HP enters the suddenly very crowded low-cost mini notebook space with its HP 2133-Mini Note PC, and it outweighs competition in a few key areas.

First, despite its compact size, this 3.2-pound laptop sports a full-size keyboard, which makes it easy to take notes and write e-mails on the move. You also get a robust and stylish aluminum body that makes it look like a premium ultraportable, and a fairly large and crisp 8.9-inch display. And unlike the competing machines, such as Asus Eee Everex PC and Cloudbook, you can configure the Mini Note with your choice of processors, RAM and hard disks. In addition, you can connect a broadband modem ExpressCard mobile so you do not have to rely on Wi-Fi hotspots.

See our video hands-on with the HP 2133 Mini Note PC>>

The HP 2133-Mini Note PC (starting at $ 599 for Windows Vista Basic, $ 499 for SuSE Linux, and $ 749 as configured) is a bit more expensive, and weighs more than the competition, but the system unique strengths make it a good investment for students, mobile professionals, and anyone looking for an affordable, highly portable computer.

Large for a Mini

Like other mini-laptops, the Mini-Note 2133 is aimed at the education market, even if you do not know from the moment of conception. Measuring 10.0 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches and weighing just under 4 pounds, the Mini Note is a little bulky as ASUS, CTL, and Everex models. A case in brushed silver aluminum chassis in a magnesium alloy body, the system provides a durable foundation, which is complemented by a hard drive and an accelerometer spill resistant, wear-resistant keyboard. Even the screen has a glossy coating without a scratch.

Under the cover has a bright 8.9-inch screen, surrounded by a shiny black bezel. We have not experienced problems with sizing of the window as we have done with other small notebooks, thanks to the display of 1280 x 768 pixels resolution. Overall, the quality of color and viewing angles are very good, but users with weak eyes can find the text and icons too small. A camera and a microphone are built into the bezel higher, but the system is not equipped with a webcam utility. However, Windows Live Messenger immediately recognized the camera, which gave a good image quality for video chat. The stereo speakers are loud and packed a punch.

The Mini Note has a 92-percent keyboard treated with a special coating that makes the claims HP touches 50 times more resistant to wear visible than a standard keyboard, and it is a spill-resistant as well. The keyboard deck was at ease, and large keys are sensitive, as was the large tactile aspect. Unfortunately, the mouse buttons are placed to the left and right of the keyboard and are oriented vertically, as we considered embarrassing. We found ourselves in double typing on the keyboard more often than we did a left click.

A power switch, indicator reader, and Wi-Fi switch are located along the lower edge of the keyboard deck, and a VGA port, headphone and microphone taken, and a USB port on the left side. ExpressCard/54 and SD Card slots are mounted on the right, with a second USB port and an Ethernet port.

HP mini-note features and performance

Our Mini-Note came with Windows Vista Business installed on a 120 GB (7200 rpm) hard drive, but you can configure the system with Vista Home Edition, FreeDOS, or SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 operating system . HP offers several choices both in the car, including a solid state disk 4 GB for the Linux version (from $ 499), 160 GB 7200 rpm drive, and 120GB and 160GB drives that spin at 5400 rpm. In recent configurations starting at $ 599.

The system is powered by a 1.6 GHz VIA C7-M processor, VIA Chrome 9 graphics chip, and 2 GB DDR2, which produces 3DMark03 scores of 380 and 135 points below the average for a UMPC, but the mini - Note manipulation had no difficulty in Vista and ran several applications without a hiccup. It took 1 minute and 18 seconds for the system to complete the boot of Windows, though.

Wireless performance was respectable, falling to 14.3 Mbit / s at a distance of 15 feet from our access point. From 50 feet away, the radio 802.11a/b/g managed a speed of 13.2 Mbps. In addition, the system came with a Bluetooth and an optional six-cell extended life battery that gave us 3 hours and 20 minutes of power at the power level set at high performance. Runtime, which is on an equal footing with other mini-laptops we tested, but not as much endurance as we would have liked.

Verdict

Although it is a bit larger and more expensive than the mini-laptops, the HP 2133 Mini Note offers some features that the others do not, including an adult-size keyboard and a more tailored to professional users. If you need is a laptop computer at low cost that can run Windows, you may want to wait for the 9-inch Eee version of the PC. But if you need more of your mini-notebook and are not to pay for this, the HP 2133-Note Mini delivers the goods.