“Asus’ Eee PC has defined the budget subnotebook genre, serving up relatively low-end hardware that’s just fast enough in an ultraportable form factor with an affordable price tag. It’s a simple formula, really, and one that made the Eee PC an instant hit despite its small, low-resolution screen and a Lilliputian keyboard that really only works if you have the diminutive digits of a 12-year-old. Given the Eee PC’s instant popularity, it’s clear some folks are willing to live with some compromises to get a nice price on a teeny laptop. However, those limitations have surely turned off plenty of potential customers who were hoping for a budget subnotebook that was perhaps a little more, er, notebook-like.If you’re looking for more screen real estate and room to type than the Eee PC provides, HP’s Mini-Note may be right up your alley. One of the first would-be Eee PC killers, the Mini-Note directly challenges the Eee’s weaknesses with a 92%-of-full-size keyboard and an 8.9″ display with an impressive 1280×800 WXGA resolution. The system also features and ExpressCard slot for broadband Wi-Fi users and support for standard 2.5″ mobile drives, should you require more than just a few gigabytes of storage capacity. Throw in a brushed aluminum chassis that would make Apple fans swoon and the sort of configuration flexibility you’d expect from HP, and the Mini-Note’s potential grows.
Targeted squarely at students, the Mini-Note looks on paper to be a more reasonable compromise than the infectious Eee PC—one suitable for a much wider range of computing tasks. But does it work in the real world? Read on for our in-depth look at HP’s first budget subnotebook PC.”
Here are some more Mobile articles from around the web:
- New ASUS Eee PC Models Arrive for 2008 @ Techgage
- ASUS Eee Box Preview & Intel’s Atom Benchmarked @ AnandTech
- 10in ASUS Eee 1000 offers more than just a bigger screen @ HEXUS
- T612 – iPhone and iPod Powered Audio System Review @ TechwareLabs
- Toshiba’s lightweight Dynabook features unreleased AMD Puma technology @ HEXUS
- MSI’s Wind sub-notebook @ bit-tech
Comp-Eee-tition

HP’s 2133 Mini-Note subnotebook has an almost full sized keyboard and a 8.9″ display at 1280×800. At 2.8lbs and 10″ wide, 6.5″ deep, and 1.3(ish)” thick (255 mm x 165 mm x 27 mm) it is slightly larger than the Eee. It also has a fair amount of power, a VIA C7 processor and Chrome 9 integrated graphics and support for up to 2GB of DDR2-667, explaining why The Tech Report thinks it is the first real competition for the Eee.