Mini 2140 By HP
The small inexpensive notebooks, called by some netbooks are one of the hottest categories in the computer world at this time. This review is about one of these netbooks, the HP Mini2140. Most computer manufacturers are scrambling to get their version of these devices onto the marketing stage at this time. With today's hard economic situation, cheap, capable and portable are just what the budget minded public neeeds.
There is a hidden price attached to low cost products. Usually, that hidden price includes less features, underpowered, small screens and a low battery life. If however, you place a value on on low price over such drawbacks, then you may still find a fit in these products.
As these products mature, they are getting better. The new HP Mini 2140 is at the head of the class in this category. Of course, HP has been a factor in this market for some time and they are capitalizing on this experience. The Mini 2140 is a business oriented netbook.
HP Mini 2140 pricing
Pricing for the HP Mini 2140 begins at $499, a bit pricy but some of the features make it well worth the price.
The Mini 2140 has style
It has a brushed aluminum finish laid over a magnesium alloy frame. While it has a 10" screen, the footprint is just 10.3"x 6.5" and weighs just 2.5 pounds. The Hp Mini 2140 tested had Intel's Atom processor and 1gb memory and 160gb hard drive. The large size hard drive places it firmly in the business oriented category. It has an 802.11n WI, gigabit ethernet, blue tooth and a webcam. It also has 2 USB ports and a VGA video output connection. Unfortunately, it does not have a built in broadband cellular capabilities. It also does not contain a media card reader. Both of these could be added via PC Express card slot.
:A Small But Clear Display
The display was small but clear. It dims noticeably when running on battery. It can be turned brighter at the cost of some of its battery life. The test yielded 3 hours battery life.
The unit came with Windows XP and you can get it with Vista. Dwight installed the Windows 7 beta version while he had it and reported it worked fine, though missing a driver for the Gigabit ethernet port.
His final evaluation was that for $499, you would be getting a well designed, extremely small notebook. Compared to others in its class, the HP Mini 2140 is well worth the additional cost.