Photo shoot: HP Mini 1000 and HP Mini 2140

hp-minis

The HP Mini 2140 netbook is the company’s business class version of the HP Mini 1000. Like HP’s first venture into the netbook Arena, the HP 2133 Mini-Note, the 2140 has a professional looking and sturdy aluminum finish, an excellent keyboard with wide keys, and an ExpressCard slot. But like the HP Mini 1000, this netbook has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU which offers better performance than the VIA C7-M processor used in the earlier HP netbooks.

The folks at HP were kind enough to send me an HP Mini 2140 to play with for a few days. I’ll have a complete review soon. But initially, there’s a lot to like. The build quality is unparalleled in the netbook space right now. HP also includes Drive Guard technology which uses an accelerometer to shut down the hard drive when your computer is in free fall, thus reducing the risk of data loss if your computer slips out of your hands and falls to the ground.

But the glossy display means this netbook will be hard to use outside, and HP has chosen to use a 1024 x 576 pixel screen which means you get a little less room for web browsing and other activities than you would have on a netbook like the Asus Eee PC 1000HE with a 1024 x 600 pixel screen.

While the HP 2140 is thicker and heavier than the HP Mini 1000, the company has decided to still provide only 2 USB ports, which may be fine for some users. But others may feel the need to carry around a USB adapter. On the bright side, this netbook has a full sized VGA port, unlike the HP Mini 1000, which requires an adapter.

You can check out some more photos comparing the HP Mini 1000 and HP 2140 after the break.

Posted on Thursday, March 12th, 2009, 2:31 pm by Brad
Tags: hp, hp mini 1000, hp mini 2140

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pauli

not seeing any more pictures after the break.

i'm getting quite impatient to see how the high res screens turn out.

Brad Linder

There should be a photo slideshow. Just click the play button to start.

okeribok

Me too. I'm having all kinds of paranoid thoughts about the 1024 *xxx rezs that all netbooks seem to have, except the lost son that is the gigabyte m912x, which I do not want...
Also definately don't want glossy screens. Whoever imagined that people want those, should pay for their crimes against humanity!

btw, that 2140 looks a whole lot fatter than its plastic cousin. How doess the sound from the speakers compare to that on the 1000?

Matthew.S

I have a couple of comments on build quality and screen resolution. My unit came with a couple of cosmetic flaws, first there is a bit of glue visible coming out between the plastic screen cover and the unit lid. Secondly, some of my keys are not lined up correctly, especially fn keys in the top row. They still work, but they are noticeably out of alignment. I ordered very early, so perhaps they were still learning how to make them at the factory?

Thirdly, HP made no effort to customize XP use on this computer. I got stuck in a reboot loop when I first powered it on, afterwards I noticed that the start menu does not fit on the screen ( you have to scroll ) and on every boot windows displays and error message that the screen resolution is too low, and tries to change it.

On the plus side, Ubuntu installs perfectly on this machine, everything works, no hacking required, and I have had no complaints about the machine since installing Linux.

A final note about the 576 horizontal resolution. It isn't enough. I removed all of the toolbars and use a apple-type launcher to free up space, but word processing and some websites are still a pain.

DougC3

Maybe 2-finger vertical scrolling (or screen character size adjustments?) will help with the short screen problem--I've never liked the wide=short screen fad (but for me, if I get a 2140, I'm waiting for the high resolution version).

Maybe they will fix the XP problems with an update.

Ubuntu question: can you tell if power-saving features work with Ubuntu? I was shocked to learn that some PCs can run the battery down almost twice as fast with Ubuntu :(

Matthew.S

Yes, power saving stuff works fine. I turned off bluetooth in the bios, and then used powertop and gconf-editor to tune the system and maximize battery life.

I am currently seeing 3.5-4 hr on the 3 cell with wireless on, and the system estimates that I will get 4.5 hr w/o wireless, although I have not verified this.

You are partially correct though, out of the box, ubuntu power management isn't as good as windows, but you can tweak it.

DougC3

Oh yes, one more question/gripe: Can you speed-type with as few errors as usual on this keyboard, whose keys have been enlarged to within a couple of milimeters of the adjacent keys?

This makes the keys look and measure bigger, but I think I would make less errors if they had made the tops of the keys a little smaller (by beveling them as with old style keyboards, or just putting more space between them as with chiclet style). This would effectively make the surrounding keys farther away and less likely to be bumped.

P.S. I hope Brad will check into these questions (keyboard and Ubuntu power used) when he reviews this (but HP might not want him to install Ubuntu on their unit ;) or that anybody else will give their opinions as well.

Brad Linder

I think the keyboard is a matter of taste. The HP 2140 has almost
exactly the same keyboard as the HP Mini 1000 and HP 2133 Mini-Note.
The keys are nice and wide and easy to find and some people love that.
I personally prefer the Eee PC 1000H and 1000HE keyboards with a bit
more space between the keys. But I know not everyone will agree with
me.

DougC3

It may just be a mental thing. I guess each person would have to do speed typing tests on each type of keyboard to really know.

I've noticed from HP Mini 1000s in stores that the keyboard will sag if pressed and that the keys will bend and wobble if you press on the edges of them. Is this also true of the 2140?

brothaZ

I have had the Mini 1000, and now I have the Eee PC 1000 HE and I can't really notice the difference when I'm typing, but I'd say that the HP has bigger keys.