HP 2133 Mini Notebook

It’s been less than a year since Asus first sprinkled its Eee PCs with magical miniaturizing dust, yet these low-cost, diminutive laptops have already taken off like an F/A-18 catapulted from an aircraft carrier. In the past nine months alone, the industry has produced a spate of “mini-me-too” offerings, including Cloudbooks, Airs, Winds and other ebulliently named subnotebooks.

Seriously, it was only a matter of time before the big boys of computing decided to get in on this burgeoning and potentially lucrative category. Dell has already announced plans to release a cheap (and derivatively named) E mini notebook for $300 in August. And then there’s HP with its new 2133.

Bottom line? With a little more engineering jujitsu and a processor upgrade, subsequent versions of the 2133 (if priced right) could be the mini notebook to beat in this increasingly competitive category.  —Bryan Gardiner

WIRED One of the most comfortable keyboards we’ve used on any mini-notebook. Sleek and solid build makes other minis seems like flimsy toys. Grown up hard drive means you’ll have 120- and 160-GBs at your disposal. Beautiful, scratch resistant 8.9-inch screen.

TIRED Feeble Via processor doesn’t do the job — at least with Vista. Tiny trackpad and awkwardly placed left and right buttons makes navigating difficult.

$600 as tested, HP

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