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HP launches mini-notebook rival to the ASUS Eee PC

by Tarinder Sandhu on 10 April 2008, 13:11

Tags: HP (NYSE:HPQ)

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The success of ASUS' Eee PC - a mini-notebook that ships with the bare essentials and low price-tag - has shown the industry that there's a huge market for no-frills, lightweight laptops.

Intel is attempting to cash in on this trend with its Atom processor, designed for both MID (mobile Internet device) and netbook usages under the Silverthorne and Diamondville variants, respectively.

HP is getting in on the mini-notebook act, too, with the launch of its HP 2133, pictured below.



Powered by a VIA C7-M ULV CPU running at 1.6GHz, the 1.27kg laptop ships with an 8.9in WXGA (1,280x768) screen, 120GB hard drive, gigabit Ethernet, high-definition audio, ExpressCard 54, Bluetooth, 802,11b/g Wi-Fi, and 2GB of DDR2-667 RAM.

Possible mobile usage should be good; as the unit is equipped with a six-cell (55WHr) battery, although all other models ship with a three-cell (28WHr) as standard.

We're not too enamoured that the $749 (£375) top-of-the-range model, listed above, is supplied with Windows Vista Business 32-bit operating system - the CPU simply doesn't have the power to do the bloaty OS justice.

Looking further down the SKU scale, the same laptop can be purchased with a 1.0GHz C7-M ULV, SuSe Linux OS, 4GB Flash-based drive, 512MB DDR, 802.11a/b Wi-Fi, and 28WHr battery, all for $499 (£250).

We'd have been far more pleased to see the HP 2133 launch with Intel's Atom processor, and such a model may well be brought to market by HP. As it is, a reasonable specification that will, most likely, be hamstrung by the underpowered VIA processor.


HEXUS Forums :: 4 Comments

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I want one, looks like it would be very useful for me so I could use it on the train and in lectures to do work.
How much does an OEM Vista Business license run for these days? I would be tempted to buy the top-of-the-range one, get a refund on the unused license & install Linux.
I'm surprised they haven't tried combining one of these with something like Windows Mobile. Personally, I'd like to see something that'd double as a portable entertainment centre, with a 3G broadband dongle, a digital TV ariel and a few movies stored onto SD cards and a decent MP3 connection it could be quite useful for long journies.
Are you serious about the processor? What makes you think that Intel's Atom is going to perform better than the VIA C7-M? The name?

From what I've seen, the tests run on Silverthorne weren't particularly promising. Plus both Intel's Atom and VIA's C7 processors are in-order CPUs, and as this is Intel's first foray into this type of architecture I'd guess they're going to have some teething problems.

Take of your Nikes, put down the Starbuck's and do some research.