HP announces the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC
There have been rumors of an HP mini-notebook/UMPC type device in the works and my MobileTechRoundup podcast co-host James Kendrick seems to be the first to post his thoughts on the HP Mini. He also posted a video of it in action. He has been playing with the device for a week so has had lots of time to play with the device and put together a great hands-on article. Check out the HP press release for the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC designed for the education market expected to be available later in April.
Credit: jkOnTheRun.com
The Asus EeePC is definitely having an impact on the mobile market and HP's first entry looks quite compelling. The HP Mini-Note PC starts at US$499 with the high end priced at US$749. All models use the Via C7 processor at 1.6 GHz and the US$499 model has 1 GB of memory with a 120 GB hard drive (Wow, now this is a nice sized drive). The high end model James tested out has 2GB of RAM, 120 GB-7200 rpm drive, WiFi, Bluetooth, 8.9 inch display at 1280x768 resolution, web cam, trackpad, SDHC slot, ExpressCard slot, 2 USB ports, ethernet port, and 6-cell battery. All of this is available for US$749 and those are some pretty powerful specs for a device competing with the Asus EeePC.
The device looks a bit too large for me though when compared to James' Fujitsu P1620 and may be compared to other low cost notebook computers since it doesn't have a touch screen and is not a UMPC or Tablet PC device. That said, it could be a great commuting device for me and at less than half what James paid for his Fujitsu P1620 and even less than what I paid for my U810.
Warner Crocker also posted his thoughts and an InkShow over on GottaBeMobile.
UPDATE: Another very detailed review over at NotebookReview.com has detailed heat measurements, benchmarks, and noise reports that indicate the VIA processor may not have been the best choice for this device. Also seeing that the PCMark05 score was less than the HTC Shift is a disappointment since I found the Shift to be quite slow.