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7 Days with the HP 2133 Ultra Portable Netbook
Day 1
Ireceived the box today for the HP 2133 from the great guys at Dynamism who managed to get us the 2133 in two days flat when HP predicted a 15 day waiting period before shipping even occured. The concept here being you get what you pay for. I received excellent communication from Dynamism all through the ordering and shipping process. Dynamism even provided follow up communication to make sure the laptop was received fine and that I was pleased with the order. I cannot stress enough how important this is. If I am shopping for any speciality laptops I know where I will be ordering in the future. The laptop arrived exactly when Dynamism said it would, the box had some slight damage (dented corner, and slight rip) to it but the contents were unaffected.
I must admit this laptop looks much better in person than it does online.
Day 2
We have exchanged the internal 120GB 7200 rpm hard drive with a 250GB 5400.4 Seagate hard drive in the hopes of extending the battery life while gaining more than twice the storage space of the 120GB included drive. Drivers for the installation of Windows XP are available on the HP site and I used a Lite-On external DVD-RW drive which allowed me to instal without any issues. Actually installing the drive was very easy, I removed the battery, removed three screws, flipped up the keyboard, and removed the hard drive tray and thus the hard drive.
After the install we immediately noticed how much faster XP runs than does Windows Vista. Installation of programs is rather easy and doesnt take nearly as long as it does in Windows Vista. I have installed Power ISO to make things simpler with using ISO images.
Day 3
While boot up times are much better than with Vista, I am experiencing random lagging of the hard drive with the HP 2133. The hard drive light will go orange and stay that way for up to two minutes while the HP 2133 is apparantly stalled, then everything will recover. I am leaving for a business trip tomorrow so I will re-install the OS and check to see if it makes any difference.
A fresh install of the OS proves to be no different as the unit will stall occasionally. A 160GB Seagate 5400.4 hard drive also does the same thing. No time to install again so I will have to use it as is. Thanks goes out to our contacts at HP for sending us the additional 3 cell battery to test with this unit. It will come in handy on during travel.
The 6 cell included with the HP 2133 KX870AT model is actually a lot nicer than it appears at first glance. Upon initial inspection of the 6 cell battery I did not like the way it sticks out the bottom. After using this laptop for the past 3 days I can say that it makes typing much easier as it elevates the keyboard and screen.
Day 4
I just arrived to the airport with a freshly charged laptop and I find that people at security mistake the laptop for a DVD player. I was asked to turn it on several times to prove its a laptop. While I find it humorous its also annoying to continually turn it on and off. My travel to Taipei covers approximately 22 hours and three layovers, I know that there is no way this HP 2133 will last near that long even if I am charging during each of the layovers. I am able to attain a full charge on the 3 cell battery in just under 1 hour if the laptop is on. The charge on the 3 cell will last approximately 1 hour 45 minutes, which lets face it, is pathetic. This is not even enough to watch a movie, let alone sit back on a plane and get some work done. On the 6 cell battery I have a usable lifetime of 3 hours 50 minutes which again would be good if we were speaking of the 3 cell battery. Combined I have enough battery life to last me 5 hours 35 minutes which is not at all good. Its at times like these that I envy the folks in first class who on Delta flights have electrical outlets built in to the chairs.
On a separate note I did install Quake 3 on the laptop, and the bluetooth Microsoft mouse works great for fragging. I was discovered playing Sarge on Q3DM17 by one of the passengers walking down the isle who stopped to express interest and to let me know that he too had Quake 3 installed on his laptop. 20 minutes later I was getting gibbed at 30,000 feet after setting up a small internal lan over wireless. The good thing was that he was in first class and there was a spare seat in first class. Let's just say I migrated there and the attendants either didnt notice or didnt care. So I proceeded to enjoy 8 hours of fragging with my new found friend. For those interested Quake 3 runs like a dream and more importantly after ~22 matches I was ahead.
Suggestion to Delta: Electrical outlets in coach class would result in far happier fliers.
Note to Self: Food is much better in First Class.
Additional Note to Self: Seats are much better in First Class. Think Lazy Boy but better.
Last Note to Self: Buy First Class and you get free alcohol. . . all flight long. 12 hours baby!
Day 5
I've arrived in Taipei and everywhere I look there are Computex and EeePC signs. Having played with the EeePC I can easily say its a toy. It looks like a toy, is built like a toy, and is really only usable by a 5-10 year old child due to the keys and the touchpad is a cruel joke.
I have been here 12 hours now and have been asked about the HP 2133 by at least 15 different people. They all want to touch it and play with it. Three press conferences and 4 meetings and everyone wants to see it. This thing plays the role of business accessory very well and easily looks the part seriously. It's nice to carry around and has a very refined feel and look.
Ok the orange light and laggy access on the hard drive are getting annoying. I have brought the original 120GB 7200.2 Seagate with me and am spending the night putting that back in along with Windows XP. There is nothing more frustrating than going to show a client your website and having the laptop go, "No way man! wait till I catch up . . . for 2 minutes." Everything else about the HP 2133 is very business and refined, but the guts need some work.
Day 6
Re-installed the original 7200.2 hard drive, Windows XP, all of my programs and files last night. Transfer rates via USB 2.0 = less than ideal on the HP 2133. Im a mobile professional so I carry my life with me. It's why I have one of the Corsair Voyager 32GB flash drives as it has enough room for all of my critial files and programs and is speedy. It took me close to 20 minutes just to transfer 8GB of personal files to the HP 2133 hard drive. This is better than the 45 minutes it took with the 5400 rpm hard drive so I guess I shouldn't be complaining.
I have used the laptop all day today with no sign of the orange light. The installation and drivers are identical to those used with the 250GB and 160GB hard drives so I must assume its the rotational speed that the HP 2133 does not like. As I mentioned earlier the 7200rpm hard drive is the saving grace of this PC. No lag or stutter when using this speed of hard drive.
REAL TIME PRICING
Day 7
This is the end of my first week with the HP 2133 and I must say that my final conclusion is that at the end of the day functionality wins over asthetics. While I simply adore the looks and design of the HP 2133, the raw performance leaves me wanting. The higher res screen has been packed into a smaller 8.9 inch frame which in the end does lead to more difficult reading and a worse experience. This of course could be easily corrected by keeping the design of the HP 2133 the same and integrating a larger 10 inch screen. The side mounted speakers could be moved to the bottom of the unit. HP obviously spent some serious time and effort on the asthetics and design of the 2133 and it shows, but they seemed to rush to market and as such selected VIA to power the insides, which may not have been the best choice. The upcoming VIA nano shows some excellent promise over the Intel Atom but ETA's put it way out. It may have been wiser to integrate the Intel Atom into the HP 2133 chassis as this would have been a winning combination.
Rumors speculate that HP will introduce a big brother to the HP 2133 that will share design elements but at a cheaper price point. We suspect this means losing the aluminum chassis and larger HD and memory configurations in favor of a plastic chassis and 80GB/Flash HD and 512/1GB memory configuration but with the upside being the Intel Atom or Via Nano. In a market currently dominated by price points this could ultimately result in a good decision on the part of HP. I would like to see HP retain almost all of the design elements of the current 2133 and change the screen to a larger 10" and integrate either than upcoming nano or the Intel Atom but I doubt that product will come to pass.
On to the Benchmarks.
REAL TIME PRICING