The HP 2133 Mini-Note PC Unveiled
Code-named Galileo, HP's latest project was clouded in much secrecy for several months, but now, with the NDA lifted, we present you an in-depth look at the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC, the company's newest and latest entry into the world of ultra-portable computing.
Big On Small Packages
Code-named Galileo, HP's latest project was shrouded in much secrecy, a point of much speculation and debate for online media. We too were not immune to the mystery surrounding the Galileo, which was finally revealed to be the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC, their idea of a notebook shrunk down to an 8.9-inch form factor. There was much excitement (though silently as we too had to partake in the intrigue) in the office when we received a fully working prototype for review, and though it was a prototype, HP has assured us that the build that we got was a close-to-retail unit, with only minor cosmetic updates for the full retail unit.
To show you how small the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC really is, we used a Nokia N95 mobile phone to give you an indication of the size of the Mini-Note.
Same thing, but with a pen this time. Note that width of the Mini-Note is just slightly longer then a pen.
While the form factor is really nothing new, it's interesting to note that HP has started paying attention to the success of the ASUS Eee PC and the other similar models by coming up with their own version in the form of the Mini-Note while still keeping the price point low enough to compete. Of course, to ensure that the price remains competitive, HP has had to make some necessary sacrifices in hardware, but it has not stopped them from delivering an excellently engineered and well designed product, but more on that later.
The front profile of the Mini-Note. Unlike the leaked images available online, the actual Mini-Note has the power button and the WiFi button placed on opposite ends.
The left side profile of the Mini-Note sports a video analog out, a powered USB port for a removable optical disk drive and the standard microphone and headphone jacks.
The right profile shows a Kensington Lock, a LAN port, another USB port, an ExpressCard/54 slot and a SD card reader.
Due to the form factor, the battery takes up the entire rear portion of the Mini-Note. Shown here is the 6-cell battery that is intentionally designed to raise the Mini-Note up for ergonomic purposes. The 3-cell battery will not have the raised portion but helps to retain the slim form factor of the Mini-Note.
Specifications-wise, the Mini-Note compromises on some stuff like the processor by using a VIA C7-M processor running at 1600MHz on our test unit, though HP has explained to us that the C7-M processors were chosen because they were energy efficient, which was something we could relate to, especially on such portable devices. VIA processors, by our estimation, were also much more cost effective and would also help keep the price point low. Whether the Mini-Note will use Intel's newest generation of Atom processors is also currently not known as HP has declined to comment for now. Guess we'll find that out in the months ahead. As for the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC, specs can vary from the entry level version at US$599 that comes with a 1.2GHz processor, 1GB memory and Windows XP/Vista Basic, while the version we're reviewing today costs a little more than US$749 and comes with the following specs:-
Big On Design
If there's one thing that HP is big on, it's definitely designing gorgeous notebooks for the masses. Gone are the days where notebooks were bulky and ugly and came in only one standard color, black. These days, most notebooks come with different colors and designs while allowing for some customization with skins. We like to note (again) that the HP Mini-Note pictured here is not the final retail unit but it will look very similar as we've confirmed with HP that only very minor cosmetic updates would be present on the full retail edition.
So it's no surprise the Mini-Note comes beautifully designed for its small form factor and quite frankly, we were amazed at both its compact design and size. Squeezing an almost full-sized (92%) keyboard (that is well spaced and with excellent pitch) into the space limited by an 8.9-inch screen is something of an engineering feat, in our opinion. But it's not just the keyboard that's impressive. When we started testing the Mini-Note and got it to play both music and videos, we had a pleasant surprise with the volume output and clarity of the speakers, which was startlingly loud and clear without any distortion even at maximum volume. In this multimedia department, the Mini-Note was a clear winner in its category and more so when compared to most other notebook speakers that we've previously tested.
Here's the Nokia N95 again, laid against the 92% full-sized keyboard. The keyboard is pretty comfortable to type with and is coated with HP's DuraKey technology. If you look at the sides of the screen, you'll notice the awesome stereo speakers that the Mini-Note is blessed with (though the design is similar to the ASUS Eee PC, the Mini-Note was well ahead in quality and clarity).
The side profile is really quite slim (though not as slim as some ultra-light notebooks), and as you can see, is only slightly thicker than a Nokia N95 mobile phone. Also, we would like to point out that if you are using the 3-cell battery, the Mini-Note will be lying flushed to the surface as shown in the picture (as opposed to a raised profile with a 6-cell variant).
