June 7, 2008
Once a upon a time in the good land of milk & honey lived a band of happy gadgets. The leader of the band, Seabol, took it upon himself to keep a loving eye on the others, a MacBook Air, an HP Mini-note, an iPhone, and an alien gadget from another planet, the Nokia N95-3…
The band’s benevolent dictator was always very nice to all of them. She made sure no unwanted gadgets from the dark land far far away joined the band.
One fateful night, an evil gadget, the Amazon Kindle, somehow infiltrated the band, unbeknown to the benevolent dictator. It first attacked the iPhone, which managed to escape, being so thin and slippery.
The Kindle jumped on the MacBook Air, but was foiled by its strong aluminum shell. it then pounced on the HP Mini-note, but was blinded by its glossy frameless screen.
Something needed to be done. The Kindle was about to consume the Nokia N95-3 when Seabol jumped to the rescue. Within seconds, the Kindle was foiled and Seabol & friends prevaled!
2 Comments | 
2133, Amazon, Apple, HP, Kindle, MacBook Air, N95-3, Nokia, iPhone, images, thoughts | 
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Posted by tnkgrl
May 18, 2008
I’m sitting on the patio at Cafe Flore in the Castro on this balmy spring evening (70 degrees at 11 PM) in San Francisco, blogging on my HP 2133 (Mini-Note) instead of my MacBook Air - oh the things I do for my dear readers :)
Now that I’ve played with my Mini-Note for a couple weeks, I’m really not quite as excited about it as I’d like to be. Here’s a summary of my experience so far…
Pros:
- Small
- Über sexy anodized aluminum
- Nice build quality
- Great keyboard
- Good screen resolution (almost too good?)
- Integrated Bluetooth
- Lots of memory and storage
Cons:
- Too heavy for its size (> 3 lbs)
- Bulky 6-cell battery and AC adapter
- Screen too dim at times (and no LED backlight?)
- Small trackpad (and horrible buttons)
- Fan is almost always running
- Overly sensitive accelerometer
- Poor video performance
I’m still running Windows XP Pro, now with the official drivers - I’ve also upgraded to XP SP3.
The screen resolution is good but possibly too good for my eyes. As a result, I’ve set the screen to 144 dpi (150% original size), which is a definite improvement.
I’ve downloaded the official SuSE Linux disk image, and I may be taking it for a spin very soon.
Overall, the Mini-Note is a nice machine with good features for the money, but I’m not sure it’s the right machine for me.
I think the upcoming Asus 901 (Eee), with its Intel Atom CPU, integrated Bluetooth, multitouch trackpad, and more manageable 1024×600 pixel screen resolution, may be a better choice for me.
Besides, I already know from my Asus 701 (Eee) that I’m comfortable with the smaller keyboard.
I’ll keep you posted!
4 Comments | 2133, 701, Apple, Asus, Eee, HP, MacBook Air, experiences, thoughts | Permalink
Posted by tnkgrl
May 3, 2008
Well my HP 2133 (Mini-Note) finally arrived yesterday! I got the KX870AT model (1.6 GHz CPU, 2 GB RAM, 7200 rpm 120 GB HD, Bluetooth, 6-cell battery, Windows Vista Business)…
Check out my unboxing pictures - the Mini-Note is definitely full of hotness :)
First impressions?
Build quality is exceptional - the screen and keyboard are great. The trackpad feels tiny compared to the giant one on my MacBook Air, and the power jack sticks out in an unwieldy way while connected (an L-shape would be ideal).
I removed Vista (like any sane person would do) and installed Windows XP Pro before even booting for the first time… I used this guide, which required some updating for Bluetooth support.
Everything is working properly and XP is snappy!
3 Comments | 2133, Apple, HP, MacBook Air, images, unboxing | Permalink
Posted by tnkgrl
