HP Mini 1000

Key Specs

Processor: 1.6GHz Atom N270
Memory: 1GB RAM
Storage: 60GB hard drive
Optical Drive: None
Screen: 10.2 inches
Graphics: Intel integrated graphics
Weight: 2.5 lbs.
Dimensions (HWD): 1.0x10.3x6.6 inches
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition SP3

Review

HP’s Mini-Note 2133 was one of the first entrants in the netbook market, and its high-res screen, Windows Vista OS, and relatively high price helped it break from the pack. The company’s new low-priced Mini 1000 doesn’t seem as distinctive, however, as its screen size, CPU, memory, and other specs are almost identical to competitors like the Asus Eee PC 1000H and MSI Wind U100. And although it is the most compact netbook yet without a compromised keyboard, the Mini 1000 lacks some of the innovations—including the high-res screen and ExpressCard slot—of its predecessor.

While its résumé might not stand out, the Mini 1000 dresses to impress, with solid construction, a stylish and svelte case, a superb keyboard, and a super-bright screen. At first glance, it looks like a sleek, all-black version of the Mini-Note 2133, but there are numerous refinements to the older design.The glossy black (and fingerprint-attracting) lid now sports a subtle swirl pattern printed on it. The keys are no longer slick and shiny, but subtly textured, and the screen has grown from 8.9 to 10.2 inches. Despite the larger display, the Mini 1000 has slimmed down from the earlier model, to 1x10.3x6.6 inches (HWD) and 2.5 pounds, making it the smallest, thinnest netbook yet with a full 10-inch-wide keyboard.

Inside, the differences are more dramatic. The 2133's anemic VIA processor has been replaced by the netbook-standard Intel Atom N270 running at 1.6GHz, backed by 1GB of DDR2 memory and running Windows XP Home Edition SP3. HP included a 60GB hard drive with our review unit; the company says 8GB and 16GB SSD drives, 2GB of RAM, and a Linux OS with a friendly “Mobile Internet Experience” front-end will be available as options.

Performance, which is in line with other Atom-powered notebooks, is a huge step up from the Mini-Note 2133.Where the Mini-Note 2133 turned in a score of just 23 on Cinebench 9.5, the Mini 1000 scored 135 in the same test. Overall performance is very responsive for tasks like e-mail, Web browsing, writing, and light number-crunching, but as with all netbooks, it’s more suited for video and audio playback than it is for multimedia content editing and conversion. The Mini 1000 completed our Windows Media Encoder test in 27 minutes and 8 seconds, and our iTunes encoding test in 19 minutes and 24 seconds. That puts it in the same performance ballpark as other Atom-powered netbooks such as the $439 Lenovo IdeaPad S10, which earned 133 on Cinebench 9.5 and completed our Windows Media Encoder and iTunes tests in 24 minutes and 10 seconds and 20 minutes and 5 seconds, respectively.

With the included three-cell battery, the Mini 1000 lasted 2 hours and 21 minutes playing back an MPEG-4 movie. Although lighter usage, such as writing and browsing the Web, stretched that to around 2 hours and 40 minutes, road warriors will definitely want to consider the upcoming six-cell battery option.The Mini uses standard Windows power profiles to manage power; there’s no power-management utility to toggle the processor manually to a slower speed to save battery life, as you find on most other Atom netbooks.

The standout feature of the Mini 1000 is its keyboard. It is 10 inches wide, 92 percent of the width of a standard laptop keyboard. The keys have a solid feel, and they don’t have the usual tapered edges, which gives them flat tops with a slightly larger surface to hit. The layout is excellent, with none of the misplaced or shrunken punctuation or Shift keys you find on almost all other netbooks. Only the cursor arrows and function keys are half-sized vertically. The wide touch pad is very responsive; its buttons are easy to press, although their locations on the sides of the touch pad take some getting used to.

The 1,024x600-pixel display is very bright—so much so, in fact, that blacks looked gray at full brightness. Turning down the brightness a bit solves this issue. The display is sharp and has a very wide viewing angle, but its glossy finish—unusual for a netbook—sometimes makes for annoying reflections. Though HP plans to offer an 8.9-inch screen as an option, a high-res 1,280x768 screen like the one found on the Mini-Note 2133 will not be available. The integrated GMA950 chipset does a fine job with Windows applications and full-screen video playback, but its poor 3D performance (its 3DMark06 score was just 91) means gamers will be best off reliving five-year-old classics. The speakers are creatively placed behind a grill inside the laptop hinge, and although they don’t have a lot of volume, the audio clarity is superb.