Flushed on top of the LCD screen is the optional webcam. If you noticed how reflective the screen is, it's because HP has covered the screen with an acrylic panel to protect the LCD screen and to make it easier to wipe away fingerprints. We found that we could easily wipe away prints with one or two swipes as compared to the matt surface of a normal LCD screen.
A close up look of the keyboard. While the keyboard isn't laser etched, the use of HP's DuraKey technology means that the lettering doesn't easily fade out regardless. The responsive feel of the keyboard is also another plus point of the Mini-Note.
While it takes some time to familiarize yourself to the odd trackpad design with the buttons placed on opposite ends, we're pleased to report that the trackpad's sensitivity was excellent and we found that we could comfortably navigate with the trackpad without any problems.
We were pretty much impressed by the responsive trackpad, though it may take some time to get used to the positioning of the buttons. There's also a trackpad lock button located just above the trackpad, for the times where you do not want to accidentally move the mouse cursor when typing.
Small On the Insides
While its size may be small and its processor somewhat lacking, using the Mini-Note was still a smooth and pleasant experience, thanks in part to the 2GB of RAM that our review unit was shipped with. Having a speedy 7200RPM 160GB HDD also helped somewhat, and HP has informed us that they will also be shipping solid-state drives (SSD) for the Mini-Note in the third quarter of this year. So if you're a big fan of SSDs, you might want to hold off getting the Mini-Note for now (although the gains are usually not as much as the technology claims to be at the moment).
Being the curious bunch we are at HardwareZone, we gently took the Mini-Note apart to check out its innards, but we didn't get far as we didn't want to damage this gem. The good news is that it's not really hard to take the Mini-Note apart, but HP has obviously designed the Mini-Note to be as tamper-proof as possible, so there are no visible screws on its shell on first looks. Even if you take it apart, it's merely for serviceability as you can't change much besides upgrading the memory using the single SO-DIMM slot and perhaps a larger capacity hard drive.
The tamper proof back of the Mini-Note has no visible screws, and has three ventilation vents. However we noticed most of the heat generated was coming from the left side of the unit (right side from this photo angle), though the other two vents do contribute somewhat.
Here's an inside look at the Mini-Note, which was as far as we could get without physically damaging the Mini-Note. On the right, you'll see the 7200RPM 160GB HDD, and on the left, heat pipes cool both the CPU and chipset (which explains why the left side is so hot) and the 2GB RAM module. Oh and by the way, don't do this at home if you don't wish to void your warranty!
Battery Life and Portability Index
Without a DVD drive to loop a movie with for our standard tests, we resorted to grabbing a high-definition video and looping it continuously at our normal brightness and volume settings of 50%, similar to our test for the Macbook Air. We also disabled features such as WiFi and Bluetooth and tweaked it such that the various power saving measures do not kick-in to hibernate the unit before it actually runs out of juice.
The 6-cell battery also comes with its own battery gauge, which shows you how much juice it has left.
While we do not have a direct comparison to accurately comment against, the Mini-Note lasted for 153 minutes on our video looping test, which is pretty decent. However, note that this was achieved with the extended 6-cell battery that came with our review unit, so the 3-cell battery will not last quite as long. Shown in the graph as a point of reference is the Sony VGN-TZ18GN ultra-portable 11-inch notebook, the last really slim and handy notebook we tested. Despite what we mentioned that the HP Mini-Note is in a distinct class, we can't help noting that the Sony notebook was even better engineered for efficiency given that it used a faster all-Intel platform, had an optical disc drive which we used for our battery life tests and had a larger screen. So much for VIA.
Portability wise, the Mini-Note still ousted most notebooks in our comparison ratio, and was almost comparable to the Apple Macbook Air. It still lost to the Sony VAIO VGN-TZ18GN, though we do like to point out that the TZ18GN has more functions and scores better for performance as compared to the Mini-Note, but the Mini-Note is very much more affordable. The graphs below are for comparison purposes only, as we do not have a similar class device to compare against.
Performance
Since the Mini-Note is actually running on Windows Vista, we were able to run our normal benchmarks such as PCMark05, 3DMark06 and we also tested it with the newer PCMark Vantage. Obviously, we weren't quite expecting superlative results as we already guessed the results based on its hardware components, so we weren't actually disappointed when the results of the benchmarks were tabulated. In order to obtain a proper frame of reference, we again used the Sony VAIO VGN-TZ18GN, though it must be noted that this is just for comparison and not meant to be any form of a conclusive argument of the weakness (or lack thereof) of the Mini-Note as its form factor is different.
