Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

"It has definitely been an interesting testing experience with the Mini 1000 MIE. The netbook, as you have probably read, runs a custom Ubuntu interface designed by HP. They call it the Mobile Internet Edition of the Mini 1000. I am anything but a Linux pro, so I approached this as a newcomer to Linux. Luckily, HP is marketing the Mini 1000 MIE to less experienced computer users and not Linux pros. I gave you my initial software impressions not too long ago, but I'm ready to give you some more detailed information."

I've been using the Mini Mi for a couple of weeks now, and I have mixed feelings about it, some of which are echoed in this article. It's definitely a slick interface, but underneath it's still Linux, which isn't the most usable operating system in the world. I'm continuing my tests, and will probably do a video review of what HP has done with the Mobile Internet Edition software. One of the issues I've seen, mentioned in this article, is performance. The "common wisdom" is that Windows is bloated and slow, while Linux is lean and fast. You'd never know that using the HP Mini Mi - there are screen redraw issues galore, and a general feeling of sluggish performance - and this is with 2 GB of RAM installed. Now it may be that the target market for the Mini Mi - general consumers who want an Internet-focused device - might not notice these issues, but I can't shake the feeling that the software wasn't designed for the hardware.

I've been spending a lot of time with the HP Mini 1000 lately, in all three flavours: the Windows XP-based Mini 1000, the Vivienne Tam Mini 1000, and lately the Mobile Internet Edition or "Mini Mi". It's by far my #1 favourite netbook right now - I haven't booted up my MSI Wind in a month. As good as the HP Mini 1000 is though, it's strange how HP released a product with basically zero accessories for it available at launch - it's only now that these accessories are starting to become available. From the top left, going clockwise, we have the 3-cell battery, the Mobile Mini Drive, the AC power brick, an external DVD burner, a VGA cable, and a sleeve. The VGA cable in particular is a glaring omission: for mobile professionals who want to travel ultra-light, but still need to hook up to a projector, not having the ability to do so is a deal breaker. And given the price premium that HP is charging for the Mini 1000, it's a shame that there's no carrying case included in the box.

What's not shown above is something I saw at CES 2009: a 6-cell battery. It was an interesting design because unlike most netbooks on the market, the HP Mini 1000's battery isn't right at the back, it's in a bit - and that means thaty can't do the "rear hump" like most companies can. The 6-cell battery for the Mini 1000 comes out the bottom and creates a hump that almost looks like a stand for the netbook. Pretty interesting design - I'm not sure how practical it is, hopefully I can get my hands on one. The battery life is about the only complaint I have with the Mini 1000 - it just does't last long enough, but that's pretty much what I expected from a 3-cell battery.