For networking, the Mini 1000 includes 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 radios, as well as a 10/100 Ethernet port. You’ll also find a pair of USB 2.0 ports, a combination headphone/microphone jack, an SD/MMC slot, and a VGA Webcam with microphone. Though the notebook has a VGA monitor output, it uses a small custom connector, so you’ll need to purchase an optional adapter cable to use an external monitor.

The Mini 1000 offers the standout solid construction and comfort as its more expensive Mini-Note 2133 predecessor, but with dramatically better performance. We just wish the excellent higher-resolution screen from the 2133 were an option on this model. The Mini 1000 is a worthy competitor in the netbook market, offering the small size of the Lenovo IdeaPad S10 without the compromised keyboard. Spec-wise, however, it’s more of a “me-too” netbook. While we love its small form factor and excellent keyboard, those aren’t enough to offset the $80 to $120 price premium over offerings from Asus, Lenovo, and MSI, which offer nearly identical performance.

Price (at time of review): $499 (as tested)

Asus LS221H - Screen

Key Specs

Screen Size: 22 inches
Native Resolution: 1,680x1,050
Aspect Ratio: 16-to-10
Contrast Ratio: 4,000-to1 (dynamic)
Brightness: 300cd/m2
Response Time: 2 milliseconds (gray to gray)
DVI Connector: None
D-Sub/VGA Connector: One
HDMI Connector(s): One
DisplayPort Connector: None
USB Ports: None

Review

Reviewed by: Matt Safford Review Date: November 2008

The Asus LS221H is a 22-inch (1,680x1,050) monitor with stunning design elements, including a slim profile, leather-adorned bezel, and hardened glass screen that strikes the perfect balance between glossy and glare. In our tests, however, the LS221H didn’t quite perform at a level that matches its outstanding good looks—or its price: At $349, the LS221H costs about $100 more than many other 22-inch monitors, like HP’s W2207H or the Samsung 2253BW. For the most part, it’s hard to argue with the display’s design. Its button controls are simple but serviceable and smartly incorporated into the silver trim that surrounds the black part of the bezel. A brown leather panel sits below the buttons, adding some visual contrast. A silver metal ring and Asus’s logo adorn the rear of the monitor, making the back almost as visually interesting as the front. (That’s especially handy if your desk doesn’t face the wall.) The hardened glass screen, meanwhile, is bright (300 cd/m2) without being too glossy to impede office productivity. Beyond that, though, the monitor’s features come with caveats. The stand, for instance, is as solid and sturdy as any we’ve recently reviewed, but unfortunately, tilt adjustment is all it offers; you might need an additional base to get it to the right height for your eye line. The LS221H’s stand also features a ring of LEDs that change color depending on which preset video mode you have enabled. Unless you like purple lights emanating from below the screen while you’re trying to watch a movie, however, this is more of a gimmick than a useful feature. Then there are the power and video connectors. We’re glad the LS221H comes with VGA and HDMI, but to connect to DVI, we had to use the included HDMI-to-DVI adapter. The layout isn’t perfect, either. The connectors are in the back of the stand’s base, which keeps cable clutter under control—but doesn’t let you push the base up against a wall. On our DisplayMate tests, the LS221H didn’t perform poorly, but it wasn’t overly impressive, either. In the white-level saturation test, the brightest few shades showed up as white, indicating oversaturation. Turning down the brightness helped a bit, but it didn’t eliminate the issue. The darkest levels of gray weren’t easily distinguishable from black, which has been an issue in recent monitor-test results; some similarly priced screens, however, offer better gray-scale performance. Text was readable down to 5.3 points, which is on par with nearly all recent monitors, but there was some backlight bleeding (light escaping from behind the screen in the corners), which caused the brightness to be uneven. This was most noticeable on a gray screen. During our game and video tests, the Asus LS221H produced no visible streaking, thanks to its speedy (but standard) 2-milliscond gray-to-gray pixel-response time. Dark areas in both Doom 3 and The Bourne Identity were slightly better than average, though there was a slight loss of detail in the darkest scenes. LG’s Flatron L227WTG fared a bit better with dark scenes, but its glossy screen was far more reflection-prone than Asus’s LS221H. All in all, the Asus LS221H delivers more high-end class than optimum performance. But if you don’t mind paying a $100 premium for style, there’s no reason not to choose the LS221H. Office workers who like to watch movies and play a few games after hours (or when no one’s watching) will find the monitor a striking addition to their desk. Price (at time of review): $349 (list price)