HP 2133 8.9" WXGA 1GB 120GB Mini Notebook PC KS174UT

This computer does just what it is advertised to do. When I opened the box and turned it on there were no surprises. Tiger direct shipped as promised and I actually received the machine earlier than Tiger direct estimated. The screen is small and if you need big print you will have to play with the display settings. Fortunately, HP put an icon on the task bar called S3 which allows you to adjust the screen resolution on the fly without having to go to control panel etc. The user manuals are on the hard drive and easy to access and read. The wireless card works on the wireless networks I have tried. The machine recognized the cd/dvd drive I plugged in. All in all it will be a great machine to take on vacation, ride on a plane, etc. I haven't tried bluetooth yet, but I would bet it works well also. The machine seems solid and reliable.

I was looking for a small computer to take overseas that will allow to keep up with email, connect to and run my GPS, etc and not take a lot of space and not be hard to lug around. The HP2133 Mini is very small, fully wireless; and with the refurb model being less than $300, it was a STEAL. Took me two days to get everything loaded. HINT: Get a copy of Virtual Clone Drive and put ISO's of your install CD/DVD's on the unit's hard drive... Then install your add-on products. Only complaint: single core is slower than what I am used to. Biggest plus: connectivity and high res screen (1280x768) (takes some tweaking to be readable). Keyboard has a nice feel.

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First, I want to forewarn you, this is a confusing review. Do I like the HP2133 or not? Let's talk about the price that I purchased it for: $299.99 (+$27.69 S&H; I live in Alaska. Your S&H may be less) from TigerDirect. Why does the title say, "WAS amazing?" The day after I purchased this, TigerDirect took that sale price off their website and the Amazon market. I don't think you can get a NEW one from TigerDirect at ANY price. There is a refurb. for $279... If you trust refurbs it is still a GREAT deal.

Now here's what I got for $300 (there are about 5 different versions of the HP Mini 2133):

VIA C7-M, 1.2 GHz processor

1GB RAM

120GB HD

Windows XP Home (SP2)

60 Day trial of MS Office 2007 *Professional*

HP extra software (not all bloatware)

1.3M Pixel webcam

3 Cell battery (about 2 hours on a charge)

8.9" (22.7 cm) 1280 x 768 screen

All the rest that you expect on a 2133.

Here's what I like about the HP 2133: The keyboard may be the best, compared to any netbook I have placed my hands on, and I've played with an Acer Aspire One, Asus eee, MSI Wind, and a Dell Mini Note 9. The speakers are very good for a netbook; the webcam seems bright and of very good quality; the weight of 2.8 lbs. (1.3 kg) is just about perfect, even with the optional 6 cell battery; of course the netbook's size is what draws you to the netbook in the first place; the screen resolution at 1280 x 768 is beautiful; and did I mention the keyboard is great?

Okay, why did I rate this four stars (not five stars)? Don't I think that $300 for this netbook is a good price? No, it is not a good price, it is an AMAZING price... but you can't get it for this price anymore, unless you want a refurb. But that's not why I rated it four stars. The HP 2133 is almost perfect, except for three things: processor, battery life, and screen size.

Processor: The VIA C7-M, 1.2 GHz is decent, but I can tell that my daughter's Intel Atom 270 is just a tad bit snappier on some things. The VIA does fine with YouTube pages and a couple of test DVD's, but I've upgraded to 2GB of RAM and I think that has helped. It balks a bit with an external DVD, but it is not unusable. My guess is that you would not want to watch Blu-Ray disks on this, but since I don't have an external Blu-Ray player, I can't tell you for sure.

Battery life: 2 hours on the 3 cell battery is okay, but I felt I needed to purchase a 6 cell battery Super-Capacity Li-ion Battery For HP 2133 Mini-Note series replace KE948UT KX868AT KR922UT HSTNN-DB63 KX869AT KR939UT KR922UT series Ac Laptop Notebook Main Battery [ 4800mAh 6 Cells] for my occasional multi-stop trips to other parts of Alaska, or California. I think, though I haven't tested it, that I'll get about 4 hours on the 6 cell battery, for a combined 6 hours with the two batteries. But even at that, the battery life seems puny compared to the ASUS 1000HE at 9.5 hours on a single charge or even most new netbooks that last about 6 hours on one battery charge.

Screen size: Now don't get me wrong: I purchased the 2133 BECAUSE of the screen *resolution.* 1280 x 768 is about the highest resolution available in a netbook (most are 1024 x 600 these days), but why didn't HP put 10.1" (25.5 cm) screen on the lid? There definitely is enough space to put a 10 inch screen on the 2133; just shrink the speaker area a little bit. Compared to my daughter's 10.1" MSI Wind the icons are really small.

Actually, I can't figure out why any of the netbook makers are not making a 10 inch WXGA (1280x768 resolution) screens. The Gigabyte M912 (8.9" as well), Inventec SX3 (8.9" screen), Samsung NC20 (12" screen), and Dell Mini 12 (duh, 12" screen) all have WXGA resolution (in some cases 1280 x 800). But none have a 10" screen. Do I sound like Goldilocks testing the three bears netbooks? The 12" screen is too large (for a netbook), the 8.9" screen is too small (the icons are dinky), but the 10" screen is just right. According to some accounts, the HP 2140 is supposed to have 1366 x 768 resolution on a 10.1" screen model, but as I write this, I know of no one who has seen or reviewed this mystic beast. To make matters worse, the available resolution on the HP 2140 is 1024 x 576 (less than the standard 1024 x 600). Perhaps I should have waited, and purchased the HP 2140 with a higher resolution, but here's the bottom line: for $300 the HP 2133 is a steal! I am quite happy with what I have!

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Great little notebook. I use it on vacations. It comes in handy for making reservations, checking road conditions, doing e-mails, ect. I did buy a wireless mouse to use with it. For me it makes scrolling MUCH easier.

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It's not very fast but it gets the job done. I use it mainly to grab pictures as shot with my Canon 5D and 5D MK2 when in the field. It has built-in wireless so I can connect in my hotel for emailing and internet. Plenty of storage for even a 2 or 3 day shooting assignment. I loaded the Canon software and Gimp for some quick image adjusting. It has plenty of connectivity and comes with Windows XP so no Vista mysteries.