2GB min.
8. WinXP Lite.
9. Micro-SD slot.
10. D-Pad Blackberry/cellphone style nipple with 4 buttons surround.
The fan kicks in frequently and the noise is noticeable. It'd be great if they could dispense with the fan altogether.
The touchpad button placement is lame. A trackpoint would be a nice option but not even the Lenovo netbook has one yet.
Battery life is mediocre. The 9.5 hours that Asus gets out of the Atom N280 on the 1000HE is impressive.
The custom memory stick port is feeble in forcing you to purchase the contoured thumb drive from HP. It's not a bad idea but it'd nice to have a choice to use that port in a more flexible way.
Switching to the ION platform would rock, particularly if they could manage battery life.
I've wavered back and forth between the HP Mini and the ASUS 1000 line; ultimately I bought the ASUS 1000 due to its competitive price, SSD, and Wireless N, but traded it in for a 1000 HE because the keyboard (placement of arrow keys) was driving me crazy, the price was only $375, and hey, guess what, I needed more than 32GB of storage.
However, I saw a neighbors Mini and salivated/coveted it overall, especially for its weight and design (and I do think the Mini has the best keyboard layout) but didn't like:
1. Trackpad. Buttons at bottom, and make it bigger.
2. Wireless G?!
Other items, really for Netbooks in general:
3. I think the resolution height should be greater than 600px. The ASUS 1000HE does gives you 1024x720 as a tray-clickable option, but you still have to scroll up/down the extra 120px, which makes me dizzy; don't know if Mini does the same.
I HATE the trackpad buttons being on the side. Being the IT Director for our dept, I got to demo it for about a week and my thumb kept reaching for a button that wasn't there. If it was our only model laptop, I'd probably get used to the buttons on the side. But we have every type and every brand and having to switch back and forth really sucks. Also, on a normal laptops, I can use ONE thumb to easily click either the left and right-click buttons without having to move my fingers off of the touchpad. With this HP, I have to lift off or use a less dexterous pinky to control the right-click.
I also don't like the lid hinge method. With the extended battery, you can't tilt the screen back far enough because it strikes the battery. And the angle of the hinge lowers the bottom part of the screen to just below the keyboard level. Not horrible, just pointless. The other netbooks have it right without the standard screen, standard buttons. No need to learn something new just to get ultra-portable. We said NO to HP for these things and went with Acer and Dell for our netbooks.
I would love to buy one of the HPs.
Any one of them.
But until they get over this compulsion to put glossy screens on them (as if anyone's going to use it to watch movies...), I won't touch one.
Matte screen is an absolute requirement for me.