Specifications/Notebook | HP 2133 Mini-Note PC | Sony VAIO VGN-TZ18GN |
Processor | VIA C7-M ULV Processor (1.60GHz) with 128 KB L2 cache | Intel Core 2 Duo processor U7600 (1.2GHz, 2MB L2 cache |
Chipset | VIA CN896 Northbridge and VT8237S Southbridge | Intel 945GMS Express |
FSB | 800MHz | 533MHz |
Memory | 1 x 2GB DDR2 | 1 x 1GB DDR2 |
Video | VIA Chrome 9 Graphics | Intel GMA 950 |
As noted from the following results, the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC doesn't really score very well. Only the HDD results held up to scrutiny, though this is to be somewhat expected. The Mini-Note is after all, is not designed for the CPU and graphic intensive benchmarks that we tested it on as more of a Internet-centric notebook with light productivity in mind - basically a Netbook as classified by Intel.
As mentioned earlier, we also used PCMark Vantage to test the Mini-Note, but as we do not have any data to compare it against this newer benchmark test, we will be presenting the scores as it is.
Lastly, we've seen reports where users managed to get World of Warcraft running on the ASUS Eee PC, so we too decided to test it on the HP Mini-Note and see if we could get WoW running without doing any special tweaking. Guess what? We could, though the game was running at measly frame rates of 6 to 11 FPS at the lowest settings. We also noted some slowdowns in rendering when moving through some of the newer and bigger cities (such as Shattrath City).
While you can run World of Warcraft on the Mini-Note, don't expect to get any decent frame rates from the Mini-Note even at the lowest settings. And yes, we have someone on the HWZ team who plays a paladin. Sigh.
But will it Blend?
As a portable device, the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC stands out for its affordable pricing and features. With its beautiful design and aluminum finishing, the Mini-Note comes across as an elegant solution for the needs of our fast paced social environment. The low price point of the Mini-Note will definitely be attractive to users looking for mobility on the go, while its offerings of different hardware configurations and operating systems will appeal to both casual and business users alike.
Though it does not hold up to our more stringent benchmark tests, it's hard to fault a machine of this class for its relatively decent performance for its intended usage. The only problem we noted while testing it during the short span of time we were endowed with was the amount of heat generated through normal usage. For a machine that you'll be taking everywhere you go, and placing it on your lap while you work or watch movies, the Mini-Note was uncomfortably hot. The fact that we even noticed the heat issue in our frigid workplace was something we had to highlight. HP did mention during our meeting with them that the Mini-Note would generate a tolerable amount of heat as they wanted the Mini-Note to be used in a close and comfortable setting such as lying on a bed or placing it on the lap. This was obviously not the case in our experience with the Mini-Note, so that's something to take note of. While this observation holds true for the US$749 variant that we tested, the US$599 version with a lower processor grade could fare better with regards to the heat generated.
Otherwise, the Mini-Note remained pretty much a marvel of design and engineering that will be sufficient for most users' needs on-the-go. While we do not envision playing the latest 3D games on the Mini-Note (or even World of Warcraft), the Mini-Note's processing power should be more than sufficient for running simple productivity/collaborative tools/applications, 'abandonware' and old school games. Having said that, as mentioned earlier, we were also unable to get any details from HP on whether they will be utilizing the new Intel Atom chips for the Mini-Note in the near future, and HP has declined to comment on this issue and is choosing to play their cards close to their hearts.
This is the actual retail shot from HP, though as you can see from here that the build we got is pretty much the same apart from some minor cosmetic changes.
With the current crop of Netbook devices in the market similar to the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC, the consumer is spoilt for choice and it remains to be seen whether the Mini-Note will ultimately succeed. One thing in their favor though, is that unlike its competitors, the Mini-Note will be offered with different pre-installed operating systems. Users can choose from Windows Vista, FreeDOS and SuSE Enterprise Desktop 10, all with different price points and configurations of course (the most expensive being the US$749 version we reviewed). Windows XP Professional will also be available from June/July onwards, so Vista haters have something to look forward to. Having already given the Mini-Note a whirl, we're pretty convinced that HP has something good going for them with the Mini-Note and as always, the HP brand is one that can be relied on for excellent and well designed products.
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