NETBOOK REVIEW: HP Mini 1000 Almost Convince Michelle Netbooks are Cool!

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t get the whole Netbook thing but after spending a week with the HP’s sexy little Mini 1000, I understand just a bit more. It still not for me but there is a certain appeal to the idea of having an almost full-featured computer for $299. The first thing that I noted right away was how beautiful the slick 10.2 screen is and you have to like the fact that it weighs 2.4 lbs. It’s bright, beautiful and had no noticeable background glare, the machine is whisper quiet, something I now take note off after my crappy Dell started to sound like a Jet engine two days after I got it – my next lappy will almost certainly be an HP. HP’s build quality has been superb in the last few years.

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The design and form factor of this is just right, it feels sturdy and looks a little plain on the outside, but when you open it, I love the all black casing, the nice soft off bluish power lights and most importantly I like the recessed keyboard. The keys are soft, but feel solid as you type on it. It took a few minutes for me to get used to the crampness of the small size but once I did, I was impressed.

Networking was simple and easy, I turned it on and it automatically found my home network thanks to its 802.11b/g WLAN & Bluetooth card, it also found my Bluetooth mouse. Also of note is the fact that because it only comes with an 80 Gig HD it doesn’t come junked up with crapware. With an Intel Atom Processor and 1 gig of memory the system seemed to handle Windows XP extremely well. I only had it for a few days, but in all my basic tests like Web Browsing and playing media files there were no hiccups. My initial Battery test was a bit disappointing, not sure what I was expecting here but it lasted about 3 ½ hours on a single charge with wi-fi turned on and in standby mode there was no noticeable drop in juice after a good 9 hours.
There are two built in USB drives, but there’s no DVD/CD Drive, which bugged me. If I have to spend an extra $50 or $100 on an external DVD-Rom Drive to be able to install basic software like Office then it eats into the machine’s Value proposition. But I suppose a lot of folks would just use stuff like Google Docs, ZoHo Writer, or download Open Office.

I’m not a fan of the Netbook concept for a number of reasons – the screen size is too small for me to want to use it for an extended period of time – heck my 13 inch Macbook bugs the heck out of me when I’m forced to use it for extended periods of time (I’m talking weeks here, not a few days on a business or vacation trip). The entire point of having a Netbook assumes you are always connected to the Internet, which I’m not. When I’m out and about I very rarely find decent Wi-Fi anywhere, when I do it’s outrageously overpriced for service that barely works and there’s no way I would sign up for overpriced, slow as molasses, capped wireless broadband service from one of the cell phone carriers.

One thing I will no longer say is that they are underpowered like I said earlier this machine performed basic tasks pretty well – but I only had it for a week.

I was thinking what would I use something like this for – writing? Probably not for any length of time, then I was thinking it’d be a great alternative to getting a Kindle DX until I realized the battery only lasts 3 ½ hours. It would be great to take to cover conferences like E3, CES, etc. I wouldn’t have to always worry about keeping track of it because if I lost it, I wouldn’t care because the low-cost makes it “disposable,” and it’s so small, light and functional that it’d be a great tool to use when I’m at crowded press conferences.  Netbooks aren’t supposed to be your day-to-day machine Netbook’s aren’t for me but if you are in the market for one, this is definitely the one I would consider purchasing. You get a lot of good bang for your buck in a small package.

Final Grade B+

EM Review by
Michelle Alexandria
Originally posted 6.06.09